The Engadget team is on the ground in Las Vegas to cover CES 2024, ready to chase down all the technology news fit for print. Despite the 40 or so articles on our site suggesting otherwise, CES 2024 has still not quite begun. With the show floor set to open tomorrow, January 8 is reserved for press conferences — lots of them.
Things kick off with AMD at 10AM ET, followed by NVIDIA and LG at 11AM, Hisense at 12PM, Panasonic at 1PM, TCL at 2PM, Sennheiser at 3:30PM, Hyundai at 4PM, Samsung at 5PM and Kia at 6PM, followed by the day’s final big show, Sony at 8PM. After all that, we still won’t be done — there’s a behind-closed-doors press event this evening where we hope to test out some new tech from less established brands and tell you what’s good and what’s not.
That’s a lot of news for one day, and if you’re not willing to make the commitment to read the dozens of stories we’ll be publishing across 12 hours or so today, we’ll be running our daily liveblog. Expect a taste of the biggest news of the day, with some color commentary, lots of images and videos and links to our more in-depth coverage. Enjoy!
Live9 updates
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LG S95TR and SG10TY first look: Two takes on wireless Dolby Atmos for home theater
LG SG10TY soundbar (Photo by Billy Steele/Engadget) While we wait for LG’s press conference to begin… here’s something new from LG. Billy Steele has been checking out the company’s new home theater tech for 2024, which includes an adorable (but sadly non-functioning at CES) projector and a pair of Dolby Atmos soundbars. You can read the full story on the soundbars here, or check out this video for some sultry tones:
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AMD brings powerful built-in GPUs to Ryzen 8000G desktop chips
AMD Ryzen 8000G (AMD) It’s been a long time since we got fresh “G” CPUs from AMD. These are the company’s socketable desktop chips that contain on-board graphics. The fastest model of the new series, the Ryzen 7 $329 8700G, is an eight-core chip running between 4.2GHz and 5.1GHz, sporting Radeon 780M graphics.
According to the company’s benchmarks, the 8700G is four times as fast in Hitman 3 in 1080p compared to the Intel i7-17400K’s UHD 770 graphics. The 8700G apparently averages 90 fps in Baldur’s Gate 3 in 1080p with low detail settings and the company’s Hyper-RX and Fluid Motion Frames features turned on. (The latter is a bit controversial, since it can make gameplay look smoother and deliver higher fps counts, but it’s also early technology and it’s interpolating even more frames than AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution 3.0.) Without any of those extra features, the 8700G still hits a respectable 58 fps in Baldur’s Gate 3.
Sure, it’s not going to get close to using a standalone GPU, but it is a great way to get a gaming PC build rolling on a tight budget.
Even if you’re not interested in the Ryzen 8000G Series’ graphics potential, senior reporter Devindra Hardawar explains that the built-in AI smarts still make them unique desktop chip:
“Much like the NPU’s we’ve seen on AMD’s recent mobile chips, as well as Intel’s new Core Ultra hardware, it’ll let you speed up AI tasks without hitting your CPU or GPU. At the moment, NPUs enable features like Windows Studio Effects, which can blur your background during video chats, as well as media editing in Adobe and DaVinci software. NPUs are more compelling on laptops now, as they can help systems be more efficient and potentially save battery life. But having an NPU on your desktop chip today could be a smart way to future-proof your build.”
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AMD’s 7600 XT is an entry-level 1440p GPU
ASRock Radeon RX 7600 XT (ASRock) AMD just dropped the Radeon RX 7600 XT in Las Vegas. It’s a slightly souped-up version of last year’s entry-level RX 7600 with higher clock speeds and 16GB of VRAM. While that earlier card was laser-focused on 1080p gameplay, Engadget’s resident GPU expert Devindra Hardawar explains that AMD is positioning the RX 7600 XT as a potential upgrade for entry-level 1440p gaming, as well as a better card for running AI tasks. The 7600 XT will be available on January 24 from third-party GPU manufacturers, but there’s no pricing information available yet. Devindra thinks it’ll be at least $329.
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JBL covers the headphone gamut with six new models at CES 2024
JBL Live 770NC (JBL) While we’re waiting for AMD to stop vamping about AI being the future and announce some products, here’s some headphone news from JBL. The company has six new sets of headphones in Las Vegas, including the more premium JBL Live range with on-ear and over-ear options, and four affordable options in the Tune lineup starting at $49.95. All of the new models will be available in March.
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HP unveiled the lightest 14-inch gaming laptop in the world at CES 2024
Weighting just 3.5 pounds, HP claims the Omen Transcend 14 is the lightest 14-inch gaming laptop in the world. (Photo by Sam Rutherford/Engadget) Our first piece of early CES news today comes from HP. Senior reviews writer Sam Rutherford explains:
“Sometimes the never-ending quest to shave an extra gram or millimeter off a new laptop can become a bore. However, when a company can do it without cutting too many corners, that deserves some attention. And that’s what HP has done with the new Omen Transcend 14, which is making its debut at CES 2024 as the lightest 14-inch gaming laptop in the world.”
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The Apple Vision Pro goes on sale in the US on February 2 for $3,499
A person smiles while wearing the Apple Vision Pro headset. (Apple) Although Apple doesn’t attend CES, it does ocassionally enjoy loudly shouting from 500 miles down the road. This morning it announced that its first new platform in years — the Vision Pro headset — will debut in the US on February 2. Pre-orders for the $3,499 headset will open on January 19. The device will be available at all US Apple Store locations as well as through the company’s web store.
Those who require vision correction will be able to snap up Zeiss optical inserts and attach them to the headset magnetically. Readers will cost $99, while prescription lenses will set you back $149.
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We’re reporting live from CES 2024 in Las Vegas from January 6-12. Keep up with all the latest news from the show here.
