Intel Still Dreams Of Modular Pcs — It Brought A Tablet Laptop Gaming Handheld To Ces

At CES 2025, Intel fto journalists into its backstage “Innovation Showcase,” wherever we saw things for illustration prototype next-gen laptops and elephantine stereo 3D handheld gaming PCs.

While I was there, I besides spotted a dense metallic handheld connected a array that didn’t look fully... attached to its screen. When I lifted nan screen, it came distant easily.

It felt suspiciously ray to beryllium a rea tablet, truthful I flipped it complete and saw 3 connectors underneath:

Above it, connected a shelf, was a laptop pinch a suspiciously sized chunk of integrative connected nan bottommost that looked for illustration a cleanable match. A infinitesimal later, Intel gaming evangelist Colin Helms confirmed I was looking astatine a prototype modular PC.

That module contains a complete Intel Lunar Lake computer, nan afloat courageousness of a PC. It’s fundamentally a reboot of Intel’s abandoned Compute Card idea, isolated from it's not each Intel’s doing and you shouldn't ever expect it to ship.

It’s a conception from Quanta, a institution whose punishment you don’t typically spot connected nan laptops and tablets they create, because Quanta is an ODM (like Compal, Pegatron, Wistron, and Apple’s amended known iPhone supplier Foxconn) that designs and manufactures hardware connected behalf of marque names.

Quanta’s calling nan afloat modular strategy nan “AI8A,” and nan aforementioned module astatine its bosom is nan “Detachable AI Core.” Helms told maine it plugs into different conception computers arsenic well, including an all-in-one desktop that Intel didn’t personification to show off. And presumably, for illustration nan Compute Card idea, you could upgrade your instrumentality conscionable by putting a caller caller module into it.

The modular laptop has tons of concept-y bells and whistles too, truthful galore that Intel’s CES portion hadn’t moreover worked them each retired yet.

For starts, nan laptop has a motorized hinge, truthful you tin show it to unfastened and adjacent its ain lid; it too claims to relationship eye-tracking that lets you sling astir multitasking windows conscionable by looking astatine wherever you’d for illustration them to be. It apparently comes pinch a rodent integrated into a ringing that you could wear.

The astir mundane: a built-in Qi wireless charging pad successful nan palmrest, pinch parameter lights to show your battery’s remaining capacity.

I couldn’t effort immoderate of it working, unfortunately, nor did I negociate to inquire what “AI8A” means, because I mistakenly thought it said Aiba until I checked my photos intimately conscionable now. Nor could we hotswap nan module betwixt nan handheld and laptop, since nan module apparently doesn't personification a artillery inside.

Again, this is simply a cool computing conception car: it’s not apt that this instrumentality will ever ship, moreover successful a overmuch applicable / small gadgety form. Thankfully, we personification begun to spot immoderate real, applicable modularity successful nan laptop abstraction since nan decease of Intel's Compute Card. Framework conscionable celebrated its 5th day this week, and Dell took a smaller measurement guardant astatine CES pinch its first modular repairable USB-C port.

Photos by Sean Hollister / The Verge