Computex 2010

[Rob Williams]

Where on earth does the time go? It feels like we finished up our Computex 2009 coverage not long ago, but lo and behold, the 2010 iteration of the show is right in front of us! As always, we'll be reporting from the floor, with coverage to begin next Monday at the latest. Due to the time-zone differences, we'll be posting news related to the show at odd hours (Taipei is EST + 12 hours), so regardless of the time of day, check for updates!

Unfortunately, I haven't been keeping up with Computex 2010 news that much, and I'm not even sure what's a "must see" product. There are a couple of things I'm looking forward to regardless though, such as custom GF100 card designs, mini motherboards, the live demo of 3DMark 11, peripherals galore and who knows what else

The best part of any trade show like this is that the best products are not usually known about until the show itself, so I look forward to meeting with what I'm sure will be a countless number of companies in order to see what's on the horizon.

What are you guys hoping to gain from this year's show? Anything you know that I should be on the lookout for? Also, anyone interested in me doing another "diary" of sorts?

 

[madmat]

I am interested in a diary. Maybe Alienware will have their curved screen there where you can try it hands on...

 

[Kougar]

Cooler Master sent out a secretive email a month or two ago about some new "HAF-X" case they are going to launch during Computex... everyone loves the HAF 932, so I'm curious to see what this new HAF will be, I assume it won't be a smaller version either.

We already know about PC Power & Cooling's new power supplies, nothing new in the GPU or CPU markets (just) yet, and types of SSDs are done multiplying like rabbits for the time being, so I'm not sure what else there is yet to look for!

Edit: Hm, found a promo vid on it that just came out. Looks like a nice upgrade to the HAF 932 case... fixes many of the small issues I spotted with the 932. Looks like room for a triple 140mm rad in the top... Nine expansion slots, this case can fit the EVGA SR-2 motherboard as well. Crikey! I think I want it already for a new watercooling build.

 

[Rob Williams]

I'll be on the lookout for that chassis... sounds interesting! I won't be able to spot it until Friday, however, as that's the first day I'll be able to manage to get to that convention center (Nangang). As for SSD's, I am sure there will be lots of them around, so hopefully we find one or two that actually brings something new to the table, rather than just using a tweaked piece of firmware.

I arrived in Taipei at about 10:00PM local time (10:00AM EST) on Thursday, and as expected, the travel was rough! There's nothing fun about waking up at 4:30AM for the airport on a Wednesday, and landing at the destination 10:00PM the following day (29.5 hours). I can rarely ever fall asleep on a plane either, no matter how comfortable I am, which doesn't help things either.

After I got to the hotel, it took me no longer than 30 minutes to wind up at a 7-11 to get the same things I get whenever I am over here... cold coffee drinks, and a bag of strange chips. Three drinks and chips cost me about $2.50 USD. Not bad!

Tomorrow (Friday), I'll be heading down to Taichung once again to hang out with one of my best friends for the weekend, and then will return Sunday night to prepare things for Monday. There are a few pre-show events I'll be attending, so hopefully there will be some cool news to report there. Tuesday will be the day things really ramp up, so I expect to be busy!

I stupidly left my camera charger at home, so pictures might be scarce at first until I can find one in a shop around here.

 

[Optix]

Budget hardware! More for less!

Oh, and I'm sure you'll be able to find a charger for just about anything considering your current location.

 

[Rob Williams]

Oh I don't suspect the charger will be too difficult to get. Plan to look around tomorrow (Sat).

It's so freaking hot here in Taiwan! Humid isn't even the word for it, and to make it a bit worse, there's been a lot of rain as well. You can't avoid but be both wet and sweaty... so uncomfortable!

 

[Doomsday]

ooh, goody goody! booth babes!!

 

[Rob Williams]

ooh, goody goody! booth babes!!

Hah! I'll be sure to get some pictures.

Here's one so far, from the hotel room in Taichung. Not too much to see, unfortunately.

