CES 2016 – Day 1 PC Surprises and Highlights

So far, the Consumer Electronics Show, CES 2016, has not disappointed tech lovers. On its debut day of January 6, there have been plenty of surprises and nerd eye-candy concerning PC-related products. Let’s highlight some of the coolest new products unveiled in Vegas and cover the surprises thus far.

MSI Vortex – PC Gaming Tower

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4RsjFec-qU[/embedyt]

Gaming hardware is undoubtedly a focal point of every Consumer Electronics Show. MSI has already stolen the show when it comes to the PC gaming aspect of CES 2016. They unveiled a compact, small form factor desktop called the MSI Vortex. The Vortex is reminiscent of the Mac Pro, albeit much more lean and mean in appearance with RGB exterior lighting. Not to mention, the Vortex is made for gaming. Do not be fooled by its condensed look; it’s packed full of impressive hardware that will make any PC gamer drool. The engineering feat is slated for a March 2016 release and will likely come in two different models. As of now, there will be a $2000 model with NVIDIA GTX 960s and a higher-end model, which was on display at CES 2016, packing two GTX 980s. Mind you, these are desktop GPUs lacking the “M” suffix. It will ship with a Skylake CPU, two M.2 SSD slots, mini-display ports, HDMI ports, a plethora of USBs, and two LAN ports. MSI claims it can be easily upgraded though the chassis’ interior has yet to be shown to the public.

EVGA Laptop & Desktop Chassis

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vf2yjBkOv-k[/embedyt]

EVGA had a few unprecedented reveals during CES 2016. The popular gaming manufacturer showed off a new desktop chassis and their first enthusiast gaming laptop. There have been rumors about EVGA entering the laptop market, and yesterday they affirmed the speculation with their SC17 Gaming Laptop. Though overclocking laptops has been considered unorthodox up to this point, EVGA has engineered the SC17 to go against the grain. The SC 17G laptop on the showroom’s floor sported a Skylake Core i7 6820HK, a NVIDIA GTX980M, a 4K 17.3” screen, and a 4-hour battery life. There will be two available M.2 slots and a normal 2.5” bay for mass storage options. Its single-piece aluminum alloy unibody chassis is simply gorgeous. USB and USB Type-C, HDMI, Ethernet and a mini-DisplayPort will be accessible. The laptop is expected to ship Q1 of 2016, likely February.

EVGA’s other surprise at CES 2016 included showing off a desktop case modeled around gamers. It’s a Full Tower chassis and its front panel IO is built into the bottom of the side panel instead, below a massive Plexiglas window that will offer a peek inside the PC’s guts. Next to a glowing EVGA logo, above the “side” IO ports is a display that reports fan speed, which the case can support eight of. For liquid-cooling, it appears that one 360mm radiator will be supported in the front and another in the top. The case is set to be released sometime Q3 with varying models, prices ranging from sub $100 to $200.

Razer Blade Stealth & Razer Core

Like always, Razer showed up at CES 2016 with PC gaming goodies. Their new powerful gaming laptop, the Razer Blade Stealth, is promised to provide an “unprecedented desktop-level gaming performance” when used in conjunction with Razer Core—which is a Thunderbolt 3 docking device that will host a desktop GPU and empower any Thunderbolt 3 equipped PC with it. But about the laptop; it is half an inch thick, weighs only 2.75lbs, sports an Intel Core i7 CPU with Intel’s integrated HD graphics, back-lit RGB keyboard, 8GB of RAM and a 12.5” screen in 4K or 1440p, depending on the model. Notice the missing discrete GPU? That’s where the Razer Core comes in.

The Razer Core is an external GPU enclosure that connects to a PC via Thunderbolt 3. Meaning you can place a GTX 980 or R9 390 in it and connect it to a laptop for Desktop like graphical performance. The Core will support either a NVIDIA or AMD graphics card. The enclosure will have a hub of four USB 3.0 ports and an Ethernet port which will expand the connected PC’s connectivity. It also won’t require any external powering. The Razer Core is expected to hit the market sometime in the first half of 2016.

[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QW9YkbPgoQw[/embedyt]

Just on its first day, CES 2016 has shown off both interesting and amazing new PC technology. Surely, there’s plenty more of surprises in store. What are you looking forward to getting your hands on from CES 2016? Stay tuned to The Nerd Stash for CES news.