Computex 2024 announcements — AMD, Intel and Nvidia go big on AI, plus gaming handhelds galore and more
We've seen the future of computing in Taiwan
We've made it to Taipei
Tom's Guide is on the ground in Taipei and ready to check out all of the latest tech at Computex this year. Even though things don't actually kick off until tomorrow, it's clear that AI and specifically AI laptops will be a big focus of this year's show. We're heading inside now to get our press badges and to see what's been set up so far.
Not your typical laptop
Before we even had a chance to go check out the show floor at Computex, we came across a unique laptop with a very interesting design. While other laptops use some recycled components, this one at the registration desk has a chassis made entirely from post consumer recycled plastic. Apparently it's an Acer Aspire Vero with an Intel Evo chip under the hood.
I had a chance to test it out while we were waiting for our press badges and unlike the aluminum frames you find on other laptops, the recycled plastic felt really soft on the palms of my hands. However, the laptop's bezels were quite large and the E and R keys were reversed. It turns out these eco-themed R and E keys on the 50% post consumer recycled plastic keycaps reinforce the call to Reduce, Reuse & Recycle according to Acer. What I liked most about this Acer Aspire Vevo laptop is how the bits of white really stand out on its recycled blue chassis.
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It's all coming together
The show floor at Computex won't officially open until tomorrow in Taipei but we got to take an early look at some of the booths. Asus, MSI, Intel and all of the other big players were out in full force but we also got a chance to see the booths of some of our favorite accessory makers like UGREEN and NuPhy.
As we were walking around the show floor at Computex, many of the displays were still being built. There were even trucks, cranes and a few bicycles whizzing past us as we got the lay of the land. Besides new PCs and laptops, we also saw quite a few SIM racing rigs as well as some impressive multi monitor setups. We'll be back on the show floor first thing tomorrow, so stay tuned for our latest on the ground coverage from Computex 2024.
The chips are down
A lot of the talk at Computex is going to be focused around AI computing. The question of what's powering the new slate of Copilot+ PCs is a a big one for anyone thinking of making a purchase.
We've already seen Qualcomm take the wraps off the Snapdragon X Elite and now AMD has stepped up on the eve of Computex to announce its new laptop-focused Ryzen AI 3000 Series chip. The company claims it's the “world’s best processor for Copilot+ PCs,” and it will sit alongside the Ryzen 9000 series of desktop CPUs offering, you guessed it, a focus on executing AI workloads.
You can read the full story on the Ryzen AI 3000 Series right here but rest assured we'll be doing our best to get hands on with anything AMD can offer us at this year's show.
Asus steps into the arena
Asus has used Computex as the launchpad to announce a new line of ProArt laptops, utilizing both the AMD Ryzen AI 300 and the Snapdragon X Elite chipsets to make them full-featured Copilot+ PCs.
The lineup consists of two 13.3-inch devices and a 16-inch one, the PX13, PZ13 and P16 respectively. All three come with over 40 TOPS of NPU performance for turboboosting those AI tasks and, crucially, all three come with a ton of free software.
These computers are aimed at creators, which is why Asus is bundling in a 6-month free subscription to CapCut and three months of Adobe Creative Suite. You can read more about these laptops (and get a breakdown of the specs) right here. All we'll say is: watch out Surface Pro 11!
Game time with Asus' new laptops
As well as the creator-focused ProArt laptops, Asus has also unveiled three new gaming laptops and each one will come packing the new AMD Ryzen AI 3000 NPU chipset — capable of handling 50 million TOPS per second.
Top billing goes to the ROG Zephyrus G16, which offers an OLED display with 2.5K resolution and a 240Hz refresh rate backed by an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. Bringing up the rear are the TUF Gaming A14 and A16 laptops, complete with 2.5K resolution displays, 165Hz refresh rates, RTX 4070 graphics cards and up to 32GB of RAM.
We'll know more about these devices once we've gone hands-on at the show, so stay tuned for our thoughts later this week.
R.I.P. Steam Deck?
Ok, one more thing to mention and then we'll take a break from Asus, alright? Well, the company has finally officially announced the ROG Ally X. This will take up the mantle from last year’s decent but not class-leading handheld and hope to give Valve's Steam Deck a run for its money.
Asus has decided to stick with the same AMD Ryzen Z1 Extreme processor of its predecessor, but the the Windows 11-powered ROG Ally X boasts some new tricks, including a Full HD screen with a refresh rate of 120Hz that’s capable of reaching 500 nits of brightness; a new 80wh battery that offers a claimed 200% battery boost and a few more goodies we've covered here.
It's available to buy right now in the U.S. and will set fans of the best PC games back $799. If you’re reading this in the U.K. you’re going to have to be a little more patient, it's not launching here until June 22, when it will launch at £799.
Wi-Fi 7 for the masses
While the likes of new gaming laptops and AI developments are always going to draw the eye, Computex is about much more than that. Those looking to upgrade their home network may be interested in the new Mesh 7 router from Acer that utilizes the latest Wi-Fi 7 technology.
