Computex, the world's largest computer and technology trade show, is
about to get under way. The annual event attracts tens of thousands of
industry leaders, journalists, manufacturers and buyers to Taipei, the
capital of the tech manufacturing world, where everyone will be trying
to outdo one another with the latest and greatest innovations over the
course of seven jam-packed days.
Spread across 5,000 exhibition
booths and hundreds of banquet halls and hotel suites, Computex is where
the world's biggest and most powerful companies unveil their products
and strategies for the coming year. Here's a small glimpse at what to
expect next week.
Laptops, tablets, smartphones and more
Asus
traditionally kicks off the show with a splashy launch event. Past
years have seen the debut of the Padfone, Taichi, and Transformer Book
Trio, amongst dozens of other products for home and business use. No one
can say that the company isn't innovative, but it always seems as
though they go into overdrive at Computex. Whatever incredibly
imaginative hybrid product they come up with this year - teasers
indicate a thin hybrid device that could be part smartphone, part tablet
and part laptop - Asus will be trying very hard to dominate the show.
Acer, another of Taiwan's biggest brands, should have a few refreshed laptops and tablets to show off. Most components brands have also branched out into fully-built systems, so there'll be lots to see from Zotac, ASRock, Gigabyte and of course Asus.
Microsoft will have a presence at the show as well, but it will, for the most part, display products built for Windows, including new smaller touch-based devices that take advantage of the smaller footprint allowed by Windows 8.1's most recent update.
Processors
Intel
has a huge presence at Computex, and will host a keynote which will be
attended by the CEOs and presidents of every major Taiwanese
manufacturer, where it will formally announce new processors and show
off several prototype devices created by Taiwanese companies which are
based on them. Intel will also explain its direction for the rest of the
year and disclose new products and tech that it is working on - including, perhaps, more details about its deal with Rockchip to co-produce low-powered SoCs.
However,
it won't be alone. Both AMD and Qualcomm will host events and showcases
of their own, during which they are expected to make major
announcements. Qualcomm will have dozens of ready-made devices to show
off, whereas AMD has hinted that it has some rather big news to share -
concrete details about its recent dual-pronged X86-ARM strategy, we
hope. Hopefully, Nvidia will be ready to show off the Tegra K1 and
actual products built around it as well.
PC Components
Not
to be outdone by its other half, Asus' own components division will be
showing off loads of new graphics cards and motherboards, including its
high-end Republic of Gamers line and other products targeted at
overclockers and enthusiasts. You can expect to see a whole new line of
boards based on Intel's latest 9-series chipsets. On the graphics front,
expect a lot of exotic cooling solutions and massive dual-GPU cards
with both AMD's and Nvidia's latest processors.
Gigabyte, MSI,
ECS, ASRock, Zotac, Biostar, XFX, Galaxy and several lesser-known brands
will also have their latest motherboards and graphics cards to show
off. Expect fresh products in every price band from budget to extreme
gamer, and every form factor from thin mini-ITX to E-ATX. Each brand
will have its own special take on otherwise standard components -
enhanced sound, better power conditioning, custom cooling, custom
software, special bundles... the list of possibilities is endless.
BenQ,
Acer, Asus and Viewsonic will have plenty of projectors and monitors to
show off. We hope to see 4K displays becoming more affordable this
year.
Taiwan is also known for PC cabinets, power supplies and
coolers. The biggest players are Cooler Master, Antec, Corsair,
Seasonic, Huntkey, Noctua, NZXT, Zalman, Swiftech, Thermaltake, In-Win,
Lian Li, Silverstone and Thermalright. There are always incredibly
inventive designs on display, not all of which are practical enough to
make it to the market. Many of these companies will use the show to
gauge reactions to their prototypes, and make modifications to them
before their launch.
Flash products
There are also dozens of
companies dealing in SSDs, pen drives, RAM, memory cards, hard drives
and embedded storage devices. Adata, Transcend, Kingston, Sandisk, PNY,
Apacer, Silicon Power and G.skill are amongst the more recongisable
names. We hope to see more PCIe-based devices in various shapes and
sizes, as well as those based on SATA Express and M.2 or NGFF, to
complement Intel's new 9-series chipsets. Of course, there will be
thousands if not millions of pen drives and USB accessories such as card
readers in funky shapes and colours.
OEMs, ODMs, whiteboxes and suppliers
Entire
exhibition halls are dedicated to Chinese and Taiwanese suppliers of
all kinds of products - everything from switches and connectors to fans
and LCD panels. Big names such as Corning will be found alongside
previously-unheard-of local vendors. There will also be hundreds of
booths displaying unbranded phones, tablets and other products that bulk
buyers can simply slap their labels on.
Other products
If
you're an electronics enthusiast, you'll go crazy at the clusters of
stalls dedicated to small-time players in data storage, embedded
devices, wireless components, touch applications, and handhelds. There's
also no shortage of vendors of phone and tablet accessories, PC
peripherals, headphones and bags.
D&I awards
Finally,
one of the most interesting parts of Computex is the annual design and
innovation awards show. Taiwanese companies will be awarded for
producing outstanding products in a variety of categories, and all of
them will be displayed at a special booth during the exhibition.
Stay tuned to NDTV Gadgets for continuous coverage of Computex 2014, live from Taipei all through the week.
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Further reading:
ASRock,
Acer,
Antec,
Asus,
BenQ,
Computex,
Computex 2014,
Cooler Master,
Corsair,
Gigabyte,
MSI,
XFX,
Zotac,
Laptops,
Mobiles,
PC,
Tablets
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