Consumer Electronics Exhibition 2013 Highlights

The newest kid on the block, the Consumer Electronics Exhibition, is being held at Suntec City from 31st October to 3rd of November 2013. If you're intending to head down for a look, why not check out our article first for the highlights of the show?

By Vijay Anand - 2 Nov 2013

The newest kid on the block, the Consumer Electronics Exhibition (CEE), is currently held at Suntec City from the 31st of October to the 3rd of November 2013. It's still pretty much in its infancy but if consumers warm up to it, this show will be another yearly fixture. For a start, it's held at Level 6 in Suntec's exhibition center, Hall 601 to 605, from 12pm to 9pm. It's a smaller show than what you might be used to, so most of the show floor is taken up by the ISPs and major electronics retailers like Courts and Newstead, so here are some of the deals and products that caught our eye. Oddly, there aren't any major TV/AV related products at the show and most are related to computing, communications and personal entertainment.

CEE 2013 Portal

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Show Highlights

Armaggeddon

The meanest of their gaming mice models is the Alien Craft IV G17. Costs $119, it has 8200CPI Avago 9800 laser tracking engine (with 8-level on-the-fly adjustment), 8-level weight management, 3-level adjustable polling rate, 180-degree turn in one-click macro, and more.

Here's another view of the Armaggeddon Alien Craft IV G17.

ASUS

Newstead and Courts were the key people selling ASUS products across various stands spread across the halls. Here's a few that we thought would appeal to shoppers:

ASUS Nexus 7 (2013) - Read full review
ASUS Zenbook UX32VD - Read article
ASUS Vivobook Series S400 - Read article

Fans of vanilla Android will be pleased to know that the Google Nexus 7 can be found at the CEE 2013. One of the more affordable, yet capable 7-inch tablets, the Nexus 7 is a popular choice for Android tablets. Its quad-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 Pro processor and 2GB of RAM ensures that your apps will always run smoothly, while the 1080p screen will keep you happy when viewing entertainment content.

While the show offer is nothing to write home about (free sleeve), this tablet is worth investing if you don't have one yet or you're looking to replace a former crappy model that you bought without doing your homework.

The ASUS Zenbook Prime is one of the better built notebooks in the market with its all-aluminum body, while keeping it slim and light. Comes in either a Core i5-3337 or Core i7-3537 CPU options, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD with 24MB SSD cache, Windows 8, Full HD screen, NVIDIA GeForce GT 620 and 2 years of warranty. Show price is S$1398 and S$1598 respectively.

The exterior of the Zenbook Prime features the "Zen" or circular pattern which gives this Ultrabook its unique look and feel.

The Zenbook Prime however doesn't have a touchscreen. The ASUS Vivobook S400 pictured here is a 14-inch machine with a touchscreen and goes for only S$1049. While the screen resolution is just 1366 x 768 pixels, the other specs are similar to the Zenbook Prime UX32VD such as a Core i5-3337, 8GB RAM, 500GB HDD with a 24GB SSD cache. Graphics matters are taken care of the CPU's internal graphics core.

Avision

If you need a compact solution to your scanning woes, check out the Avision MiWand 2 Wi-Fi Pro. It's a wand-type scanner that you can carry in your backpack. It also features built-in Wi-Fi in case you need to send pictures to your smartphone or laptop in a hurry. For more details, you can check out our first looks article for the MiWand 2 Wi-Fi Pro here.

It's going at a $20 discount at the show, at the price of $189.

What if you wanted a feed-type mobile scanner? The new Avision ScanQ shown below goes for S$149 and does just that. Supports SD cards with 32GB capacity, has a maximum scanning resolution of 1200dpi and is battery powered.

This is the mobile Avision ScanQ feed-type scanner for S$149.

Canon

While Canon had cameras, projectors, scanners and printers available at the show, by far, the focus was on their print solutions. Here's some for you to check out:-

Ask and you'll get a quick demo of its features and easy maintenance.

Here's the same printer in clean white - it should go well with your Mac products if you have any.

But if you want the latest, top up a little more for the Pixma MG6470 that offers a vast step-up in features and color quality. This printer supports Google Cloud Print on top of Pixma Cloud Link, Apple Airprint, 5 individual ink tanks, 3-inch LCD screen, direct disc printing and outs prints at up to 15 / 9.7 ipm (black/color). Sells for $199, but it comes with a $20 NTUC voucher, so it's actually only S$179 in value.

