While Apple doesn’t even use touchscreens in its MacBooks, manufacturers of Windows notebooks are much more innovative when it comes to hardware. At the technology fair CES you can see what will come of it.
The Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas isn’t reinventing the notebook, but there are some very special representatives of portable computing to admire. Some impress with their sheer performance, others offer special technical finesse.
The difference at the booth is striking. The new generation of gaming notebooks with Nvidia’s new Geforce GTX 40 series needs significantly less power with more frames per second and better display.
According to Nvidia, two things make this possible: firstly, the new chip architecture called Ada Lovelace. And on the other hand Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS 3). Put simply, this means increased performance and more frames per second using artificial intelligence.
And because the new notebook graphics chips consume less power than the previous generation, more powerful chips now also fit into slimmer computers.
18 inches was once popular for gaming notebooks, then it was off the market – and now it’s back. 17 inches is somehow 2022. Alienware and Acer each show an 18-inch model with Geforce RTX. In contrast to the past, the large notebooks are now a bit lighter, even if the Acer Predator Helios 18 is not a lightweight at just under 3.25 kilos.
A return to old screen sizes as well: the 16:9 format is increasingly giving way to 16:10 – this means there is more vertical space again. And why the new sizes? There are no clear answers at the fair. Some say: Notebooks that are too small are impractical for many in the home office. Others say: Larger displays of good quality or with OLED technology are now affordable.
The advantages of self-illuminating OLED displays for notebooks are actually clear. More colour, better contrasts, deeper black representation and – depending on the application – also less power consumption. The problem so far: “It has to develop into affordable areas first,” says an industry representative. That’s about it now. Whether Lenovo, Acer, LG or Asus and also the gaming brands – all of them have one or more models with OLED displays on offer at the trade fair.
A notebook with two screens can be seen twice at Lenovo. The Yoga Book 9i consists of two displays connected by a 360-degree hinge with a built-in speaker. The device can be used either as a double screen, as a notebook with a virtual keyboard and one and a half screens.
The Thinkbook Plus Twist takes a different approach. The notebook has a dual screen – a 4K OLED display on the inside and a color E Ink display on the outside. This means that, for example, you can type or read on the go in a very energy-saving way. A vertical rotary hinge can be used to switch between the two sides of the display.
Spatial depth on a flat screen – some people still know that from the mobile console Nintendo 3DS. With the Acer Predator Helios 300, two cameras above the screen follow the user’s eyes and the screen creates a 3D image using cross-sectional images. You can only see this if you are sitting directly in front of the computer, but the effect is quite impressive. You don’t have to wear annoying 3D glasses either.
The ProArt Studiobook from Asus also uses this 3D technology with eye tracking. Here, in a trade fair presentation of the professional notebook, the focus is more on imparting knowledge or virtual shopping applications.
A big word, but there are also concrete examples of success for recycling or the more careful use of resources. For example Acer’s Vero series, consisting of a Windows notebook Aspire Vero and Chromebook Vero. One third of the chassis consists of recycled plastic – namely post-consumer plastic, i.e. from used and discarded plastic objects. The result is a sleek, elegant gray chassis that feels tactile.
According to Acer, future models should also have keyboard keys made of sea plastic. Another plus: The case can be opened with a normal Phillips screwdriver if you want to replace the SSD storage or RAM.
Lenovo and Asus also aggressively use recycled materials – both in the devices – Lenovo uses recycled magnesium and aluminum, for example – and in the packaging. Renewable and compostable raw materials are used here.
