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Fein-Lines: CES, Day 2
January 10, 2011 |Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Day 2 of CES was my chance to see as many of the new tablets as I could and also see the first motherboards and latest high-end hardware for use with the new Intel i7 and i5 (Sandy Bridge) chips.
As I mentioned in my previous column, there are so many tablet computers that seeing them all, never mind trying them to try to assess their capabilities, is not possible in just a few days. I did, however, manage to see quite a few. I got to be hands-on with three stand-out head and shoulders above the rest. For overall utility and business use, my choice was the Blackberry PlayBook 4G tablet. The tablet will utilize an OS created by the recently-acquired QNX. It will sync with Outlook using your Blackberry smart phone as a bridge and it also can perform all the entertainment, video, flash and gaming that one would want on a seven-inch screen. It is light and easy to carry and seemed to be snappy and responsive.
I was also impressed with the new ASUS tablet line up. It seems like ASUS will have a tablet to cover every market segment with various OS choices and using varying processors. The one from ASUS I like best is the EP121 slate. It is a larger tablet which seems to be able to do anything. It is equipped with a powerful (for a tablet) Core i5 processor. I got the definite hint however that the ASUS line was far from complete and so I will give a clear "stay tuned" rating on this series.
My number-one choice, however, of all that I saw at CES and of all that are presently available, is the Motorola Xoom. The Xoom utilizes an Android-looking OS called Honeycomb. Apparently, Google built this OS specifically for tablets. It was difficult to get to play with this 10" iPhone-killer for long as it drew a great deal of attention from everyone. The Xoom will be available for the recently split off Motorola Mobility in the next few months. If I was considering a tablet today, this is the one I would choose. It seems to be able to do everything and anything--and do it well. I am sure that there will soon be a number of hands-on technical reviews for this sure to be award-winning product.
My passion, however, lies with the very high end, the most powerful computers that today's technology allows. While I build my own, I always like to compare what I can do with the highest end, no-compromise products out there. After all, one must have something to aspire to.
This year I saw two absolutely amazing state-of-the-art computers, one from Digital Storm, who will custom-assemble a computer for you using any components you choose. This one was an over clockers dream, utilizing Piezo-Electric cooling. (Note the heat sink which has been removed from the CPU for viewing purposes.) There is actually ice forming on it from condensing and then freezing the moisture in the air. If you look carefully, you will also note that this unit includes three ultra-high end NVIDIA 580 Graphics cards in triple SLI, all also overclocked and cooled by the same P-E unit. If you are a car lover, the Digital Storm would be like getting your hands on a Ferrari. I then had a chance to preview a Lamborghini, a concept case from NZXT build out using liquid cooling with space for five--count them, five--liquid cooling radiators. This beast sports a new motherboard, the latest Intel chip set and it also has three NVIDIA GTX 580s in SLI. These two computers were amazing, both in attention to detail, as well as processing potential. If you want to run six monitors in full hi-def and in 3-D, one of these is the rig for you. What is also interesting is that final assembly for both of them is in California.
CES has something for everyone. It includes everything from cheap covers and crappy-sounding speakers for an iPad to the latest smartphones and the above-mentioned uber computers. I have not had time or space to discuss the futuristic health and automotive related electronics shown or the advances in electronics for musicians. I spent three and a half days there and I believe that I may have seen half of what was available.