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Along with its gaming-focused laptops and models that offer 3D visuals without the need for glasses, ASUS had some upgraded general-purpose systems to show off at CES. Depending on how you spec them, though, the likes of Elden Ring should still look pretty great on these laptops.

First up is the latest Zenbook Pro 16X OLED, which ASUS says is the most powerful Zenbook to date. You'll be able to kit it out with up to a 13th-gen Intel Core processor, NVIDIA GeForce RTX 40-series laptop GPU and 32GB of LPDDR5X DRAM.

ASUS says the Zenbook Pro 16X OLED (UX7602BZ) has a "unique" Intel processor and a Supernova System-on-Module design that reduces the size of the motherboard core area by 38 percent, allowing for more efficient cooling. There's also more space for the graphics unit's power components, which ASUS says will deliver higher and more stable GPU performance.

ASUS

As the name suggests, this model has an OLED display. It's a 16-inch, 3.2K HDR touchscreen with an aspect ratio of 16:10 and a 120Hz refresh rate. There's an auto-tilting keyboard that could help you to find the ideal typing angle. You'll also be able to take advantage of the ASUS Dial, which should offer more precise control in creativity-focused apps.

The Zenbook Pro 14 OLED is getting a glow up too. The UX6404 model has a 2.8K, 120Hz NanoEdge Dolby Vision display with a 100 percent DCI-P3 gamut and Pantone validation for accurate colors. It comes with up to a 13th-gen Intel Core processor, a GeForce RTX 40-series laptop GPU, a 2TB SSD and 16GB of DDR5 RAM. There's a memory slot that can accommodate up to 32GB SO-DIMM, as well as WiFi 6E connectivity and a 76Wh battery. ASUS says it packed all of this into a body that weighs 3.64 lbs (1.65 kg) and is less than 0.7 inches (1.8 cm) thick.

ASUS

As for the Zenbook 14X OLED (UX3404), that has a 14.5-inch, 2.8K HDR display with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate. The laptop comes with up to a 13th-gen Intel Core processor, GeForce RTX 3050 GPU, 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM, a 1TB PCIe 4.0 SSD and a 70Wh battery. The thin and light 14X comes in two colors, Inkwell Gray and Sandstone Beige. The latter has a lid with what ASUS describes as "a new ecofriendly Plasma Ceramization coating technique that creates a ceramic-like finish and stone-like feel."

Meanwhile, the business-oriented ExpertBook B9 OLED (B9403CVA) is an all-metal laptop. The company claims the "ecofriendly manufacturing process helps to reduce production materials by up to 29 percent, and shortens manufacturing time by up to 75 percent to maximize energy efficiency." It's said to be lighter than most 13-inch laptops too.

The latest ExpertBook B9 has a 14-inch 2.8K display with a 90 percent screen-to-body ratio. There's a touchpad that's almost 27 percent larger than the previous model and you can expect a raft of security features, including NFC login, face login and a physical webcam shutter.

ASUS hasn't revealed pricing for any of these models as yet. The laptops should start shipping between April and June.

This year at CES ASUS has an updated version of its bread and butter ultraportable in the Zenbook 14X OLED. But for 2023, in addition to revamped specs, ASUS is trying out a fancy new ceramic coating on the laptop’s lid.

The process used to create the coating is called PEO, or plasma electrolytic oxidation. This allows ASUS to add a lightweight but durable finish that’s not only harder than traditional anodized aluminum, because it doesn’t require any strong acids or heavy metals during manufacturing, it’s also more environmentally friendly.

In person, the Zenbook 14X’s ceramic finish feels great. It reminds me of the magnesium chassis Microsoft used on old Surfaces, except that it’s even smoother and better at resisting fingerprints. The downside is that because this is the first time ASUS is using this process, the ceramic coating is only available in one color: sandstone. On the bright side, if you want something a bit more traditional, there’s also a cheaper model with an aluminum finish in Inkwell gray.

