It’s day two of CES 2025, and we’re sure you’ve spent the day tuning in to our live blog with all the news from the day. But I’m sure a few of you sneezed or blinked and missed something important. That’s why we’ve put together a nice list of the day’s biggest stories from the show for those of you who have sneezed.
Lenovo congratulates us on exhibiting at CES
A lot of other PC-related news was broadcast to the world, including Lenovo being in the spotlight. Most notably, it showed off the ThinkBook Plus, a physical version of its flexible OLED laptop from a few years ago. At the push of a button, the 14-inch display expands to a productivity-enhancing 16.7-inch, potentially justifying its $3,500 starting price.
Lenovo also showed off a dummy prototype of its Legion Go 2 gaming handheld, giving a hint as to what specs it will pack. Alongside that, we announced Legion Go S, the first third-party SteamOS gaming handheld to offer a legitimate alternative to Steam Deck. If you want to play games in a more traditional way, which means using one leg as an ersatz table while sitting awkwardly on a crowded bus, Lenovo’s new Legion Pro 7i Gaming has the following specs: You can choose a laptop. NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 graphics.
Of course, Lenovo has also released some regular laptops, including the Yoga Slim 9i, the first laptop with an under-display camera. With this tweak, you’ll now boast a 98% screen-to-body ratio that will be the envy of your friends and foes alike. The ThinkPad X9, on the other hand, has neither an aluminum chassis nor a TrackPoint, which may offend longtime ThinkPad fans. Yes, we are incredible too.
Qualcomm unveils new chips, Maingear, ASUS and Razer unveil PC goods
Qualcomm has less to prove than Intel right now, but it has announced that its Snapdragon X chips will be found in more Windows Copilot+ PCs in the near future. There are currently a number of models in development that focus on affordability rather than bells and whistles. Qualcomm and its partners include Acer, Dell, HP, and Lenovo, and is targeting a base price of $600. This is affordable enough for many entry-level buyers to update their aging hardware and take advantage of what we are discovering about what AI is actually good for. It should be a reasonable price.
ASUS’ new ZenBook A14 has made its desert debut, showing off a very beautiful industrial design and a spec sheet to match. Engadget’s Devindra Hardawar was pleased with the premium materials used in its construction and its look and feel. One downside is that it has Qualcomm’s X or Elite chips on it/is broken (removed if needed), which limits backwards compatibility with older Windows apps.
Meanwhile, Maingear has taken to town with a flashy-looking water-cooled desktop, looking to reassert its dominance in the custom PC space. This range comes with heavy-duty plumbing and plenty of fans and radiators to help cool your planet-burning GPUs.
One of the permanent exhibits at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada is gaming company Razer showing off its latest lighting-infused hardware. First, the company debuted its new Blade 16 laptop. This is said to be the thinnest gaming laptop ever made. Also on display was Project Arielle, a gaming chair with an RGB exterior that glows red when warm and blue when cool. And to top it all off, the company also showed off a flashy monitor stand that is surprisingly RGB-enabled.
Smart glasses at CES 2025
Smart glasses have always been something of a technological dead end, but there are signs that the technology is rapidly maturing. This year’s CES saw a lot of specs that weren’t just trendy gimmicks with exorbitant prices. For example, RayNeo’s new X3 AR Pro frame has a built-in camera and the ability to interact with an assistant powered by ChatGPT. Secondly, I am endlessly impressed with Even Realities for bringing G1A and G1B to the show. These are much less technical than some of the products on offer, but have a more robust feature set, including real-time translation, teleprompts, and turn-by-turn directions. Xreal was also able to show off its latest personal cinema-style AR glasses that will make you want to puke the moment you put them on.
CES Auto Show: Honda’s new EV and BMW’s Panoramic iDrive turnhead
Honda gathered in Nevada to discuss a prototype model of the concept car it unveiled last year. The 0 Series Saloon Sedan is 100% similar to the car driven by Inspector Gadget. The 0 Series SUV is also a car that Inspector Gadget would drive. The automaker said both models will be available for purchase at some point next year, leveraging Honda’s brand-new EV architecture.
And BMW was also here to show off the new Panoramic iDrive system that will be installed in all new BMWs. This includes a display that fills the width of the dashboard with key statistics about the drive, rather than having the display stuck to the instrument shelf as the average person is accustomed to. Of course, the goal here is to give you plenty of places to paste useful information so you can’t miss what’s going on. Unless you spend so much time staring at so many digital displays that you forget, your eyes should be on the road.
More Best of CES 2025
The second day of CES saw a lot of interesting things on display as the focus shifted from the big names to the rest. InkPoster, for example, uses a color e-paper display as a canvas on which digital art can be hung on the wall. OhSnap’s MCON is an excellent magnetic game controller for smartphones with premium features such as a Hall-effect joystick. Anker has developed a solar umbrella that lets you get your gadgets back to work while catching some sunlight. And not to be outdone, EcoFlow showed off a solar hat that does the same thing, but is even goofier.
