CES just wouldn’t be CES without a laptop breakthrough or two, and this year didn’t disappoint. From two laptops in one to tiny netbooks and and beyond, we were on hand to test out the best laptops of CES – see what’s coming to a lap near you after the jump.
Asus AIRO
Asus whipped the covers off its incredibly thin, keyboard popping laptop on the first day of CES, and after seeing it close up, everything else seemed like an anti climax. This could completely redefine how notebooks are constructed. We thought it was just a concept at first, but Asus’s origami wonder is ready for production right now, so expect it very soon.
Dell Mini 12
We don’t know when the scales tipped precisely, but at some point in the last few months, Dell suddenly went from churning out perfunctory machines to seriously stylish computers. Case in point, the Inspiron Mini 12. It’s barely a netbook, but the 12.1inch laptop is slim, sexy and light, at just 1.24kg, and it’s out now. Click through for all the specs.
Sony Vaio P
Sony was so late to the netbook table that it had to come up with something completely new, and at CES, it did. The VAIO P is more a picobook than a netbook – CEO Howard Stringer even pulled one out of his pocket at the keynote – but it’s still got Wi-Fi, 3G, GPS and Bluetooth inside – it’s everything the MacBook Nano could have been, and in as many colours as an iPod Nano. We’ve got plenty of hands on pics to oodle too.
MSI X-Slim
What MSI is trying to do with the X-Slim is nothing new – the slim form factor shell looks a little too like the MacBook Air to be a coincidence, wouldn’t you say – but it manages to fit more features in (Three USB ports and a 3,5G network card) for around half the price of Apple’s anorexic laptop. It’ll be out before summer, with any luck.
Asus M50
Asus was by far the most creative OEM at the show, with a new type of Eee, that lovely AIRO and another notebook concept that takes dual screen to another level. Not only does the M50 prototype we saw have a 4.3inch screen where a trackpad would normally be, it’s got another entire computer inside the shell. It’s low power, low specs, so it turns on instantly, and can even use the large screen, so you can watch video for up to 12 hours on a charge. No release date is set, but what we saw was a full working model, so this could well be out this year.
