CES 2025: we select the best new tech for home and workplace

After sifting through the news and views coming out of CES 2025, it’s hard not to conclude that the smart home is being subtly re-branded as a given, rather than an aspiration. Practically every product we’ve seen has been spritzed with the pixie dust that is AI, just as the buzzy ‘internet of things’ was all the rage a decade or so ago.

Now it’s simply assumed that everything has an app and connectivity is universal. Instead, what’s deemed important is how these devices cater to your needs, courtesy of the same algorithmic filters that quietly but definitively shape the way you see the world. From cutting edge laptops to step-climbing vacuum bots, sleek TVs and self-rocking cradles, here are ten technologies in search of willing human stewards.

1. The Frame Pro TV Samsung

We’ve waxed lyrical about The Frame before, Samsung’s tasteful take on television that allowed technophobes to hide their screentime addiction in plain sight. The Frame Pro is the latest development of this discrete design classic. There’s a new processor and improved display technology, plus the news that Samsung’s own Art Store has boosted its stock with to over 3,000 works, with tie-ins with Art Basel, MoMA and the estates of Magritte and Basquiat.

Samsung.com

2. LG PF600U 3-in-1 lamp

LG’s PF600U might not have a distinctive name, but it does have a distinctive set of skills. Incorporating an LED mood lamp, full HD projector, and Bluetooth speaker in a single, slender freestanding device, the PF600U could be the perfect solution for compact spaces.

LG.com

3. Lymow One mower

Robot mowers are of course nothing new, but Lymow revealed its more muscular and capable device at CES, alongside the launch of a Kickstarter. The Lymow One comes equipped with all-terrain tracks like a tiny bulldozer, giving it the ability to tackle 45-degree slopes and mulch the grass as it goes. With the promised ability to deal with up to 1.75 acres a day, the One could be the ultimate riposte to even the most authoritarian HOA.

Lymow.com, Kickstarter.com

4. Switchbot K20+ Pro vacuum cleaner

The Roborock Saros Z70 isn’t the only domestic cleaning robot promising other ways of upgrading your space. SwitchBot claims its new K20+ Pro is the ‘world’s first multitasking household robot,’ a modular platform that not only deals with the vacuuming but can perform security checks, purify the air and even serve as a food delivery platform. Alexa comes integrated, while the multi-functional modes take the of separate components that can swapped out onto the agile circular base, courtesy of the company’s FusionPlatform technology.

Switch-Bot.com

5. Elvie Rise bassinet

It’s a brave and trusting parent that commits their precious baby to a smart device in this age of uncertainty, but Elvie thinks its new Rise model will rock your precious new offspring’s world. The Elvie Rise is described as ‘an app-controlled, all-in-one smart multifunctional bouncer and bassinet’, which can be transformed from a bouncer into a cradle without you having to move a muscle. The motion component learns your signature moves and loops them and there’s the inevitable app that also serves as an infant sleep tracker.

Elvie Rise, Elvie.com

6. Dangbei MP1 Max projector

Along with new ultra-portable Freedo Google TV projector, Dangbei also launched the MP1 Max, a static LED and tri-laser 4K project for ultimate image quality. Whilst Freedo is battery powered (up to 2.5 hours of playback) and has integrated 360° surround sound, the MP1 Max is a weightier proposition, with Google TV as standard.

Dangbei MP1 Max, US.Dangbei.com

7. Dreame X50 Ultra Complete vacuum cleaner

Dreame’s new X50 Ultra Complete is a flagship model that not only sports a ‘bionic multi-joint robotic arm’ but also has the ability to climb stairs, albeit only (very) shallow ones. Still, it’s a step up from the flat plane such devices are usually confined to and points to a future where no stair or ledge ever needs succumb to dust.

Dreame X50 Ultra Complete, £1,299, Dreamestore.co.uk

8. Lenovo ThinkCentre and ThinkBook PCs

Our trio of favourite computing debuts start with two new products from Lenovo. First up is the ThinkBook Plus Gen 6 Rollable AI PC, a laptop with a trick up its sleeve. Billed as the first appearance of rollable display technology in a consumer device, the laptop’s 14” display extends upwards at the push of a button to create a 16.7” display, effectively adding 50% more screen space. Despite this, the computer remains lightweight and compact.

Lenovo’s other headline release also had a small footprint. The new ThinkCentre neo Ultra Gen 2 might not have a name as snappy and simple as the Apple Mac Studio, but it packs a similar processing punch, with Intel’s newest Core Ultra CPUs and up to 64GB of RAM.

Lenovo.com

9. Minisforum AI X1 Mini PC

Minisforum continues to be one of the more interesting companies in the mini PC sphere, and the new Minisforum AI X1 Mini PC aims to give the micro-scaled sector a leg up in the burgeoning AI industry. Powered by AMD CPU and GPU, the AI X1 packs an impressive 96GB RAM and 12TB of storage into its tiny footprint.

Minisforum.uk

10. Acer Aspire Vero 16 Laptop

Finally, there was material innovation Laptop stalwart Acer. The new Aspire Vero 16 laptop uses a chassis made from a combination of post-consumer recycled plastic and a new bio-based oyster shell material (although this accounts for only 1% of the total). PCR plastics are used extensively in the laptop’s key touchpoints, helping overturn the ingrained idea that all tech has to be shiny, new and blemish-free.

Acer Aspire Vero 16, available in Q2, from €1,199, Store.Acer.com