Alcoa Consumer Electronics

Aluminum Tablet Trend Continues at CES, Gives Solid, Authentic Feel

The CES tablet wars started off Tuesday with Lenovo's aluminum IdeaPad Slate (see earlier blog post) followed by others including ASUS Eee Slate EP121 (see earlier blog post).  The trend in tablets being made with aluminum continues today.  Acer just dropped news on a new Iconia Tab A500 running Android which will be sold by Verizon. It has a beautiful, authentic brushed aluminum finish. There's a 10.1-inch "10 point multitouch" screen, Tegra 2, and a gyroscope, which Acer claims should position the tablet perfectly for games. You can also output 1080p video over the built-in HDMI port. While we don't have any word on a price or a release date, and Acer hasn't even supplied any photos of the device, we played with a 10.1-inch Android tablet at the NVIDIA booth and it sure feels solid.  This device is supposedly just a “prototype” that may or may not end up going to market, but it is certainly coming to market.  We were told it will be less expensive than the iPad.

Walt previews gadgets at CES

While browsing the show floor looking for more innovative aluminum products today, we ran into Walt Mossberg from the Wall Street Journal. If you are a tech-fan, you've read Walt's column and actually learned something. Walt was previewing the latest gadgets at CES and was checking out this all-aluminum Macbook when we caught up with him.

 
Walt Mossberg is the author and creator of the weekly Personal Technology column in the Wall Street Journal which has appeared every Thursday since 1991.

Trends in handheld devices at CES

Randall Scheps
Consumer Electronics Market Development Director
Part 3 of 3
Watch YouTube video below or click for WMV format.

 

Trends in TV's at CES

Randall Scheps
Consumer Electronics Market Development Director
Part 2 or 3
Watch the YouTube video below or click for WMV format.

 

Learn why OEMs at CES want solid, substantial metallic feel for consumer electronics

Randall Scheps
Consumer Electronics Market Development Director
Part 1 of 3
Watch the YouTube video below or click to watch WMV video.

  

Aluminum brings color to life for LG A520 laptop

We continue to see a ton of aluminum at this year's show.  Moreso than any show prior.  And it's not just the latest technology that gives consumer products their appeal. Surface finish, design, color, and how the device feels in your hand play an equally important part. At CES 2011, you can find laptops, tablets and mobile devices in just about every style, pattern, or color imagineable. Here, the LG A520 comes in a luxurious, brushed-aluminum finish, and is available in attractive purple-black and wine-red coloring.

Aluminum is preferred by consumer electronics companies and their designers because it is contemporary, stronger and has an authentic, natural fee. And of course, we like it because aluminum is infinitely recyclable!

Here are some tech-specs.

3D is coming to gaming and laptops and the LG A520 delivers what LG is calling ‘revolutionary 3D technology’ in the shape of Film Patterned Retarder (FPR) which “optimizes the separation of images for the left and right eye, which are then filtered through the glasses to give viewers truly outstanding, blur-free 3D images”. Other 3D laptops here at CES even offer 3D viewing with no glasses required.  We checked it out ourselves and it's true: the 3D quality is truly amazing.

The 15.6 inch laptop also boasts a Full HD LED LCD screen, and SRS Wide 3D sound, along with second-gen Intel Core i7 processor and a Geforce GT540M graphics card.

Sustainable Design with Aluminum

Aluminum is one of the most sustainable materials in the world. It is infinitely recyclable and its re-use is easy and economical. In fact, nearly 75% of all aluminum ever produced since 1888 is still in use today.

Using aluminum makes consumer electronics more durable, helping devices last longer. Aluminum can also save energy by more effectively managing heat in mobile devices.

Recycling aluminum uses 95% less energy and produces 95% less greenhouse gas emissions than making metal from new materials. Aluminum is also a great alternative to magnesium, lowering emissions by up to 50%.

Samsung 9 Series Notebook Announced at CES 2011

Samsung unveiled a brand new, super-thin notebook at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Calling the 9 Series, the new device is being marketed as a durable, “ultra premium” and lightweight. It’s a remarkably thin device, that Samsung says is actually thinner than Apple’s MacBook Air. Featuring a 13.3-inch display, the 9 Series is certainly one of the most attractive notebooks out there. It’s also constructed from Duralumin, an alloy of aluminum.

Asus Eee Pad EP121 Tablet

ASUS today announced four new tablet computers designed for business and personal/home users alike — the Eee Pad Slider, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad MeMO and Eee Slate EP121 (shown below). The new models are available with three screen sizes, and a choice of either Windows® 7 Home Premium or Google Android® operating systems. The Eee Slate EP121 is already known to world as the first 12 inch tablet built with a beautiful aluminum chassis. It feels very solid to hold.

Alcoa Predicting Continued Growth in Aluminum in Consumer Electronics

More and more consumer electronics OEM’s are seeing the benefits of using aluminum in their products – from the recyclability, styling, surface finishes to thermal management to light weight/high strength.  Alcoa is predicting the continued growth in the use of aluminum in the consumer electronics industry over the next two years.

For example, in laptops alone, aluminum content is projected to grow more than 30% over the next two years as more and more OEM’s and designers see and understand that aluminum doesn’t just make consumer electronics cool, they make them more portable, more sleek and brighter.

