Our picks for the most exciting and interesting wares for gamers coming over the next 12 months.
The annual tech-wank-fest known commonly as CES has concluded and, as usual, there was plenty of gaming gear to get all gooey about.
It may have taken place virtually (rather than in the tacky opulence of Las Vegas) due to the pandemic. But this didn’t stop companies announcing tons of exciting and let’s face it, wanky products.
In this guide, we’re going to cut through the digital noise and give you our top 4 picks from 4 categories, as well as a wildcard pick, that you have to be aware of in 2021.
1) Gaming TV – Samsung 4K Neo QLED (QN90A)
Having a good TV for your laid-back living room gaming sessions is essential, with the competition for your custom set to be fiercer than ever in 2021, as millions of consumers get on the next-gen bandwagon, all in need of HDMI 2.1 to take advantage of 4K 120fps gaming glory.
There are many good options out there, but our pick is the Samsung QN90A 4K Neo QLED TV. Not only does it benefit from epic peak brightness, it’ll have improved contrast over last years models too, with the inclusion of mini LED technology – a way for high-end LCD tellys to go from hundreds to thousands of local dimming zones, bringing QLEDs a big step closer to the perfect contrast only OLEDs currently offer.
On the gaming front, LG may have secured Nvidia G-SYNC support back in 2020 for their OLEDs, but Samsung is doing something even more interesting with their latest QLEDS – allowing 21:9 and 32:9 aspect ratios, effectively turning your TV into an ultrawide and super ultrawide gaming monitor on the fly.
This is accessed via the new ‘Game Bar’ that can also be used for other game settings, such as VRR, input lag presets and even to connect wireless headsets.
These awesome features, combined with a staggeringly low 5.8ms input lag at 120hz, the excellent Game Motion Plus, Freesync support and the inherent advantages of QLED – namely, eye-searing brightness and no risk of burn-in – make the Samsung QN90A our top pick for gaming TVs in 2021.
2) Gaming Laptop – ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 (SE GX551)
ROG turned heads with their bat-shit expensive and slightly clumsy dual-screen gaming laptop in 2020. It had tons of potential but was held back by poor thermals and mediocre battery life. With a key change to the internal hardware however, in 2021 it could be a killer product.
That change is ditching Intel, as the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 now features 5000 series AMD Ryzen mobile CPUs (up to the Ryzen 9 5900HX) and 3000 series Nvidia GPUs (up to the RTX 3080). The perfect combination that should take performance, thermal efficiency and battery life to a whole new level.
Also new for 2021 is the choice between a 4K/120hz panel or a 1080/300hz panel, both with a 3ms response time.
The laptop is unique in its implementation of a second slim rectangular screen above the keyboard, designed to provide gamers with instant access to menus and load-outs, without having to interrupt their gameplay.
The aesthetic does, of course, scream gamer, with RGB lighting and industrial edges making it clear exactly what this beast is for. If that’s your bag, and of course you have the coin, this may be the most versatile gaming laptop you can get this year.
3) Gaming Keyboard – Hyper X Mechanical (HyperX Alloy Origins 60)
Mechanical keyboards with all their heavy and noisy goodness, have been in vogue for several years now. But one of the latest trends is for miniaturised keyboards, sporting as few keys as possible yet still offering decent functionality.
When it comes to gaming keyboards, one of the best looking options we’ve seen that fits this brief is the new HyperX Alloy Origins 60.
Its small footprint will allow plenty of travel for your mouse, and its premium features will undoubtedly make you drool. It sports the company’s bespoke red linear switches with PCB keycaps as standard, usually costing an extra premium. Also, it’s keys are fully reprogrammable and its recharged by USB-C.
If the quality cuts the mustard, this could be your best choice of mini-mechanical in 2021, as it’s priced a little lower than its immediate high-end rivals at approx. $100. A win-win.
4) Gaming Monitor – LG Ultrafine OLED (32EP950)
We may have recommended a QLED for your gaming TV, but when it comes to monitors, the most exciting new product is an OLED, as it’s the first OLED PC monitor to be available at a decent screen size.
For years now, OLED screens were either big or small – 48 inch and above as a TV, or 15 inches and below in laptops and mobile phones – but now LG have finally plugged the gap, giving us a goldilocks solution of just right for our desktops PCs.
At 31.5 inches it’s a great size for most desk setups, and with its 4K resolution, 1,000,000:1 native contrast ratio, 99% DCI-P3 and Adobe RGB coverage, it’ll make an excellent productivity monitor too.
In fact, that’s the point of the UltraFine series, great colour accuracy for industry professionals, but that doesn’t make it a bad choice for gamers. Far from it.
It may be limited to 60hz, but you’ll struggle to find many GPUs (if you could buy them at all!) that can render high graphics settings much beyond this refresh rate anyway.
What you do get is the glory that is OLED – perfect contrast, vivid colours, amazing viewing angles, and an instant pixel response time that eliminates motion blur.
According to FlatPanelsHD, it comes equipped with 2x DisplayPort, 1x HDMI, and 3x USB (including at least one type-C).
5) Wildcard – Razer Gaming Chair (Project Brooklyn)
CES wouldn’t be CES without it’s fair share of daft technology products, and Razer is no stranger to showing off weird concepts at the show over the years.
This time though, we think they’ve surpassed themselves, with the crazy-lazy contraption that is ‘Project Brooklyn’, a gaming chair with a bendable screen that entirely envelopes the player.
The 60″ OLED screen ‘deploys’ from a storage area behind the players head, unravelling and surrounding you with an as of yet unparalleled level of immersion.
As for the chair itself, it features RGB lighting and haptic motors to fully immerse you in your game experience.
Of course, this is just a concept, not an actual product, at least for now. If it did actually go on sale you can bet it would cost more than all the other products listed here combined!
What tickled your fancy from our list? Is there anything major we missed out? Tell us in the comments right now.
