Tom's Hardware CES 2019 Awards: From 7nm Chips to Robot Butlers

Best VR: HTC Vive Pro Eye

HTC Vive Pro Eye brings new excitement to the VR space. The headset has Tobii eye tracking built into it, allowing the user to do things like select a menu option just by looking at it. The power and fun that come with controlling things with your eyes should not be overlooked.

Read more: HTC Vive Pro Eye Hands-On: Feeling Powerful With Built-In Tobii Eye Tracking

Best Robot: UBTech Walker

The Jetsons future you've always dreamed of is here. UBTech's Walker is a true robotic butler that can walk over to the fridge, grab you a beer and bring it to you. The 4.7-foot, 170-pound automaton has 36 actuators that allow it to move its legs, arms and hands in very human ways.

Though the Walker is still in development, it's fair to say that this is one of the most advanced consumer robots ever made. Could a new generation of flying cars be far behind?

Read more: UBTech Walker Hands-on

Best SSD: Intel Optane H10

Intel Optane H10

Intel’s Optane storage brings the bleeding-edge performance of 3D XPoint to storage, but the company’s first products were designed for caching and the follow-on SSDs were too small for most users. That changes with the Intel Memory H10 series.

The new device blends the potency of Optane storage with the capacity and low price point of QLC flash, making it a capacious storage device that should be much faster than most garden-variety SSDs. Capacities stretch up to 1 TB, which should be enough storage for most users. The slim devices are a good fit for notebooks and will find their way into many OEM devices, but Intel hasn’t committed to bringing them to the retail market yet. Here’s hoping we see these on shelves soon.
Read more: Intel’s New M.2 Optane Memory H10 SSDs: Optane Paired With QLC Flash

Best Bag: Asus ROG Ranger BP3703

Asus proves there's no such thing as too-much RGB with the Ranger BP3703, which has colorful LEDs on the front, a controller in the back and internal light to help you find the pen that's been rolling around somewhere in the front pocket.

The bag is water resistant and has dedicated pockets for your phone, tablet and pens, in addition to a laptop with up to a 17-inch screen. A USB port on the back allows you to charge your phone.

Read more: Asus ROG Ranger Features RGB Lighting, Plenty of Pockets

Best Desk: Lian Li DK-04-F


Lian Li has been making desk cases for years. But its latest model features a layer built into the glass top that, when electrified, switches the glass from clear to opaque, hiding your components and their RGB lights with the press of a button. Because as cool as it is to have your custom LED-lit desktop built into your desk, sometimes you'll want to get down to some work without the distraction of your PC parts blinking up at you.

Read more: Lian Li’s New Standing Desk PC Case Hides Your RGB Components With a Click

  • JamesSneed
    "Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 2060 comes with a $350 price tag, which is higher than we’re accustomed to for this class of video card. We can overlook the price, though, because the graphics card offers great performance for its price point. "

    The RTX 2060 is a fine card priced at least $50 to high. We really should stop accepting that these high prices are ok. If we payed more for performance every generation top end graphics cards would be well over $20,000 after 20 years of improvements. Allowing ourselves to say the next generation is 40% faster so 40% higher prices is ok is a complete trap. TH you should stick by your initial thought this card is priced too high to get an award.
    Reply
  • JamesSneed
    The Asus backpack is a bit weird. Not sure I love the gimikey RGB especially since that power pack won't likely pass through TSA inspections. I absolutely love my "Everki EKP121-1 Atlas" which has so many features that makes traveling with a laptop and other gear just lovely. The trolley Handle Pass-Through Strap is freaking lovely to toss the bag on top of your carry on luggage. The interlas are orange so all the black cables contrast. This Asus bag looks like it would work better for a high school kid than in any other scenario since it doesn't have those nice day to day or travel friendly features im accustomed to having.
    Reply
  • chalabam
    That UBTech Walker robot is corny as hell. I want to kick it. It makes me cringe.
    Reply
  • logainofhades
    I don't care how it performs similar to previous gen. It is still too high of a price for an x60 series card, period. RTX in general is overpriced.
    Reply