In LCD TV’s the use of aluminum for back-panels on larger tv’s is projected to grow more than 450% over the next two years – and when you stop and think of it it makes a lot of sense.  The light weight and high strength makes sense for placing directly on a wall and the thermal management benefits (keeping the unit from overheating on the wall) put it over the top.

Handheld devices, phones and other items are also expected to see increased use of aluminum.   At Alcoa, we are helping the world’s leading consumer electronics companies and their designers achieve a competitive advantage through the use of our innovative aluminum solutions. 

Aluminum making consumer electronics cool

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Aluminum Sings the Blues with Blue Microphone

Blue Microphone is 100% committed to getting the very best microphones in the world into the hands of those who have a passion for high quality audio. To make the world's best microphones, Blue chooses aluminum for its machineability, castability, ability to do precision, and light weight.

Watch the YouTube video below, or click to watch WMV video.

 

Aluminum is "Cool" to LaCie

LaCie is a leading computer hardware company specializing in external hard drives, RAID arrays, optical drives, and computer monitors. They use aluminum almost exclusively across their range of products. Alcoa stopped by the LaCie booth at CES Unveiled to ask why they use aluminum.  Want a hint?  The answer is "cool."

The company markets several lines of hard drives with a capacity of up to many terabytes of data, with a choice of interfaces (FireWire 400, FireWire 800, eSATA, USB 2.0, USB 3.0 and Ethernet).

Watch video on YouTube player below, or click to watch WMV video.

 

Lenovo Fires First Shot in Tablet Wars with Aluminum Tablet; Alcoa There To Ask Why Aluminum

At CES Unveiled, the pre-show press event, Lenovo gave Alcoa a preview of the IdeaPad Slate, one of just a few dozen tablet PCs that are expected to be introduced at CES this week (watch video below). One of the first things you notice about Lenovo's tablet is that it feels good in your hands.  "That's the aluminum giving you that feeling," according to Kevin Gao, Lenovo engineer. Lenovo chose aluminum for their first tablet for five reasons:

1) aluminum enables slimmer design,
2) aluminum enables lighter overall weight,
3) aluminum offers better thermal management,
4) compared to magnesium, aluminum offers more surface finish options, and
5) recyclability

Watch video in YouTube player below, or watch WMV Video.

  

CES 2011: Trends to Watch

As attendees and press begin to arrive for CES 2011 (starts Jan. 6th), show officials are upping their attendance estimates from 120,000 to more than 140,000.  At last year's CES, 3-D TVs and e-book readers were some of the show's big highlights. However, in the last 12 months, much has changed.  Android's growth skyrocketed and Apple launched their iPad to huge success.  So what will everybody be buzzing about at CES 2011? We've had an early look at the CES Unveiled press event held last night and put together a list of trends to watch for at this year's show.

1. The Year of the Tablet 

e-Readers were big last year, but only a few companies showed off tablet prototypes.  Thanks to the iPad's success in 2010, the tablet market has been validated, and countless companies will attempt to make a splash in this market and become true competitors to Apple's wildly popular device.  Tablets to watch for this year include:

* Blackberry Playbook (as seen at-right)
* Motorola's Android tablet
* 10.1-inch tablet from Toshiba
* 8-inch device from Vizio
* Lenovo's IdeaPad Slate
* HP
* Asus
* Dell
* Motorola
* Samsung

2. Video Games Invade CES

Last year's CES saw 3D TV's steal the spotlight.  This year, 3D comes to gaming, and motion control is also big. As usual, Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo will all have a presence at this year's show. Nintendo 3DS. Sony PlayStation Move. Microsoft Xbox Kinect. Can't wait to take these for a test drive!

3. Connected Everything

"Connected" will be a big buzzword at this year's CES. Connected Cars (think Ford SYNC, OnSTar), connected TVs (Google TV, Apple TV, Roku) which allow you to surf the Internet on your TV, and connected "everything (from appliances in the kitched to in the bedroom). Some say this is the next big frontier.

4. Finally, Android

While much of the press is touting 2011 CES as the year of the tablet, there is an underlying theme: Google Android. Android tablets. Android phones. Android appliances. There will be so many devices running on Android at this year's CES that you're going to need an actual android to help keep track of it all.  Analysts believe it's the only credible counterweight to Apple and iOS.

Alcoa at International CES 2011

The International Consumer Electronics Show, the largest tech exhibition in the United States, kicks off this week in Las Vegas on January 6 - 9, 2011. An expected crowd of more than 120 thousand attendees will browse through 2,500 plus exhibitors at the annual consumer electronics exhibit.

This is the third consecutive year that Alcoa has blogged from CES bringing you the latest innovations with aluminum and consumer electronics from the world's thinnest TV's to the lightest tablets.  And, our growing presence at CES illustrates a core goal of our company: to promote the value of aluminum recycling. We all know consumer electronics have very short life spans and product sales-cycles are quick. The world is not going to allow manufacturers to continue to have plastic-based products that end up in landfills. Long after products such as the Apple iPad (made with aluminum) are obsolete, the aluminum in them will be as purely useful as ever because aluminum is infinitely recyclable. Did you know that nearly 75% of all the aluminum ever produced since it 1888 (when Alcoa invented the modern aluminum industry) is still in use today?

To those of you who’ve followed our CE blog before, welcome back! And to new visitors – we hope you’ll continue to check us out and comment. You can also follow our postings on Twitter or Facebook, where you may comment or talk about your CES experience, or subscribe to our RSS feed.