I'm torn between Solid State Drives that are getting bigger and cheaper and OLED TV screens (millimeters thin, 1,000,000 to 1 contrast ratio, insane energy efficiency, and flexible!).

In my mind, the emerging netbook craze is most interesting and, assuming cost isn't a factor, the new Sony Vaio P is the most drool-worthy thing that I've seen come out of CES so far.

--kurt

I'd go with the OLED TV. At least you can "see" where your money is going while saving money in energy and it makes for good conversation.

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Richard

My gadget blog: http://www.gadgetinsane.com

Very pretty.

The first thing I noticed was how the keyboard was very "Mac-like" to its own notebooks. After using an Asus eeePC for a little bit, I was kind of waiting to see if Apple would release a rumoured netbook but it didn't happen.

IMO, for a netbook to be cost effective vs. a regular notebook, it has to come in easily under $500. I know you're paying for size, convenience, and the technology inside but still.

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Richard

My gadget blog: http://www.gadgetinsane.com

And, in the case of Sony, you're paying the Sony tax as well.

I think we'll start to see a wide range of netbooks emerge. It's true that they're not as powerful as regular laptops, but precisely because of that, they can offer dramatically increased battery life, lower weight, better cooling, smaller form factor, etc. So far, manufacturers have focused on cheaper, lower-end offerings, but I don't think that's the only market where the Atom chip can play.

We're already starting to see this as "netbooks" start to push into the 12" territory and beyond. (something that Intel is decidedly unhappy about) I think we'll start to see a lot more variety in the Atom platform. (and Atom-esque competitors)

--kurt

You know, I've always wondered if we'd reach a point where we have "enough" power to run business applications. I can see faster and faster processors, graphics cards and RAM used for things like gaming creating media, but the "Microsoft Word" experience just isn't going to be that improved with such advancements.

Netbooks seem to be the first computers to make the performance concession to create a computer than is "enough". It's an interesting trend, indeed.