Kalakshar US

There’s no denying the staying power of Samsung’s The Frame. The company struck gold in 2017 when it debuted the TV that blends in with your home decor and shows art pieces when not in use. As popular as the model has become, it wasn’t great for all of the other things you need a TV for — like watching shows and movies or gaming. Of course, there have been various imitators over the last five years too, including some of the competition here at CES 2025. 

Samsung is hoping to win over even more customers with its newly announced The Frame Pro. This new model has two significant upgrades that should make it a much better TV and not just an alternative to the black rectangle that takes up space when you aren’t using it. First, and perhaps most importantly, The Frame Pro now has a Neo QLED display — the same Mini LED tech that powers the company’s high-end QN900 series TVs.

The Verge reports that Samsung’s use of Mini LEDs on The Frame Pro doesn’t work like it does on most TVs. Typically, there are dimming zones behind the display for precise control over which sections should be illuminated and which should be darker or black. Samsung didn’t do that on this model, relying instead on a row of Mini LEDs along the bottom of The Frame Pro and promising a degree of local dimming. 

At CES, Samsung’s demos were focused on showing off art on The Frame Pro more than any content that would’ve confirmed if the approach to Mini LEDs. But, in a side-by-side with a still image from a movie, The Frame Pro was brighter, with more detail and deeper blacks that the existing Frame. You can also tell a difference looking at the same art on the two TVs beside each other. Details like texture and strokes pop off the matte screen more on The Frame Pro, making the art TV even better at its primary function. Plus, Samsung says its boosted the refresh rate to 144Hz to improve the gaming experience, and the 2024 Frame also supports variable refresh rates for smoother gameplay. So, it stands to reason The Frame Pro would as well.

The second big upgrade on The Frame Pro is a new Wireless One Connect Box that’s similar to what LG has been hyping for its M-series TVs for years now. Samsung’s version is much smaller, looking more like a game console than a cube, and it relies on Wi-Fi (up to Wi-Fi 7) to wirelessly transmit content and audio from connected streaming gear and game consoles. The company says you can place it in a cabinet without interference and at distances up to 10 meters away. 

The Wireless One Connect Box will replace the larger One Connect Box that still required a single cord running to The Frame. This should offer more versatility to where customers place the TV, since it doesn’t have to be physically connected to a box to receive signal from HDMI inputs.

The Frame Pro should be a big upgrade to The Frame given the Neo QLED panel, but we’ll have to wait and see if that holds true in “regular” TV use. And of course, it will be more expense than the current Frame that starts at $600 for the 32-inch size.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/home-theater/samsung-the-frame-pro-at-ces-2025-a-big-upgrade-for-the-art-tv-214300273.html?src=rss 

CES is filled with wild and wacky curios, to be sure, but there are also plenty of good old-fashioned laptops. Every year the big chipmakers announce new products and the big computer manufacturers unveil new laptops that take advantage of updated CPUs and GPUs. All told, companies announced nearly two dozen upcoming laptops at this year’s conference. Some are bulky beasts made for gaming, while others are thin beauties intended for portability. The vast majority of them are filled to the brim with the AI tools that everyone loves so very much.

Here are all of the laptops that piqued our interest at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, just in case you need to start saving some money for a purchase later this year.

ASUS Zenbook A14

The ASUS Zenbook A14 is the MacBook Air competitor of our dreams. It weighs less than 2.2 pounds, which is actually a half a pound lighter than the Air. When it comes to specs, it actually outclasses Apple in nearly every category. There’s a 14-inch OLED screen, up to 32 hours (!) of battery life and up to 32GB of RAM. It’s also covered in a nifty ceramic coating that feels great to hold.

It comes in two versions. There’s one that includes a Snapdragon X Plus CPU and 16GB of RAM, which starts at $900. The higher-end model features a Snapdragon X Elite chip and 32GB of RAM, starting at $1,100. The laptops will be available on January 13.

Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen6

Just because laptops have been around for decades doesn’t mean that companies can’t get a bit weird with them. Case in point? The Lenovo Thinkbook Plus Gen6. This is a laptop with a rollable screen that expands and contracts with the push of a button. Lenovo first introduced this as a concept device, but now it’s a real upcoming product.

The 14-inch OLED display instantly transforms to a 16.7-inch panel, which effectively adds an extra 50 percent of screen real estate. The brightness is adequate, at 400 nits, and the performance looks solid. It comes with Intel’s Core Ultra 7 CPU, up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of SSD storage. It’s also weirdly light, given the tech, at 3.6 pounds. We don’t have official pricing or availability yet, but it’s expected to cost somewhere around $3,500 and should hit store shelves this spring.

