MSI has a new OLED gaming monitor. It also has a built-in neural processing unit (or NPU). If you're familiar with that term, you know what comes next: this OLED monitor has "AI" built into it. After reading the official promo for the MSI MPG 271QR QD-OLED X50 and an extended session of bouncing various four-letter words off the walls of my office, I have to admit that this isn't the worst way to jump on the "AI" bandwagon. The NPU is tied into a CMOS sensor (a very basic camera) and a presence detection system, which detects whether a real human is sitting in front of it.

I've been reviewing monitors for almost 20 years, so believe me when I say this: 2025 will be the best year to buy a new monitor, ever. Today's most attractive and feature-rich monitors command high prices compared to what was typical a decade ago, which has moved some monitor shoppers up-market. In turn, this has given monitor makers an incentive to pursue new trends in panel technology, video inputs, and image processing, among other features. Also, the growing proliferation of OLED is a huge boon for monitors, and not just because OLED looks great and delivers smooth motion. While pricing on high-end, cutting-edge monitors is still up, pricing on monitors with OLED panels is edging towards a freefall.

Every time you think the PC industry is out of ideas, they come back with some new ones. CES 2024 offered a solid glimpse of where things are going. The AI hype train is running at full speed, of course, but we also saw some promising developments for PC gamers and some fresh takes on portable computing. It's a great time to be a PC user, and these emerging trends help prove it: With Intel heralding the "AI PC era" at CES, PC makers are eager to play up the AI angle on their latest laptops. Still, consumers will need to be savvy about what's actually new and useful here.

Most major PC players returned to the Las Vegas desert for CES 2023 after sticking to the safety of remote events last year--and they brought some very enticing shiny new tech along with them. Big names AMD, Intel, and Nvidia all made splashy announcements, and PC manufacturers revealed a barrage of large, in-charge laptops taking advantage of the unprecedented power. Computer monitors witnessed revolution like never before. Heck, we even saw a PC case that breathes. No time to sift through all our CES coverage?