Most trade shows are comprised of about 5% interesting technology that is genuinely newsworthy, 5% will be whacky ideas that are clearly dreamt up by engineers lacking sleep and running on caffeine and the rest are boring and uninteresting products.
So lets start with the latter. Motherboards, P45 and X48. 790i and R780. Another big theme from the show was definitely the UMPC and MID, form factors still yet to prove their worth. The best devices have been hardly awe inspiring. Perhaps then, the shift towards Intel Menlow chips from VIA could give UMPCs the performance they need to be worthy of a purchase.
Gigabyte was one company to be offering a Menlow based UMPC. And its a huge improvement over their last offering. A better looking screen and much better portability solve two of our previous gripes. Gigabyte also had a smartphone on display, and were able to confirm that they were removing the backing plates from their motherboard designs, to finally allow giant coolers to be fitted.
UMPCs weren't the only small form factor PCs on display. Mini-ITX is on the rise. Plenty of companies were showing cases no bigger than an A5 book, containing a complete PC. Many of these are based around VIA's C7, and were capable of playing back DivX and Mpeg2.
Gaming is becoming a bigger and bigger theme at any technology fair. And rightfully so, since the demand for gaming systems drives the industry forward now more than ever. No suprise that an entire hall was being used for WCG matches sponsored by Samsung. Gamers were playing on a very large LAN, with giant TV screens, live commentary and a lot of people very interested in the proceedings. Good to see, but don't get too carried away guys, computer gaming is never going to take the place of the Olympics or Football.
As expected, plenty of big cases, video cards and PCs with neon lights were on show to woo gamers. As well as an early look at the Nvidia 9800GX2, we got a quick look at a few triple SLI systems and watercooled monsters, such as one from BFG.
Some interesting ideas, to the point of verging on whacky, were on display too. OCZ's Neural Impulse Actuator takes the crown, quite literally. A small headband that reads your brain signals and translates them to keyboard inputs. The idea is that you can control a game with your thoughts alone. And it works too! Admittedly when we first used the device it was like a 90 year old trying to use a mouse for the first time, but we got used to it in time. With a raise of the eyebrows, you move forward, and raising them further you fire, although we were assured that you do not have to move your eyebrows once you become used to it. It doesn't take long until you become accurate. It reminds us a little of the Wii controller. A new concept that drastically changes how we interact with computers, but ultimately, it could be a gimmick. We would like to see a LAN party with 30+ gamers all taking each other on with nothing but an NIA each. Those that master the device would be able to run rings around those who are stuck running the wrong way into a wall.
This isn't as much of a gimmick as MSI's de-ionising laptop. The chap from MSI was very clear in stating "There is no scientific evidence", that de-ionising the air around your workspace makes you happier. We aren't convinced either. We'd rather put our heads out of the window if we need fresh air.
MSI was also showing off the first devices with EFI (a replacement for the PC's ancient BIOS) which will put a much friendlier face on the low level interface that your OS depends on.
The winning technology we saw was definitely OLED screens. It is hard to fully describe what OLED is like, except that it is much more vibrant and has far better contrast ratios and colour reproduction. Most photos of an LCD screen taken on a compact camera come out looking messy, but look at the beautiful images below (of the screen, not the lady). In reality they are much better than this. OLED will be a bigger leap from current LCDs than HD was over standard definition. Just dont expect it too soon, as yields are very low.
The busiest stand was that of Asus. We couldn't even get a glimpse of the new EEE PC, since the crowd around the stand blocked our view of it. In stepped an Asus PR, who cast the onlookers aside with a single blow (actually he got another PC to show us). Asus were also promoting their 'Lamborghini' laptops, with a real sports car on show, complete with buxom model and fixed smile.
Coolermaster was on hand with plenty of products. PSUs, one of which boasts 88% efficiency, design variations on the Stacker 830 case, such as the London bus design (see below), and new SFF cases designed to be entirely passively cooled. Taking a leaf from Zalman's book, all the heat is drawn to radiators on the outside of the case, which gets hot, but it is in fact a much greener way to deal with heat than spinning extra fans to keep it cool.
Speaking of Zalman, they were showing off 3D displays. 3D as in an image that you need glasses to view properly. Not the one red eye, one green eye type of glasses, but not far off. The real problem is that to anyone viewing without a pair of glasses, the display looks like a blurred mess.
Corsair had some 2133MHz DDR3 on show, the fastest performing memory available. Hopefully not too expensive. The performance gap between DDR2 and DDR3 is growing, while the price difference is finally beginning to close.
Hauppauge demonstrated a PVR fully capable of playing back and recording in 1080p. This is exactly what we wanted to see from the Archos TV+ (see forthcoming review). Hauppauge also demonstrated a special USB TV tuner, with drivers specificaly coded for the EEE PC. 'TV on the EEE' has to be a winning slogan.
