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Anker only announced one new audio product at CES 2024 — the Soundcore Boom 2 Bluetooth speaker — but it is showing off a slew of new Qi2-certified wireless charging products. These include everything from pricier wireless charging stations to new magnetic power banks to a basic wireless charging puck.

Qi2-certified wireless chargers offer 15W fast charging capabilities and are fully MagSafe compatible, offering twice the speed of standard 7.5W wireless chargers for MagSafe-enabled iPhone 13, 14 and 15 models and Android smartphones that support 15W wireless charging.

Here’s a look at all the new chargers.

Anker MagGo Power Bank (6.6k): $70

• 6,600 mAh capacity to fully charge most iPhones one time
• Foldable design for customizable viewing angle
• Output power: 15W Max
• 5 colorways
• Available: January 8

Anker MagGo Power Bank (10k): $90

• Integrated LCD: Battery stats at-a-glance
• 10,000 mAh capacity to fully charge an iPhone 15 1.75 times
• Foldable kickstand
• Output power: 15W Max
• 5 colorways
• Available: January 8

Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station (foldable 3-in-1): $110

• Compact and foldable design for easy portability
• 3-in-1 wireless charging for phone, watch and earphones
• Output power: 15W Max
• Available: January 8

Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station (3-in-1 stand): $90

• Vertical design is ideal for desk and bedside use and doubles as a phone stand
• 3-in-1 wireless charging for phone, watch and earphones
• Output power: 15W Max
• Available: February

Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station (8-in-1): $100

• Ergonomic globe design
• 8-in-1 charging options
• Output power: 15W Max (wireless), 67W (USB), 3 AC ports
• Available: January 8

Anker MagGo Wireless Charging Station (3-in-1 pad): $100

• Slim design for both travel and desktop use
• 3-in-1 wireless charging for phone, watch and earphones
• Output power: 15W Max
• Available: April

Anker MagGo Wireless Charger (pad): $22

• Slim, low-profile design
• Simple magnetic attachment
• Durable 5ft cable with 10,000 bend lifespan
• Output power: 15W Max
• Available: January 8

At CES 2024, Anker has announced several new charging products along with a handful of smart home devices from its Eufy brand. It’s been quiet when it comes to its Soundcore audio line, which includes headphones and speakers, but it did unveil one new Bluetooth speaker, the Soundcore Boom 2. It’s set to ship in mid-February and carries a list price of $130.

I liked the original Soundcore Motion Boom, which made our best Bluetooth speakers list and was one of the better boom box Bluetooth speaker values over the last few years (it sells for around $80). Anker also released the step-up Motion Boom Plus, which received a CNET Editors’ Choice award in 2022.

I haven’t listened to the new Boom 2 (Anker dropped “Motion” from its name), but it has double the power rating of the original, so it should play louder, kick out more bass and presumably offer better clarity at higher volumes. It also has a couple of built-in LED lights to help create that party vibe. As I said, it lists for $130 (that’s $30 more than the list price of the Motion Boom), but I suspect it will sell for closer to $100.

As soon as I get a review sample, I’ll give you my hands-on impressions. In the meantime, here are the Boom 2’s key specs, according to Anker.

Soundcore by Anker Boom 2 key features

• BassUp technology
• 60W Output
• Two tweeters and one subwoofer
• Passive radiator with dual LED lights
• Up to 17 hours of battery life
• IPX7-rated (waterproof) with a floatable design
• Built-in power bank (USB out)
• PartyCast 2.0 — connect up to 100 speakers
• Price: $130
• Ship date: Mid-February

Valve’s Steam Deck has already klcked off a whole wave of PC gaming handhelds with its success, including models from Asus and Lenovo last year. The MSI Claw, announced at the CES 2024show in Las Vegas, could be one of the most powerful PC game handhelds yet. Its processor, however, is Intel’s.

The Claw looks very much like the Steam Deck or the Asus ROG Ally handheld, but has specs that look a cut above: an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor with Intel Arc graphics (the latest Meteor Lake chip technology), 16GB of RAM, a 7-inch, 1,920×1,080 120Hz IPS display, Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4. There’s also a Thunderbolt 4 USB-C port, a Micro SD card slot and a power button with fingerprint reader. Like Lenovo’s Legion Go and the Asus Rog Ally, this handheld runs Windows 11. There’s a 53Whr battery onboard, with battery life at full performance mode estimated to be around 2 hours, but this beefy handheld weighs 675 grams (nearly 1.5 pounds).

I haven’t played anything on the MSI Claw yet, but what it symbolizes may be even more important than what it does. Intel is joining the party on new handheld-ready gaming chips, which suggests that hardware manufacturers should be even more able to create Steam Deck-like handhelds running Windows.

