OPINION : The processing giants are now on top of the tech world relegating calculator manufacturers to second charge . Times are changing , and it makes tech a little less fun and interesting as a result .
Traditionally speaking theConsumer Electronics Showhas been about the coolest stuff you may bribe during the coming year , the stuff you might be able to purchase five years from now , and the immensely cool and way-out stuff that ’s so ‘ out there ’ you ’ll never be able-bodied to grease one’s palms .
It has often been manifested through the biggest and most bodacious tv with creative thinker - blowing video display technology that ’ll power the way we view in the future . Or , significant home engineering advance that turned our gadget - fill homes intosmartgadget - fill homes .
The companies , who plastered their name across the front of these contrivance got all the citation . The companies that made the experience possible through processing onward motion took a back seat as simple element suppliers ; gaining very small limelight . perchance a spot on stage during the tonic to talk about the swot stuff behind the new features ? But the top charge on the entire show ? No chance .
That has n’t not been the case for a while , but at CES 2025 it felt we entered a Modern era of the atomic number 14 makers exact the calcium light . The likes of Nvidia , AMD , Qualcomm and Intel ’s announcements garner far more anticipation reporting than the actual PC makers who bring that technical school to life .
party like Samsung , Acer , Lenovo are no longer the most crucial contributors to the laptops we bribe , for instance . They ’re bare facilitator for the silicon manufacturer powering the novel experience coming to the bow .
Displays are crucial , battery life is important , build caliber and aim are significant , but performance now crown all . And that ’s reflected in the pedigree market note value of companies likeNvidia , whose GeForce RTX 5090GPU was the standout superstar of CES .
Meanwhile , Qualcomm’sSnapdragon X announcementmeans you ’re going to get unbelievable AI performance in a $ 600 Windows laptop . Who that laptop is made by is junior-grade to that .
A lot of this can be attributed to AI . If , as a manufacturing business , you ’re go to publicize that your gadget is adequate to of these incredible feats of reckoning on the gadget , without beam your datum to the cloud , you ’re going to require to advertize that check .
And the laptop makers who were at CES emphasize more than anything that their new products will have these fleck , like a pic studio publicizing they ’ve get Tom Cruise to asterisk .
That ’s the chief reason you ’re going to want to see the movie . And , at the moment , the A - Listers are CPU , GPU and more of late and significantly , the neuronic processing unit of measurement – the NPU .
Tech education
It ’s also a case of the tech loving public becoming more educated , knowledgeable and demanding . The gamers , for instance , seeking the ultimate in visual fidelity without sacrifice systema skeletale charge per unit and more immersive experiences brute force processing can not yet summon .
As such , benchmarking of processor is now one of the key component of any inspection here atTrusted Reviews , which has n’t always been the case in the consumer engineering press . When I started reviewing products 15 eld ago for other publications , the performance section of the critical review was based on the anecdotal experience using the merchandise .
The technical data elements were for more niche , specialist publications , but that just does n’t cut it anymore . justifiedly so . This clobber informs purchase decision among a public now valuing carrying out at ( or skinny ) the top of the inclination . The populace are now much more aware of what goes into their tech , beyond the enthusiast storey .
Give me the old fun and zany CES
From an fancier ’s perspective , this is great and overdue . From a personal linear perspective , this has take a little bit of the play out of what made the consumer electronics . I liked the sci - fi element of the show .
I care scouring the floor for a Mad Scientist - dash excogitation ; or what the brightest minds at heavy troupe had spent a loading of money on conceptualising and prototyping , even if it might never become a thing .
And that ’s kind of sad , is it not ? That stuff still be , but all the headlines are dominated by what powers the affair rather than the affair itself .
I ’m not sure there ’s any going back though . It ’s the silicon maker ’s earthly concern now , the producer are just trying to sell poppycock in it .
