Kicking off in some style yesterday, CES 2024 in Las Vegas is in full swing until 12 January, and we're seeing some massively innovative, some revolutionary, some outright bizarre, and some that make you go 'why? Why exactly?' at this biggest consumer electronics show in the world.
And I've spotted a few things I want to get in for testing as soon as humanly possible (partly for science, partly for the benefit of our readers, partly for me)... and one thing I definitely don't want...
The new ASUS Zenbook Duo OLED, now with two full-size screens
The ASUS Zenbook Duo has been around for a few years now, with a 'screenpad', a unique second screen below the main display, one that's evolved and grown gradually with every iteration, and the latest version received high praise in our review last year, as it caters to screen-thirsty creatives in a way that no other laptop does.
For ASUS, though, it seems the 12.7-inch ScreenPad Plus wasn't enough, because they've announced the all-new Zenbook Duo, with two equally large 14-inch touchscreen OLED displays, a detachable keyboard that clicks magnetically over the lower screen when you just need the one 'traditional' display, and a built-in kickstand for maximum adjustability. The magazine editor in me would have loved to have this setup in recent years, as you can flip the screens sideways for a portrait view of both of them.
I got to enjoy a quick hands-on experience with the new Zenbook Pro Duo last month at a pre-CES briefing with ASUS, and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since. I need my grubby mitts on this laptop, and I need it to happen now.
The new glasses-free 3D gaming monitor from Samsung
Already having won an award for 'Best Innovation in gaming and esports' at CES this year, the new 2D/3D gaming monitor from Samsung is a 37-inch monster that can switch from a traditional 2D view to glasses-free, headset-free 3D at the user's will. Samsung's own Neo QLED display tech uses "AI vision recognition and increased tracking accuracy to create a VR-like experience on a flat screen", and after initial forays into 3D displays from makers like ASUS and Acer in the last couple of years, this looks like the paradigm-shifting moment we've all been waiting for. Or just me? Is it just me who's been waiting for this?
Anyway, I want to see how this deals with 3D racing and action games (and 3D design too, obviously, because we are a creative website, after all, ahem).
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The HP Omen Transcend, a gaming laptop cleverly disguised as a normal one
I love PC gaming, and I love that you can play AAA games on laptops now, but I don't always love that those laptops can often weigh the same as a small horse and sometimes I need to present myself in an official capacity with a laptop that doesn't scream that it's been designed specifically and exclusively for hormonal 14-year-old boys.
And it seems I'm not alone, as we're seeing a lot of gaming laptops introduced at CES that have been 'sleekified', i.e. streamlined, made more lightweight and have rounded the sharpest corners and toned down the RGB fiesta.
At first glance, it looks like the most successfully disguised gaming laptop this launch season is the HP Omen Transcend 14 (and 16). HP's Omen gaming laptops are well known for their gaming prowess, and if I had one of those new Transcend models, I could finally show up to an executive editorial meeting with it in tow, and no one would be any wiser that what I'm writing my notes on is really an unholy gaming monster. It weighs just over 1.5kg, but has an Nvidia RTX 40-series graphics card, up to 32GB of RAM, and a 2.8K 120Hz HDR OLED display with 100% DCI-P3 colour gamut, and I want it.
Also, it should be able to beat any creative app into finely ground dust, so there's definite crossover appeal here for performance-hungry creatives who aren't keen on RGB overload in their laptops.
One thing I don't want: Car inventions that have nothing to do with driving
Now we don't cover cars a whole lot on Creative Bloq, apart from when they touch upon design, such as that colour-changing BMW, the futuristic design of the Peugeot Inception or Apple designing an AR windscreen. But one thing I've noticed coming out of CES 2024 is a whole lot of car innovations that have absolutely no business being in a car.
This includes nonsense like BMW introducing in-car gaming with controllers and VW incorporating ChatGPT into models as early as mid-2024, for 'enriching conversations' with their car. It's demented.
Now, I love cars, and I love innovations in cars, and I love driving every possible type of car. I loved driving a monstrous, petrol-guzzling HEMI-engined Dodge Charger across the floor of Death Valley, I loved driving a custom Toyota Land Cruiser 4x4 on a glacier in Iceland, I loved driving my parents' 1974 Peugeot 504 estate around gravel roads and I've loved test-driving some hugely inventive EVs in recent years. And I love driving my Mazda 3 hatchback every day.
And that's the thing. Cars are for driving, not... [checks press release, squints, sighs melancholically] playing Beach Buggy Rider 2 in split-screen mode on a tiny display in the dashboard. Make a sat-nav that works properly first, BMW, and then we can start adding things from there.
