Goodbye Las Vegas, until next year. We have just recently returned form CES, and although this is not the last article we will write about this year’s show, it is the first one we have written back in our offices. The last article we wrote about CES dealt with some of the more interesting products on display during the tradeshows. We also took a look at the upcoming technology of OLED displays. This article will deal with a number of topics. We will take a look at solid state drives, ultra mobile PCs, notebooks, and wireless music products. Our next and last article about CES will discuss the cell phones that various manufacturers were showing at CES 2007.

There weren’t many major PC related announcements this year, although there were a couple of notable products being exhibited. Consumer technology companies, on the other hand, had a flurry of products to show off in their booths. Many of these consumer electronic devices were related to the “convergence” of the PC into the living room. There was a good reason for why many manufacturers heavily focused on this rising technology. With Windows Vista about to be released, the new features integrated in the OS will allow for the transition to be made with much more ease.

Despite the lack of any major product announcements, this 40th International Consumer Electronics Show was still a satisfying experience. Although many PC manufacturers reserve their major product and technology announcements for more computer focused tradeshows, the experience was still positive and interesting. It will hopefully get better with each passing year.

Sandisk, American Producer of Memory and portable multimedia products, was displaying a number of its products at CES. Sandisk has been able to steadily increase its MP3 player marketshare, although still much lower compared to Apple’s, primarily thanks to good price/quality. Although there were various MP3 player models being displayed, the most noteworthy MP3 player was the Sansa Connect. The Sansa Connect features a microSD slot and a 2.2-inch color display. Its centerpiece feature, though, is its WiFi capabilities which allows users to purchase songs from specific music websites along with playing streaming Internet radio.

Sandisk also presented its Extreme III 16GB CompactFlash Card to us. At 16 GB, the card is designed exclusively for high-end professional photographers. Its price, which is around $500, only emphasizes the market segment it is meant at. The product is able to work at extreme conditions (-13 to +185 degrees Fahrenheit) and comes with RescuePRO data recovery software so lost photos can be recovered in case of an accident.

Sandisk has also developed a 32 GB solid state disk, which will directly compete with Samsung’s disk which has the exact same capacity. The SSD will be sold by Sandisk directly to notebook and portable multimedia player manufacturers. Although we hope to see solid state disks enter the mainstream soon, pricing still needs to drop in order to achieve those results. More manufacturers competing with each other should help pricing to be more competitive.

Creative

Creative’s large stand this year at CES was able to accommodate pretty much its whole product line. A lot of their latest products were on display, all in different colors. The Creative Xdock Wireless was one of the more interesting products in their booth. The Xdock supports the iPod along with the Creative Zen.

There are a number of uses for this product. Besides charging batteries, it is able to output video and photos stored on the iPod/Zen to a TV screen via S-Video or composite video connectors. It is based on X-Fi Crystalizer and X-Fi CMSS-3D Technologies. X-Fi Crystalizer analyzes the music’s algorithms and upconverts the quality while CMSS-3D creates virtual surround sound through speakers or headphones.

The most important characteristic of the product is the ability to use up to four Creative X-Fi Wireless Receivers independently for wireless music throughout the house. Each wireless receiver can be controlled using its remote control which comes packaged with the product. Volume can be adjusted independently for each receiver along with enabling Xi-Fi Crystalizer and CMSS-3D.

Creative will also be releasing their Xmod Wireless very soon. It has the same exact functionality as the Xdock, except it uses the audio of PCs and notebooks as the source instead of an iPod. The Xmod Wireless is also able to stream music wirelessly at Xtreme Fidelity.

Announced a little while back, we were able to try out Creative’s Xmod Sound Module (not to be confused with the Xmod Wireless). The Xmod Sound Module takes the audio of PCs and notebooks and applies CMSS-3D along with Xi-Fi Crystalizer to it. It can also be used with other sources including consoles and portable media players.

MSI had a flurry of its notebook computers on display in its booth at CES. The M677 model, which is in the above photograph, has a 15.4-inch display with a native resolution of 1280x800. It is based on an AMD Turion 64 X2 processor with an NVIDIA C51MV chipset. The graphics are handled by an NVIDIA GeForce Go 7600 GPU. A DVD+RW/+R super combo drive with Lightscribe technology is also built in.

The MSI GX700 notebook PC is a desktop replacement notebook characterized by its large 17-inch display, which has been designed to reduce glare and supports resolutions of WSXGA+ (1680x1050) or WXGA (1440x900). The MSI GX701 notebook is similar to the GX700, except that it is based on an AMD Turion chip. Both models use different video solutions that as of yet have not been officially announced. The GX700 uses the NVIDIA NB8P GPU and the GX701 use the ATI X260 GPU.

MSI also updated its Crystal Collection Series with the S300 model. The notebook features a Core 2 Duo T7200 based on the Intel 945 chipset. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 memory and features a 120 GB SATA HD. The laptop, like the other MSI ones we looked at, is also Vista compatible.

MSI also updated its Crystal Collection Series with the S300 model. The notebook features a Core 2 Duo T7200 based on the Intel 945 chipset. It comes with 1 GB of DDR2 memory and features a 120 GB SATA HD. The laptop, like the other MSI ones we looked at, is also Vista compatible.