Lenovo ThinkPad X9

We called the Lenovo ThinkPad X9 “the least ThinkPad ever” for good reason. This new iteration ditched the long-standing carbon fiber frames and Trackpoint nubs found with classic models in favor of a more minimalist approach. It’s available in 14-inch and 15-inch versions, and both of these feature OLED displays. These laptops are powered by the Intel Core Ultra 7 processors, which means that you can’t upgrade the RAM because it’s soldered on. However, the SSD and battery are easily replaceable. Both models should be available in February, with a starting price of $1,400 for the 14-inch model and $1,550 for the 15-inch version.

MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition

The MSI Titan 18 HX Dragon Edition adds some seriously-cool aesthetics to the most powerful laptop the company makes. There are a ton of unique design traits here, including a hand-drawn dragon on the lid that was acid-etched into the aluminum. As for specs, this laptop includes top-of-the-line components including next-gen Intel HX processors, NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPUs, PCIe Gen 5 SSD storage and Wi-Fi 7. There’s a massive 18-inch mini LED display and low-profile Cherry MX switches on the keyboard. MSI has yet to reveal pricing or availability on this one.

Razer Blade 16

The Razer Blade 16 laptop is extraordinarily thin, at 0.59 inches. That makes it 32 percent slimmer than the 2024 model. There’s a 16-inch QHD display with a 240Hz refresh rate and a response time of 0.2ms. The computer also includes the AMD Ryzen 9 AI HX 370 processor and one of the brand-new NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs. There isn’t a release date yet, other than soon, nor is there a launch price. Last year’s model started at $2,700, so we can expect something in the same range.

Samsung Galaxy Book5 Pro

Samsung unveiled an updated line of Galaxy Book laptops at CES. There’s the Galaxy Book5 Pro, which is available in 14-inch and 16-inch screen options, along with the Book5 360 with a 15-inch display. All of these computers are equipped with Intel’s newest Arrow Lake Core Ultra processors and have been built for AI tasks. To that end, Samsung has touted a long list of on-device AI circles, like its own version of Google’s Circle to Search. These laptops also include on-device photo upscaling and more.

The Book5 Pro is a standard laptop, while the Book5 360 is a 2-in-one with a 15-6-inch AMOLED touch display. There’s no pricing yet on any of these models, but the company has said they’ll be available for purchase in February.

ASUS Vivobook 14 and 16

Just like the ultralight Zenbook A14, the refreshed Vivobook 14 and 16 laptops ship with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X chip. These are mid-grade computers that offer up 16GB of RAM and 512GB of storage. The company says that the internals have been updated to allow for 44 percent more performance than the last-gen models. The battery also got an upgrade and now will last nearly 20 hours per charge.

Both computers make use of the company’s not-at-all creepy “AI camera” which detects whether you’re sitting in front of the screen or not. The ASUS Vivobook 14 and Vivobook 16 are available to pre-order now for $700 and $750, respectively.

Lenovo 10th-gen Legion Pro 7i

The tenth-generation Legion Pro 7i is a serious upgrade over its predecessors and should be a great option for gaming on-the-go. It supports up to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 GPU, with an updated cooling system that enables 250W thermal design power. The laptop also supports up to an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX processor. On top of that, you can add up to 64GB of RAM. There’s a 16-inch OLED display with a 240Hz refresh rate and a 1ms response time.

It’s a beefy machine, however, coming at six pounds. The Legion Pro 7i will be available sometime in March, with a starting price of $2,400.

Alienware Area 51

It’s been years, but Alienware’s Area 51 branding is back in a big way. The Alienware Area 51 laptops are the company’s latest flagship gaming devices. They are available in two display sizes, 16- and 18-inches, and support up to Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPUs, 64GB of RAM (at up to 7200 MT/s, the highest of any Alienware laptop), 12 TB of PCIe Gen 5 SSD storage and next-gen NVIDIA RTX 5090 GPUs. Both models can handle up to 175 watts of total graphics power with an additional 105 watts reserved for the CPU. There’s also a glass bottom to help with thermal regulation. 

They should be available sometime in the next couple of months. However, the laptops are launching in high-end configurations that start at $3,200, with less expensive “entry-level” models coming later in the year.

ASUS ROG Flow Z13

The ASUS ROG Flow Z13 is a 2-in-1 hybrid that could absolutely shine as a gaming tablet. It supports up to a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU with unified memory. The 70Whr battery should get up to 10 hours on a single charge and the IPS panel boasts an impressive 180Hz refresh rate and up to 500 nits of brightness. This machine also integrates with the company’s new XG Mobile graphics dock for a nice little upgrade in the visuals.