Other updates on the Zenbook 14X include a slightly larger 14.5-inch OLED touchscreen, a faster 120Hz refresh rate and a taller 16:10 aspect ratio. And of course, performance is also getting a bump thanks to new 13th-gen Intel CPUs, support for up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM and even an optional RTX 3050 GPU from NVIDIA. ASUS is also adding faster Wi-Fi 6E connectivity and with a slightly larger 70-watt hour battery, I’m hoping we see a small boost in longevity too.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

Port selection looks solid as well with two Thunderbolt 4 connectors. And when it comes to making video calls, there’s a new full HD webcam (which is up from the 720p on last year’s model) with support for windows hello and dual mics with AI noise cancellation, so you should look and sound better during meetings.

Now I know some of you might be disappointed that ASUS didn’t find room for Nvidia’s newest 40-series mobile graphics cards. But considering that the Zenbook 14X weighs barely more than four pounds and isn’t meant to be your main gaming machine, it’s hard to be too upset.

Sam Rutherford/Engadget

All told, between the new ceramic coating, the slightly larger display and revamped components, the Zenbook 14X is shaping up to be a pretty well-equipped and stylish notebook. I just hope other people like it too, because I’d love to see ASUS expand the color options for the ceramic coating to more shades than just sandstone. Of course, just how much of a premium you have to pay for it may play a role in its success. ASUS has not yet released pricing for the Zenbook 14X OLED, though it is slated to go on sale sometime in Q2 2023.

CES is back! For real. Sort of. While the show has never actually gone away in spirit, this year is the first time since the pandemic that Engadget has a team on the ground. The show proper kicks off on Thursday Jan 5th, but the news has already been coming hot and heavy. If we count Jan 4th as Day 1, since it’s usually the media preview day, that would make today… Day 0. Some companies couldn’t even wait and broke their news on New Year’s day, those eager beavers. From Samsung’s eye-catching display prototypes and home appliances, to a slew of chips and laptops, here’s what you missed from Day 0 of CES 2023.

Samsung beat everyone to the punch by announcing some of its news early. On Monday, the company unveiled new QD-OLED TVs that will hit up to 2,000 nits of brightness, as well as a 57-inch 8K gaming display. But most intriguing are the new wall ovens that will livestream a video feed of what you’re cooking, plus a new prototype mobile display that can both slide and fold.

CES is also a big show for chip makers like Intel, AMD and NVIDIA. This year, Intel unveiled its 13th-gen CPUs for laptops, which can offer up to 24 cores. NVIDIA had a slew of news, including the mid-range RTX 4070 Ti, which costs $800, as well as a series of RTX 4000 cards for laptops. The latter promises serious leaps in gaming performance for portable machines, with the flagship 4080 and 4090 GPUs reportedly being powerful enough to play games across three 4K monitors at 60 frames per second. NVIDIA is also expanding its GeForce Now game streaming to cars, while bringing the processing power of the RTX 4080 desktop GPU to the cloud gaming service.

These new chips are showing up in the usual plethora of laptops and computers from companies like Acer, Lenovo, Dell, ASUS, HP and more. Acer, for example, is updating its range of gaming laptops and simplifying its Swift series, with all of them getting 13th-generation Intel Core processors, alongside design refinements. Meanwhile, LG is updating its Gram series of super thin and light laptops with — you guessed it — 13th-generation Intel Raptor Lake processors. The new Gram Style is a mere 10.99mm or 0.43 inches thin, and has a so-called “hidden” trackpad that has LED backlighting that illuminates when you touch it.

Dell usually shows off some compelling concepts at CES and this year it’s catching our attention with an update to Concept Nyx. As a refresher, Concept Nyx is the company’s vision for a server for your home that can let you play games on various screens around the house. The update this year is a new accessory, and senior reporter Devindra Hardawar, who has already checked it out, called it a “truly baffling PC gamepad.” He even says “it’s like the Steam Controller 2.0, but worse.” Check out his hands-on to see why, and stay tuned all week as we bring you all the news from CES 2023.

Disney+ is bolstering its IMAX Enhanced films, including some Marvel Cinematic Universe movies, with another audio option. The streaming service will enable IMAX signature sound by DTS on select titles this year, offering viewers high-fidelity audio to go with the expanded aspect ratio.

