In addition to purely reporting on singular CES product announcements, we’ve also attempted to identify industry trends and themes. And while the promise of Vista SideShow has never materialized, that hasn’t stopped manufacturers from pursuing unique secondary displays – several of which we saw in Vegas.
At CES Unveiled we fought the crowd to check out Lenovo’s 11lb W700DS “laptop”, which offers a 10″ LCD… in addition to the primary 17″ screen. The ASUS press event featured two prototypes with secondary screens. First was a laptop (N50 or G50), reminiscent of Apple fanboy renderings, with a second computer built-in – powering its touchpad “multimedia” screen. ASUS also featured the computer-in-a-keyboard design, utilizing wireless HDMI, in addition to a touch-sensitive side display. Finally, at the PEPCOM press event, I spent some time quizzing D-Link on their 7″ 800×600 external LCD (above) which they intend to launch later this year. The “SideStage” didn’t really intrigue me until I learned the display is entirely USB-powered and rotates from landscape into portrait mode.
Of course there’s no telling if these products will take off, and my next external monitor will probably be in the 21″ – 24″ range, but it’s reassuring to see continued innovation in this climate.