This router comes packing a 2.5GHz and 5GHz wireless network as standard, alongside an optional 6GHz signal. We’re looking at speeds up to 6,400 Mbps, with Acer promising “exceptional” reliability and latency. We'll wait to test ourselves before we comment on those claims.
Project G-Assist from Nvidia
No computing show would be complete without a visit from Nvidia and for Computex 2024, Team Green has revealed Project G-Assist. This is an AI assistant designed to use generative AI techniques to help players in games.
The company partnered with Studio Wildcard to develop a demo here in Taipei showcasing Project G-Assist running in Ark: Survival Evolved. In a nutshell, it'll take text or voice input from the player and use a large language model (LLM) to try and answer questions about the game. Think of it like a friendly AI helper that's specifically tailored to help you get through tricky spots during your game.
For the tinkerers among us, the Project G-Assist toolkit also includes AI-powered methods to help players optimize their PC settings for a given game.
Qualcomm's all in on AI PCs
I just got back from a Qualcomm Computex 2024 event where I saw some of the Copilot+ laptops coming June 18 running on the new Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite chips.
These are the first laptops which meet Microsoft's minimum specs for a Copilot+ PC (16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, 40+ TOPS NPU), and we're getting live demos of apps taking advantage of the NPUs onboard these new machines. Here you can see someone using the DJay Pro app to isolate sources of audio in a music track, and it's being done entirely on the NPU of an HP OmniBook.
Copilot+ PCs won't just be laptops
It's not just laptops that are getting these new Snapdragon X chips; there will be desktops as well.
Here you can see a developer build of a Snapdragon X PC that's pared down for developer use and slated to start shipping for $899 later this year. For that you get a small black box packing a Snapdragon X Elite chip, 32GB of RAM and 512GB of storage.
And here's the Acer Swift X running a demo of how the NPU in the Snapdragon X chips can help out with advanced camera tricks, from auto-blurring your background on video calls to helping you use face and hand gestures to control your PC.
Here you can see the new Snapdragon-powered Lenovo ThinkPad T14s Gen 6 running an app that taps the power of the NPU to edit images in real time.
Snapdragon X laptops are here
And here's the new Dell Latitude 7455 coming later this summer with Snapdragon X chips inside. On-screen you can see a resource monitor showing the Snapdragon NPU freeing up the onboard CPU to focus on other tasks, which is one of the key promises of these new Copilot+ laptops: better performance and better battery life, because your CPU and GPU will be aided by the new NPU.
It starts with Intel
We're here at the Intel keynote at Computex 2024 where Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is on stage showing off company's latest chips including Lunar Lake and more. As you'd expect, AI has been a big part of his presentation so far. We've seen the latest Intel Xeon chips and Lunar Lake will probably be shown off later on in the presentation.
A surprise visit
Down on the show floor at Computex 2024, everything stopped for a few minutes and it was almost impossible to leave but I managed to get out and make my way to the Intel keynote. Meanwhile, my colleague Paul Antill stayed there and got to see the arrival of Taiwan's president Lai Ching Te. Apparently, he was there visiting the booths of local businesses and making the rounds.
Attack of the robots
PNY may be known for its storage and graphics cards but at Computex 2024, it brought several robots to the show floor. The one seen here uses a special webcam along with RTX graphics from Nvidia to mimic your movements. There was also another robot that looked a bit like WALL-E.
AI PCs galore
AI PCs are still relatively new but at the Intel keynote, Pat Gelsinger revealed that there are already 500 different models available from brands like Acer, Asus, HP, LG, MSI, Samsung, Gigabyte, Dell and more. In fact, Intel has a display case with 24 of them up on stage.
Lunar Lake has landed
The moment we've been waiting for is here and Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger just unveiled its new Lunar Lake chips. This flagship system-on-a-chip will power the next generation of AI PCs and laptops and so far, there are 80+ designs from 20 different OEMs. Immediately after revealing its latest chips, Gelsinger was joined on stage by Asus' CEO.
Looking to the future
Lunar Lake was just revealed for the first time but Intel wasn't done there. The company showed us its roadmap for the rest of this year and even for 2025 and beyond. Arrow Lake desktop chips will be released this year and then in 2025, Panther Lake chips that use Intel's 18A node are coming.
The perfect throne for musicians
If you're a musician looking for the perfect upgrade for your next jam session, then you're definitely going to want to keep an eye on the Cooler Master Throne X. The company already has a similar chair for gamers but this stool is specifically designed for musicians. The Throne X translates sonic vibrations into haptic feedback based on what you're currently playing. However, it can also be used as a metronome to help you keep the beat.
All of the Throne X's ports are located on the back so that you can easily plug in all of your equipment without having to worry about the cables getting in the way. It's also portable and its foldable stand can be broken down and stored in the included backpack for when you're traveling or even if you're touring.
Back in black
There are plenty of PC gaming handhelds on the show floor at Computex 2024 but over at Asus' booth, I got to go hands-on with the new ROG Ally X. It looks even better in black and the design tweaks Asus has made to the device really do make it feel a lot better in hand. While the ROG Ally X devices at Asus' booth only had a few games installed, I got to play a bit of Naruto X Boruto Ultimate Ninja Storm Connections. Gameplay was smooth and fluid and I really liked the ROG Ally X's new joysticks and D-Pad.