I still love the Steam Deck, especially the new OLED model. Microsoft likely needs to help optimize game handhelds to work even better as manufacturers make more Windows-running Steam Deck-alikes. But at this point, I’d expect this to just be the beginning of where PC handheld gaming is going. The MSI Claw looks familiar, but in a very good way.

There are plenty of laptops that can double as tablets, but it’s rare that those two-in-ones run both Windows and Android. That’s exactly what the Lenovo ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid, just announced at CES 2024, promises to deliver.

Lenovo’s new hybrid device can switch between the two operating systems depending on how you’re using it. Want to use it as a tablet? Just detach the 14-inch 2.8K OLED screen from its base and it turns into an Android tablet. Reattach it to the keyboard base and it kicks back into Windows mode. The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid launches in the second quarter and is expected to start at $2,000.

It’s not the first time Lenovo has tried something like this: There was the IdeaPad U1 from 2011, which similarly blended Windows and Android into one device. Samsung’s Ativ Q from 2013 also allowed you to switch between Windows and Android with the press of an icon. Still, even in 2024, a device that can run both Android and Windows is rare, and it’s interesting to see Lenovo revive this concept now that laptop-tablet hybrids have matured.

Read more: Best Android Tablets of 2024

Similar to Lenovo’s old IdeaPad U1, the new ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid has a Qualcomm processor powering the tablet and an Intel chip in the base. That means the two pieces can function independently when needed, with the base serving as a standalone Windows machine when connected to an external monitor. There’s an Intel Core Ultra 7 processor in the base, which Lenovo calls the Hybrid Station, and a Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1 chip in the Hybrid Tab tablet. The Tab runs on Android 13 and has a 38-watt-hour battery, while the Station is powered by Windows 11 and has a 75Whr battery.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid jumped between Windows and Android seamlessly during my brief time trying the device. Once I pulled the Tab off its base (which admittedly took a little bit of force at first), the Windows interface I had been browsing just a moment ago switched to Android after a brief pause.

The Tab itself is slim and relatively light for a tablet of its size, weighing roughly 1.7 pounds compared with the 1.5-pound, 12.9-inch iPad Pro. But at 14 inches, the Lenovo feels cumbersome to hold for more than just a few moments. It’s likely best suited for those who want to use their tablet with a kickstand while they’re watching movies or playing games.

When I snapped the Hybrid Tab back onto the Hybrid Station, the screen briefly went blank before Windows once again appeared on the screen almost instantly. The process seems smooth and simple so far, but it’s difficult to tell how well it will hold up without extended use.

The ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid comes after tech companies including Apple have attempted to find a middle ground between positioning tablets as a larger extension of your smartphone and a laptop replacement. There’s more cross functionality than ever between Windows and Android, for example, and Apple has gradually customized the iPad’s operating system to make it better equipped for productivity, multitasking and entertainment.

In a sense, the ThinkBook Plus Gen 5 Hybrid feels like the result of these efforts over the past 10 years. But at the same time, it’s a decidedly different approach from making Windows more mobile-friendly and Android more productivity-oriented. Instead, Lenovo is giving you the full version of both. We look forward to seeing whether it lives up to its promise.

Intel had some of the most notable chip announcements at CES, primarily because it launched its 14th-gen HX series — the overclockable series — which will power the bulk of the flagship gaming laptops and some of the creator-focused laptops we’ll see this year. (Nvidia launched new desktop GPUs and AMD unveiled its new desktop CPUs and a desktop GPU.) They’re the step-up from the Core Ultra H series announced in December.

The company also launched its mainstream 14th-gen midpower desktop processors, which you’ll see in all-in-ones and systems with prices roughly below $2,000, following the high-end overclockable K-series CPUs announced in October 2023. Intel also took the wraps off its low-power 14th-gen Core mobile U-series processors for ultrathin laptops, the step-down from the higher-end Core Ultra U chips that were also announced in December.

As with most of the announcements, there will be some maximum frequency hype that you may never experience. In this case, it’s 5.8GHz, which can theoretically be hit by the Core i9-14900 HX and desktop CPUs if cooling and airflow are sufficient to stay below the system’s heat ceiling and the system supports Intel’s Thermal Velocity Boost.

Almost all the CPUs announced today incorporate most of the 14th-gen features that launched with the Core Ultra lines — one notable exception being the new even-lower-power E cores, which the Ultra uses to improve battery life and help with AI acceleration. They’re all based on older process technology, Intel 7, as opposed to the Core Ultras which are on the smaller Intel 4 process.

