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Sean Hollister

Sean Hollister

Senior Editor

Senior Editor

    More From Sean Hollister

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    The Skyted mask looks ridiculous but might actually make sense!

    Want to have private convos in public, perhaps without disturbing fellow airplane passengers? That’s the idea behind Skyted’s muzzle here, and it kinda works.

    Right now it still looks like a respirator with a belt pack for the electronics, but I could hear the founder’s slightly muffled voice over the din of the CES show floor when I wore wired headphones connected to the mask. That price, tho: $400 wired, $600 Bluetooth in Q4 of this year.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Spotted the Asus ROG NUC micro gaming PC — and here’s a mouse for scale.

    It’s good to see Intel’s gaming NUCs are alive and well under new management! This one’s definitely a NUC: loads of ports despite a small 2.5-liter chassis, Intel Core Ultra processors, and up to 140W of GPU power from what’s presumably mobile RTX 4070 graphics?

    Here are the spec sheets and an early product page. We don’t have pricing or dates yet.

    1/3
    Amrita Khalid
    Amrita Khalid
    We go hands-on with MSI’s Intel-powered Steam Deck competitor.

    There are still many unknowns about this new handheld Windows gaming PC, but Sean Hollister reports from CES 2024 that MSI’s Claw device feels comfier than competitors like the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go.

    MSI says the Claw will ship this year, priced at $699 to start, or more if you’re willing to pay for an Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Razer’s Project Esther kicked my butt.

    Literally! And gently.

    Like many Razer concepts, there’s no guarantee this haptic cushion will ever come to market. But I definitely found it more compelling than haptic headphones here at CES, and it seems way more comfortable and convenient than an “FPS vest.”

    BTW, there is already a device called the Buttkicker.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Because clacky keyboards need even more RGB LEDs.

    The Epomaker DynaTab 75X looks super flashy here at CES, and it’s not all that expensive: under $150 for hot-swappable keys, USB-C, Bluetooth and 2.4GHz wireless (with hidden dongle), and a 10,000mAh battery. It’s a Kickstarter.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Have yourself some more Thunderbolt 5.

    Now that we’ve corrected the Razer flub, a few more Thunderbolt 5 gadgets we spotted at CES: an SSD from Sabrent, an OWC dock, and a TBT5 cable, none of them hooked up.

    Don’t necessarily expect big adoption this year. Jason Ziller, aka Intel’s Mr. Thunderbolt, wouldn’t tell me if we’d get even a handful more TBT5 PCs this year (though peripherals should keep coming).

    How about Apple? “You know they support every other version. That’s all I can tell you.”

    <em>J5Create’s Thunderbolt 5 Dual 8K60 Display. </em>
    <em>It offers 140W charging, not 240W charging, but does support 120Gbps of bandwidth and apparently fits an NVMe SSD.</em>
    <em>Full specs for the J5Create. I didn’t see a price but I’ll ask.</em>
    <a href="https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperdrive-next-thunderbolt-5-dock’"><em>Hyper’s Next Thunderbolt 5 Dock</em></a> appears to be $400. It’s got up to 120Gbps data speeds as well and also has room for an NVMe SSD inside.
    <em>The front, with two of the three TBT5 ports.</em>
    <em>Here’s the NVMe slot.</em>
    <em>Belkin’s Q2 charger folds down into a little puck.</em>
    <em>The first of Hyper’s two Qi2 chargers.</em>
    1/17
    MSI Claw hands-on: the Steam Deck rival with Intel insideMSI Claw hands-on: the Steam Deck rival with Intel inside
    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Behold: the first Thunderbolt 5 port we’ve seen on an actual PC.

    Razer put a Thunderbolt 5 port in its new Blade 18 laptop, which also now has a 4K 165Hz display. Here it is in the flesh at CES 2024 — admittedly in a dimly lit suite with nothing plugged in.

    Don’t expect to charge-and-play with this port. The GPU alone can draw more than the current USB-C maximum of 240W. (See Razer’s beefy power socket on the left?) But do expect loads of bandwidth for monitors and peripherals.

    Correction: Replaced image with an accurate one from Intel’s booth. Razer originally told us the left USB-C port was TBT5 as well.

    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    Sharge’s newest sci-fi power banks look pretty sweet in person.

    I’m a sucker for Sharge’s charging gear because it looks like nothing else, and that continues to be true of the new Sharge 170 model and especially the “Internet Hostkey” in my CES hands-on gallery below. Be warned that the Hostkey comes in a wimpy 40Wh capacity model in addition to its reasonable 72Wh one. Here’s my video with a few earlier Sharge products.

    <em>The $119 Sharge 170 is bigger and more powerful than its predecessors — with a nicer screen, too.</em>
    <em>Capacity is 86.4W, actually less than the</em><a href="https://thevergetoday.pages.dev/2023/10/6/23906552/sharge-sharegeek-storm-retro-mac-sale-best-price"><em> old Sharge 130</em></a><em>, but it can output faster.</em>
    <em>All the input and output specs you crave printed right on the side.</em>
    <em>Bet you haven’t seen a battery like this — it’s straight out of sci-fi film The Wandering Earth 2, and tops out at a 72Wh capacity. The buttons either show actual output on the screen, or a list of “passcodes” from the movie.</em>
    1/4
    The $119 Sharge 170 is bigger and more powerful than its predecessors — with a nicer screen, too.
    Photo by Sean Hollister / The Verge
    Sean Hollister
    Sean Hollister
    We finally touched Thunderbolt 5 and Qi2 (but not meaningfully).

    Here at CES 2024, Hyper, J5Create, and Belkin have items on display with the latest in docking and magnetic charging technology — but sadly, none of it is plugged in. Maybe because we’re still waiting on Windows laptops and Android phones to adopt the tech. (There’s nothing to dock yet, right?)

    I’m seriously looking forward to 240W charging and 120Gbps speeds from my USB-C ports, though, not to mention a “MagSafe for Android.”

    <em>J5Create’s Thunderbolt 5 Dual 8K60 Display. </em>
    <em>It offers 140W charging, not 240W charging, but does support 120Gbps of bandwidth and apparently fits an NVMe SSD.</em>
    <em>Full specs for the J5Create. I didn’t see a price but I’ll ask.</em>
    <a href="https://www.hypershop.com/products/hyperdrive-next-thunderbolt-5-dock’"><em>Hyper’s Next Thunderbolt 5 Dock</em></a> appears to be $400. It’s got up to 120Gbps data speeds as well and also has room for an NVMe SSD inside.
    <em>The front, with two of the three TBT5 ports.</em>
    <em>Here’s the NVMe slot.</em>
    <em>Belkin’s Q2 charger folds down into a little puck.</em>
    <em>The first of Hyper’s two Qi2 chargers.</em>
    1/17

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