A bubble tea PC
Bubble tea is now popular all over the world but did you know that it was invented in Taiwan in the 1980s? Well, to celebrate this delicious drink, PNY made a custom PC with a bubble tea theme for Computex 2024.
Besides a bubble tea graphic on the power supply shroud, the reservoir for this liquid-cooled gaming PC also resembles the popular drink. There's also plenty of RGB with colored fans at the top and colored RAM on the motherboard. The Aftershock Bubble Tea PC was one of the most delicious custom PC designs we've seen yet but we're sure to see even more here on the ground at Computex over the next few days.
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MSI Claw — Fallout edition
Jeff Parsons here taking over the live blog as, at time of writing, it's 5pm in Taipei and the Tom's Guide team on the ground are clocking off for a well-deserved break. Here in the U.K. the day is just beginning and I'm enviously looking at this MSI Claw Fallout edition that's been shown off on the show floor.
I'm not usually a fan of tech (or any product) looking deliberately weathered and beat up — because I'll surely do that myself over time. But here I think it looks pretty darn cool. It'll take more than just a fancy paint job and a brand tie-in to convince me to part with my cash for one of these. But it sure looks tempting.
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MSI and Intel join forces
MSI has used Computex to unveil at least six new productivity laptops across its Prestige and Summit lines. We got an in-depth look at them and they're all 13-inch, 14-inch or 16-inch models rocking Intel's new line of Lunar Lake CPUs inside.
Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is at the show this week (he gave the company's keynote and outlined — what else — Intel's AI plans) and stopped by to see the MSI booth. He also took some time out of what is likely a very busy schedule to sign one of the laptops and thank the company for its work. Which is nice.
Acer goes spatial
In case you missed this little announcement from the first day of Computex, Acer has unveiled the $549 SpatialLabs Eyes Stereo Camera. Which is interesting since you, like me, presumably thought glasses-free 3D displays were dead and buried.
The housing contains two cameras up front with an 8MP resolution per eye and Electronic Image Stabilization (EIS) that generate content for Acer’s growing line of SpatialLabs devices. These machines use cameras atop the display to track your eyes to simulate stereoscopic 3D. Is 3D back? Well...maybe.
A PC shaped like a robot — what's not to like?
Part of the joy of attending trade shows like this is stumbling across wacky stuff like these custom robot PCs from ASRock. The Taipei-based company is known mostly as a creator of motherboards, but it also dabbles in graphics cards, gaming monitors, and small form factor PCs.
While having a PC shaped like the Amplified Mobility Platform (or “AMP” Suit) from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora probably isn't practical for a home or office-based setup, it'd certainly make for a good talking point with anyone that stops by your desk.
WiFi 7 routers from Asus
Looks like the next generation of WiFi is right around the corner. Joining Acer on the WiFi 7 front (see below) is the new lineup of routers from Asus, promising a "wire-like performance".
Pride of place goes to the company's WiFi 7 Rapture GT-BE19000 router which has been given a makeover by its ROG sub-brand. We reviewed this model earlier in the year but thanks to the new styling from Republic of Gamers it now resembles a cybernetic tarantula.
Get ready for an Asus deep dive
The second day of Computex is wrapping up out in Taiwan right now, and our team is getting some well-earned shut-eye after a day running around the show.
But stay tuned—we still have more stories coming hot from the show floor, including the first look at some cutting-edge new monitors and laptops. And tomorrow we're headed to Asus itself, where we'll tour the facilities and go hands-on with all the major products announced this week, including the new ROG Ally X (pictured above). And we'll live-blog the whole thing!
Lunar Lake has arrived
Intel has decided Computex 2024 is the place to unveil its latest line of processors. Now that Intel has finally unveiled Lunar Lake, with chips promising up to 48 TOPS (trillion operations per second), it's clear AI is the focus of Intel's latest release. Should Apple and Qualcomm be worried?
Silicon wars extend to the airport at Computex 2024
Computex 2024 is all about AI, and PC vendors are here showcasing the latest and greatest chips powering what they hope will be the future of AI PCs.
You can tell Intel and Qualcomm are in a full-court press to market their new chips and get clients onboard because there are ads for their new Lunar Lake and Snapdragon X chips all over Computex 2024.
In fact, they start as early as when you get off the plane—as you can see from the photo above, our Computex team has been bombarded with ads as early as baggage claim as the silicon wars heat up. Stay tuned for our hands-on reports of how laptops packing these new chips stack up!
MSI Claw gets supercharged
MSI is showcasing a few new pieces of tech at Computex 2024, but the one we're most excited about is its gaming handheld. That's because the MSI Claw just got turbocharged with Intel's Lunar Lake chip — and it puts ROG Ally X on notice. We can't wait to get one in for testing ourselves!
New AI gaming laptops are coming
There's lots of AI talk at Computex 2024, and some of it is leaching into the gaming laptop space. In fact, Asus just dropped new TUF Gaming A14 and A16 AI gaming laptops that come with all-new AMD Ryzen 300 AI chips, up to 32GB of RAM and up to an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 laptop GPU onboard. No word on pricing yet, but we expect to hear more soon!