One upgrade the HX series has that none of the others seem to is support for Thunderbolt 5, which has triple the bandwidth (80Gbps bidirectionally and 120Gbps unidirectional) of Thunderbolt 4, so it can now drive up to three displays and more powerful docks, supports up to 240-watt charging (so you’ll be able to use USB-C), faster networking and more; it doesn’t necessarily mean that every HX-bearing laptop will offer TB5, though.

The i7 and i9 HX series also get Application Optimization support, which works like AMD’s “Smart” technologies to allocate power and processor resources on the fly to improve performance. And they support up to 192GB memory.

14th-gen offers what Intel calls “discrete support” for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, which basically means if a manufacturer wants to add a custom communications chipset (which would take up some PCI bus lanes), the system won’t barf. Intel does make a chipset available for it, though, the Killer 1750x. But that means it’s a manufacturer decision to implement, which lessens the likelihood of it being used it in a particular laptop or motherboard. All 14th-gen processors announced thus far support this.

It should go without saying that all the processors have more cores and can operate at higher frequencies than their predecessors. The Core HX is designed for 55- to 157-watt systems, and the chip line starts at 10 cores (6P/up to 4.8GHz, 4E/up to 3.5GHz)/16 threads for the i5-14450HX to 24 cores (8P/up to 5.8GHz, 16E/up to 4.1GHz)/32 threads for the top-of-the-line i9-14900HX. (As a refresher, P cores are the higher performance and E cores are more battery efficient.)

The Core U 100 series are intended for 15- to 55-watt laptops and consists of three chips at launch: Core 7 150U, Core 5 120U and Core 3 100U. These are characterized by prioritizing battery life over performance, with only two P cores each but four to eight E cores from the i3 to the i7.

As for the new desktop CPUs, they too have more cores and higher frequencies (up to 8P/boost up to 5.1GHz, 16E/boost up to 4.0GHz) for the i9-14900, and are intended for systems that generally use processors in the 60- to 110-watt range (for the i3-14100) to the 65- to 219-watt range (the i9-14900) — those cover inexpensive to midrange desktops. These are more general chip refreshes, without any technology updates of note.

Razer’s laptops launched at CES may look the same as before, but inside, all three have the latest components, and you’ll be looking at some new screens.

The company could only tease the Blade 18, which it says won’t ship before April and the price is still TBD, but the company did show off its new display — a 165Hz 4K IPS panel — and highlighted the laptop’s support for Thunderbolt 5 and its ability to drive three 4K monitors and its support for higher bandwidth. TB5 also implies it will (unsurprisingly) incorporate an Intel 14th-gen HX CPU unless there’s a newer CPU on the horizon.

At the other end of the spectrum, the 2024 Blade 14 will incorporate the AMD Ryzen 8945HS, the top model of the new processors AMD unveiled in December during Intel and AMD’s “all our chips love AI” pre-holiday launchathon. Razer goes for all the options, which in this case means USB 4 and Wi-Fi 7. You’ll be able to configure it with a 1600p 240Hz display and up to a GeForce RTX 4070, and the design allows for upgradeable DDR5 memory. You’ll be able to preorder starting January 23 for availability sometime in February. Razer still hasn’t set the price yet.

As for the middle child, the Blade 16, it’s sporting one of its fancy new 1600p (2,560×1,600 resolution)240Hz OLED displays or its dual-refresh Mini-LED IPS screens that can switch between 4K (2400p) 120Hz and 1200p 240Hz. It also and incorporates the new Intel Core i9-14900HX and up to a GeForce RTX 4090. The OLED display is rated ClearMR 11000 (a new measure of motion blur sponsored by VESA) and DisplayHDR True Black 500 certified; despite the ClearMR rating, Razer seems to classify it as a creator system rather than a gaming system, shipping it with Nvidia Studio drivers, although they’re effectively the same.

The Blade 16 does have pricing and availability! It will start at $3,000 and you can buy it now. Razer has eliminated the RTX 4060 configuration; an RTX 4070 makes that base price a little more palatable.

Acer announced five new gaming laptops at CES based on Intel’s new 14th-gen HX series of mobile processors. At the top of the lineup are updates to Acers’ 16-inch and 18-inch Predator Helios laptops with up to a Core i9 14900HX CPU and RTX 4090 graphics.

You’ll also find the Core i9 14900HX offered in the more affordable Predator Helios Neo line with up to RTX 4070 graphics. The Predator Helios Neo 16 gets an update while the larger Predator Helios Neo 18 is a new entry in the line that previously comprised only 16-inch models.

Rounding out Acer’s new offerings is an update to the budget Nitro 17 that tops out with a Core i7 14700HX and RTX 4060 graphics.

