CES 2021 gave PCMag editors their first chance to vet candidates for our new Technical Excellence Awards, aka TechX. The award is given to products, concepts, and services we think are going to be game changers in their respective markets. CES has always been a proving ground for new concepts, and even without a trade show floor this year, there were plenty of innovations to be found. Although there were fewer official exhibitors than usual—less than half by some accounts—the vendors that showed up (albeit virtually) came to play. We found desktops with new form factors, slim, powerful laptops with clever external GPUs, refrigerators that use UV light to purify water, just to name a few. AMD continued its assault on Intel chip hegemony, and Nvidia strengthened its position in the graphics market. Of course, there were plenty of cool new variations in display technology as well—particularly in the form of LG's rollable smartphone. When (or if) some of these innovations will actually hit the market is hard to say, but they're undoubtedly pushing the industry forward.