CES Isn’t Just About Consumers Anymore

By Doug Barney

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) has long been dominated by games, gadgets, and gizmos. But with the death of the Comdex trade show, computers are starting to take center stage.

And the biggest computer guru of them all, Bill Gates, gave a keynote rehashing old promises of natural language interfaces, universal access to data, and Windows revolutionizing the world of entertainment (news flash – Windows Media Player does not a revolution make). The best part of Gates’ keynote was video showing what his last day as a fulltime Microsoft employee will be like when it arrives this summer. Check it out here:  http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080107/bill-gates-last-day-microsoft-video/

Other PC players, large and small, made CES pitches. Laptop maker ASUStek Computer Inc. of Taipei, Taiwan (asus.com), for example,  announced a laptop that can store enough data to run a small country. The Asus M70 has two 500GB disks that can be used for a total of a terabyte, or as mirrored drives.   

Intel Corp. of Santa Claraused CES to roll out 16 new processors, including some new dual-core processors for laptops. The Penryn dual-cores use less power, and faster clock speeds — a neat combo to be sure.

A report by Network World indicated that Intel doesn’t think quad-core technology is ready for mobile computers, as they still use too much power. I don’t think anyone wants a quad-core if it means a 10-minute battery life!

Intel also promised to shrink future processors so they can power a new generation of small, full featured computing devices. 

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD) of Sunnyvale,CA, wasn’t about the let Intel hog all the CES limelight, and made its own laptop pitch. The upcoming Puma laptop platform tries to balance the need for high-end graphics and power savings. It does so by toggling between two graphic modes. For lower end uses,  say writing a memo, it can use the integrated graphics card. For high-end uses,  it can invoke a discrete graphics card, which uses more power and packs a bigger graphics punch.