For more information of Canon's latest printers and features, we've an article to sum that up.

Dell

For something more up-class, how about a true convertible Ultrabook with an updated Intel Haswell computing platform? The Dell XPS 12 Ultrabook is what you'll get for $1799 - a 12-inch touchscreen notebook that can transform to a tablet or notebook form factor with flip of its screen. It's powered by an Intel Core i5-4200U processor, 4GB RAM and a 128GB SSD. If you top up to S$2199, you'll get a Core i7-4500U processor, 8GB RAM and 256GB SSD.

For a powerful desktop, you can consider the Dell XPS One 27 - a 27-inch touchscreen based AIO PC with an ultra high resolution screen (2560 x 1440), GeForce GT 750M graphics, 2TB HDD with 32GB mSATA cache, 16GB RAM and is powered by an Intel Core i7-4770S processor. Just arrived, it commands a hefty price tag of S$3099, but it comes with a free accidental damage warranty and MS Office suite. If you don't mind a previous generation platform, you can get the same XPS One 27 for $2799 with a Core i7-3770, 8GB RAM and GeForce GT 640M.

Garmin

The latest from Garmin is this 5-inch nuvi 2567LM GPS device. Priced at $299, it has a new UI, one-shot address entry, parking finder, advanced highway mode, smartphone link and natural guidance.

iRiver

Wear them like this and jog your way to your favorite tunes from your phone, but yet also be able to monitor your heart rate accurately. A fitness sensor has been sandwiched within the earphone tips along with an infrared lens. The main unit has a DSP and other micro controllers along with an accelerometer sensor. The combined sum of components work in unison to calculate and record accurate data using PerformTek biometric sensor technology,

With the provided app, you can monitor and chart various fitness data:- current heart rate, distance, time, calories burned, etc.

Lenovo

Over at Lenovo we thought of highlighting two distinct models from the sea of notebooks and desktops in their line-up. The well established Lenovo Y500 gaming notebook and the B550 Touch AIO multimedia machine:-

At $1599, this B550 Touch from Lenovo is a 23-inch multimedia gaming AIO PC. Configured with an Intel Core i5-4570, 8GB RAM, 1TB HDD, DVD drive, AMD Radeon HD 8570A 2GB and a 10-point multi-touch Full HD screen.

MSI

MSI's gaming notebook corner at the show is tucked away neatly at the left edge of hall under the Pro Concepts retailer.

One of more value-for-money models, the MSI GE60. Specs are as listed onscreen and it goes for S$1899. If you can forego the backlit keyboard and settle for a mid-range GPU like a GeForce GT 750M, you can get the GE60 for S$1599.

What about if you want a 17-inch gaming notebook? The GS70 should be high on your shortlist as it's one of the slimmest, well-built and all-rounded gaming notebooks. Prices start from S$2399.

Check out how slim the GS70, 17-inch gaming notebook is.

For a full review and our opinion of the MSI GS70 Stealth, check out this detailed shootout.

M1

M1 had a large booth (it's probably a whole bunch of booths) at the right side of the exhibition hall, ready to serve their customers' and potential customers' needs.

M1 had two interesting fibre broadband plans at the show, with one catered for gamers while another comes with a home surveillance camera.

Want something even more affordable? Here are the basic fibre broadband plans. Look carefully as there are top up options to get a notebook too.

Here's a close-up of the top-up options. Indeed from our calculations, the HP Envy 15 is a star buy. But for a little bit more, you can get the Envy 15 Touchsmart which comes with a Full HD touchscreen.

If you're interested in Nokia's 41-megapixel Lumia 1020, M1 also has it on sale for $268 (two-year, $59 a month plan).

Here's another view of the phone, but with the optional camera grip for added grip and battery life.

If you're keen to know more about the Nokia Lumia 1020, you can read all about it here and here.

ProLink

Newly launched at the show and Prolink's top-of-the-line IP camera, meet the PIC1007WP. Going for S$279 (normal price is S$299), this baby has dual lenses suitable for day and night operation, a megapixel sensor, 802.11n Wireless standard, supports pan and tilt remotely, mobile view and it goes without saying, motion detection for home surveillance.

Samsung

Surprisingly, you'll not find a Samsung TV on sale at the CEE show. You will however find Samsung storage, mobile products and cameras, such as the high-end NX300 mirrorless camera.