What’s new with Acer’s new Predator Helios laptops

In addition to getting updated with the latest 14th-gen Intel HX silicon, Acer’s latest Predator Helio 16 and 18 models feature swappable mechanical switches for the WASD keys that provide tactile feedback and faster response time for twitchy gamers. Three sets of switches are included in the box so gamers can dial in the right feel.

Both the 16- and 18-inch models also feature 250Hz mini-LED display options powered by up RTX 4090 graphics running at a full 175 watts.

The Predator Helios 16 (PH16-72) will be available later this month starting at $1,900. The Predator Helios 18 (PH18-72) will start shipping in March starting at $2,000.

Step-down Predator Helios Neo updates

Acer’s Helios Neo models are a notch down from the flagship Helios (non-Neo) models and lack top-end features like mini-LED displays, mechanical WASD keys and per-key RGB lighting. Intel’s new flagship mobile processor, the Core i9 14900HX, is offered on both new Neo models, but graphics top out at a 140-watt RTX 4070.

The 18-inch model is a new addition to the line that previously featured only a 16-inch size. Both models feature an IPS display with 2,560×1,600-pixel resolution and 240Hz refresh rate. In lieu of per-key RGB lighting, the keyboard features four-zone lighting.

Both models will be available in March with the Predator Helios Neo 16 (PHN16-72) starting at $1,500 and the new Predator Helios Neo 18 PHN18-72 starting at $1,550.

New budget Nitro 17

For gamers on a budget, Acer announced a new Nitro 17 that features up to a Core i7 14700HX CPU and RTX 4060 graphics. The Nitro 17 still features an old-school 16:9 display rather than a more modern panel with a taller and roomier 16:10 panel. At least it’s a QHD panel instead of a more pedestrian FHD unit.

The Acer Nitro 17 (AN17-72) ships later this month starting at $1,250.

TVs just seem to be getting bigger, brighter and better every year, and value-first companies like TCL are doing it without jacking prices. I previewed the company’s latest lineup of televisions at CES 2024 and from what I’ve seen so far, they once again look like superb performers for the money.

The most intriguing series — aside from a 115-inch behemoth that costs $20,000 — is the new QM851. TCL says it will cost about the same as the QM850 it replaces (around $900 for the 65-inch size), but it’s nearly twice as bright. The company claims 5,000 nits in highlights, compared with 2,800 nits last year.

The QM850 was my favorite TV for the money last year, in part thanks to superior brightness, and its overall image quality was superb. The 851, with its higher brightness and more mini-LED dimming zones (up to 5,000, again up from 2,800), should be even better. I had the chance to check out the 851 in person at TCL’s suite, and while my viewing time was brief and as usual restricted to canned demo footage, the TV definitely looked good.

The QM851 comes in 65-, 75-, 85- and 98-inch sizes — unfortunately it lacks a 55-inch size. Also new for 2024 is a 2.1.2-channel Dolby Atmos sound system and a NextGen TV tuner.

The step-down QM751 does offer a 55-inch size, however, in addition to all of the sizes found on the 851. This series isn’t as bright, but TCL still claims 2,000 nits thanks to a mini-LED backlight with up to 1,300 zones. Both the 851 and 751 offer quantum dot color, a 120Hz panel and TCL’s game accelerator system, which can refresh at up to 240Hz by cuttng resolution in half. It’s a neat feature but hardly (cough) a game-changer since it works only with PCs.

TCL’s final pair of quantum dot TV series, the Q651G-Pro and vanilla Q651, lack mini-LED so they won’t be as bright. The main difference between the two is that the Pro has local dimming, so it should have better contrast and picture quality, and the non-Pro comes in more sizes (down to 43 inches and up to 98). In both series, only the 85- and 98-inch models have 120Hz refresh rate panels — the others are 60Hz native, so they can’t take advantage of smoother 4K/120Hz gaming from a PS5 or Xbox Series X.

Once again TCL is using the Google TV operating system exclusively in its midrange and high-end TVs. It will continue to sell a handful of smaller, less-expensive Roku TVs in its S series. I prefer built-in Roku to Google TV, but the latter is solid in its own right, and you can always add a Roku streamer to any TV if you want.

The new TCL TVs go on sale this spring and I’m looking forward to the chance to review them in CNET’s lab.

TCL’s new phones want to make staring at your phone all day feel less burdensome on your eyes. The TCL 50 XL Nxtpaper 5G and 50 XE Nxtpaper 5G, announced Monday at CES 2024, both have a matte screen meant to simulate the experience of reading on paper versus a screen.

