Friday Fives: What's on show at Cebit 2010

CeBIT, held each March in Hannover, Germany, is one of the biggest showcases of new computer technology in the world, and this week Computeractive has been there to check out all the latest products that'll be on sale over the next six months. With thousands of exhibitors there are just too many to list, so we've boiled it all down to the the best products that represent five key trends from this year's show.

(To see this article with images of the new products, click here).

1) Loud Laptops

Laptop computers don't have a great reputation when it comes to sound quality, and with good reason: most have tiny, tinny speakers packed into the case as an afterthought. This year, though, several of the biggest computer names at Cebit have been showing portable computers that, they claim, are designed to sound great.

The Asus NX90 is certainly eye-catching: it's huge and completely covered in brushed aluminium. And, alongside some unusual features such as the two touchpads – one on either side of the keyboard – it has a powerful sound system provided by Bang and Olufsen IcePower. Its speaker enclosures have a volume of 108cc, and although it's very hard to judge the quality of sound in a busy trade show we can testify to the volume on offer. Click here for a photo.

A similar product was also on show at the stand of Asus's key rival MSI. Its GT660 gaming laptop packs a Core i7 processor, Blu-ray, two hard disks and Nvidia 285M graphics, but also a 2.1 sound system from Dynaudio – again, it's impressively thunderous.

2) Smart Storage

Network attached storage devices are to be found everywhere at the show, with the manufacturers seemingly adding new functions each and every year, but a few in particular stood out. The new Thecus N4200 has an unusual case with two displays, but there's also a lithium-ion battery in the back – if the mains power supply fails, this gives it enough power to shut down properly, saving your data. Click here for a photo.

Not to be outdone, rival Qnap was demonstrating its new QMobile tool for the iPhone and iPod Touch – this gives access to the multimedia functions of its NAS devices from any Apple mobile handset.

3) Neat Networking

Network storage aside, there are plenty of clever networking products on show. We particularly liked Devolo's new Smart+ powerline network adapters: instead of using LEDs to indicate the network status, these use an LCD display to provide far more information on the status of the network. The company was also showing this prototype of a new product due in September – this little white box will run at speeds of up to 500Mbps.

Also, good news for anyone who was tempted by our review of the AVM Fritzbox but couldn't stretch to the price: the company is launching a new, simpler model with the ISDN functions removed and a much lower price. The Fritzbox WLAN 3370 includes 802.11N networking, and should cost around £115 – it'll be available in a few months. The company has also made a version for cable internet customers, but as with any cable product it would need to be sold by the ISP - in the UK, Virgin Media.

4) Powerful Programs

Although Cebit includes hall upon hall of new computer hardware, there are also dozens of software vendors showing off their new tools. As we reported previously, security firm Kaspersky Lab used Cebit to launch its new PURE antivirus product – read our story on that here.

Another clever new tool could be found on the Laplink stand. The company is adding a new feature to its PCMover software called the PCMover Image Assistant. This allows users to move both programs and files from a hard disk image to a new PC: so, for example, if you have an image backup of a Windows XP computer, and that fails, you can use the tool to move your programs onto a new Windows 7 PC without having to first reinstall XP. As well as appearing in future versions of PCMover, it'll be included with some disk imaging tools from O&O.

5) New and Unusual

From USB keys in every imaginable shape to foldable pianos to somewhat tasteless computer accessories (don't ask) there's all manner of odd goods on show at Cebit. Some look downright awful, but then there are a few unusual products that caught our eye for the right reasons.

Thermaltake's Tt eSports brand may have a very strange name – that extra “t” is not a typing error – but its new Challenger keyboard might appeal to gamers or workaholics: reach around the back and there's a small fan that can be clipped onto the top of the keyboard to keep your fingers cool during frantic activities such as gaming or filling in an online self-assessment tax form at the last possible minute. The keys also illuminate in any one of 256 colours.

Also, while Asus and MSI compete to show the biggest range of unusual PCs – from 3D desktops and laptops to concept models and Asus's Bamboo range (“panda friendly”, we're assured), there's one computer that really sticks out: the Eee Keyboard. We saw a prototype at last year's Cebit, but with the finished product due in May this device finally seems to be ready for the market. Click here for a photo.

It has a 5 inch capacitative touchscreen built in, runs Windows XP and can link up to your television wirelessly via an ultra-wideband transmitter. It uses an Atom N270 processor, 1GB of memory and will be available with 16GB or 32GB of solid state storage – expect to see it on sale for less than £600.