You'll need compatible equipment to hear DTS audio, however. At the outset, some IMAX Enhanced-certified TVs from manufacturers such as Sony and Hisense will support DTS on Disney+, as will certain AV receivers from the likes of Denon, Marantz and JBL. However, you don't need any particular devices to view IMAX’s expanded aspect ratio of 1.90:1, which offers up to 26 percent taller pictures during certain sequences.

Some may find that the addition of DTS audio will help them to better replicate the IMAX experience at home. DTS will provide a higher bitrate alternative to Dolby Atmos, but many folks prefer the latter. In the near future, you may be able to watch a Disney+ movie in either audio format and decide for yourself.

Meanwhile, Disney+ has announced when Black Panther: Wakanda Forever is coming to the platform. You'll be able to stream the most recent MCU movie at home starting on February 1st. The film will have IMAX Enhanced support.

Four years after debuting at CES 2019, Holoride’s in-car VR technology is finally poised to go mainstream. Starting today, the startup has begun selling Retrofit, an all-in-one system you can install in your car to access Holoride content, in the US and Germany. The company designed Retrofit to work with vehicles of any make, model or year.

The device is about the size of a smart speaker and weighs less than half a pound. Installing Retrofit involves attaching it to the windshield of your car with the included mounting arm, which features a suction cup for easy installation. Retrofit’s built-in battery can power the device for up to 14 hours on one charge, and you can use the included USB-C to USB-A cable to charge the device inside your car. You can connect Retrofit to up to two Holoride-compatible VR headsets via Bluetooth.

Inside, the puck features all the technology needed to enable Holoride’s signature “Elastic Content.” When you play an interactive video or game, the platform adapts the experience to the car’s movement. So say you’re playing a game that involves a spacecraft. When the vehicle accelerates, so too will the spaceship. In that way, not only is the experience more immersive, but it’s also likely to cause you to experience motion sickness. Retrofit can collect and process all the movement and location data needed to enable those experiences. 

Of course, adding that sort of functionality to your car won’t come cheap. By itself, Retrofit costs $199. However, most people will probably need to shell out for the $799 Retrofit Pack to get an HTC Vive Flow headset and 8BitDo Pro2 controller with their purchase. That’s a lot of money to pay for a backseat experience, and likely as good of a test as any whether there’s a market for Holoride’s technology.

Walter Cunningham, an astronaut who was the last surviving member of the 1968 Apollo 7 mission, died on Tuesday at 90. The Iowa-born Cunningham served in the US Navy and Marine Corps before joining NASA in 1963 and eventually taking part in the Apollo program’s first crewed (and first televised) flight.

NASA confirmed Cunningham’s death and added that he was "instrumental to our Moon landing's program success.” According to the Houston Chronicle, Cunningham died in a local hospital of complications from a fall.

Apollo 7 was NASA’s first spaceflight after the 1967 Apollo 1 tragedy, where a fire killed three astronauts during a rehearsal test. This led to a longer-than-usual training period, as NASA shelved human-crewed spaceflight for 21 months following Apollo 1. The crew spent many long hours studying the spacecraft's design and construction of the Apollo command and service modules (CSM) to help avoid a repeat tragedy, which could have been perilous for the astronauts and the program. Finally, the crew splashed down on Earth on October 22, 1968, after nearly 11 days in space. Apollo 7 further tested NASA’s equipment and helped pave the way for Apollo 11, where the first humans walked on the moon.

NASA

Cunningham retired from NASA in 1971 and tried his hand at public speaking, radio hosting, offshore engineering, commercial real estate and venture capital investing. Unfortunately, he also became an outspoken climate change denier. Speaking to Forbes in 2013, Cunningham went through a laundry list of fossil-fuel industry talking points, framing modern NASA as an organization controlled by the media while claiming climate-change science was closer to demagoguery than fact. (For the record, climate change is real, and we're running out of time to avoid catastrophe.)

“I definitely believe that we lived in the good old days,” Cunningham said in a 1999 NASA interview. “We lived in the golden age of manned spaceflight. We’ve been in space now for over 40 years. The first 40 years of aviation, we went from just barely flying to jet transport, you know. And now, we haven’t moved that far since we went into space. The days through Apollo will be remembered; there’ll never be another time like that again. Even when we go to Mars, it will be different. And I feel just fortunate that I was a small part of this particular time in spaceflight.”