 

[eunoia]

+1 for the HAF-X

Dust filters!

http://www.overclockersclub.com/reviews/cooler_master_haf_x/

 

[Rob Williams]

Found a charger It wasn't a bad price, either, at around $10.

Show begins tomorrow... can't wait

 

[Rob Williams]

Here are some random shots so far. The show's been good so far, but it's been hard for me to get online as often as I need. Not feeling so hot either for some reason. I think it's because I talked a lot on Monday, and as I'm not used to talking almost all day, it hit me hard. Headache, sore throat, and even a runny nose. Good stuff!

In the pictures, the restaurant is Din Tai Fung, a famous dumpling place that originated in Taipei. The friend with me in front of the ASUS booth is Mat Miranda from HotHardware. In the restaurant shot, the people are Nate Kirsch on the left (Legit Reviews), Dave Salvator (Intel's benchmarking guru) and Ryan Shrout (PC Perspective).

 

[grajasekar]

What! !@! Where be the promised booth babes? Arrrr...

 

[Kougar]

Heh, I was about to ask where all the traffic was, until I got to your later photos! To bad you can't airmail some of that weather over here, we still need the rain! Already getting freaking hot here though, this year has already been warm enough to break more records.

Judging by the expressions Is Ryan driving everyone crazy at the table again?

Have a good time, Rob!

 

[Rob Williams]

What! !@! Where be the promised booth babes? Arrrr...

Haha, that reminds me, I forgot this:



Most of the booth babes are at the Nangang hall, and I won't be there until Friday, hence the delay. Don't worry, good things come to those who wait. Or at least I keep being told that

Heh, I was about to ask where all the traffic was, until I got to your later photos! To bad you can't airmail some of that weather over here, we still need the rain! Already getting freaking hot here though, this year has already been warm enough to break more records.

Judging by the expressions Is Ryan driving everyone crazy at the table again?

The traffic in Taipei is insane. It takes about 4x as long to get from point A to B than it would if the traffic was moderate. Yesterday, it literally took 10 minutes just to make it around a single block.

Ryan's a character, that's for sure. I'm not sure what we were talking about at the time... we really must've spanned a 100 different topics while sitting there, haha.

 

[eunoia]

Strong early entry in the Computex Challenge, I see 4 booth babes plus one civilian in that pic! Make sure you always have your camera ready, there's always bonus points for multiples and you never know when you'll catch a Silverstone girl kissing a Lian Li girl, which is pretty much instant win.

 

[b1lk1]

Glad all is going well Rob. I hope you're getting a few well deserved minutes of pleasure out of this business trip as well.

 

[Rob Williams]

Strong early entry in the Computex Challenge, I see 4 booth babes plus one civilian in that pic! Make sure you always have your camera ready, there's always bonus points for multiples and you never know when you'll catch a Silverstone girl kissing a Lian Li girl, which is pretty much instant win.

Haha, I am not quite sure about the two girls kissing, but I'll have lots of pictures by the end of the week, trust me.

Glad all is going well Rob. I hope you're getting a few well deserved minutes of pleasure out of this business trip as well.

Oh, it's been great. It's of course a lot of work over here, but I've been hanging around with friends and colleagues a lot, so there's little room for complaint. The biggest problem I have is feeling stuffed-up!

Here are some more shots of the day. The first was my breakfast, and sadly I'm not kidding. Other shots were taken at a USB 3.0 vendor exhibit that Gigabyte put together. The view of Taipei was taken from the window of a restaurant on the 85th floor of the Taipei 101, along with a $10 dessert at said restaurant, and there's also a picture of Rita from Gigabyte and I, holding the company's biggest and smallest motherboards!

 

[Rob Williams]

More pictures:

 

[eunoia]

That view's worth at least $9.85 of that dessert.

Thanks for the updates, especially the less serious pics, those are the ones that make the whole experience come alive. Next best thing to being there!

 

[Doomsday]

Beautiful location Taipei!

Can regular people like meself buy a ticket/entry pass to Computex?

i dare ye to eat squids! lol!