Coolest gadgets from Computex 2024 Day 2
We're winding down the blog here on Day 2 of Computex 2024, but before we sign off for the night make sure to check out our rundown of the coolest gadgets we've seen so far.
Our Computex Day 2: 7 exciting new gadgets you need to see round-up has it all, from new Intel chips and new gaming handhelds to a Bubble Tea PC build you have to see to believe. Don't miss it!
We’re LIVE from Taipei!
早上好 - good morning!
Busy day ahead for us on location at Computex 2024! Keep it locked on our live blog, and here’s what you’ll see beyond the usual stream of breaking news:
- Asus’ HQ: beyond going hands-on with everything announced, we’re on the way to where the magic happens and will be taking a look around!
- Nvidia: from Project G-Assist to ACE, we’ll be testing it all.
- AMD: following all the company’s big announcements, we have a bunch of questions to ask them in an interview slot
If there is something in particular you want to see, hit me up on Twitter/X!
Hello from Asus HQ!
Welcome to the Ligong building - home of Asus! We’ll be looking around and testing the latest and greatest.
Don’t worry. The “latest and greatest” doesn’t include these throwbacks, but I feel like a kid again seeing them!
What is a QTR lab?
We just saw the Quality Testing Requirement lab at Asus HQ. This is where the company puts its latest tech through durability challenges, and it’s a fascinating place!
Given the lab conditions, we were not allowed to take pictures. But I can talk about what I saw, including pneumatic drop test machines, thermal chambers that recreate different climates, water resistance testing, and various robots that test laptop hinge, port and keyboard durability.
The ProArt PZ13 is Microsoft's worst nightmare
Packing Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite power and an OLED display into a convertible tablet/keyboard hybrid sounds kind of like the Surface Pro 11, right?
Well, Asus has jumped in the pool too with the PZ13, but has made some significant improvements over Microsoft's formula — a bigger battery, a bigger-barrelled pencil for better pencil input, and more ports (including a full-size SD card slot).
After going hands-on, I can safely say this is one of the low-key bangers of the show. Expect my write up soon!
With Project G-Assist, Nvidia has created a full-blown AI agent!
I'll go into more detail in my full hands-on with Project G-Assist soon, but Nvidia's big Computex 2024 prototype is one of the more exciting announcements to come out of this show!
Understandably, the main question here is how does Nvidia's AI work here compare to the game hints offered by Microsoft's Copilot announced at Build 2024? Well, the key here is in G-Assist's agentic behavior — developers can tap into it like a plug-in and the system will learn key aspects of the game.
The chip wars re-open the x86 vs arm debate
My final appointment of the day took me by AMD to speak to Donny Woligroski — Senior Technical Marketing Manager, and we had a great chat about everything the company's new Copilot+ PC-compliant Ryzen AI 300 CPU.
Namely, we're starting to see a more subtle competition play out between the x86 standard that Intel and AMD use, and the arm architecture Qualcomm religiously sticks too with Snapdragon X Elite.
For those not in the know, x86 has been the go-to architecture that gives you wider PC app compatibility, but given its history in desktop space can lead to weaker battery life. Arm on the other hand is mobile-first, and that gives it the edge in power efficiency, but there are some compatibility issues there with some software.
Sure, there's emulation, but early impressions are that this still needs a little work. What side of the fence do you sit on — better compatibility or better battery life?
"If the trade off is 'I'm not sure something's going to work' [for battery life], I don't know who would put their neck out for that," Woligroski commented. "I think that's a concern in this generation."
Intel makes a splash with Lunar Lake
Jeff here jumping into the live blog for the next several hours. As the sun sets on another day at Computex 2024 for those over in Taipei, we here in the U.K. are just getting started on pouring over the news from the show.
In case you missed it, Intel may just float your boat with news of its new Lunar Lake laptop processors. These have been specifically made to squeeze the most out of new Copilot+ PCs that Microsoft made a big deal about back at its Build conference.
Intel says Lunar Lake chips will make their way into 80 different laptop designs spanning 20 manufacturers as the dawn of the AI laptop truly arrives.
Clackety clack!
We're big fans of the best mechanical keyboards here at Tom's Guide. Just in the last few weeks we've reviewed the likes of the Keychron V1 and the Ducky One 3 TKL. So naturally this little number from Armygroup caught our eye out on the show floor.
This is the Mistel MD750 75% style keyboard with lovely RGB lighting, a 4,000 mAh battery and Bluetooth 5.0 handling connection duties. It's compatible with both Mac and Windows and will probably be a whole heck of fun to use at the office or at home.
But the special sauce looks to be the two-inch full color LED screen that's tucked up in the top right showing you the time, date and battery status. Right next to that is a shortcut knob you can, hopefully, map to whatever your heart desires.
I'm pretty sure our Reviews Editor will be clamouring to get his hands on this one...
X gon' give it to ya
If Computex has been about anything, it's been about AI. But if it's been about anything else, then it would be gaming handhelds. At the opening of the show, we were getting all excited about the Asus ROG Ally X. We've known about this refresh for a little while, but Computex marked our first chance to get our hands on it.
