Mashable is on the ground at CES 2025, covering the latest consumer tech has to offer. The team is expecting big announcements for EVs, TVs, gaming upgrades, smart home devices, and lots and lots of AI-powered gadgets.
Check here for the most noteworthy highlights updated regularly, from the wacky to the “wow” and everything in between.
Satechi hub has a cool fix for an annoying Mac mini feature
OK, this is an improvement.
Credit: Satechi
Satechi, popular maker of accessories for Apple products (among others), has a brand new stand/hub for the M4 Mac mini, giving it additional storage options, a memory card reader, and three USB-A ports.
But its coolest feature is a recess on the back allowing you to easily reach the Mac mini’s “hidden” power button. Genius!
Nvidia’s Blackwell RTX 50-series GPUs are here
The rumors were true: During his CES 2025 opening keynote, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang revealed the company’s new RTX 50-series graphics cards, promising massive performance upgrades over the 40-series generation of cards.
The new GPUs are called the GeForce RTX 5070, 5070 Ti, 5080, and 5090, with the last one being the most powerful card Nvidia has ever produced, but also a very expensive one at $1,999. The star of the lineup might very well turn out to be the RTX 5070, which is promising performance on par with Nvidia’s previous flagship card, the GeForce RTX 4090, for just $549.
It should be noted, however, that the performance numbers are seriously padded up with Nvidia’s DLSS 4 tech which uses AI to boost FPS numbers, and isn’t widely supported by games yet.
Acer’s new laptop is made from oyster shells
No mollusks were hurt in the making of this laptop. Probably.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable
Acer’s got a new environmentally friendly laptop, the Aspire Vero 16, and it’s partially made from oyster shells.
Acer did this by cleaning, crushing, and mixing said shells, which are abundant in China, with a blend of more than 70 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.
Other than this, it’s a pretty straightforward laptop with Intel Core Ultra 200H (Arrow Lake) processors and up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of storage.
TVs with AI are popular at CES 2025
Two major themes collide for CES 2025: AI and TVs. Samsung’s Neo QLED, OLED and QLED, and The Frame models and LG’s OLED evo lineup are packed to the gills with AI features to optimize audio/video settings, recommend content, and personalize your TV experience. Plus, both Samsung and LG have partnered with Microsoft to bring Copilot integration to their respective models. Google also unveiled its new TV operating system at CES, promising to bring its Gemini AI to TVs. TBD on whether AI features on TVs become useful tools or gimmicky bloatware, but expect much more of this to come.
Samsung unveils Vision AI, a suite of AI-powered features for its TV lineup.
Credit: Samsung
LG’s StanByMe 2 portable battery-powered TV
LG’s battery-powered, 27-inch, $999 TV in a briefcase went viral last year for being a convenient and budget-friendly way for road trippers to watch TV anywhere. This year, LG announced StanByMe 2, an update from the previous model with longer battery life (four hours from three hours) and higher resolution (1440p from 1080p). Availability and pricing hasn’t been announced yet.
An electric spoon that makes things taste salty
Kirin’s Electric Salt Spoon definitely falls in the wacky category of CES offerings. By sending an electric current through the spoon to your tongue, it makes your tastebuds think you’re eating something saltier than it is. Mashable’s Matt Binder did a hands-on, er, “mouth-on” (sorry) and confirmed that it works. A useful gadget for someone trying to consume less salt, although sadly it’s currently unavailable in the U.S.
Robots, robots, robots
Robots are another mainstay you can expect to see at CES, and this year hasn’t disappointed. So far we’ve seen a robot-lamp hybrid from Jizai that looks like the Pixar mascot, a robot called R2D3 from OpenDroids that tackles household chores, and the Roborock Saros Z70 that’s a vacuum robot with a robotic arm for picking up obstacles in its path, like socks. Unfortunately, Dreame’s X50 Ultra didn’t exactly end up being the “stair-climbing” robot vacuum it was pitched as.
Meanwhile, there’s fierce competition for the cutest robot at CES, with sweet bots Mi-Mo, Mirumi, and Loona leading the adorable charge.
A dyslexia-friendly monitor
French startup Lili for Life has engineered a monitor to help people with dyslexia, by addressing the underlying problem of overlapping “mirror” images caused by dyslexic people having two dominant eyes. Mashable’s Chance Townsend explains how it works: “The Lili screen emits nearly imperceptible light flashes that correct this overlap by creating a shift in visual perception. This innovation makes reading smoother, faster, and less tiring, enhancing text comprehension and making the experience more enjoyable for the reader, according to the company.”
This monitor addresses the underlying challenges for people with dyslexia.
Credit: Mashable / Chance Townsend
A Switch and a gaming laptop had a big Acer baby
A supersized competitor to the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch, Acer’s Nitro Blaze 11 was announced Monday. The Taiwanese tech company’s latest handheld PC has a few features to give it an edge over its fellow portable gaming devices; Mashable’s Haley Henschel went hands on with the Nitro Blaze 11 at CES and got up close with that massive screen and detachable controllers — and found out just how much you’ll have to hand over for one.
It’s a whopper.
Credit: Haley Henschel / Mashable
An air-purifying cat tower with cursed display felines
Look deep into the eyes of LG’s eerie demo cats and behold the company’s new air purifier, one that doubles as a tech-fuelled cat perch. The AeroCatTower hit the CES floor this week, and Mashable’s Chance Townsend took a look to see what it is, how it functions, and why pet owners might want one.
👀
Credit: Chance Townsend / Mashable
We tried on multiple pairs of smart glasses, one with an NBA all-star
Another year, another CES framed with smart glasses. Mashable’s Matt Binder has been trying on several pairs, including XREAL’s new One Pro AR glasses and Chamelo’s color-changing smart glasses — one of which had our tech reporter chatting about liquid crystal and prismatic lenses with NBA al-star Stephon Marbury.
Sony announces Ghost of Tsushima anime series
Thought CES is just about gadgets? While there are a lot of new gadgets shown at the event, there’s some good old TV entertainment in the mix as well.
Announced at CES 2025 by Asad Qizilbash, head of PlayStation Productions, an anime series based on Ghost of Tsushima is set to launch on Sony-owned platform Crunchyroll in 2027. It’s a notable launch, as Ghost of Tsushima: Legends will be the first ever anime adaptation of a PlayStation Studios game. The series will be directed by Takanobu Mizuno, written by Gen Urobuchi, animated by Kamikaze Douga, and co-produced with Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba’s Aniplex.