TCL’s appropriately named Nxtpaper screens aren’t new to phones; the company launched two phones last year with the technology. But these are TCL’s first Nxtpaper phones to launch in the US as part of its broader 50 series phone lineup. Pricing and full details haven’t been announced yet, but all models in the new TCL 50 family — including those with its Nxtpaper screen — will cost under $300.

The biggest benefit behind NxtPaper is that it should be easier on the eyes, with the company claiming that it filters blue light by up to 61%. It was difficult to tell how well the TCL 50 XL NxtPaper 5G lives up to those claims after using it for only a few minutes. But the screen’s matte finish was immediately noticeable, which I can imagine would make it more resistant to fingerprint smudges than a typical phone.

Read more: Best Phones of 2024

There was also virtually no glare on the display, which could make TCL’s Nxtpaper phones ideal for those who frequently read outdoors in bright sunlight. You can really notice this most when turning off the screen. Unlike many other electronics, the TCL’s Nxtpaper screen doesn’t turn into a black mirror. The step-down TCL 50 XE Nxtpaper 5G uses the previous generation of TCL’s Nxtpaper technology, while the XL version has the noticeably brighter 3.0 edition.

The phones have three different viewing modes: a normal view for general use with Android apps, a low-contrast color paper mode for comics and a black-and-white ink paper mode to act more like an e-reader. The NxtPaper phones will both include a 50-megapixel main camera, 5,010mAh battery and 128GB of storage. The XL will have a 6.8-inch FHD+ display, while the XE will have a slightly smaller 6.6-inch HD+ display with Nxtpaper 2.0 versus the XL’s brigher Nxtpaper 3.0 technology. While both phones will be the debut of the NxtPaper display in the US, TCL has previously included it in two phones that debuted internationally in August.

TCL is also releasing two tablets with this newer version of NxtPaper: the TCL NxtPaper 14 Pro and the Tab 10 NxtPaper 5G. The 14 Pro will include a 14-inch screen with a 2.8K resolution display and run on a MediaTek 8020 processor. The Tab 10 has a 10.4-inch display with a 2K resolution alongside 5G compatibility.

While TCL’s Nxtpaper display isn’t new, its expansion to the US market is another sign that tech companies are trying to upgrade the part of your phone you use the most: its screen. There have been several efforts to enhance the display on your phone beyond just making it sharper and brighter in recent years, such as the iPhone’s Dynamic Island and the bendable displays on phones from Samsung, Google and Motorola. Those approaches are way different than TCL’s Nxtpaper screen, but the common thread between them is that they all represent an effort to make your screen more useful in one way or another.

When I walked into TCL’s private suite at the MGM Grand at CES 2024, I was hoping for something big. Namely, a 115-inch TV called the 115QM891G. The company had unveiled the existence of this huge TV a few weeks earlier, but seeing it in person was another thing entirely. I’ve been reviewing TVs for two decades, and I’ve experienced some massive, searingly bright televisions. This is one is right up there.

The screen is eight and a half feet wide and nearly five feet tall. On its stand, which TCL told me isn’t the final design, the whole thing stood almost as tall as me, and I’m 6 feet 3 inches tall. It weighs nearly 200 pounds. TCL had set it up in a modest size room, with the couch maybe seven feet away, and from that seating distance it filled my field of view like an IMAX theater.

The thing about a mini-LED-powered TV, however, is that it can get much, much brighter than any projector. TCL claims a peak brightness of 5,000 nits, among the brightest TVs on the market, and its 20,000 local dimming zones should deliver precise lighting even on such a large screen. In my brief time watching, I didn’t notice overt blooming or stray illumination — my main impression was of extreme brightness and really impressive contrast.

That’s not surprising to me since the “baby” version of this TV, the 65-inch QM8 I reviewed in 2023, showed superb image quality using similar technology (on a much smaller scale). Of course, the 115QM891G includes all the other extras I’d expect, such as quantum dot color, a 120Hz panel, a tricked-out 6.2.2 channel Dolby Atmos sound system and a NextGen TV tuner. It’s not an 8K screen, but I didn’t notice any lack of sharpness.

Bigger TVs have graced the halls of CES, such as Samsung’s 292-inch Wall, but none were mass-market models. In other words, they all cost a lot more than this one. TCL is charging “under $20,000” for the 115QM891G when it goes on sale (my bet: $19,999), likely toward late spring or early summer 2024. It’s worth noting that rival Hisense has a 100-inch TV that costs a lot less (around $5,000), and don’t be surprised if other TV makers break the triple digit barrier soon. Ninety-eight-inch TVs are soooo 2023.

TCL also announced a range of smaller, much more affordable TVs at CES 2024.