The Flow Z13 is expected to start at around $2,000 for a version with a Ryzen AI Max 390 chip or $2,200 when configured with a Ryzen AI Max+ 395 APU. We don’t have a release date yet.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/all-the-laptops-that-piqued-our-interest-at-ces-2025-194424146.html?src=rss 

While there’s plenty of automotive news to go around at CES 2025, far and away, the talk of the show is the Afeela 1. Again. For five years now, Sony has been showing off some variation on this same theme, first as the Vision-S in 2020, then the Vision-S 02, before adopting the unfortunate rebranding to Afeela in 2023, and this year finally to Afeela 1.

Along the way, the car lost what little interesting styling it had while sticking true to some specifications that sounded good five years ago. Everything just feels a bit off, not the least of which is its starting price: $89,900.

I got a chance to get up close and inside the car, a demo that began with another explanation of what Afeela means. It’s a sort of overwrought portmanteau for the words autonomy, augmentation, and affinity.

This year’s Afeela 1 is little changed from last year’s numberless show car. The only significant visual update is found in the sensor pod protruding from the leading edge of the roof. A LiDAR module now stands proud, along with a couple of cameras on either end, staring in opposite directions, chameleon-style.

While the bug-eyed look is not particularly charming, it is the only bit of visual character in an otherwise bland design. The lone other external talking point is the display embedded in the leading edge of the hood. This “media bar” is another thing that seemed novel and fun a few years ago on a concept car.

There’s a noticeable seam where two displays meet on the grille-mounted displays.

It’s supposed to welcome you to the car or provide messages to those around you. But it’s hard to read from afar, and up close you can see the unfortunate seam down the middle where two panels were somewhat crudely joined together to form the thing.

To open the driver’s door, you either tap a button in the app or press a small button embedded in the pillar. There are no door handles to pull, not even a token fin like on the Ford Mustang Mach-E. I couldn’t help asking what do you do if you park in an ice storm and the door is frozen shut. I wasn’t given much of an answer.

Those doors open to a space that’s every bit as understated as the exterior except for one thing: the dashboard-spanning display. It’s vibrant and clear and about the only thing in here that reminded me that this is a Sony product. Well, that and the DualSense controller that you can pair to the car and then fire up PS Remote Play while you charge.

And you’ll need something to do because the maximum charge rate of the Afeela 1 is 150 kW for its 91 kWh battery, which provides an estimated 300 miles of range. Compare that to a cheaper Lucid Air, which can charge twice as quickly and cover over 400 miles on a charge, and you begin to see the real problem with this thing.

That display plus the ambient lighting within the car are all comprehensively customizable, with the same sorts of themes available on the PS5. I sampled the Ghost of Tsushima and Fortnite themes, each of which splayed the interior in the proper series of colors, adding a splash of personality to the otherwise vanilla surfaces.

That big display is the major talking point, but look a little lower and you’ll spot the world’s largest volume knob situated between the seats. It’s bigger than the iDrive knob on most modern BMWs, yet only controls the output of the 28-speaker, Dolby Atmos-enabled sound system.

The software interface, meanwhile, looked largely unfinished, little more than a two-row grid of oversized boxes representing apps, settings and car controls. Given the width of the display, vital controls can easily stretch beyond the driver’s reach, leaving you to drag the whole array back to the left to get what you need.

After so many years of seeing what Sony’s first car would really look like, I couldn’t help feeling disappointed when I climbed out. But not nearly as disappointed as I was when looking down the spec sheet again.

There are two trims of Afeela 1, the $89,900 Afeela 1 Origin and $102,900 Signature. The latter has larger wheels (21-inch vs. 19), a rear-seat entertainment system (displays embedded in the headrests plus an HDMI input) and additional cameras. The Origin, meanwhile, is only available in black.

Seriously.

Why Sony would even think about launching a $90,000 car that is only available in black is beyond me. Spend the $13,000 more for the Signature model, and you still only get three forgettable shades: white, gray and black again.

In the Origin we have a car that costs $20,000 more than a Lucid Air Pure but has considerably less range and slower charging speed. Go for the $102,900 Afeela 1 Signature trim, and you’re now spending more than a Porsche Taycan, which admittedly has less range but looks far better and will almost assuredly be the more engaging drive.

