And, with the crack of a Red Bull and a quick 7/11 banana, we burst through the doors of the Nangang Exhibition Center and straight into day two of Computex 2024.
I’m not sure if it was all the hype from day one or if Wednesdays are just public holidays out here in Taiwan, but man, oh man, was the venue stuffed to the brim with eager tech heads today!
We forced our way through the early morning crowds and started our 8,000-step journey through the event at the MSI booth, which was already bursting at the seams with people.
The booth was crammed full of products being released this year, so we had to bite it off in smaller, NAG-sized chunks. We thought we’d get started with the portables section since the MSI Claw is still making headlines and was, of course, on full display at Computex.
We were taken through the latest range of MSI laptops, showing off their latest chips, built for AI. Yes, we agree that every single thing released these days comes with a “built for AI” tagline attached. Still, attending an expo where one of the main focuses is how companies have managed to develop technologies based around AI, and thinking about how often we’ve started to use these technologies in our daily lives, it all starts to make sense.
These latest AI laptops will support AI speeds of up to 45 TOPS; for those who don’t know what that means, that 45 trillion operations per second, which is almost three times more than the current generation of devices. This grants the everyday you and I users faster access to AI technologies, from language models to picture and video generation.
As an added bonus, the MSI Summit E13 AI Evo comes in a stunning black and gold colourway, and you should definitely check it out, even if it’s just to drool over for a minute.
The latest tech in gaming laptops was nothing to scoff at, either.
Every MS laptop range, from the lightweight Stealth to the hard-hitting Titan, received a refresh. They now pack the latest generation of GPUs and CPUs, allowing for high-end gaming and project-intense content creation alike.
An 18-inch Stealth launched alongside an updated 16-inch version of the co-created AMG x MSI Stealth range. Built to perform like the racing cars that come out of the AMG factory, these visually stunning laptops feature carbon-fibre-like accents, AMG logos, the latest Nvidia RTX 4080 GPU and Intel’s Core Ultra 9 185H processors.
Amongst all this power, though, the new MSI Raider 18 HX A7V remained Regardt’s favourite. As a long-time fan of MSI’s Raider range of laptops, he was excited to see the refreshed model featured newly positioned RGB lighting and more power under the hood.
As I said, the MSI Claw was also hanging out at the booth with us, not just the regular Claw we all already know. Alongside the usual black handheld was a new Fallout themed Claw that featured a stunning, rusted patina, however what was most exciting was the announcement of the next generation of the Claw, the MSI Claw 8 AI+. This new device will feature a larger 8-inch screen, a larger battery, and a more powerful Intel Lunar Lake CPU. While we haven’t been able to play around with that device yet, it’s still exciting to see the claw throwing punches with the rest of the handheld landscape.
For more a more detailed look at the MSI booth, be sure to catch our MSI booth tours video where we look at the hardware in a little more detail.
After the thorough tour at the MSI booth, we split for a good couple of hours of networking with some of the other brands at the show. Hopefully, we’ve managed to cook up something exciting that you guys will just have to wait to taste.
We headed upstairs to the media lounge to refuel with another one of those highly caffeinated sparkly drinks and what I’ve decided to call a red velvet muffin before heading across the road to the second building, which was hosting even more of the event’s exhibitors. We also managed to bump fists with Brett and his team from UFD Tech. They are a great bunch of guys, and they loved the new NAG Magazines we gifted them. Welcome to the NAG club, boys.
We met the Genius team here, and they gave us a tour of what they’re launching later this year.
Their new range of co-pilot peripherals may seem simple at first, but this simplicity makes them some of the best devices we found at the expo.
The devices come pre-programmed with shortcut access buttons to Windows co-pilot, giving you access to the AI systems with the simple press of your thumb on either the keyboard or mouse. They’ve also included a shortcut button for the microphone on select mice in the range. This combination of buttons means you can speak to co-pilot and access all the AI-powered tools without ever having to remove your thumb from your mouse, making daily tasks a breeze.
We then got to take the new prototype GX Gaming Racing Wheel for a spin. While we aren’t as good as Len might be when it comes to simulated racing, the new GX Gaming Racing Wheel was a load of fun to play around on, and we’re excited to really put it to the test when it leaves the prototype stage.
However, the return of good old speakers was really cool to see. These days, we’re all cooped up in our own, private little worlds with the most noise-cancelling we can find, but back in my youth, we used to drown everyone else out by turning up the volume… for everyone.
Genius has a more house-friendly 2.1 set of speakers that provided more than enough oomph to cause the exhibitors around us to give us the stink eye. They also have a GX Gaming version with the same internal hardware but a little more RGB.
We then realised that the event was closing down for the day. I tried to my very best to sneak past the security to nab a few more pictures of what we might come back and look at tomorrow, but unfortunately, I’m not very nimble with a bag full of swag on my back.
After another jam-packed day full of exciting new things, we still had so much more to see. It’s finally kicked in that there’s too much here for the two of us to see in just three days, so we’re already trying to bribe upper management for tickets to next year’s show.
Until then, we wait for Computex 2024 day three.