CES is normally where you’d expect to find tons of new gaming products, but it’s been a little quieter this year with just a few notable exceptions. Whether you’re on the lookout to update your gaming setup or are just interested in what the future of gaming has to offer, you’ll want to check out our roundup of the best new gaming products and announcements from CES 2021.
AMD 7nm Ryzen 5000
It’s hard to get serious about gaming without talking about the chips that make it all possible. In the case of AMD, that means the new 7nm Ryzen 5000 processors, which are supposed to be coming to laptops and other portable devices later this year.
The Ryzen 5000 series comes in two flavors: U-series and H-series. The H-series is geared towards gamers while the U-series is designed for portability. The new chips should allow for higher speeds and better power management, depending on the model that OEMs choose. Expect plenty of new devices rocking these in the year to come.
Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060
Nvidia also announced its newest entry-level chip: the GeForce RTX 3060. Priced at just $329, the RTX 3060 is the cheapest chip the company has to offer. Toss one of these into your gaming computer and the company claims that you’ll get 10x the ray-tracing performance as you would with the older GeForce GTX 1060. If this sounds like enough to entice you to upgrading, you’ll have to wait until it goes on sale sometime in February of this year.
Related: Everything you need to know about Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 series
HyperX ChargePlay stand & Alloy Origins 60 keyboard
HyperX announced plenty of new hardware at CES 2021, the first of which is the HyperX ChargePlay Duo charging stand for Xbox controllers. The charging stand comes with two 1,400mAh battery packs for Xbox controllers, and you can even charge two at a time.
Next up, we have the HyperX Alloy Origins 60 keyboard. This mechanical keyboard features colorful LED lights that are compatible with the HyperX NGenuity app. The HyperX ChargePlay Duo and Alloy Origins 60 keyboard will be available on February 22 and will run you $39 and $99 respectively.
While not technically a new product, the HyperX Pulsefire Haste gaming mouse also gets an honorable mention here as it is no longer a US-exclusive. At CES, it’s launching globally for $49.
Razer Blade 15 and Blade Pro updates
You’ve probably already seen Razer’s new face mask concept and crazy gaming chair, but that’s not all the company brought to CES.
Razer also unveiled updates to its laptops. The Blade 15 and the Blade Pro 17 are both getting a 1440p QHD display option. Plus, there will be plenty of chips to choose from depending on what you’re looking to do.
Regardless of which model you get, these will have Thunderbolt 3 ports and an HDMI 2.1 output that pumps out 4K video at 120fps. While the exact pricing, number of inputs and outputs, and processing power depends on which model you go with, more options to choose from are always better when you’re looking for a laptop.
Acer Aspire 5 and Aspire 7 updates
The Acer Aspire 5 and Aspire 7 aren’t new laptop releases but they are being updated to include the new Ryzen 5000 series processor mentioned at the top of this article. These computers consistently get high praise when it comes to getting the most bang for your buck, and the newest chipsets are likely to only make them a more solid option for anyone on a budget.
Asus TUF Dash F15
Asus also announced a new laptop aimed at gamers called the TUF Dash F15. It’s rocking a Thunderbolt 4 port for external GPUs, a display with 240Hz refresh rate, 16 hours of constant video playback, an Intel i7 chip under the hood, and a GeForce RTX 3070 GPU for good measure. It has some impressive specs but unfortunately pricing and availability has yet to be officially announced.
MSI GS76 Raider Dragon Edition
MSI came to CES 2021 ready to play. The company announced a few updates to existing laptops that are definitely worth checking out, but the one that stole the show is the MSI GS76 Raider Dragon Edition. It has a unique design that looks good without mimicking what other companies are doing. It’s packed with some solid specs too. It has the GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card along with Intel i9 processors. You can pre-order it now for $1,499.
Acer refreshes the Predator series
The Predator Triton 300 SE and the Helios 300 have both been updated with the newest 11th gen Intel hardware. Not only that, the Helios 300 gets some special treatment with the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU built-in and an impressive 240Hz refresh rate screen. The Triton 300 SE has also been updated to the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060.
The Predator Triton 300 SE and the Helios 300 will be available in February or March and will cost $1,399 and $1,249, respectively.
Asus ROG Strix Scar 17
Asus announced three new gaming laptops this year at CES 2021, but the ROG Strix Scar 17 is definitely the one worth knowing about. Along with the AMD 9 Ryzen 5900HX CPU, it features the GeForce RTX 3080 graphics card, an insane 64GB of RAM, and an HD screen with a 360Hz refresh rate — not to mention the quad-speaker setup has support for Dolby Atmos.
Asus claims you’ll get about 12 hours of constant video playback on just one charge.
Pricing and availability haven’t been announced yet, but it seems to be a gaming laptop worth waiting for if you’re ready to make the investment.
Alienware m15 and m17 R4 updates
While technically not a brand new laptop announcement, Alienware updating its m15 and m17 R4 gaming laptops is still worthy of a mention. These will both be updated to include the latest GeForce RTX 30 mobile series GPUs. They’ll have support for HDMI 2.1 so you can output video at 120Hz. Both laptops will start at $2,149 for the base model, but can cost bit more depending on which specs you choose. They are both configurable with up to 32GB of RAM and either an Intel i7 or i9 core, depending what your budget is looking like.
The best new gaming products from CES 2021
Those are just some of the best new gaming products from CES 2021. Want more CES goodness? Check out our CES 2021 Top Picks Awards below, as well as roundups for the best new wearables, smart home gadgets, and more.