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Issue link: https://digital.macdirectory.com/i/1339792
Virtual CES 2 The Tech Event that Mixes Business and Pleasure By Andy Marken Chips are important…DUH, but there’s more to CES than present/future technology. There’s also the practical side for home and the office. While chips are in everything today, most of us feel the first place to experience them is in productivity, personal tools. At CES, the work/play/communicate device makers were at their best and compute, notebook folks rolled out so many outstanding devices that picking faves wasn’t easy. We zeroed in on the Dell Latitude 9420 and 24-, 27- or 34-inch video conferencing monitor (it’s all in the budget) because the notebook includes their new Dell Optimizer software that uses AI to tune the system/apps to the way you work. The system has amazing performance and the Optimizer simplifies connectivity, collaboration, background noise-cancelling and auto-mute. And for your WFH peace of mind, it also includes safeguards that prevent, detect and handle attacks across the system. Since video conferencing is an integral part of business, the new Dell monitors are certified for Microsoft Teams and are easy-on-the-eyes for daily work. Equally good portable systems were: • ASUS Zenbook Pro Duo 15 OLED • Lenovo Ideapad 5G • Acer Aspire 5 • Alienware m15 R4 and m17 R4 • Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 2 According to NPD’s Mat Piscatella, gaming was one of the few industries to thrive during the pandemic and the new hardware/software that was unveiled at CES proved these organizations came to play … and win. With the assistance of our son, we picked two notebooks from the wide array that deserve strong consideration – the Asus ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 and Lenovo Legion 7. For a gaming system, the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 with its dual screen looks like it is the future of gaming. The secondary screen gives plenty of gaming support like extra menus, map