Top 10 best and worst of Computex

A rundown of the highlights and lowlights of this year's event

So, another Computex trade show is over for this year, with no major announcements from any of the big-name vendors present but lots of opportunities for demos of the latest tablets and 3D kit.

Here's our round-up of our highlights of the show, and what we didn't enjoy so much.

BEST

5. It didn't rain too much
The BBC weather site gave a five-day forecast for Taipei that had rain of some description falling every day. Fortunately, the weather has been good. Some rain has fallen today and yesterday, but it's only helped to cool an otherwise humid environment.

4. 'Teens will be lusting after that'
Funniest line of the week has to go to Intel's ultra mobility group chief, Anand Chandrasekher. During his ultra mobility session he introduced a startup company's chief executive who was using an Atom chip to power a handheld music studio for 'kidz with talentz'. Chandrasekher said after the demo that "teens will be lusting after that", referring to the tablet-like device. Not if they'd seen the girls wearing tiny two-piece PVC outfits on the many Computex stands.

3. Intel's selective amnesia
Intel's claim that it knew nothing about an "innovative platform" spoken about the previous day by architecture group co-general manager David Perlmutter was quite a development. Not only did he speak about it on Tuesday, but the mysterious Canoe Lake platform was referred to in writing in the company's press kit. Amused smiles were seen on the dozen or so journalists' faces in the question and answer session with Chandrasekher the following day, when they received such a categorical "don't know" about Canoe Lake.

2. Gratuitous PR Speak Award
This year's Gratuitous PR Speak Award goes to Asus for the following: "More and more people are leaning towards a greener mindset, taking proactive steps to incorporate eco-friendly solutions into their daily lives. The Green Asus initiative inspires products that are designed to care for the environment, with power-saving technologies such as Super Hybrid Engine and greater use of recyclable materials. Products such as the U Series Bamboo Collection and Designo Series LED monitors allow users to stay practical, stylish and energy-aware with the minimum effort and cost." I wonder what the carbon footprint of the huge Asus exhibit amounts to?

1. Multi-dimensional mania
You had to chuckle at the faux excitement from the many companies at Computex over the future of 3D everything. Like high-definition, it is another technical advance looking for a customer base. In its defence, at least the picture improvement can be appreciated with relatively little technical knowledge, while 3D requires, for the time being, battery powered shutter glasses. Now who is going to want to wear them just to watch Match of the Day?

Top 10 best and worst of Computex

A rundown of the highlights and lowlights of this year's event

WORST

5. Two sites shenanigans
Computex was split over two sites and it took up to 30 minutes to travel from one to the other, if the traffic was good. Or there was Taipei's metro system which, while clean and efficient, had no connection between Nangang station, a few stops from the Taiwan World Trade Centre, and the Nangang exhibition centre station, a couple of miles from its namesake. Despite a shuttle bus between the two related stations, it could take up to an hour to get from one site to the other.

4. Mandarin only sessions
Some potentially good presentations were in Mandarin only, including Chinese companies' plans for tablets and netbooks using open-source operating systems. Yet they were listed in English in the guide book. I'm all for inter-cultural exchange, but the need for a crash course in one of the hardest languages on the planet seemed a bit much.

3. No decent food court
A Subway sandwich shop and a convenience store that smells of dodgy instant noodles is not an attractive food court for any trade centre. Situated in the heart of a business and hotel district, I don't recall seeing any restaurants or bars nearby as I wandered back and forth from my hotel, which was set up for breakfast and dinner but little in between.

2. Endless wittering
It's a function of any press trip that the better the freebie gift you get, the less actual news there is to be gained by attending. And a similar rule seems to apply to senior executives when giving speeches. The longer the speech, and the less said at the beginning of it about anything, points to no news. Abandon chief executive ego trip speeches as fast as possible. Microsoft OEM corporate vice president Steven Guggenheimer delivered one notably long piece of rhetoric that began with his take on the state of the world economy. Yawn.

1. Lack of any surprises
Computex was devoid of any surprises. Even AMD's Fusion accelerated processing unit demo had been trailed by years of yacking about the APU concept and its first two chips, Ontario and Llano. Intel didn't have anything really new to talk about, either, so both of the major PC chipmakers ended up just reviewing their established roadmaps. We almost got the feeling that the industry could have saved us a trip by announcing that earlier. But we'll still be back next year.