When it comes to future technology, no show does it quite like CES. It’s the A-Z of everything electrical, with companies from Acer to Zyxel displaying their new products for 2024. But it’s not just about big companies: over 1,400 startups were at Eureka Park in the hope of coverage or a distribution deal.
As you can imagine, CES is enormous. It not only consumes the halls of the gigantic Las Vegas Convention Center, it spreads out to a second convention centre – called the Venetian Expo – with three more huge halls to fill. As if that weren’t enough, the show’s tendrils spread into hotels across the city.
There’s no hope for one person to cover this event, and APC still relied on 30 colleagues at Future Publishing – from brands such as Laptop Magazine, TechRadar and Tom’s Guide – to help us hunt out the gems.
And those gems are what this article is all about. The fantastic products we saw at CES that will hit the streets in 2024. A handful are already on sale, most will land before winter, a few stragglers will go on sale closer to Christmas, while some are concepts that may never be seen again. We hope you enjoy our pick of the show.
CONTRIBUTORS Barry Collins, Tim Danton and Jon Honeyball plus Rowan Campbell, Jason England, Andrew E. Freedman, Mark Anthony Ramirez, Chris Szewczyk, Momo Tabaari and Jarred Walton
LAPTOPS & ACCESSORIES
Alienware m18 R2
PRICE $TBC AVAILABLE Now
We didn’t get our hands on the Alienware m18 R2 at CES, making do with a pre-show video demonstration instead. But one thing we know for sure is that this second iteration of the Alienware m18 brings enough power to suit any gamer’s needs. From Intel’s 14th generation Core i7 and i9 options to Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics, ranging from the RTX 4060 to the top-of-the-line RTX 4090, the m18 has you covered. Need a bright colourful and speedy display? The m18 arrives with either a 165Hz QHD (2,560 x 1,600) panel or a Full HD display that whacks refresh rates up to 480Hz. With RAM choices up to 64GB, the Alienware m18 has everything a gamer could want in a laptop. Mark Anthony Ramirez
Razer Blade 14
PRICE TBC AVAILABLE Q1 2024
While Barry was smitten by the 2.5kg Razer Blade 16, with its Core i9-14900HX, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, RTX 4070 graphics and a 240Hz OLED panel, my wallet started itching on seeing the Razer Blade 14. Of course, the sacrifice is screen size, but it offers something close to all-day battery life when you’re working and gives up to RTX 4070 graphics when you want to game. All wrapped up in an all-aluminium casing that both looks and feels great. Personally, I’m more than happy to see a Ryzen 9 8945HS processor in there, too – great for games, great for AI tasks and great for multicore tasks. Tim Danton
Lenovo ThinkBook Plus G5 Hybrid
PRICE TBC AVAILABLE TBC
Lenovo restricted its ThinkPad updates at CES to refreshes of the X1 2-in-1 and the X1 Carbon (I can reveal that Gen 12 of the latter looks as tempting as ever), but it loves to take risks with its ThinkBook range. So while this is supposedly Gen 5 of the ThinkBook Plus, it’s actually a radical departure. First, the lid magnetically detaches, much like Microsoft’s Surface Book series. However, here the screen takes on a second life as an Android tablet (it includes its own Qualcomm processor, RAM and storage), while the base unit continues to whirr away as a Windows 11 PC.
Confused? It certainly didn’t convince Barry or Jon, but if you currently take a Windows laptop and a tablet with
