8 Big CES 2022 Announcements And New Products You Might Have Missed
A wave of new CPUs and GPUs were revealed by Intel, AMD and Nvidia at CES 2022, as were several new laptops and desktops from Dell, HP, Lenovo and others that will use the new processors.
A New Generation Of Computing Unveiled At CES 2022
Chipmakers and OEMs converged at CES 2022, physically and virtually, to reveal a new generation of computing that will unleash a fresh wave of refresh opportunities for channel partners.
Among the biggest CES 2022 announcements: a cavalcade of new CPUs and GPUs from Intel, AMD and Nvidia as well as new laptops and desktops from Dell, HP Inc., Lenovo and other device makers that will use the processors to reach new heights in performance and introduce new features.
[Related: 20 Hot Consumer Electronics Products At CES Unveiled 2022]
What follows are eight big CES 2022 announcements and new products revealed at the Las Vegas convention that you might have might missed.
AMD Reveals New CPUs, GPUs For Desktops, Laptops
AMD revealed several new CPUs and GPUs hitting the market soon for desktops and laptops while also teasing a new generation of desktop CPUs that can hit 5GHz on all cores.
One of the biggest announcements was AMD’s new Ryzen 6000 mobile CPUs for gaming, thin-and-light and commercial laptops. The 6-nanometer CPUs will help power more than 200 premium laptops coming out this year, with availability starting in February. The processors sport up to eight cores and a max boost frequency of 5GHz, and most of them will come with AMD’s powerful RDNA 2 graphics architecture. They’ll also support up to 24 hours of battery life for video playback.
AMD also announced a new Ryzen 7 desktop CPU coming this spring that will provide, on average, 15 percent faster performance for gaming compared to the Ryzen 9 5900X. This performance gain is made possible by a vertical cache that is stacked on top of the CPU, appropriately called the 3-D V-Cache, which gives the CPU a total L2 and L3 cache of 100MB, much higher than the Ryzen 9 5900X’s 70MB. For this reason, AMD is calling it the “world’s fastest gaming processor.”
The chipmaker expanded its GPU offerings as well, with five new 6nm, 35-watt GPUs in its Radeon RX 6000M lineup for gaming laptops. It also introduced a new lineup, the Radeon RX 6000S series for thin and light laptops. The company announced two new mid-range graphics cards for desktops too.
Dell Reveals ‘Reinvented’ XPS 13 With Minimalist Design
Dell Technologies had only a few announcements in relation to rivals HP Inc. and Lenovo, but it spent most of its time promoting a “reinvented” version of its flagship laptop, the XPS 13.
The OEM is calling the new XPS 13 Plus its “most powerful yet,” with new features such as the zero-lattice keyboard, seamless glass touchpad and capacitive touch function row that leave “no wasted space” between the laptop’s curved edges.
Dell said this marks the first XPS 13 model to be designed with a 28-watt specification, which will make it even more powerful than predecessors while keeping the same size. The laptop measures at 0.60” thin and starts at only 2.73 pounds.
The laptop is powered by the new 12th-generation Intel Core P-series processors, with support for up to 14 cores and a maximum boost frequency of 4.8GHz. It also features Express Charge 2.0, which allows the laptop’s battery to reach 80 percent charge in less than an hour.
The XPS 13 Plus will be available in the spring starting at $1,119.
Intel Expands 12th-Gen Core Lineup, Signals New GPU Gaming Era
Intel announced a major expansion of its 12th-generation Core family, with dozens of new CPUs for laptops of different kinds and desktops. The company also teased the dozens of PCs soon hitting the market that will come with its Arc discrete GPUs.
The 12th-generation Intel Core expansion included a new H-series that includes the “the fastest mobile processor ever,” which Intel said can best AMD’s flagship H-series CPU from last year and Apple’s new M1 Max that powers the latest MacBook Pro models. The company said the 12th-generation represents its fastest ramp yet for the H-series, with more than 100 laptop designs due this year.
The company also announced two other mobile CPU lineups: the new P-series for “performance” thin-and-light laptops and the U-series for thin-and-light laptops with innovative form factors, each of which have a different mix of Performance and Efficient cores. Windows and Chrome laptops with both sets of processors will be available starting in the first quarter.
As for desktop PCs, Intel added 22 new processors to its 12th-generation Core S-series lineup, ranging from a $489 Core i9 to a $64 Pentium and $42 Celeron. The processors feature up to 16 cores, split between eight Performance cores and 8 Efficient cores, and a maximum boost frequency of 5.1GHz. Several of the processors only have Performance cores and have no Efficient cores.
On the graphics side, Intel disclosed that it has begun shipping its Arc discrete GPUs to OEMs for more than 50 laptop and desktop designs that will hit the market this year. Those designs will come from several major OEMs, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, Gigabyte, HP Inc., Lenovo, Samsung and MSI, Intel announced at its CES press conference. Intel plans to take on Nvidia and AMD with “industry-leading advanced features” such as hardware-accelerated ray tracing, an AI-driven upscaling technology called Xe Super Sampling and Intel Deep Link technology.
