Here Are The Best Products Of CES 2018

CES 2018 has come to a close, and so begins the arduous wait, for some of the exciting devices we saw, to come to market. The Consumer Electronic Show held in Las Vegas, Nevada is where companies come to tout new wares and announce upcoming products and technologies. While some of the cool tech that was shown leaves us with that "shut-up and take my money" feeling, it’s often not retail-ready, with months of lead-time separating consumers from getting their hands on the geek goodness we spied last week.

For those who couldn’t attend the show, it can be difficult navigating the CES myriad of strategic product blitzes, press releases, and unveiling videos. So we whipped up a quick cheat-sheet detailing all the HOT hardware that really seized our attention at CES 2018. We’re talking about the best laptops, displays, components, peripherals and computers on the desktop and beyond. We saw hundreds of hot new tech products at CES this year, but these are the best and most impressive devices we saw. Many of our top favorites are all right here...

Dell XPS 15 2-In-1 And XPS 13 (9370)

Laptops were out in full force as usual this year, making it hard to whittle down a manageable list of the best options. Yet still, some did stand taller than others. Intel’s recently unleashed its 8^th Gen Core processors with on-board AMD Radeon RX Vega M GPUs. The Dell XPS 15 2-in-1 and the HP Spectre x360 15 were the first two laptop convertibles to adopt the new unique hybrid chip.

The XPS 15 2-in-1 can be configured with the Intel Core i5-8305G with 6MB cache at 3.8GHz, or users can opt for the Core i7-8705G with 8MB cache at a top end 4.1GHz clock speed. These are quad-core CPUs featuring 4GB of fast HBM2 attached to a AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU that claims to offer performance on par or faster than a discrete GeForce GTX 1050 GPU. Other component options include your choice of 8GB or 16GB of DDR4-2400 memory. You also can select either the InfinityEdge FHD 1080p display or Dell's punchy UltraSharp 4K UHD panel with 400 nits brightness as well.

Dell’s other showstopper was something we were able to show you just before CES, the latest XPS 13 (model 9370). We were just as impressed with the gorgeous and peppy Dell XPS 13 (9370) at CES, as we were when we first got our hands on the machine. The latest XPS 13 is an excellent performer, especially if you choose the premium top-end configuration, which is strapped with an 8^th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 13.3-inch UHD 4K touch screen display, 1TB NVMe SSD, and 16GB LPDDR3 2133MHz. Other features of this beauty, include a pair of Thunderbolt USB Type-C, MicroSD slot and USB-C 3.1 with PowerShare.

HP Spectre x360 15 2-In-1

HP also leveraged Intel's upcoming processors with integrated Radeon RX Vega graphics in its new Spectre x360 15 2-In-1, though a version with NVIDIA graphics will also be available. This sleek, convertible machine will be offered with two different processors, either the 8^th Gen Intel Core i7-8550U, coupled with the discrete NVIDIA Pascal-powered MX150 GPU. Or you can opt for the 8th generation Core i7-8705G processor, which includes an onboard AMD Radeon RX Vega M GL GPU. The Spectre x360 15 2-In-1 has a 15.6-inch 4K IPS micro-edge BrightView WLED-backlit touch screen and up to a 2TB PCIe NVMe M.2 SSD. Other features include 2x2 802.11ac WLAN, Bluetooth and Bang & Olufsen quad speakers for superior sound quality.

Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon and MIIX 630

Lenovo had a wide array of products and devices on display at CES 2018. During our tour of Lenovo's suite, we were enamored with the Lenovo MIIX 630 Snapdragon 835 Windows convertible and latest Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon with HDR Display (for 2018). The MIIX 630 is Lenovo's vision for an always-connected, ultra-portable, leveraging Qualcomm's Snapdragon platform and Windows 10 for ARM. The MIIX 630 features a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835 processor, Snapdragon X16 LTE modem, and it weighs in at a dainty 2.93lbs, despite offering approximately 20 hours of battery life.

The ThinkPad X1 Carbon with HDR display is a more powerful, premium option. The latest X1 Carbon can now be configured with 8^th generation Intel Core-i7 processors as well as up to 16GB of LPDDR3 memory and 1TB of NVMe PCIe-based SSD storage. The expanded color palette of the new HDR display variant was immediately noticeable, especially when we were able to see the newer and older non-HDR model side by side. The screen features a 14-inch WQHD IPS HDR display with a native resolution of 2560x1440 and it looks stunning. The machine weighs only 2.49lbs with up to 15 hours of battery life. You also get USB 3.0 HDMI, 4-in-1 microSDXC reader, a pair of Thunderbolt 3 ports, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.2 and integrated LTE-A is an option as well.

Asus ROG Strix SKT T1 Hero Edition

ASUS put on quite a show at CES 2018, and had a wide assortment of components, accessories, networking products, displays, and notebooks on display. The ROG Strix SKT T1 Hero Edition Laptop was quite impressive. This machine is a joint creative effort between the company and the SK Telecom T1 eSports team. In addition to featuring a well-rounded array of hardware that perfectly targets eSports gamers, this machine includes a branded mousepad, team posters and a jersey, plus it features both ROG and team logos across the lid. Under the hood it features an Intel Core i7 processor and  NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 graphics for solid 1080p-class gaming. Pair the internal components with the laptop’s 120Hz IPS display and you end up with a highly capable, portable gaming machine, that also happens to look the part.