With the first few days firmly behind our team on the ground at Computex 2026, Day 2 is the first day that our crew got their boots on the ground on the show floor of the Nanggang Exhibition Center in Taipei, Taiwan. With a busy schedule of meetings, interviews, and presentations in tow, it's been a busy few days, and we're now deep in the throes of covering the event. This series of diaries from our team is intended to give you insights into our thoughts and feelings about covering a massive event like Computex 2026, documenting the trials and tribulations that naturally come with event coverage.
If you've not read them yet, be sure to check out our Day 0 and Day 1Tom's Hardware Unfiltered blogs to catch up on what they've been up to so far.
Matt Safford: Managing Editor
(Image credit: Future)
As I hauled my increasingly complaining body through eight meetings today, I heard a familiar refrain from multiple case and cooler makers: they’re focusing on lower-cost designs (often sub-$100), because they know how cash-strapped gamers and PC builders are, thanks to the ongoing RAM, storage, and GPU pricing crisis. And to be fair, they are trying to sell PC hardware to cash-constrained consumers at perhaps the toughest time for our little hobby/obsession in decades. So, of course, the focus is on lower-cost components and hardware.
Asus, meanwhile, in celebrating the 20th anniversary of its ROG sub-brand, launched an expansive lineup of mostly rehashed Edition 20 products, at some of the highest prices I’ve seen. Take the $599 gaming keyboard, for example, or the $250 mouse. I tested them both, and they’re generally great, with high-end specs and solid performance. But they’re also wildly expensive at a time when key components (not to mention gas and groceries) remain sky-high. It’s easy to call Asus’ Edition 20 launch tone-deaf (did I mention that many of these products feature real gold-plated accents?).
But I can also see why the company (and ROG die-hards) would want to celebrate 20 years of a sub-brand that, let’s face it, has generally offered up high-priced (and generally well-regarded) hardware. But I would love to know how successful the Edition 20 lineup turns out to be, six months or more down the road. Because it’s hard to imagine throngs of people excited to buy a $1,000-plus gaming chair, or the many other high-priced Edition 20 products. But I can certainly imagine lots of people, many of our readers included, looking for a PC component bargain after shelling out for 32GB of RAM or a 2TB SSD at today’s prices. Maybe Asus should start thinking about those kinds of customers, too.
Joe Shields: Staff Writer, Components
Today, Cooler Master HQ was my first stop before heading to the Convention Center and more traditional booth visits. I have to admit, it was a bit overwhelming at first, trying to find my first meeting location and navigating through a sea of people everywhere, but mostly because I left my schedule with all the time and location information back at the hotel (thanks, Jake Roach, for the save!).
It’s very different from CES, where most companies have their own suite or ballroom at one of the Vegas hotels, and it’s a little more private. Outside of that, I had my first taste of 90-plus-degree weather with over 70% humidity. Even walking across the street to the other Hall, I broke a sweat. Oppressive when you’re not used to it. Even though I have almost twice as many meetings tomorrow as today, it doesn’t feel as intimidating after going through it all today, and all but the last meeting are in the same location.
Jake Roach: Senior Analyst, CPUs
I spent yesterday with Intel, so today was spent with the other guys: AMD. I sat in on three roundtables today with AMD’s Rahul Tikoo and David McAfee, discussing everything from the EXPO ULL to AMD’s reaction to the RTX Spark. I also spent some time in an Intel Q&A post-keynote, where I asked the company about its rumored 3D V-Cache competitor, and it gave me the exact answer I expected — “stay tuned.”
Despite being chipper — Paul (Alcorn) even said I looked “peppy” today — I am waiting for my body to crumble in on itself. I am beyond dehydrated. I haven’t been eating anything until the very end of the day, and there are other issues that I will spare you the details of. That’s a problem for future Jake, however. Current Jake is excited to look at chips.
Jeffrey Kampman: Senior Analyst, Graphics
My agenda today was once again dominated by Nvidia. We were back at the Grand HIlai early to attend a press Q&A with an undercaffeinated and punchy Jensen Huang, who was by turns happy to discuss the RTX Spark platform and unhappy with members of the press who failed to ask what he considered to be good questions. After that, we got hands-on time with RTX Spark laptops from five of the six major vendors who will lead the charge when these products come to market this fall, and we picked up some interesting details of those products that have been hard to come by from official channels.
After those briefings, I finally picked up my Computex badge proper and got a bit of floor time at the Nangang Exhibition Center, and I’ll be back tomorrow to visit more booths. The show is truly in full swing now!
After a rough start with the Mattel Aquarius as a child, Matt built his first PC in the late 1990s and ventured into mild PC modding in the early 2000s. He’s spent the last 15 years covering emerging technology for Smithsonian, Popular Science, and Consumer Reports, while testing components and PCs for Computer Shopper, PCMag and Digital Trends.
