CES 2009 Predictions

It's that time of year again: the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), held in Las Vegas, officially kicks off next week. The NotebookReview.com staff, along with our colleagues from DesktopReview.com, TabletPCReview.com, Brighthand.com, DigitalCameraReview.com, and PrinterComparison.com, will be flying out to Vegas next week to check out the latest buzz from the world of electronics.

We'll be visiting with all of the major notebook and notebook accessory manufacturers to preview new models and learn about what's coming down the road in the near future. Expect a barrage of new notebook and accessory reviews in the coming weeks as soon as we can get our hands on review units. Hopefully we'll get a chance to sample some of the newest notebook toys at the show as well. What can you expect to see? Well, here are a few of our predictions ...

Less To See On The Show Floor

With the global economy continuing to spiral downward, we've already seen consumers spending less on high-priced electronics. Full-featured notebook sales have been pretty weak in 2008 and low-priced netbook sales were surprisingly strong this year. All this translates into weak 2009 consumer spending projections ... and less to see on the show floor in 2009. Per the last booth layout map we checked out, it looks like some manufacturers who used to buy up entire corners of a hall at CES will be running more modest operations this year. And major notebook manufacturers have almost completely abandoned the show floor, taking up residence at one of the nearby hotels for face-to-face meetings with the press. Sure, it's a safe bet there will still be plenty to see on the show floor, but the big news and product releases will probably happen in private meeting rooms and hotel suites this year.

Netbooks and "Affordable Luxury" in 2009

With sub-par profit numbers in the second half of 2008, the development of high-priced notebooks is going to take a back seat to budget-priced netbooks and "affordable luxury" notebooks (expect to see thin and light notebooks similar to a MacBook Air but more useful than a netbook and priced well below $1,000). Traditional full-featured notebooks will continue to be around, but the emphasis in 2009 will be on "customized" notebooks that not only look cool but look unique to fit the personalities of a variety of owners. You won't see as much emphasis on new high-performance processors or cutting-edge graphics that can play Crysis at 150 frames per second because consumers don't really need that level of performance and (more importantly) they won't be able to afford it in 2009.

Looking at past years, it's safe to assume that we'll be hearing something in terms of new notebooks from HP, Dell, ASUS, Sony, Toshiba, and others. However, this year CES will likely have a few surprises from companies we don't normally associate with laptops here in the US ... namely Samsung and LG. The wild cards will be the smaller companies coming out with more netbooks. We saw dozens of companies selling netbooks with 8.9" or 10" screens for $500 or less in 2008 and we can expect to see more of that in 2009 ... with some new technology aimed specifically at netbooks.

Keep Checking In With Us

We'll be kicking off our in-depth CES coverage (including full reviews of new notebooks) during the first full week of January, so stay tuned for that. In the meantime, we'd like to hear from you: what would you like to see come out of this year's CES? What rumors seem most reasonable, or most outlandish? Talk back in our discussion forum!

 

On the Desktop side of things I think we are going to see the AM2+ version of the Phemon II

 

This is probably when they will announce the DV6 officially I'm thinking...

 

give me a cheap sager

 

Asus will be showing off new 8.9" and 10" netbooks and tablets, and killing the 7" models:

http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10970&Itemid=1
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10968&Itemid=1
http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10969&Itemid=1

And Dell will finally announce the Studio XPS laptops.

 

I'm most interested in AMD and the notebook sector this year. Lack of a modern (mid-range) mobile CPU offering, lower performance, lower power efficiency, and generally unenthusiastic perceptions have left Intel in charge of the entire notebook/netbook CPU market. I always have a soft spot for the underdog, so I am really hoping to see some sort of Phenom II (dual/tri core version) mobile offering, in addition to ATI 4000 series mobile GPUs.

Seriously, isn't anyone else getting tired of the extreme domination Intel and Nvidia have in notebooks lately? If AMD were able to kick things up a notch, we'd be seeing significant price drops in mobile CPUs and high-end mobile GPUs, exactly what we need when people are less willing to spend on fully featured notebooks.

Sure, it's great that at the low end AMD still competes with Intel, but instead of having low end = AMD and everything else = Intel, I want to see AMD and Intel competing at every price point, driving down prices EVERYWHERE and providing alternate options for every performance segment.

