After four chock-full days of CES, I’ve seen my share of new technology: SSDs, headphones, 4K TVs and 8K TVs, VR and cameras and smartphones and Bluetooth accessories as far as the eye can see. It doesn’t take much time at CES to notice that the upcoming year’s tech is samey: popular trends, or potentially popular trends, drive companies to make near-identical products. Remember when 3D TVs were all the rage? Or motion control? Android tablets? Everything being in the cloud forever? If everyone’s making one, it must be the next big thing.
Or not. Here’s where you come in: I want to know what PC Gamer’s readers think about some of 2016’s big tech trends. First on the agenda: curved monitors.
I saw a lot of these at this year’s show. I think there were just as many curved monitors as there were high refresh models. Probably more. The technology really started gathering momentum in the past year, but I think monitor companies are going to make an even bigger push for the curve in 2016, calling it a more immersive experience. And of course from their perspective, it’s also another way to lure you into upgrading that perfectly decent 1080p panel.
At CES, Samsung had several new curved monitors in its giant booth. Asus, AOC, Acer and LG all had models too. They aren’t crappy monitors reliant on the gimmicky shape, either. These are nice, often IPS, screens. Some are able to hit a 99 percent Adobe color gamut, making them accurate enough for photo editing work. Some have high refresh rates. Others offer a great 3440x1440 resolution (although you'll need a high-end graphics card to play games on those). But the curve is what makes these screens flashy and new, and is what's being used to justify the premium prices.
So is this trend ultimately going to prove interesting or is it another fad? Consider this our unscientific straw poll. Sound off in the comments with your thoughts. Do you have one, or an interest in getting one? What do you like (or dislike) about the idea? Explain your reasoning as constructively as possible, and if there's enough interest we'll look at getting into some more scientific testing.
