Windows Vista: more than just a pretty OS

Now that the January 30 release date for Windows Vista is firm, we expect CES will be a veritable showcase of Vista-equipped desktops and laptops, as well as a supporting cast of peripheral hardware. For desktops, Vista will mean new designs and new features, including improved home theater PCs with HD optical drives and CableCard support. In the laptop world, look for increased tablet-like features thanks to Microsoft building that capability into various flavors of Vista. Finally, all of that PC-based HD content will need the displays to show it on, along with increased storage space.

CableCard smooths out the home theater PC, but is that enough?
We're sure to see several new living-room-friendly PCs that support the new Vista-based CableCard standard at the show, but the question is, will the improved PC/TV convergence win enough consumer support to make CableCard stick? The content companies are terrified of the technology making copyright violations that much easier, and because the current CableCard 1.0 standard can only receive a signal, you can't interact with cable-signal-based menus. That gives the cable providers little incentive to push CableCard, as it would cut into their pay-per-view revenue, among other limitations. Those concerns as well as the feature-crippling oversight of the CableLabs consortium have hurt PC-based CableCard before it's even left the gate. That means any new CableCard-equipped PCs at the show had better shine all around if they want to compete successfully against this stacked deck.

Tablets, tablets everywhere
The release of Windows Vista might not bring huge breakthroughs for laptops--if anything, the resource-intensive operating system is a significant step backward in terms of battery life. But Microsoft has spent considerable time adjusting this new operating system to further its tablet initiative, and we suspect hardware manufacturers will respond with new tablet models to rival even the most full-featured laptops. Notable improvements include a "personalize handwriting recognition" tool that lets you train your tablet PC to recognize your handwriting style and that promises to reduce the frustration of entering text with a stylus. Other enhancements, such as pen "flicks" (the tablet equivalent of keyboard shortcuts), are designed to make navigating with a stylus much easier than it has been with Windows XP Tablet Edition. We really like the potential of tablet computing and are looking forward to seeing new models on the show floor.

Next-gen optical drives
This was supposed to be one of the big laptop stories of CES 2006, but as Microsoft can tell you, things sometimes don't come together as quickly as planned. True, we did get a glimpse at Toshiba's first Qosmio with an HD-DVD drive at last year's show, but it wasn't available to consumers until months later. Since August of 2006, though, we've seen a steady stream of laptops and desktops with drives from both sides of the high-def battle. HP has already unveiled its entries from the HD-DVD camp, including the HP Pavilion dv9000t, along with the HP Pavilion m7690n Media Center TV PC. On the Blu-ray side, Sony's VAIO AR series and the Dell XPS M1710 laptops have already emerged, and it wouldn't shock us if new and interesting desktop designs followed . We suspect CES 2007 will bring at least a few more desktop replacements with high-definition drives at--we hope--slightly lower prices. We're also betting we'll see plenty of HD-equipped, living-room-style PCs, from mainstream vendors as well as from some lesser-knowns.

High-capacity storage for high-def content
The same high-def content takes up more storage space than we're accustomed to, and hard drive and NAS drive vendors are responding by creating high-capacity devices for your home. The NAS drives, in particular, are becoming more common, as they make it easy to share multimedia content between computers and home entertainment systems. Along the same vein, we expect to see a big push in home networking. Though we don't expect to see finalized 802.11n networking gear at CES, we will see the next step in the draft-N equipment: dual-band A and G equipment. This gear will be more expensive than the first round of draft-N gear, but for those who need the speed, throughput, and dependability, it's worth the price. But the proliferation in home networking isn't limited to a computer network. Last year, we saw the early stages of fully automated homes and this year, we'll see progress in that area.

Large-scale LCDs
Finally, a category that's often overlooked at CES: computer monitors. LCDs are growing ever larger, and the line between a computer-oriented monitor and an LCD TV is blurring. Most of the ones we'll see will easily double as a second--or third--television, with wide-screen aspect ratios and response times that let high-action video games and movies shine.