And handle it we did. Or rather, Computing Editor Jason England did and he was mighty chuffed with what Asus had brought to the table.
You can read his full hands on review here but if you want the tl;dr version, here's what he thinks:
"Asus has taken this chance of a mid-gen refresh and run with it. The battery capacity has been doubled to 80Wh, the RAM has doubled to 24GB, and the base storage starts at 1TB over last year’s 512GB.
"All of this while keeping the weight under 700g, improving the ergonomic feel with better grips and vastly improved joysticks, and eliminating the mushiness of the D-pad."
Stand by for the full fat review coming to Tom's Guide soon.
"Human Machine Interface"
This right here is the MEG Vision X AI. In a nutshell, it's a flagship new gaming PC from MSI that includes what the company calls the world’s first AI-powered “Human Machine Interface.”
The interface takes the form of a dashboard of information like clock speeds, temperature and system status that's linked with MSI's AI Engine to automatically optimise for things like performance, audio or lighting and color settings. It's all controlled with a touch screen on the front of the rig.
A lot of the AI-powered tasks are handled on-device to maintain privacy while doing things like accessing files stored on the PC.
My colleague Anthony got to try it out for himself on the show floor. But unlike Intel's CEO Pat Gelsinger, he didn't get to scrawl his name all over it.
Fully autonomous AI Agents in "3-5 years"
Ok, so I know it seems like we're banging on about AI a lot — but it's clear Computex is all about it this year. And according to AMD's Senior Technical Marketing Manager, we'll have fully autonomous AI agents "in 3-5 years".
If you're not familiar with the term, an AI Agent is a program capable of helping you in all your day-to-day tasks and take action on your behalf. It learns over time and improves upon itself. Think of it like Agent Smith from "The Matrix", only more helpful and less evil.
Donny Woligroski, the aforementioned manager at AMD, told Tom's Guide: “I've never seen the industry move together in lockstep. Like it's really, really out of the box.
“That means that everybody sees the potential, and everyone's gonna move toward that potential.”
Hands on with Zotac's handheld
The handheld headlines at Computex are going to the likes of the Asus ROG Ally X and the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus — but now Player Three has entered the game. This is a new PC gaming handheld called the Gaming Zone from Zotac, a company best known for making some of the best mini PCs.
The specs are good (AMD Ryzen 7 8840U/16GB LPDDR5X-7500 RAM/512GB storage) and Zotac skipped around the clunkiness of Windows by creating its own launcher called One Launcher. Tom's Guide Editor Anthony Spadafora got some hands-on time with the Zotac at the show today, and you can read his thoughts on it here.
As for price and availability, the Zotac Gaming Zone is expected to cost around $700 to $800 and it could launch as early as August. Expect a full Tom's Guide review in the near future.
8 new gadgets you need to see at Computex 2024
We're in the thick of it as Computex 2024 Day 3 winds to a close, and our team in Taiwan has been hard at work scoping out the most interesting and intriguing tech on the show floor.
Don't miss our latest roundup of 8 amazing new gadgets you need to see at Computex 2024, because there's everything from AI assistants to a spacious glass gaming PC case from Skytech (pictured) that has enough room to show off your favorite action figure!
MSI Stealth A16 AI+ creator laptop hands-on
We're getting the chance to go hands-on with a ton of different gadgets at Computex 2024, including some of this year's first wave of AI laptops. We just published a great MSI Stealth A16+ hands-on review from the show floor that's worth a read if you care about the future of creator laptops.
There's a lot to like from our time with the Stealth A16+, including a big bright screen and the powerful combo of a new AMD Ryzen 300 AI CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU. We can't wait to get some of these 2024 laptops in for review so we can see how useful their new AI features really are!
Get ready for AI help in games
It's nearly dawn in Taiwan, when sun will shine on Day 4 of Computex 2024. Our team on the ground is (hopefully) resting up for another day of going hands-on with gadgets all over the show floor.
One of the more interesting is Nvidia's G-Assist, a new AI game assistant that promises to help players with quests, provide guidance and help with things like crafting recipes and more. There's reportedly demos at Computex of it running on Ark: Survival Ascended (pictured above), and we'll hopefully have a hands-on report of how it works soon!
Get ready to race in Day 4 of Computex 2024
Dawn is breaking over Day 4 of Computex 2024 at the Nangang Exhibition Center in Taiwan, and while there's loads of cool tech we still haven't seen I know there's one device I can't stop thinking about: the Thermaltake GR500.
The GR500 is an $899 racing simulator cockpit that can take your racing game experience to the next level, and this week we're hoping to go hands-on with one on the show floor!
Back at it again!
Day 3 of Computex is here, and we've got a busy one on the showfloor going hands-on with the latest tech! Here's what we're planning to see:
- All things MSI: Is the company bringing serious heat for Copilot+ PCs? Let's find out
- What about monitors? From gaming monitors with AI built-in to give you a competitive advantage to gigantic OLED screens, we're taking a closer look at these
- Weird and wonderful: Computex is the best place for bizarrely amazing tech, from a horizontally folding-out dual screen laptop to the bubble tea PC we saw earlier.