The photo displays the stereo system of the S300, which was discussed in the previous page. The speakers are positioned lateral to the display’s hinges. MSI has always been able to set itself apart from other Taiwanese manufacturers, many of whom tend to create products that are simply clones of each other. MSI solutions are usually aesthetically unique and look pretty slick. In the case of the S300, the MSI ring on the notebook lid is made of 120 pieces of “genuine SWAROVSKI crystal.”

MSI also has a range of portable digital TV products. The particular model in the photo is able to receive DVB-T (Digital Broadcast-Terrestrial Video) transmissions and can also double up as a media player. The device has a 4.2-inch display at a resolution of 320x240. It also comes with a built-in SD/MMC slot and an external antenna connector. MSI guarantees that the product is able to receive transmissions at up to 75 mi/h.

MSI was also displaying its AMD Live! certified multimedia systems. They are available in two versions, the only difference being changes in design. Both use GeForce 6150LE graphics, the nForce 430 chipset, and AMD Athlon 64 X2 processors.

Thanks to Windows Vista’s new authentication features, many manufacturers have realized that they are able to take advantage of the new software support built in the OS. Transcend is one of these manufacturers. Its new line of USB disk drives are integrated with a fingerprint scanner. This feature allows users to have the drive require the proper fingerprint before allowing data stored on the drive to be viewed. The drive can then become a safe place to store passwords, tax information, and other sensitive data.

Similar to many other flash memory manufacturers, Transcend also has a line of MP3 players. Its T.sonic 920 comes equipped with a 1.5-inch OLED display which has a resolution of 128x128 pixels. The music player supports MP3, Wav, and WMA. The capacity can either be 2 GB or 4 GB depending on the model bought.

Transcend informed us that it will soon be releasing a 16 GB compact flash card. The new product will be introduced at what we were told would be a competitive price.

From their PSU line of products that Tagan will be introducing, its TurboJet Plus (on the right in the photo) series will provide either 900 Watts or 1100 Watts of power. The heavy duty PSUs will be well suited for workstation PCs and computers equipped with the latest generation of video cards multi-GPU mode.

In collaboration with Tagan, Icy Box has introduced a series of HD enclosures. In the above photo we can see the IB-360. The enclosure supports hotswapping SATA disks and comes with USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 ports.

Icy Box has also introduced a product which allows installing/swapping hard drives without having to open the computer chassis. The SATA connectors are particularly flexible preventing accidental damage of them during installation.

Icy Box also has external hard drive enclosures which can be inserted into a PC. We were shown at the booth one of these external enclosures being slid into a special bay already installed in the chassis.

The Sony booth had on display the Sony E-Book Reader. The screen is relatively simple and is only black and white, but as an e-book reader the display serves the product’s function well.

We took photos of the reader’s display at an extreme angle to show its excellent viewing range. It allows users to view in different conditions, such as lying down or having it placed at an odd angle in an airplane. The display has been developed using an anti-reflective technique which allows it to be viewed in bright conditions.

As is evident in the photo, the product is relatively the size of a regular book. The only difference is that it is much thinner.

The Mylo, which was also on display, can surf the web, via an Opera browser, and check mail. It can also be used with Google Talk and Yahoo Messenger. Most importantly, the Mylo can be used to make VoIP calls using Skype. It also is a multimedia player and supports MP3, ATRAC, WMA, and MPEG4.

The device is pretty small and can be easily carried. It also comes with a slideback QWERTY keyboard which facilitates writing email/navigation/browsing/etc.

Toshiba has always given special attention to the development of fuel cell batteries – in particular DMFC (Direct Methanol Fuel Cell) batteries. At CES the company displayed the possibilities of DMFC batteries and how the potential of the technology. DMFC batteries can be much smaller and last much longer. In the above photo we see a DMFC battery meant for notebook PCs.

Also shown was a DMFC battery used to power a wireless Bluetooth headset.

Although UMPCs initially had a shaky start, they have gotten better with time. The Sony VaioVGN-UX380N and VGN-UX390N are the names of two new Ultra Mobile PCs by Sony. They incorporate many of the technologies of common notebook PCs.

The models are quite small and portable, though we highly doubt they will actually be able to fit in any normal pocket—unless you of course are a fan of cargo pants. They also look pretty impressive, in our opinion at least. The model we previewed features a sliding screen under which Sony has placed a complete keyboard. The UX series of UMPCs have existed for quite some time, but these new models are top of the range thanks to new hardware. The VGN-UX390N will use a 32 GB solid state disk while the VGN-UX380N will use a 40 GB SSD.

These new models use an Intel Core Solo U1500 processor and1GB of 400MHz DDR 2 SDRAM. In addition, they will have a resolution of 800x600 and have an integrated camera. The display is a 4.5in, 1,204 x 600 touchscreen and is powered by the Intel GMA950 integrated graphics core. The machine is based on the Intel 945GMS chipset.

A docking station is also available with the product. The UMPCs come with built-in Bluetooth and WiFi. The major downpoint of the product is the pricetage, which is a pretty expensive 2,500 USD. With some of the latest hardware being incorporated into the device, there is little more we can expect. The new UMPCs are expected to begin shipping in February.