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CES 2007 Day 2: Dan's Diary
January 10, 2007 |Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Greetings all. Day Two at CES was an absolute zoo. I spent the day at the <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Las VegasConvention center. I had morning appointments at Asus and nVIDIA and my intention was to then walk the floor and try to talk with various people at Microsoft, Intel and AMD/ATI.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Upon arriving this morning my first impression was that "the place is packed!" When you read that there were over 140,000 people at CES, believe it. There were many Chinese and, when speaking to some of them, I learned it was their first trip to the U.S. Vegas makes quite an impression. I tried to convince my new friends that the rest of the U.S. is not quite like Vegas, but I am not so sure they believed me.
My meeting with Asus was in their private suite, which served as a showroom for their latest products as well as a semi-private meeting room for the press with Asus product managers and other knowledgeable personnel. I spoke with Jerry Dien about the company's new series of motherboards, which include solid state capacitors. He stated that RoHS is part of the reason why they are going to higher quality components for their top-end Republic of Gamers motherboard. However, he admitted the company would push for these quality components, RoHS or no RoHS. Jerry is aware of the issue with higher soldering temperatures causing a higher level of failure. He also stated that Asus had decided to make their high-end motherboards with the best possible components. They have planned for RoHS in their manufacturing and have apparently considered any changes to quality and reliability that would ensue. It is interesting that their new top-end motherboards are 30% higher in price. Is this a RoHS tax -- the cost of being RoHS compliant? I asked him about the upcoming China RoHs and got no response other than an animated roll of the eyes. In all fairness to Mr. Dien, none of us know what the effects of China RoHs will be but there is no doubt that Asus is contemplating it.
Asus knows that U.S. RoHs is largely being ignored, but the company is still taking a proactive response. They are focusing and investing a great deal of resources in the U.S. market. They actually did some survey work and they have found out that most of their customers do not know, and in fact do not care, what RoHS is. There is a lot of skepticism especially about lead-free, and it was interesting to hear this at a consumer electronics show.
I then wandered the show floor before my next meeting. What I saw is even more evidence of a new upcoming generation of more powerful devices. Not only computers, but everything from home theater remote controls to automotive electronics. If you consider what the next generation of devices can do and then look at what we had in 2004, you realize just how fast things are moving.
Rick Allen of nVIDIA discussed the latest chip sets and graphics card capabilities with me. Direct X 10, the upcoming graphics standard from Microsoft coming with Vista in only a few weeks requires all new graphics hardware. If your computer was the latest and greatest only six months ago, its graphics capability is about to become very outdated. On a side note nVIDIA has agreed to a video interview with PCB007 at their Santa Clara headquarters. We can't wait to show you what they are up to, so stay tuned.
While I was in the graphics mode, I decided to visit ATI who was acquired by AMD a few months ago. You can tell that the ATI folks are struggling to find their new identity. Unlike nVIDIA, ATI does not as yet have a Direct X 10 graphics solution. They would say little except that the industry would be well advised to wait for them to catch up. Right! When's the last time this industry "waited" for anything?
I also visited Zaleman, who make high-tech cooling solutions and Creative Labs who seemed to be more interested in selling their various devices at show discounts than showing any new technology. Come on Creative, where is your PCI-E X-Fi sound card? PCI is soooo 2005.
Tonight I get a sneak preview of the new Saitek control devices (you want to get accredited flying time towards your pilot license by sitting at your computer?), and tomorrow I have time set aside with Microsoft to take a deeper look at Vista as well as the new MS Office suite. I also will have a chance to play with the new Intel quad core processors, so check back tomorrow for the next chapter. Below are a couple of photos of products that really caught my eye. In Vegas terms, one of them's an ace but the other's a royal flush!