I'm very excited for next year!

(Oh, and to a lesser extent, I'm interested in SSDs, but those wont hit price/performance/capacity ratios of HDDs until late next year and into 2010)

 

I agree, the market should be more competitive with AMD and ATI being more major players, but personally I think I'll be sticking with Intel and nVidia for quite a while ... I've never had a computer without an Intel CPU and the graphics I've had were all Intel or nVidia.

 

I agree AMD needs to step up a bit. once AM3 is released with a >3Ghz PhenomII and I have the ability to overclock a decent amount(Say 3.8Ghz?) then I will dump intel on my Desktop.

 

From what I've seen/heard on other forums and in the news, they'll be putting out a 3GHz model at release, which should be able to clock near(+-) to 4GHz on air. (How about 6+GHz for LN2?)

 

MSI said they might have a touch screen Wind at CES.

 

hmmm... I think were are just waiting on AM3 then right? lol common AMD you can do it!
little off topic but look at this: http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=79635
I don't know how accurate this is but if true = awesome!

 

Man, I really don't get the hype with netbook.
We want more advanced notebooks, not some kids' toys.

 

Yeah I don't entirely understand the hype either but if all you are looking to do is browse the internet on a portable device then a netbook is your best option. Hence the name 'netbook', I assume.

 

Hopefully good stuff from Dell. They haven't really impressed me lately.

 

The sony "netbook" and of course the new Dell Adamo, possibly an introduction with sales at the end of january.

 

Sounds like it will be a great show all around! Electronic *gadgets* galore.

Can't wait to see what Dell has to offer!

Cin.

 

It easy enough to understand if you can realize that the majority of computer users wouldn't make use of the features of a more advanced notebook and really only need a more advanced netbook.

 

Yeah most people ONLY use computers for email/word processing and internet. Doesn't take a whole lot to do that so they want it small and cheap.

I WANT ATI XGP!!!

 

I think we will see Samsung and Asus 12" netbooks, Sony P and R series and Dell XPS 1340 and 1640.

 

Most of the easy and safe predictions have been made already so Im gunna go out further on the limb and say:

-the business version of HP's Mini-Note 1000 (i.e. the new Mini-Note 2133)
-refreshes on Lenovo Ideapads using ATI Mobility Radeon 4xxx series


What I'd like to see (but don't expect to see) are some releases from overseas:

-Raon Digital Everun Note D60H (AMD Turion 64 x2 netbook)
-Lenovo IdeaPad U8 (MID released in Asia during the summer olympics)
-Fujitsu's Amilo line (external ATI GPU box)

 

I'm waiting for some fresh news about the Core i7 in laptops.

 

That would be great to see some more news about the new platform. Though I am not sure how much Intel can provide with the release date being Q3. Hopefully enough though.

 

aside from any new sony laptops as mentioned previously by others and my own post, I am looking forwards to some OLED tvs, prototypes or production models. Also the new sony walkman and any camcorders from canon and sony.

I doubt any info on i7 for laptops? perhaps a prototype or just some info? I'd guess any i7 info being release later on, maybe spring or early summer?

 

Like the Asus S121?

 

Am hoping to see info on......

-dv6t/z
-sony machine (netbook?)
-studio XPS
-ATI's XGP (got my start with notebooks & gaming on a laptop with ATI integrated graphics)

 

Another vote for more ATI *anything*.

Honestly, despite ATI's recent competitive performance revival, I'd like to see them cut themselves free of AMD into a free standing autonomous corp entity, as they were prior to their acquisition. That way they could more easily partner with AMD or Intel, giving us more CPU/GPU combination and platform varieties.

 

Just wanted to say I hope that they announce new cheaper Bluray players...profile 2.0!

And I'd like to give big props to Notebook Review for the new website layout and look. It looks very nice!

 

Amen to that........some kind of AMD/nVidia or Intel/ATI offering would be welcome news

 

.

 

Yes. I'm expecting a cheaper version as well, Asus 1200ha, but not now.

Samsung NC20 may be on CES as well.