At CES 2023, MSI is announcing updates to nearly every family of laptops it makes, but some of the coolest changes are arriving on the new Raider GE and Stealth Studio lines.

Starting with the 2023 Raider GE78, not only are you getting faster 13th-gen Intel chips and up to an Nvidia RTX 4090 GPU, you’re also getting new IPS displays with taller 16:10 aspect ratios. Thanks to refreshed components, MSI says there are some serious jumps in performance, with gains of up 45 percent or more for both general computing and graphics compared to last year’s systems.

On top of that, MSI also updated the Raider’s chassis with a new matrix lightbar that’s brighter and more colorful. And the best part is that when you want to hide your power level, because of the smoky plastic in front, the lightbar almost completely disappears when you turn off the LEDs. Thankfully, MSI hasn’t messed around too much as you still get a huge 99.9-watt hour battery (the biggest power pack that you can bring on a plane), a physical webcam shutter and a new IR sensor that works with Windows Hello.

There’s a healthy selection of ports too, including a full-size SD card reader, one Thunderbolt 4 jack, two USB 3.2 Type-C ports (one of which also supports USB-PD charging) and one USB 3.2 Type-A connector. As for the keyboard, you still get per-key RGB lighting made in collaboration with Steelseries and a dedicated MUX switch for quickly swapping between integrated and discrete graphics.

MSI

That said, my favorite new systems might be the two additions to the Stealth family. After reviewing the old Stealth 15 last year, I felt like the whole line needed a big revamp, and that’s pretty much exactly what we're getting with the Stealth 14 Studio and Stealth 16 Studio. MSI designed a brand new chassis made from a magnesium-aluminum alloy, so it's both strong and light. Then MSI finished it off with two sweet new paint jobs: pure white and star blue.

On the inside, in addition to a range of 13th-gen Intel CPU and NVIDIA 40-series graphics, MSI added new vapor chambers to keep thermals in check. Meanwhile, just like the Raider, the new Stealth Studios also feature six-speaker audio, 16:10 displays and trackpads that are 33 percent larger than before. And despite their super slim dimensions — the Stealth 14 studio is just 9mm thick – MSI still found room to include a microSD card slot, which is great for quickly transferring photos or videos from your camera.

MSI

As someone who likes laptops that can do a bit of everything without sacrificing portability, the Stealth 14 Studio looks like a really interesting addition to the growing number of 14-inch thin-and-light gaming notebooks. My one small disappointment is that while MSI is also refreshing the old Stealth 15 with new silicon from Intel and Nvidia, the company sadly isn’t doing anything to revamp its chassis.

Unfortunately, we’re still waiting on pricing for MSI’s upcoming gaming laptops. But with the Raider line set for a release sometime in mid-February and the Stealth Studio arriving just a couple weeks after that, it shouldn’t be too long before we have some firm numbers.

MSI has announced its 2023 gaming laptop lineup at CES, including new Intel and NVIDIA components. The updated models also have redesigned cooling that MSI says can help kick up performance.

As with most new gaming laptops unveiled this week, MSI’s upgraded models use 13th-gen Intel Core series processors with GeForce RTX 40 series laptop graphics. In addition, the new models include the company's latest thermal setup, now organized into shared, dedicated and VRAM-exclusive pipes.

The Titan GT and Raider GE series are the most spec-intensive models, using the Intel i9-13980HX with MSU Overboost tech that can push processing and graphics to a 250W power draw (or support 5.2GHz frequency across 8 P-cores). The Titan GE also adds what MSI describes as the “world’s first 4K 144Hz Mini LED display.” The 17.3-inch panel can hit an impressive 1,000 nits peak brightness with over 1,000 local dimming zones. The Raider GE’s display is a step down from it but still offers a respectable QHD+ resolution at 240Hz. That model also has a new chassis with an upgraded light bar.

