Computex 2024: The year of the AI PC starts now
Computex is one of the biggest events for the tech industry, where huge companies like Qualcomm, Acer, Asus, and more get to showcase the best tech they've been working on recently.
This year's event — Computex 2024 — will focus on six main themes: AI Computing, Advanced Connectivity, Future Mobility, Immersive Reality, Sustainability, and Innovations. We expect AI innovations to dominate this year's Computex expo, but if AI isn't your thing, there will be advancements in gaming handhelds, peripherals, and other hardware.
Laptop Mag will be at this year's Computex event when it kicks off on June 4, so stay tuned for our live thoughts on what's been revealed or tested. But until then, here's everything we expect to see at Computex 2024.
When and where is Computex 2024?
Computex 2024 will kick off Tuesday, June 4 and last through Friday, June 7. Media, business professionals, and investors can attend all four days, but the general public is only admitted with a ticket on June 7.
This computer expo is always held in Taipei, Taiwan, and this year, the event venue is the Taipei Nangang Exhibition Center.
New AI chips from Qualcomm, Intel, & AMD
2024 is the year of the AI PC, and all three major chipmakers will be showing off their latest and greatest products at Computex.
Qualcomm's President and CEO, Cristiano Amon is giving a keynote speech on "The PC Reborn" at 1:30 p.m. (UCT+8) on June 3. For those of us in the U.S., that is 10:30 p.m. PST on June 2 (1:30 a.m. EST, June 3), you can catch the keynote live on the Snapdragon YouTube channel.
According to the Computex Taipei website, Amon plans to "break down the trends and technology that have brought us here [in the PC industry], and more importantly, where they will take us across productivity, creativity, and entertainment."
In addition to Qualcomm's keynote, we expect the company to demo its powerful new Snapdragon X Elite chips. Following Microsoft's unveiling of the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7, the first benchmark results for the X Elite leaked, showing great performance with AI and productivity tasks, but less suited for gaming and graphics-heavy tasks.
However, every laptop configuration is different, so other manufacturers may offer superior options for gaming and graphics-heavy tasks. AI PCs, or Copilot+ PCs as Microsoft has branded this initial wave of AI-focused laptops, are a lock to dominate the conversation at Computex with different laptop configurations from multiple brands using Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips to give us an overview of its potential.
While Qualcomm is garnering a lot of attention currently, Intel CEO Pat Gelsinger is slated to give a keynote at 11:00 a.m. (UCT+8) on June 4 in Taipei (11 p.m. EST, 8 p.m. PST, June 3), he will "showcase Intel's next-generation data center and client computing products." This keynote will be livestreamed, and you can add it to your calendar here if you want to watch.
Just like Qualcomm, we expect Intel to give live demos of its newest chips at Computex 2024. We're hoping to see some specific performance benchmarks run for Lunar Lake chips and potentially more concrete information on Arrow Lake CPUs.
And finally, AMD will also have its time in the sun at Computex 2024. CEO of AMD Dr. Lisa Su will deliver the opening keynote at 9:30 a.m. (UCT+8) on June 3 (9:30 p.m. EST, 6:30 p.m. PST, June 2), and discuss "how AMD and our partners are pushing the envelope with our next generation of high-performance PC, data center and AI solutions."
Like Intel, AMD has a handy link to add the event to your calendar if you want to watch live.
We're not quite sure which products, if any, AMD will debut at Computex 2024. A recent leak outlined a lot of info on AMD's upcoming Strix Point and Strix Halo silicon, showing they'd be based on Zen 5 CPU and RDNA 3.5 GPU architecture. With Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips dominating the news, Computex 2024 would be the perfect time for AMD to launch its Strix Point/Halo chips.
We're hoping to also hear more information about AMD's Ryzen 8040 series chips, the company's second generation AI chipsets.
Asus at Computex 2024
The Asus line-up leaked for Computex 2024, so we likely know almost everything this laptop manufacturer will showcase in sunny Taipei. The company could shake things up after such a major leak, but here's what we know right now.
With a product titled "ROG Ally 2024" on the leaked list, it's possible a refresh of the Asus ROG Ally could be on the way. Rumors of the ROG Ally X have been circulating, which would be right on time for an annual refresh, as the original Ally shipped on June 13, 2023.