- Sim racing galore: For your fellow sim racing nerd, Cooler Master has introduced a new sim cockpit. He plans to smoke the attendees with a fast lap time.
Stick around for full behind-the-scenes and breaking scoops as we get them!
Acer Swift 14 AI comes in both Intel and AMD flavors
Acer is hedging its bets with the Swift 14 AI — offering both an AMD Ryzen AI 300 series version in Q3, and an Intel Lunar Lake model in Q4.
Both will get the full benefits of Copilot+ PCs, thanks to the capable NPUs, and we with the nice little addition of a light up logo whenever that NPU is in use. It's a good visual manifestation of when that super smart part of the chip is engaged.
Granite Ridge looks set to demolish Intel's desktop CPUs
The AMD Ryzen 9950X CPU has been touted the "world's most powerful desktop processor," and based on numbers, I think you should start looking for these in PCs.
According to the company's data, there are huge claimed performance increases over Intel Core i9-14900K — including a 56% improvement in Blender performance, and a 23% increase in frame rate for Horizon Zero Dawn.
This Custom PC build is WILD
No other words needed. This is a PC built into a wooden case with a serious steampunk vibe. It looks like the kind of computer for someone who owns a vast library that smells like rich mahogany.
Gentlemen, start your engines.
This right here is the MSI Stealth 18 Mercedes-AMG Motorsport laptop and it'll set you back a cool $3,899.
For that price, you get a mouth-watering racing aesthetic and a whopping 18-inch UHD OLED panel at a 16:10 aspect ratio. There's the RTX 4080 GPU and up to 96GB of RAM, making sure the action on the 120Hz refresh rate display is buttery smooth.
But for all that shine, the laptop misses pole position on our gaming grid for a pretty simple reason. You can check out our Computex 2024 hands on review to find out what it is.
U can't touch this
Can't help but appreciate a little gimmick when we see one. Sticking with laptop territory this is the Acer Swift 14 AI that boasts a light-up indicator on the touchpad whenever the machine's NPU (the specialized chip that's designed specifically for executing machine learning algorithms) is in use.
The rest of the laptop is a pretty standard fare, it'll be coming with the option of either an AMD Ryzen AI 300 or Intel Lunar Lake main processor when it launches.
“stay hungry, stay foolish”
The AceMagic Z1A is an intriguing a flip-out dual-screen laptop. Once you've opened the lid, a second 14-inch, Full HD display folds out like a book. It also goes all the way around to the back of the lid. Which could be useful if, for example, you're giving a business presentation.
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It was also designed by someone who clearly has a soft spot for Apple's late co-founder, Steve Jobs. Resting just atop the keyboard is a small gold inlay with Jobs' famous quote "stay hungry, stay foolish" etched on it.
MSI's new "AI monitor" for gamers
PC gamers looking for the next hardware innovation may want to take note of this AI monitor from MSI.
It's called the MSI MEG 321URX QD-OLED and is a 31.5-inch 3840 x 2160 panel that "utilizes AI technology to automatically detect the enemy's position and display it on the screen".
There's also a lightbar at the bottom that can represent things like in-game health, stamina or ammo. It currently works with Monster Hunter for now but MSI says compatibility with more games is on the way.
Color us interested...
7 cool gadgets we saw during Computex 2024 Day 4
Day 4 of Computex 2024 is nearly over in Taiwan, and our team at the show saw some incredible sights. You can get a curated roundup of all of them in our rundown of Computex 2024 Day 4 — 7 incredible gadgets you need to see at the show.
I'm personally a fan of the Sentinel Cypher custom PC (pictured above) on display at the show because it's a killer custom PC build packing the latest AMD and Intel chips, and I'm a sucker for a weatherbeaten PC. But there's even more to see in our full story, including a visit by Taiwanese President Lai Ching Te gracing the MSI Claw booth to check out the new MSI Claw 8 AI Plus!
Cougar put a turntable inside a gaming PC
It's after midnight in Taiwan, but here in the States we're still learning new details about the cutting-edge gadgets on the Computex 2024 show floor.
Case in point: I just found out that Cougar's FV270 gaming PC case, which we've written about this week thanks to its spacious glass window, actually has a turntable inside!
If you look at the picture of the case above, you'll see a Wolverine figure ensconced in the FV270's spacious glass-clad interior. As it turns out, folks on the show floor have been treated to a revolving showcase of Wolvie's best sides as he's standing on an RGB-lit turntable inside the case! This adds a another fun twist to this case, typical of the kind of outlandish stuff we've seen on the show floor at Computex 2024.
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Change the image on this laptop lid with the push of a button
One of the cooler things we got at Computex 2024 was a tour of Asus' HQ, where we got a chance to get up close and personal with the company's new Project Dali prototypes.
These proof-of-concept laptops have an e-ink screen on the lid that can display images in up to six colors, and you can upload your own, choose them from a selection of included designs or ask an AI to generate one for you.
It's a neat idea that makes laptops seem a lot more customizable, which is neat. When or if we'll ever see this technology appear in laptops you can actually buy is an open question—but the tech looks so cool it's hard to imagine Asus won't bring it to market.
