The AnandTech Podcast: Episode 30 - CES 2015 Show
by Ryan Smith on January 14, 2015 11:59 PM EST
After far too long, the AnandTech Podcast is back just in time for the biggest consumer electronics show of the year, CES 2015. This year we have lined up an all-star cast of AnandTech staff to cover the entire show, from PC to SoC and everything in between.
We kick things off with Intel's just-launched Broadwell-U family of CPUs before switching sides to AMD and looking at their FreeSync adaptive-synchronization technology and forthcoming Carrizo APUs. Then it’s all about vendors, including Asus and their new ZenFones and Windows 8 Chi 2-in-1s, MSI and their latest GT80 and GS30 laptops, and Lenovo with the shockingly light LaVie laptop. Not to be outdone, Dell also has their new XPS 13 and Alienware machines on display, all the while Occulus once again steals the show with their impressive “Crescent Bay” headset prototype. Finally in the home stretch we take a look at all things mobile, including Microsoft’s latest Lumia devices, the Snapdragon 810 powered LG Flex 2, and NVIDIA’s Tegra X1.
The AnandTech Podcast - Episode 30
Featuring
- Dr. Ian Cutress: Host, Editor for Motherboards and Processors
- Ryan Smith: Editor in Chief, Editor for Graphics
- Jarred Walton: Editor for Notebooks
- Joshua Ho: Editor for Smartphones
- Brett Howse: Windows on Smartphones, Notebooks
- Brandon Chester: Smartphones and Software
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Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes 26 seconds
Outline h:mm
00:00 - Start and Introductions
00:49 - Intel Broadwell-U
05:49 - Intel Cherry Trail
07:42 - AMD FreeSync
14:42 - AMD Carrizo
16:19 - ASUS Zenfones
19:37 - ASUS Transformer
21:44 - MSI Laptops - GT80 Titan
25:05 - MSI Laptops - GS30 Shadow
27:40 - MSI USB 3.1
31:34 - Lenovo LaVie
- 1.7lb is 771g,
- Magnesium is 12th in periodic table (weighted non-radioactive isotope atomic weight 24.305)
- Lithium is 3rd (weighted non-radioactive isotope atomic weight 6.94)
37:08 - Dell Venue 8 7000
38:38 - Dell Alienware
40:28 - Oculus Crescent Bay
48:16 - Microsoft Lumia
51:09 - LG Flex 2
57:56 - Tegra X1
1:08:06 - GTX 965M
1:09:21 - Best of CES
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Hung - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
Calling it stupid is like calling a PhD is stupid. When you spend several of your best years intensely studying and researching a topic, you're welcome to expect a little recognition upon completion. It's a title, like Sir (knighthood) or Governor. The titles themselves are arbitrary, but the qualifications and perceptions behind them are hard-earned.Hung - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
Calling it stupid is like calling a PhD is stupid. When you spend several of your best years intensely studying and researching a topic, you're welcome to expect a little recognition upon completion. It's a title, like Sir (knighthood) or Governor. The titles themselves are arbitrary, but the qualifications and perceptions behind them are hard-earned.nathanddrews - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
I presume that he spent a lot of money and worked really hard to get that prefix. Why dismiss it?Klug4Pres - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
Great to have the podcast back! I knew you guys would do a good job without the "guru", and I'm sure things will only improve with experience.Well-intentioned feedback:
I found the tone of the show a little too uncritical at times - "wow, we got to see all this cool stuff, should get released in the next quarter!" The thing that was really enjoyable when Brian and Anand were on song was that we got a lot of context and perspective about the state of the industry and its major players, and maybe a few hints about what they really thought that probably would not make it into print. I felt that the Broadwell and Atom sections could have used some of this context.
Also, I didn't come away with an understanding of how Freesync and G-sync will be supported in future by rival graphics card producers and monitor makers. It seems as though this would be a great technology for televisions, given the morass of different broadcast, film, and video frame rates, although it sounds as though a 24 Hertz frame rate could be tough on LCD.
Ryan Smith - Friday, January 16, 2015 - link
G-Sync/Adaptive-Sync is all about the input signal and keeping in sync with it when it varies. TVs always receive a constant signal, be it 24Hz, 25Hz, 50Hz, or 60Hz, and all but the cheapest can switch to any of those refresh rates. So for constant sources, TVs are already well equipped.Although in theory this would be helpful for broadcast television, e.g. switching from a 24Hz show to a 60Hz commercial, you'd have to break the television broadcasting process to get there as existing gear would have no clue what to do.
Klug4Pres - Saturday, January 17, 2015 - link
Yes, I see, broadcast standards cannot be easily varied to match source material.However, for recorded material output to a monitor or TV, graphics cards and drivers seem to do a lousy job of adjusting refresh rates to match that of the source material. A lot of that is player software, and poorly-encoded files, but not all of it. HTPC forums are full of people trying to get this stuff to work with Intel/AMD/nVidia drivers.
Many TVs have a problem with 24 Hz material, and some don't cope as well at 50 Hz as they do at 60 Hz. A lot of LCD monitors seem to work only at around 60 Hz.
Presumably, monitors and graphics cards equipped to handle variable refresh rates ought to be well placed to overcome these difficulties with constant but various refresh rates.
Stochastic - Saturday, January 17, 2015 - link
I just wanted to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the podcast. I think you guys did a good job of not dwelling on any topic for too long, which is a trap a lot of tech podcasts fall into. I will echo Klug4Pres in saying that my favorite thing about Anand was his ability to take a step back from the technical nitty gritty and look at the bigger picture. His commentary on the industry was always illuminating.kliend - Tuesday, January 20, 2015 - link
Great :) Thanks for sharing.