Asus may also announce new TUF gaming laptops: the TUF Gaming A14 and the TUF Gaming A16. If AMD plans to release its gaming-friendly Strix Point/Halo silicon, and teams up with Asus for these TUF gaming laptops, that would make for a powerful, budget-friendly combo.
Asus unveiled its Snapdragon X Elite-powered Vivobook S15 at its virtual Next Level. AI Incredible. event on May 20, and we're expecting to see Asus show off everything it can do at Computex 2024. The company also has plans for a new Zenbook S16, an AMD version of its popular ROG Zephyrus G16 gaming laptop, and a new line of ROG gaming peripherals, including a headset, keyboard, and two different gaming mice.
MSI at Computex 2024
The MSI Claw gaming handheld launched on March 8, and it's been receiving poor reviews from multiple outlets. Laptop Mag only awarded the MSI Claw 2.5/5 stars in our review, Tom's Guide heavily criticizes the handheld's software, and The Verge calls it "an embarrassment," awarding only 3/10 stars.
Computex 2024 could be MSI's chance to redeem the Claw's unfortunate launch. We hope that MSI might talk about how the company plans to improve the Claw, and possibly even demonstrate a beta-updated model to show how it's been worked on since launch. We were impressed with the impact of the late April update on the Claw's performance, but it still wasn't enough to catch up to the competition.
At CES 2024, MSI announced refreshes for three gaming laptop series, and all laptops have since been launched. With how popular these new MSI laptops have been (the Crosshair 16 HX Monster Hunter Edition, Pulse 17, and Vector 16 are all sold out on MSI's site right now), there's no doubt MSI will capitalize on this and give demonstrations at Computex 2024.
Acer at Computex 2024
Via the Acer website, the company will be talking about its Swift 14 AI laptop, a Copilot+ PC powered by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chipset, other AI PCs, new Predator products, and immersive SpatialLabs Stereoscopic 3D displays.
We already know a lot about the powerful, battery-efficient Swift 14 AI. It'll feature a 14.5-inch WQXCA (2560 x 1600) 120Hz IPS display, and configurations offering up to a 12-core Snapdragon X Elite chip, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of SSD storage. Of course we'll have to see how that translates into the real world when we get it in for review.
More AI PCs to come from Acer include the Swift Go 14 (Intel Core Ultra), the Swift Go 14 AMD (Ryzen 8040 series), the Swift X 14,the Swift Edge 16, and the Aspire Vero 16. The company will likely show off some or all of these AI PCs at Computex 2024, as well as demonstrate their new AI capabilities.
We're also expecting new "AI-ready laptops with MagForce 3.0 and Intel Core processors (14th gen)" from Acer, including the new Predator Helios 18 and Helios 16 laptops with "radiant Mini LED display[s]," the Predator Helios Neo 18 with "AI-powered graphics," the Predator Helios Neo 16, and the Predator Triton Neo 16.
Acer gives a few vague details on its new SpatialLabs View displays, saying users can "Experience games with the depth and realism developers intended alongside a new universe of content in eye-gripping stereo 3D." Upcoming laptops to feature this tech include the Predator Helios 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition and the Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition.
Gigabyte at Computex 2024
Gigabyte will feature some information on data center solutions and AI servers at Computex 2024, which probably won't interest the general public. What will likely interest the public more is Gigabyte's new line of AI PCs with its "proprietary AI Nexus software."
We expect to see at least a few of these new AI PCs from Gigabyte at Computex 2024. The G6X 9KG (2024) didn't score well in our review, but we're hoping the Aorus 17X, 17, and 16X (2024) will be demoed at the event and fare better.
Outlook
Computex 2023 also focused on AI, but it was more of an introduction to AI features or a teaser for what was to come. Within the past six months, we've seen the dedicated Copilot key emerge on Windows laptops and the battle of AI-powered chips from Qualcomm, AMD, and Intel progress (with Qualcomm rushing into an early lead).
To say we're in the era of AI PCs sounds incredibly cliché, but it's true and AI does have the potential to fundamentally change how we use our laptops. If you buy a new laptop this year, it'll likely come with built-in AI features, powered on-device or via cloud processing, and Computex 2024 will be the perfect place for laptop makers to show off these AI powers in all their glory.
During and after Computex 2024, Laptop will highlight our favorite, most innovative products and features — and it's a safe bet that many of these favorite products and features will be powered by AI.