Is this the year PC gaming handhelds become ubiquitous?
As we wind down Computex 2024 we've seen a ton of new gadgets all week, but I can't stop thinking about the MSI Claw 8 AI Plus.
Sure, the bigger battery and upgrade to new Intel Lunar Lake CPUs are reason enough to get excited, but really it's the bigger screen I care about. As someone with ungainly big mitts for hands I crave a big, beautiful gaming handheld that won't cause my hands to cramp up during extended gaming sessions, and I'm hoping the Claw 8 AI Plus could be it!
Antivirus makers are gearing up to fight against AI attacks
Turns out that Trend Micro is teaming up with Intel for new AI security solutions that include plans to release some of the first security toolsets specifically designed to fight attacks on AI applications.
This is a new vulnerability most of us haven't had to think about yet, but when and if we're running "AI" apps on our PCs locally (that is, no Internet connection required), it's possible the language models and other tech which drives the AI could be poisoned by bad guys.
Enter Trend Micro, who is at Computex 2024 talking up how it plans to partner with Intel to release "AI security solutions" in late 2024 that will help protect you against these new threats. Will it be up to snuff? We'll find out soon!
Hands-on video with Asus' eye-catching Project Dali laptops
Our team at Computex 2024 have an ace videographer with them shooting all sorts of stuff on the show floor, and now we can share some of those videos with you!
In the above video our own Anthony Spadafora goes hands-on with the new Project Dali proof-of-concept laptops that Asus brought to the show, and you can see how cool and vibrant the customizable e-ink screens on these laptops' lids look in motion.
Is this the ideal gaming handheld? Hands-on with the Asus ROG Ally X
Lots of people are excited about Asus' latest gaming handheld, including our own Dave Meikleham, who thinks the ROG Ally X has the potential to be the new king of handheld PCs.
You can see what he means for yourself now that our team at Computex 2024 has published their hands-on video, which is embedded above. While it's not the Ally 2, the X offers some compelling upgrades for its $799 asking price, including more RAM, a battery that’s twice as large and more storage. Check out the video to see how it looks in action!
The final day is here
Day four of Computex is kicking off, and I'm busy trying to beat the lap time challenge testing Themaltake's GR500 sim cockpit.
As you may know, I'm quite the sim racing addict. There's not a press show that goes by where I don't sniff out a setup to drive and dominate. I even went to Paris to test Revosim's prototype recently!
Hands-on with the coolest desktop at Computex!
We've seen PC cases with screens in before, but the MSI MEG Vision X AI builds in this tech with the latest and greatest hardware, and it's super user-friendly too!
The entire home screen is customizable with widgets and icons to open key apps or tweak power settings, or you can drag windows over to it to use almost like a second monitor. Anthony Spadafora took it for a spin and fell in love.
Blast off
Besides AI laptops, PC gaming handhelds and racing SIM rigs, we've also seen loads of different mini PCs here in Taipei at Computex. As a big fan of the best mini PCs myself, it's been great to have the chance to go up close and personal with all of these little computers.
Though most mini PCs are rectangular in shape, AceMagic is doing something entirely new with its M2A Starship mini gaming PC. It looks like it could blast off your desk and head right into outer space but there's another reason for this. By adding starship-style wings on either end, AceMagic was able to put four fans and seven heat pipes into this case. This helps bring cool air into the case while cooling down all of the components. Since the M2A can be outfitted with up to a Nvidia 3080 mobile GPU, all of that extra cooling will really come in handy.
As this is a gaming PC after all, there's a small display on the front that shows you real-time stats for your GPU and CPU temps along with your current power consumption, memory usage and fan speeds. If that wasn't enough, there's also a small projector directly underneath that shows the AceMagic logo on your desk. The company hasn't skimped on ports either and on the back, there are six USB-A ports, two Ethernet ports, two HDMI ports, a DisplayPort, a headphone jack and a USB-C port for power instead of a barrel-style connector.
Gaming PCs can often make a statement in addition to providing more powerful performance but normally, you need to build your own to have one that stands out like this. I can't wait to get the M2A in for testing and put it through the paces when I get back home.
I'm no Superman? Stable Diffusion and RTX seems to disagree
When it comes to AI Image Generation, ComfyUI is one of the most-used apps for Stable Diffusion, and Nvidia has partnered up with them to speed up the process using its RTX 40-series GPUs — making it vastly faster than even the M3 Max MacBook Pro.
Through ComfyUI, you can issue a prompt to start creating, add in stock photos to give it inspiration of a pose, and even insert a picture of yourself to be the subject. And with InstantID, you can keep re-generating images while keeping your unique features.
As you can see, Nvidia turned me into a superhero for the day with ComfyUI!
You get what you pay for
You remember that old phrase "you get what you pay for"? Well, let's introduce you to the EmdoorVR AppleCore AX162. This is an Apple Vision Pro "competitor" with a $308 price tag — making it $3,191 cheaper than Apple's spatial computer. And, as you'd expect; it's crap.
