Alright folks, so that's a wrap for our Computex 2019 coverage and here are our Best of Computex 2019 PC Hardware & Technology Awards for the year 2019. We have some truly innovative designs this year and have an award for every major category. Our methodology ranges from the most innovative, to the most impactful as well as taking into account potential disruption of the markets. Technology that may be classified as vaporware is therefore given a penalty when compared to a less impressive technology that has the potential to change the lives of millions.
With almost a thousand tech companies exhibiting at Computex, it is hard to be completely impartial and fair but we tried our best to visit all PC hardware and tangentially related companies and find out the hidden gems – along with the obvious ones. We gave away a total of 10 awards to 10 different products, and this is the complete list of our Best of Computex ’19 roster.
Most Disruptive Tech Overall: AMD
AMD has been making waves left and right and had the opportunity to open the primary keynote for Computex 2019. With their new lineup of 7nm Zen CPUs and Navi GPUs, they are well positioned to serve the PC market and are quickly becoming a force to reckon with. From being the first mainstream manufacturer to arrive on the 7nm node for CPUs to the first for GPUs, AMD has come forth from the back seat and is very much positioned to lead now.
Most Disruptive Tech: Intel's IceLake and its iGPU (Gen 11 Graphics)
Intel currently occupies most of the GPU market since dGPUs still occupy less than 30% market share and Intel's iGPUs make up the majority of the iGPU market. The company has previously rolled out high powered iGPU solutions in its NUCs but we will not be considering those due to the simple fact that they were a niche technology and not designed for the mainstream. With Gen11 graphics, Intel is taking iGPUs very seriously and has rolled out its first iGPU with over 1 TFLOPs of horsepower. This sets a new minimum for mainstream graphics and with their 2x philosophy has the potential to give a significant power up to everyone using an Intel iGPU right now.
Best Overall Lineup: ASUS
ASUS introduced a ton of stuff with new GPUs, motherboards and a new mobile phone and considering the overall build quality that they have maintained throughout their lineup, this was one of the easier decisions we made.
Best of Computex, Motherboard: ASRock
The X570 Aqua was easily one of the most impressive designs (ASUS' Utopia is not something we see getting off a production line) around and we absolutely loved the wholesome cooling structure employed. AMD's newly released Ryzen 3000 series deserve a good quality motherboard and ASRock has come a long way from where they were a couple of years ago.
Best of Computex, Cooling Solution: Cooler Master
Cooler master blew us away with their innovative cooling solution that we are sure will soon start a new trend in the industry. Featuring two pumps in a brilliant RGB design along with 4 chambers, this is going to be the go-to AIO for those high end multi core builds with tons of heat dissipation. Adding on a large radiator can only help so much if the pump is not able to maintain a high enough flow rate.
Best of Computex, RAM: Thermaltake
Thermaltake has recently started manufacturing their own ram and its called Toughram and it looks absolutely superb. RGB RAMs are quickly becoming a necessity (for all those non-RGB fans out there, I feel you!) for most manufacturers and the company is actually making all of this in house! With a great design and heatspreader these are sure to be a hit.
Best of Computex, AIB GPU: MSI
MSI's RTX 2080 Ti Lightning is one of the absolute high end cards for the consumer market right now and the design is something amazing. If you are someone who likes the entire RGB and bling look - this is for you.
Best of Computex, Keyboard: AZIO
AZIO's retro style keyboards absolutely blew us away. Combining mechanical and retro seems like a match made in heaven and the high quality finish and wood aesthetic of the keyboards was superb as well. You can head over to their site to check out some more of their designs.
Best of Computex, Display Tech: BenQ's HT3550/W2700
BenQ has been absolutely incredible in rolling out display tech and the HT3550 is no different. Where as most budget 4K projectors right now compromise on quality, BenQ will give you all of that for $1500. This might seem like a lot of money, but comparable projectors with dynamic irises actually cost north of $3500 so this is a massive reduction in price and great value for consumers.
Best of Computex, PSU: Seasonic
Last, but definitely not least, we have Seasonic with their highly innovative extended sleeve design they have dubber the "Seasonic Connect". Allowing users to extend the IO port of the PSU to the back of the case, this solves a major pain point and we are sure will be a great success with DIY builders.
And with that - our Computex 2019 coverage is officially wrapped up!