MSI

MSI also has new editions of its Stealth Series gaming notebooks, which have a slimmer profile than the Titan and Raider lines while sacrificing as little power as possible. That lineup includes models with 14-, 15-, 16- and 17-inch displays. In addition to the new Intel and NVIDIA hardware inside, the Stealth 14 Studio and Stealth 16 Studio use a magnesium-aluminum alloy chassis that helps keep their weight down. (The 16-inch model weighs 4.39 lbs, while the 14-inch one is 3.75 lbs.) In addition, the 15-inch variant has a 240Hz OLED display with a 0.2ms response time while covering 100 percent of the DCI-P3 color gamut.

The Prestige series pushes the light and thin boundaries further, with the 13-inch variant standing as MSI’s lightest gaming laptop at 2.18 lbs. Like the Stealth line, the Prestige models also use a magnesium-alloy construction. Despite the light and thin build, the Prestige 13 Eco has a 75W-h battery lasting up to 15 hours.

Engadget will try MSI’s new gaming machines later this week, but you’ll still have over a month to decide if they’re right for you. Although the company hasn’t released a full release schedule, it tells us the Titan and Raider series will launch mid-February, while the Stealth and Cyborg lines will arrive later that month.

LG unwrapped its 2023 soundbars right after Christmas, but the company is showing the duo off here at CES. The SC9 and SE6 are both equipped with Dolby Atmos, but while the former is a more premium-level device, the SE6 is compact all-in-one unit more akin to Sonos' Beam. We got out first look at both at CES along with some more info on each unit.

First, the SC9 is designed to work best with LG's OLED TVs — specifically the C series. The company has even designed a custom mounting bracket for its TVs so that the soundbar is attached to the display and not the wall. This means that if your television is on a swivel bracket itself, the speaker rotates with it pointing the sound in the same direction as the TV. And speaking of directional audio, LG has equipped the SC9 with three upfiring speakers — one more than a lot of soundbars offer. That should boost the speaker's Dolby Atmos and DTS:X capabilities. 

A few features for the SC9 are exclusive to LG TVs. Wow Orchestra syncs the display's speakers with the soundbar for the best audio experience and Wow Interface puts all of the SC9's sound settings on the TV for easy access. The company's Wowcast technology will let you connect to its TVs over Wifi, allowing you to ditch the wired connection if you see fit. In terms of wired connectivity, there are two HDMI ports: an HDMI/ARC for linking with the TV and one additional jack. 

The LG SE6 is another proposition entirely. This compact unit still offers Dolby Atmos in a frame that's cloth wrapped and has softer, rounded edges. As you might expect, LG built the SE6 for people who have smaller spaces or simply want a smaller soundbar in front of their TV. It still offers HDMI/ARC connectivity with your TV with one additional HDMI port alongside. To further reduce any clutter, the SE6 doesn't come with a subwoofer like the SC9 does. However, it does support Wow Orchestra, Wowcast and most of the new features the company added to the more robust SC9.

LG hasn't announced pricing and availability yet, but we're likely to get that info sometime this spring. 

Meta is facing yet another European Union fine. As hinted last month, EU authorities are fining Meta €390 million (about $414 million) after determining that the company illegally required that Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp users accept personalized ads. The social media giant allegedly violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by asking for permission to collect ad targeting data in its terms of service — you have to either allow personalized ads or stop using the platforms altogether, according to regulators.

The EU didn't say how it expected Meta to obey the decision. However, the wording suggests Meta will have to let users choose whether or not they accept personalized ads. In a statement, Meta said it was "disappointed" by the ruling and felt its existing approach "respects" the GDPR. The firm plans to appeal the findings.

The resistance isn't surprising. Meta has historically opposed attempts to decline personalized ads, and predicted that Apple's App Tracking Transparency (which lets you ask apps not to track you) could cost it $10 billion in lost ad revenue last year. Users behind proposed class action lawsuits have even accused Meta of trying to dodge Apple's privacy feature by inserting tracking code through the in-app web browser. If Meta loses its appeal, it risks losing a significant amount of revenue as people see fewer ads they're likely to click.

It's doubtful the EU will back down, however. Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC), which regulates Meta's EU activity, has repeatedly fined the company in the past year and a half. The DPC slapped Meta with a €405 million ($402 million) fine over Instagram's child privacy settings in September, and in November issued a €265 million ($277 million) penalty for reportedly failing to protect users against data scraping. Officials want Meta to change its ways, and this latest ruling only adds to the pressure.