HP Rolls Out A Bevy Of New Laptops And Desktops
HP Inc. used CES 2022 to roll out several new laptops, desktops and monitors, including the ZBook Firefly 14 G9 workstation coming in March, the Elite Dragonfly Chromebook coming in April and the HP Envy Desktop PC coming in the spring.
One of the devices expected in March is the HP Elite Dragonfly G3. The Elite Dragonfly G3 comes with Windows 11, 12th-generation Intel Core processors and 13.5-inch clamshell design. The laptop’s features include HP Presence, four amps, HP Dynamic Voice Leveling to automate voice clarity and noise reduction that works with artificial intelligence.
Also due in March, the HP Elite x360 1040 G9 and HP EliteBook 1040 G9 are aimed at mobile workers. They have a 16:10 screen aspect ratio meant to reduce the need for scrolling, HP Presence, 5mp camera, a 940nm infrared camera and audio software for voice clarity.
The company revealed new systems with AMD’s latest Ryzen Pro CPUs too, which included the EliteBook 805 G9 Series. The laptops weigh less than 4.5 pounds and have 16-inch screens available with the goal of reducing scrolling. Other AMD-powered laptops include the EliteBook 605 Series as well as the ProBook 445 G9, ProBook 455 G9 and Pro 435 x360 G9.
Lenovo Reveals New ThinkPads And Other Devices
Lenovo revealed several new laptops, desktops and other devices at CES 2022, including the business-focused ThinkPad Z13 and Z16 that are powered by AMD’s Ryzen Pro 6000 CPUs.
Pre-loaded with Windows 11, the ThinkPad Z13 is powered by the AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 U-series processors while the ThinkPad Z16 is powered by the AMD Ryzen Pro 6000 H-series with an option for AMD Radeon discrete graphics. Both of them feature Microsoft’s Pluton security processor.
The OEM also revealed the ThinkPad X1 Carbon 10th Gen, X1 Yoga 7th Gen and X1 Nano 2nd Gen laptops, all of which are powered by Intel vPro with 12th-generation Intel Core CPUs. On the desktop side, Lenovo showed off the new ThinkCentre M90a Pro Gen 3 all-in-one as well as a redesigned, modular “tiny-in-one” called TIO Flex.
Other business devices in Lenovo’s CES showcase include the ThinkBook Plus Gen 3, 13x Gen 2, 14 Gen 4+ and 16 Gen 4+ laptops. There are also the ThinkCentre neo 70t, neo 50s and neo 30a 24 desktops. Several mice, monitors and other accessories were showed off too.
Nvidia Brings Out New ‘Monster’ And Entry-Level GPUs
Nvidia is giving gamers new expensive and affordable options for GPUs with the “monster” GeForce RTX 3090 Ti and the entry-level GeForce RTX 3050 for desktop PCs.
The chipmaker announced that the RTX 3050 will arrive on Jan. 27 starting at $249 from Nvidia’s board partners, and it will be the first 50 class GPU to enable ray tracing in games at more than 60 frames per second. The intent is to ignite a new wave of upgrades from gamers who still rely on older entry-level graphics cards, including the GeForce GTX 1050.
Nvidia said it will provide more details on the GeForce RTX 3090 Ti later this month, but for now, it said the graphics card will contain 24GB of GDDR6X running at 21 gigabits per second, making it the “fastest memory ever.” It also said the GPU will be capable of 40 teraflops for shaders, 78 teraflops for ray tracing and 320 teraflops for AI.
The company also announced two new powerful GPUs for gaming laptops: the GeForce RTX 3080 Ti and GeForce RTX 3070 Ti, which will be available in laptops starting on Feb. 1. Nvidia noted that this is the first time it is bringing the flagship 80 Ti class to laptops, and those laptops will be among the more than 160 laptop designs carrying Nvidia GPUs this year.
Qualcomm Partners With Microsoft On AR Glasses
Qualcomm announced that it will develop custom Snapdragon chip for lightweight augmented reality glasses by Microsoft. The chip will use software from both companies: Microsoft Mesh and the Qualcomm Snapdragon Spaces XR development platform.
As an example of how businesses can benefit from AR glasses, Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon (pictured) said in his press conference that technicians might use AR glasses to view a digital twin of a car before working on it. Workers can use AR glasses for research and training.
“Digital twins are a reality as we think about a cloud-connected economy,” he said. “And you have the ability when you connect the physical world with the digital world to have incredible use cases. This is how the metaverse is going to take shape.”
New Acer Swift X Is The First Laptop To Pack Intel’s Arc GPU
Several other OEMs announced new PCs at CES 2022, including Acer, which will have one of the first laptops with Intel’s new Arc discrete graphics.
This is the new 16-inch version of the Acer Swift X, which is powered by 12th-generation Intel Core processors with up to 12 cores and discrete Intel Arc graphics. The laptop was co-engineered with Intel, allowing it to meet hardware specifications and key experience indicators that have been defined by the Intel Evo program for premium laptops.
Other PCs announced at CES include Asus’ Zenbook 17 Fold, which is being called the “world’s first 17.3-inch foldable OLED laptop.” There is also Gigabyte’s Aero 5 Creator Laptop, which it’s calling the “industry’s first 4K+ laptop,” thanks to its 4K AMOLED display with a 16:9 ratio.