This story is part of CESHere our editors bring you the latest news and the hottest gadgets of the fully virtual CES 2021.
Many of us has radically changed the way we work in 2020 leave the office and mainly work from home. The idea of having a work computer in the office and a personal computer at home also went out of the window and now we're looking for our devices that do more and can be used in multiple roles, further blurring the line between consumer and business computers becomes.
Due to the long development cycle of new laptops, desktops and tablets, no PC manufacturer was able to realistically use these huge changes and develop them in time for new products CES 2021. What they can do is postpone the narrative and highlight new or updated products that are more appropriate for the current reality.
In other words, expect a lot of business laptops at CES 2021.
Everyone is working, no game
A year ago at CES 2020We have seen a lot Prototypes, experimental designs and new gaming PCs - many products with an entertaining consumer focus. It's going to be a little boring this year.
Instead of First generation folding screens and colorful play equipmentMuch of the attention will be directed to laptops with better webcams, better microphones, and better security features. Basically, the things your IT department would look for in a new work laptop. That might not be that noticeable, but it's what a lot of people need right now.
For example, if we learned something in 2020, most laptops will have really bad webcams. Spend enough hours a day in Zoom meetings and that is becoming increasingly important. Models with improved hardware or at least improved software for digitally polishing the camera image get a big marketing boost. Physical webcam shutters are becoming increasingly popular.
Not so much for 5G, which was just starting to filter into laptop announcements around this time last year. I doubt 5G antennas are included in every laptop, as home WiFi replaces many employees' need for reliable travel connections. Instead, it's only an option for a handful of high-end business systems.
A very Chromebook year
The other big thing we learned in 2020 was that Chromebooks can solve most of our laptop problems. Do you need an affordable, highly reliable laptop for a child doing remote learning? Chromebook! In need of a parent or grandparent computer that you don't have to fix? Chromebook!
Especially with so many families needing a separate device for each household member, especially one per student, Chromebooks saved the day in 2020.
Chromebooks have been part of the mix at every CES lately, but I suspect we'll be bringing them to the fore this year, especially given the uncertainty about it Introduction of COVID-19 vaccines and the moving target for any kind of return to "normal".
Every PC maker wants to get out of the bargain with $ 250 on Chromebooks. So look for slightly improved models. In all fairness, a $ 500 Chromebook can be a much better experience in terms of design, materials, and performance than a $ 500 Windows laptop. This is currently my sweet spot for ChromeOS.
For PC games, a year of rebuilding
We are in the middle of a great new era in video games. Unfortunately for PC gaming hardware fans, all of that excitement revolves around the next generation consoles, the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X..
In this new cycle, which takes place roughly every seven years, sealed living room boxes are at the top of the game pile for the time being. At $ 500 (or $ 300 for the smaller Xbox Series S), you get ray tracing, HDR lighting, and other high-end GPU tricks that were previously only available in much more expensive gaming PCs.
But the clock is already ticking on PS5 and Xbox. The hardware inside is frozen in amber, ages slowly, and is doomed to lag behind PC gaming hardware every year. That said, I wouldn't expect too much more, and the CES official game topic page looks pretty sad right now.
At least one big jump is expected. At least according to informed speculation, we will see laptop-compatible versions of the Nvidia 3000 series graphics cards. That will lead to more powerful gaming laptops - maybe even ones that can make Cyberpunk 2077 look good ...
