CES 2026: Gaming traits to count on on the present

The Consumer Electronics Show (CES) is not a gaming showcase, however players ought to concentrate, anyway.

CES 2026 kicks off this week, working Jan. 6 to 9, that means all the most important tech manufacturers on the planet have converged on Las Vegas to indicate off their wares. For individuals who love video video games, CES is much less an opportunity to see up and coming titles from huge publishers and extra a strategy to discover out about upcoming online game {hardware}, particularly within the PC area. In different phrases, do not count on to listen to a lot from Nintendo, PlayStation, or Xbox straight, even bearing in mind that dad or mum corporations like Sony and Microsoft could have some presence on the present.

Still, that does not imply players ought to tune out CES fully. Here are some gaming traits you’ll be able to count on to listen to about at CES 2026.

Gaming laptops galore, however how a lot will they price?

Gaming-focused laptops are at all times on show at CES, and this 12 months should not be an outlier in that regard. We know that producers like Razer and Asus shall be on the present in a method or one other, so do not be stunned to see highly effective new laptops from them at CES.

In phrases of what has come out forward of the occasion, we do know that Asus is reportedly working on a new dual-screen gaming laptop as a result of the corporate all however introduced it on X in December. This seems to be a rework of the ROG Zephyrus Duo laptop computer from a couple of years in the past. Asus hasn’t touched it since 2023, so perhaps a redesign is so as. Don’t be shocked to see that at CES.

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Beyond that, Lenovo is alleged to have a gaming laptop with a horizontal rollable display within the works, which might very effectively find yourself at CES this 12 months. Lenovo has experimented with rollable shows in its non-gaming laptops earlier than, however this one supposedly has Legion branding, which is what Lenovo makes use of for gaming gadgets. The show supposedly has a 21:9 facet ratio when absolutely unrolled and an Intel core processor of some variety.

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Speaking of Intel, the corporate has already confirmed that it’s going to exhibit its new Panther Lake CPUs at CES. It’s completely attainable (although not sure) that we’ll see some highly effective gaming laptops with these within them. The identical goes for AMD, which is holding a keynote on Monday. We might see some gadgets with its powerful new Ryzen CPU in-built, too.

The solely downside with all of that is that widespread reminiscence shortages because of the proliferation of AI information facilities has made laptop parts enormously costly. This has implications for each console and PC gaming, and it is going to be price watching at CES for which gaming laptops have costs hooked up to them and which of them don’t. Will corporations jack costs up, or stick to decrease specs to maintain costs down? We’ll have to attend and see.

Updates to handheld gaming PCs, maybe

All of those new chips might doubtlessly discover their means into handheld gaming PCs, as effectively. We know that Lenovo has a new Legion Go with SteamOS in-built for anybody who does not need to use Windows anymore, so that would present up at CES.

This remains to be a rising and rising market class, and it appears ripe for extra gadgets past the Legion Go 2 to look at CES. We’ll hold our eyes peeled for these as we discover the present ground.

Flashy new gaming screens

Monitors are form of the unsung heroes of any gaming PC construct. Fortunately, they don’t seem to be forgotten at CES.

As common, count on to see screens with increased resolutions and refresh charges than you are used to seeing. Back in December, Philips announced a 1440p monitor with a blazing quick 500Hz refresh fee. That’s wild in its personal proper, nevertheless it additionally reportedly has 1080p/1000Hz modes, too. Those are huge numbers! It will certainly be price checking these out if they seem at CES, which appears seemingly given the timing of the announcement.

Aside from that, Chinese monitor firm HKC announced an RGB mini LED monitor lately, too. Rather than specializing in increased refresh charges, the concept right here is to attain higher coloration accuracy by means of the usage of RGB know-how. Don’t assume they’re skimping on the opposite specs, although, as this monitor evidently will run at 4K with a 165Hz refresh fee. That’s no slouch.

Head to the Mashable CES 2026 hub for the most recent information and dwell updates from the most important present in tech, the place Mashable journalists are reporting dwell.