CES 2017 Day Three: How many pixels do you really need?

By Derek Kessler
last updated

Razer's concept laptop is just… insane.

CES 2017

Thursday, 5 January 2017

Three screens are better than one

There are the laptops that everybody else is showing off at CES 2017, and there's Razer's Project Valerie. The bottom half is a standard Razer Blade Pro — a powerhouse gaming laptop, no doubt — but the lid contains not one, not two, but three 17.3-inch 4K displays. Combined they span around four feet, tucking back behind the center screen when not in use. It's a crazy cool and just plain craze concept. And we want one so hard.

ASUS's updated Chromebook Flip is a Chrome OS powerhouse

No tolerance for slouches.

There's no doubt about it: Chromebooks are coming into their own. From the Samsung-Google partnership that resulted in the Chromebook Plus and Pro to ASUS's new Chromebook Flip C302, they've never been better or more capable. The new ASUS Chromebook is a powerful little beast, sporting an Intel Core processor, up to 8GB of RAM, and two USB ports. Chrome OS is finally coming into its own.

Dell's 8K monitor is the new king of the display hill

Just when you were getting comfortable with the idea of 4K.

Let's be honest: most of us don't have 4K displays yet. But that doesn't stop the march of technological progress, nor will Dell let such trivialities slow them down. So they unveiled a 32-inch 8K monitor that they're planning to have available to buy as soon as March. Words can't really describe the beauty of this beast.

The connected everything

Is it a thing? Can it be connected to the internet? Stop asking silly questions.

Some things have long been "connected" and are getting more so, like security cameras and thermostats and door locks. Other things are new to the connected space, like Lego robots and women's health fertility trackers. Others… are hairbrushes with built-in artificial intelligence.

Dell Canvas is a big honkin' touch screen to go with any PC

Think of it as a Surface Studio without the built-in PC.

If there was one let-down with the Microsoft Surface Studio, it was the lack of true oomph from the computing hardware behind that gorgeous touch screen. So Dell decided to make a screen that does the same things, but without the included computer bits. So this is the Dell Canvas, a 27-inch QHD panel that lets you tap with your fingers, draw with the included pen, and spin away with a Dell "totem" — their take on the Surface Dial. It's not cheap, but it's still cheaper than a Surface Studio, and you can hook it up to the high-powered PC of your choice.

Derek Kessler
Derek Kessler

Derek Kessler is Special Projects Manager for Mobile Nations. He's been writing about tech since 2009, has far more phones than is considered humane, still carries a torch for Palm, and got a Tesla because it was the biggest gadget he could find. You can follow him on Twitter at @derekakessler.

18 Comments
  • Good question.
  • Click there to continue.
  • 1600x900 that's what I like the most. Phone takes that pics, laptop has that screen (17.3), monitor is also 1600x900
  • So little comments these days. As the phone users go so does the community?
  • if you were to go over to this site's sister site, imore, there will be very few comments. You know, that site dedicated to Apple, the company that is supposedly destroying Microsoft. News has been fast and furious here, and so people have many articles to comment on because of CES so the comments have been few. Meanwhile, comments on Apple products over at imore have been far and few between, as usual.
  • Nope. I haven't even looked at the article. Because the last 2 days the Ces day review hasn't been Windows related.
  • Can the human eye even distinguish those pixels anymore? I already had a hard time between 720 and 1080p...
  • What? Really? Either your TV is like 8 inches or you need to go Eye doctor. 4K to 1080p is as obvious as HD to SD.
  • It all depends on size and distance, so he could very well not tell the difference depending on these factors in his environment.
  • Nope.
  • I actually looked into this because I was interested. Human eyes apparently have a limit of usually somewhere in the grey area of 300-600 pixels per inch before anything more becomes indistinguishable.
    So it depends upon screen size, 8K on a large display will be noticeable as there's normally a lower ppi and this would be a sizeable improvement. However, on a smaller display it will be marginally noticeable as the ppi will already be high for 1080p etc; on a phone or tablet, its near pointless. And the battery/processor drain would be so severe it just wouldn't be worth it.
  • How many pixels do I need? All of them.
  • All the pixels!!!
  • I don't need any pixels, can't stand Google.
  • By the way... Why isn't the article in the app but instead redirects to the website?
  • Which still opens in the app for me, since I set that up in the settings. I'm asking myself the same question...
  • Are Chromebooks coming into their own now? I still don't see a use for them outside of a cheap unit for schools and light internet usage. They are still a web browsers. Even though they can run android apps its not a great experience and most people don't run apps on them a month after they tested them out. I get it for schools and people who just need email. But I don't get why updated specs make it any more relevant. Its still a browser. I also get the argument that you can do 90% of what I do on them. But you know what I cant do on them? The other 10%. And I enjoy the other 10% too ;).
  • The upgraded specs are probably because companies want people to be able to install standard Linux on a low-price laptop if they want.