 

I am waiting for some decent netbooks and new Clevo monsters

 

Decent netbooks won't be out until atleast June according to nVidia. ;]

 

I am too excited for CES : http://www.betanews.com/article/CES...ebooks_from_under_500_to_over_5000/1230738429

 

I think companies are going to make a bunch of mistakes and try to roll out beefed up netbooks that defeat the purpose of the formfactor. Feature creep on netbooks should be in the form of giving them better battery life and making them sleeker, and maybe creeping up the CPUs to low voltage dual cores. But people shouldn't look to netbooks for graphics.

 

No need for low voltage dual cores, dual core Atoms on next gen Pineview platform are coming this fall.

 

Better intergrated graphics means higher screen resolutions, HD video playback, HDMI connections, improved 3D performance for apps such as a GPS program or websites such as Google Earth.

Graphics are important for more than just games.

Not to say that extended battery life shouldn't be worked on but the graphics restrictions put on netbooks has been ridiculous. There were already better integrated graphics options available than the 950GMA before the Atom was released.

 

I agree with you, but I'm just concerned that nVidia and others will try and force too much into netbooks and sort of break them for a while. Also, I really don't think HD video is for a netbook. I'd leave that to the real graphics cards and the high res monitors. Same with HDMI.

 

I'm hoping for a new form factor from anybody: a 16:9 aspect in between 13.1" and 16". hopefully somewhere right around 14.4, and around 5 pounds

 

Hp 2134 netbook might be shown off

 

Makes sense that HP would release the pro-Mininote at CES.

I'm going to guess Aluminum, SSD, and wireless broadband with the rest the same as Mininote 1000.

 

not in the eee line tho...something media-centric, like an hp-hdx or a sony (would make the most sense, they've been leading the trend to 16:9)

 

You can play War of Warcraft on some of the Netbooks..

 

Nano-powered "FreeStyle" netbook

 

Sadly the VX800 chipset uses the same crap Chrome9 integrated graphics as the HP Mini-Note 2133.

Want Chrome 400 series chipsets.

 

HP 2140 is almost here
More on it
Demo

New H-P DV2, DV3 laptops

 

http://www.techdigest.tv/2009/01/ces_2009_asus_p.html
http://www.pcworld.com/article/156448/asus_hits_ces_with_new_netbooks_laptops.html
http://blog.laptopmag.com/asus-pulls-the-wraps-off-its-touchscreen-gps-enabled-eee-pc-t91


Asus's second-sexiest model, the S121, technically isn't a netbook. Nor is it a further refinement of the already-refined N10Jc, according to Asus. The less-than-an-inch-thick metallic frame with leather trim houses a machine that attempts to fill the void between netbook and notebook. While the S121 does have an Atom processor, nobody will mistake it for a budget box after a look at its 12.1-inch, LED, active-matrix TFT, 1280-by-800-pixel display (presented with edge-to-edge glass) and its roomy 128GB solid-state drive.

Gone are the days of the cheap, toylike netbooks that adult hands could barely use. Whereas the N10Jc impressed with its long battery life and solid performance among the netbook set, the S121, Asus claims, can survive upward of 10 hours on an internal and external battery working together. Now that's a smart idea; I'd like being able to swap out external batteries on the fly during writing marathons.

The S121 could be a great, lightweight (about 2.6 pounds), road-ready companion. But it will be facing a lot of stiff competition in the coming year, from, say, the surfacing of a new tweener class of portables using everything from nVidia's Ion platform to Via Nano processors and whatever else AMD has to show off. Just keep checking back this week for our complete coverage of CES 2009 to see what I'm talking about.

The other big laptop coming from Asus's stables is the only one clinging to the Eee name: the Eee PC T91 Tablet. Think of it as a touch-screen variant of the 8.9-inch, 901-series models that broke out on the scene in 2008. This hybrid netbook operates the same way as full-blown convertible laptops do, offering a screen capable of rotating 180 degrees. The T91 will offer built-in GPS functionality, a TV tuner, and an FM transmitter. It has the potential to be one well-rounded, affordable, portable entertainer.

http://translate.google.com/transla...stek-eeepc-900-le-test-partie-1-presentation/

Thats a 1.33GHz Atom: Details on the Atom Z520

Real life photos!