GoKawiilWith the first few days firmly behind our team on the ground at Computex 2026, Day 2 is the first day that our crew got their boots on the ground on the show floor of the Nanggang Exhibition Center in Taipei, Taiwan. With a busy schedule of meetings, interviews, and presentations in tow, it's been a busy few days, and we're now deep in the throes of covering the event. This series of diaries from our team is intended to give you insights into our thoughts and feelings about covering a massive event like Computex 2026, documenting the trials and tribulations that naturally come with event coverage.
If you've not read them yet, be sure to check out our Day 0 and Day 1 Tom's Hardware Unfiltered blogs to catch up on what they've been up to so far.
Matt Safford: Managing Editor
(Image credit: Future)
As I hauled my increasingly complaining body through eight meetings today, I heard a familiar refrain from multiple case and cooler makers: they’re focusing on lower-cost designs (often sub-$100), because they know how cash-strapped gamers and PC builders are, thanks to the ongoing RAM, storage, and GPU pricing crisis. And to be fair, they are trying to sell PC hardware to cash-constrained consumers at perhaps the toughest time for our little hobby/obsession in decades. So, of course, the focus is on lower-cost components and hardware.
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Asus, meanwhile, in celebrating the 20th anniversary of its ROG sub-brand, launched an expansive lineup of mostly rehashed Edition 20 products, at some of the highest prices I’ve seen. Take the $599 gaming keyboard, for example, or the $250 mouse. I tested them both, and they’re generally great, with high-end specs and solid performance. But they’re also wildly expensive at a time when key components (not to mention gas and groceries) remain sky-high. It’s easy to call Asus’ Edition 20 launch tone-deaf (did I mention that many of these products feature real gold-plated accents?).
But I can also see why the company (and ROG die-hards) would want to celebrate 20 years of a sub-brand that, let’s face it, has generally offered up high-priced (and generally well-regarded) hardware. But I would love to know how successful the Edition 20 lineup turns out to be, six months or more down the road. Because it’s hard to imagine throngs of people excited to buy a $1,000-plus gaming chair, or the many other high-priced Edition 20 products. But I can certainly imagine lots of people, many of our readers included, looking for a PC component bargain after shelling out for 32GB of RAM or a 2TB SSD at today’s prices. Maybe Asus should start thinking about those kinds of customers, too.
Joe Shields: Staff Writer, Components
Today, Cooler Master HQ was my first stop before heading to the Convention Center and more traditional booth visits. I have to admit, it was a bit overwhelming at first, trying to find my first meeting location and navigating through a sea of people everywhere, but mostly because I left my schedule with all the time and location information back at the hotel (thanks, Jake Roach, for the save!).
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