We tested it out on the show floor and it's laughably bad. It uses Android 8.1 running on Qualcomm’s low cost SXR1130 to offer a mockup of VisionOS — where the Safari icon launches Firefox. It's uncomfortable, cheaply made and worth neither your time nor your money. We suffered with it so you don't have to.
A first look at the XPG Nia
The handheld PC gaming space is quickly becoming crowded, but this new device from Adata — named the XPG Nia — has a few unique features. Both the RAM and storage are upgradeable, meaning you can feasibly get 2TB of storage into this little fella. Next up, the screen tilts forward which acts to boost the system cooling as well as giving you a different way to play.
It comes packing Windows 11 and an AMD Phoenix APU. And I especially like the funky purple accents on the colorway. We'll be looking to get one of these into TG Towers as soon as possible for a full review.
Project Dali will make your laptop truly unique
How cool is this?? If you don't fancy covering your laptop lid in stickers to make it stand out, what about an e-ink screen? That's exactly what Asus has done with its new Project Dali concept.
The 12-inch e-ink screen can show off patterns and designs utilizing up to six colors. There are plenty of curated designs from Asus, but you can also upload your own photos or images. Alternatively, you can use AI to generate a one-of-a-kind image.
Tom's Guide Editor Anthony Spadafora tracked it down on the show floor for a hands-on experience with Project Dali. And it's fair to say: we wish this makes it out of the concept stage into an actual product.
The future of computing?
We've already touched on the MEG Vision X AI at Computex, but here's a closer look at the 1080 x 1920 touch screen that covers the entire front of the desktop. It's not just an additional display, but a convenient dashboard that'll show you the status of your machine as well as quick launch apps.
Unfortunately, we don't yet know the pricing of this mighty beast, but MSI tells us its expected to launch at the end of this year or early next year. When it does, it'll come loaded with the latest Intel chip and a top-of-the-line Nvidia GPU.
A new challenger enters the PC gaming handheld fight
We're finishing out the final day of Computex 2024 in Taiwan, but there's still lots to see and do at the show.
Our team on the ground just published a great list of 6 amazing gadgets you need to see, and the one that caught my eye is Adata's new XPG NIA gaming handheld. Something about that slick black and purple color scheme reminds me of nothing so much as playing a purple GameCube while swigging Mountain Dew Pitch Black with your mates.
Whatever that is, it's a vibe, and the XPG NIA backs it up with a slick tilting screen (that also activates a cooling boost) as well as memory upgradable up to 64GB and up to 2TB in storage. Plus, it's apparently powered by a new AMD Phoenix APU and has a front-facing camera that's capable of eye-tracking, or of live-streaming you as you play the latest games.
I'm not sure all those tricks will help Adata's new handheld sell as well as the Steam Deck, but it certainly has me intrigued!
This laptop went to space and back
Hey, there's a laptop at Computex that's been to space and back!
I'm talking of course about the Asus P6300, which as you can see from the picture above is encased in glass at Computex 2024. The laptop was successfully used by cosmonauts in space for 600 days roughly 26 years ago, and now it's here in a hallowed case on the floor at Computex. Cool!
I can't stop giggling at the AppleCore
There's more gadgets and gizmos on display at Computex 2024 than any one person could ever hope to see in one visit, which is why I'm glad our own Jason England made time to quickly check out the new AppleCore AX162 headset from EmdoorVR.
Look a little familiar? This Apple Vision Pro knock-off runs on an outdated version of Android and can't deliver the horsepower to compete with Apple's headset or many others, but at least it's a tenth the price (starting at just over $300) and has decent screens inside.
This was clearly the Computex of AI
Computex is basically over for the week, but we're still writing up stories and our team in Taiwan will stay out there through the weekend to enjoy themselves and explore the local sights (including maybe a tech market or two?)
One thing that sticks with me is the push for AI in everything. There are a lot of unknowns about how various tech companies will implement it, but there's also a lot of intriguing possibilities.
In our recent chat with AMD Senior Technical Marketing Manager Donny Woligroski, for example, he painted a picture of a near future where laptops with AI-capable chips inside (like AMD's Ryzen AI 300, pictured above in our own Jason England's hand) will be able to do complex tasks based on natural language prompts.
"The most exciting thing about this whole thing is that 10 years ago, if you watched the Star Trek episode, where Captain Picard talked to a computer and says 'postulate this thing for me,' and it did, that was pure fantasy!" Woligroski said.
But with the promise of highly capable AI assistants in the near future, Woligroski said we may soon be able to just ask our PCs to do things, and more often than not they'll do it. "The idea would be to ask the laptop 'please could you project wirelessly to my television that's in front of me?' And it would do it."
Sounds like the future to me!
Show's over, but we've still got more to come!
Computex 2024 is over and the show floor is closing, but we're not finished yet!
The vendors may be heading home for well-earned rest, but Tom's Guide is still on the ground here in Taipei looking for the coolest tech in Taiwan. We'll be back with what we find tomorrow.
Here are our picks for the best of Computex!
We saw so much at Computex 2024, but we’ve managed to narrow down the list of over a hundred gadgets we tested down to 11.
From huge AI innovations to the best gaming handheld in the show and everything else in between, here is the greatest of Computex 2024!
