CES 2016: OLED monitors lead Dell honorees

By Brian T. Horowitz, Editor and Contributing Writer

OLED and phone streaming were big hits in displays at CES 2016 in Las Vegas, and Dell’s new monitors with these features were among nine Innovation Awards the company earned.

Josh Brenner and Jeff Clarke at the Dell Experience at CES 2016

The company highlighted some of its honorees and how they can handle the heavy workloads of workers at a Jan. 5 press conference at CES hosted by actor Josh Brener (above, left) of the HBO show “Silicon Valley.”

Dell’s new UltraSharp 30 Ultra HD 4K OLED Monitor, which the Consumer Technology Association honored in the Computer Peripherals category, will help meet the needs of users that require crisp graphics and photography.

Organic light-emitting diode, or OLED, technology uses organic semiconductors to create thin light-emitting panels that differ from conventional monitors because they create their own lighting. By being thinner and smaller, they can offer sharper black levels and contrast levels. In addition to OLED technology, it features an Ultra HD 4K resolution and an ultra-fast response time of 0.1 millisecond.

“It’s so beautiful, people just want to see it and reach into it,” said Kirk Schell, vice president and general manager for Dell’s commercial PC group, at a Jan. 6 press conference.

“Getting that frame in front of you is very important” for workers in graphics-heavy fields, such as content creation and health care as well as for gamers, said Jeff Clarke (above, right), vice president of operations and president of Client Solutions.

In addition, the USB Type-C cable allows users to connect power, video and data to another device with a single cable and stream content from a smartphone.

“You’re charging, you’re connected, you’re productive, and you’re on your way,” Schell said.

The UltraSharp 30 hits the market March 31 on Dell.com starting at $4,999.

In addition to the UltraSharp 30, Dell introduced its first wireless monitors on the market. The monitors let users mirror content wirelessly from Windows laptops and Android phones.

Both units will be available March 31. The UltraSharp 24 starts at $469, and the Dell 23 Wireless Monitor starts at $429.

A 2-in-1 that’s really a 3-in-1

Another Innovation Award honoree, the new Latitude 12 7000 Series UltraBook, features a Gorilla Glass display and is really a 3-in-1 unit rather than just a 2-1 because it can dock to multiple monitors, Schell said.

You can latch a tablet to an UltraBook with one hand, he noted.

The Latitude 12 7000 Series will be available in early February on Dell.com starting at $1,049.

Latitude offers top security and a carbon-fiber design

The CTA also honored Dell in the Computer Hardware and Components category for the new Dell Latitude 13 7000 Series.

“It’s the smallest 13-inch notebook in the marketplace,” Clarke said.

It features a unidirectional 40-ton carbon-fiber design used in spacecraft. Security features include multi-factor authentication and compatibility with smart cards.

The Latitude 13 7000 Series will be available March 8 starting at $1,299.

Dell Precision mobile workstation, Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet and XPS honorees

The Precision 15 5000 Series (5510) mobile workstation, starting at $1,399, was also honored in the Computer Hardware category and is a good fit for financial analysts, according to Clarke. Many engineers, architects and creative designers are designing products and infrastructure, as well as editing and producing video projects on the system as well.

It features a PremierColor 4K InfinityEdge display with more than 8 million pixels and is able to make use of Thunderbolt technology and the Dell Thunderbolt Dock, which was announced this fall. Thunderbolt connects displays, mice and external keyboards for power users and traditional workstation clients.

In addition, the CTA honored the Latitude 12 Rugged Tablet in the Tablets & E-Readers category. This ruggedized tablet, which starts at $1,849, meets the needs of workers in harsh environments, where extreme temperatures, vibrations and other variables exist. It features compression sealing to allow it to withstand exposure to sand, dust and liquids.

Meanwhile, the Dell XPS 13 was an honoree last year, and at the 2016 show, the XPS 12 was honored in the Computer Hardware category. The XPS 12, starting at $999.99, uses a magnetic connection to allow users to switch easily from tablet to laptop. In addition, it’s the first 2-in-1 to feature an UltraSharp 4K Ultra HD display.

With notebooks and workstations being honored at CES, it’s a sign that PCs are “far from dead,” Clarke noted.

“You can’t be an end-to-end solution provider without PCs,” he said.

 This post originally appeared on the PowerMore web site and was written as part of the Dell Insight Partners program, which provides news and analysis about the evolving world of tech. Dell sponsored this article, but  opinions are the author’s own and don’t necessarily represent Dell’s positions or strategies.

About the Author: Power More