Five years ago, Sony’s vehicular aspirations made for an odd but intriguing project. Now, it all just seems misguided. How will it feel in another 12 months when the first cars start rolling off from Honda’s Ohio factory? That’s anyone’s guess, but I can’t imagine tomorrow’s market will look any more kindly upon this vehicular curiosity.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/sonys-afeela-1-feels-like-a-playstation-4-in-the-ps5-era-184620132.html?src=rss 

The “AC” in AC Future stands for Amy and Cindy, founder Arthur Qin’s two daughters. That’s just one of the bits of info I gained at the company’s CES event in which we got a first look at the new AC Future Ai-TH transformable home. This is yet another nattily appointed answer to the housing crisis we’ve seen on the 2025 show floor. It comes in three models: a deliverable pod (Ai-THu), a pullable trailer (Ai-THt) and a road-ready EV RV (Ai-THd). Press and prospective buyers got to tour the EV prototype this week (but we had to take our shoes off first). 

Thanks to pull-out sections at the rear and both sides, the bus-sized RV transforms into a 400-square-foot, one bed, one bath apartment, complete with a living room, kitchen with full-sized fridge, two burner induction range and microwave, along with an uncramped stall shower and washer/dryer in the bathroom. The full HVAC system, paired with high-efficiency insulation keeps the unit temperate. 

All that amounts to one heck of a power draw, which AC Future answers with a roof covered in solar panels. I was told all three models of the Ai-TH can generate around 25 kWh of energy in a day. For reference, the average American house uses around 30 kWh daily. The home can also be plugged in if sunlight isn’t enough, and there was talk of wind-generation options for customers in cloudy climates. 

All models of the Ai-TH will also come equipped with atmospheric water generation that can suck between 13 and 15 gallons of water per day out of thin air. That’s much less than the 200 or so gallons American houses use for non-landscaping needs, so the Ai-TH also recycles gray water and, of course, has a holding tank. In theory, these units can act as fully self-sustaining living pods, gathering what’s needed from the world around them. 

Because this is CES 2025, where the unofficial model is “Stick some AI in it!” there’s a whole-home proprietary AI assistant called Futura to turn on your lights, manage your resources and handle other management tasks. There was even a demo set up outside the RV letting people “meet” “her.”

At last year’s CES, AC Future, barely two years old at the time, showed off the idea for the Ai-TH. The fully equipped prototype we saw was built in collaboration with Hydra, an automotive design and prototyping studio out of Southern California. Models that go into production will have components coming from a huge range of suppliers; I was told there are three partners lined up for the EV motors alone. 

AC Future says this is “aimed at addressing the affordable, sustainable and mobile housing crisis worldwide.” And any talk of addressing the housing crisis has to include some discussion of price, unless we’re counting on some trickle-down economics-style solutions. The static base model will start at $98,000, the trailer model will go for $138,000 and up and the drivable version starts at $298,000. 

AC Future’s COO told me production would begin as soon as they left Vegas (the whole team was at CES) and reservations are open now. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/the-ac-future-drivable-self-sustaining-home-transforms-to-be-larger-than-your-first-apartment-193758718.html?src=rss 

Broadly speaking, there are two types of e-bikes: Ones with a motor in one of the wheels, and ones with the motor mounted between the pedals. Those in the former group, known as hub motors, are cheap and bountiful, but lack the oomph required to cover rough terrain and high inclines. Those in the latter group, known as mid-drive motors, have all the power, but are heavy on the wallet as well on your arms as you lug them around. Consequently, I’m excited by what Urtopia turned up with to CES 2025: Titanium Zero, a 3D-printed titanium concept e-bike weighing less than 20 pounds packing Quark DM1.2, a custom-designed mid-drive motor that’s small enough to fit inside the bottom bracket and weighs just 2.6 pounds on its own. By its own admission, it’s not as brawny as chonky mid-drive models from Bafang and Bosch, but it might be a perfect alternative for less extreme trails.

Of course, right now it’s just a concept device so we should keep the salt of reasonable skepticism in our left palm at all times. Even so, Urtopia’s Titanium Zero is plenty light enough in the hand, looking a lot more like a regular steel-framed three-speed bike than an e-bike. Hell, if it didn’t have the little controller visible on the crossbar, you could easily mistake this for an old-school racing bike, down to the drop handlebars.

And then there’s the aforementioned Quark DM1.2, which adds another layer of theoretical desirability onto the package. Urtopia says the tiny mid-drive motor can produce 65nm of max torque, which isn’t going to give any of the bigger names any nightmares; a Bafang M560 can output 130Nm. But it’s a rough rule of thumb that a regular rear hub motor can output around 40nm, so there’s a significant performance boost. It’s the sort of hardware I’m quite eager to test on the comically steep hills near to my home, just to see if the claims match the reality.

Sadly, the Titanium Zero and Quark DM1.2 aren’t ready for prime time, and so we’ll have to wait for now.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/i-want-urtopias-titanium-zero-concept-e-bike-174539195.html?src=rss