Here’s everything we know so far about what is likely to be shown at Computex 2018 by the biggest brands in the world.
Acer
Acer always has a big presence at Computex, and not just because it takes place in its home town of Taipei. At Computex 2017, Acer impressed us with a new line of Acer Spin laptops, and this year we expect to see some more innovative laptops that push the boundaries of the form factor.
So, a closer look at the recently-announced updated Nitro 5 gaming laptop with the latest 8th generation Intel Core i7 and Core i7+ processors and Nvidia 1050 Ti would be nice.
The slimline all-in-one Aspire S24 PC may also be there, and we’d like to see more innovations when it comes to Acer’s 2-in-1 laptops and Chromebooks.
AMD
AMD has been on a roll lately, with its Ryzen processors bringing in very strong sales, and its Ryzen 2nd Generation processors, like the AMD Ryzen 5 2600X and the AMD Ryzen 7 2700X getting rave reviews. Not to mention companies like Acer populating their high-end gaming laptops with AMD hardware. With the fantastic year AMD is having, we’re expecting a victory lap from the hardware maker at this year’s show.
So, we can expect to hear about what’s next for AMD’s Ryzen processors, and maybe even see some laptops that have the second generation installed – Acer for one has already announced new Ryzen- and Vega-powered gaming laptops ahead of the show. Even more likely, we may see the announcement of Ryzen Threadripper 2nd Generation at the show.
We’ll also get some news about AMD’s Radeon graphics cards as well, which have also been doing pretty well of late.
Asus
Asus is always a very popular draw at Computex, and we don’t expect it to be any different this year. Asus has a lot of fingers in a lot of pies, so expect new gaming laptops, as well as components and peripherals to boot.
Asus was also early to hype up its Computex 2018 appearance by releasing a video that appears to tease the announcement of a new ZenBook laptop. Asus’ range of ZenBooks are gorgeously designed and slimline ultrabooks, so we’re really looking forward to seeing what it has in store.
The video, which features Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot, is titled ‘Unleash your creative power’, so we’re convinced this will be a laptop that comes with enough processing and graphical chops for image and video editing. It could very well be a Kaby Lake-G powered Ultrabook going by everything we know.
We may also get a glimpse of the recently-announced ZenPhone Max Pro (M1) smartphone as well.
Intel
Last year Intel took to the stage at Computex to talk about its amazingly-powerful Core i9 processors, and we expect the chipmaker to go large this year as well.
AI (Artificial Intelligence) looks like it could be a major theme at Computex 2018, and Intel will be heavily invested, so we could see some announcements around that.
We’re also expecting Intel to show off a number of laptops with its latest processors inside, including the H-series Intel Core CPUs. On the desktop front, there are rumors of a new i7-8086K, celebrating the 40th anniversary of Intel’s first CPU, the Intel 8086. We’ve also seen rumors of new chipsets, suggesting we might see the announcement or even launch of Cannon Lake and Kaby Lake-X processors.
Nvidia
Nvidia is another huge company that will be at Computex 2018, and will also have a lot to say about AI.
We might see some new laptops showing off Nvidia’s mobile GPUs (maybe even Turing-powered ones?), and also hear about how Nvidia’s components are powering the next generation of virtual reality games and experiences.
Also, continuing from GTC 2018, Nvidia’s GPU Technology Conference, we’ll likely hear more about the company’s work on self-driving cars, smart cities, healthcare and high-performance computing. Hopefully, we’ll also see the announcement of the GTX 1180, reportedly powered by its Turing architecture. However, there have been some recent leaks that point to the next-generation mainstream graphics cards launching in August instead.
Microsoft
Microsoft is also a reliable presence at Computex, and with the ever-evolving Windows 10 we may get a chance to see what’s coming up in Redstone 5.
Last year Microsoft went into detail about its collaboration with Qualcomm, which saw the creation of Windows on Snapdragon laptops, that offer mobile-phone like battery lives and features. Could we see another innovative collaboration this year?
We may also see some new headsets for its Mixed Reality platform as well.
Dell
We haven’t heard many rumors coming from Dell recently – likely because it’s hot off the release of the new XPS 15 2-in-1. However, that doesn’t mean we should count them out completely. There are still plenty of laptops they could announce, from Alienware to more budget-focused machines.
Either way, we know Dell is going to be at the show. What it’s going to announce, however, we’ll just have to wait and see.
MSI
MSI is hot off of the release of the beautiful GS65 Stealth, so we haven’t heard many rumors about what it’s planning for Computex. But we know MSI is planning something. Last year, it showed off a wide swath of gaming peripherals, and while that’s not as exciting as a new gaming laptop, we think we’ll see some exciting laptops featuring 8th-generation Intel Coffee Lake processors.
Gigabyte and Aorus
There’s a lot that Gigabyte can do at Computex this year, and if a report from Tom’s Hardware is to be believed, we could see Gigabyte jump in on the SSD market with Aorus-branded SSDs.
Beyond that, we could also see Gigabyte detail some Aorus laptops featuring Coffee Lake processors and Nvidia MaxQ graphics that may end up topping our list of the best gaming laptops. This wouldn’t be too far from what we saw last year, either.
HP
HP has had a busy week, announcing the new line of Envy laptops, an Envy all-in-one (which supports Alexa) and has announced that many of its upcoming PCs will be using Ryzen Pro processors. So, what could be left for Computex?
Well, we could see them announcing the new line of Spectre laptops. Sure, the fantastic 2017 Spectre 13 launched in November, but we’ve seen crazier things. All we know is HP will be at the event. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
Qualcomm
Qualcomm might be known for its mobile processors and Computex might be a computing event – but we think Qualcomm could announce something huge. Last year Qualcomm and Microsoft teamed up to bring us Snapdragon-powered mobile PCs made by the likes of Asus, HP and Lenovo.
That must have worked out, because Qualcomm is coming back this year. We don’t know what they’re going to show off, but maybe they have something to do with that rumored 10-inch Surface?
Samsung
We don’t know anything about what Samsung is planning for Computex 2018, we just know it’ll be there. We could see a new Chromebook, or maybe a Notebook that takes advantage of 8th-generation Coffee Lake processors? Again, we’ll just have to wait and see. Personally, we hope for a worldwide release of the Samsung Odyssey Z 15.
Lenovo
Lenovo is another laptop manufacturer that’s going to be at the show, and we’ve been hearing very specific rumors of an Intel Canon Lake-powered laptop as of late. The Lenovo IdeaPad 330 has been rumored to come sporting the first 10nm CPU, the Intel Core i3-8121U. The laptop seems to already have been listed in China, so that only increases the chances we’ll see it actually announced at the show.
Otherwise, we’re expecting Lenovo to announce a wide range of notebooks. We’re not sure whether we’ll see a follow-up to the wildly popular Yoga 920, but we may see a new Yoga Book along with some ThinkPad laptops, which are popular with students.
This is another manufacturer where we’ll just have to wait and see what they have to offer for Computex 2018.
- Here’s everything that happened at last year’s Computex
- Bill Thomas has also contributed to this article
