At CES 2025, Intel let journalists into its personal “Innovation Showcase,” the place we noticed issues like prototype next-gen laptops and big stereo 3D handheld gaming PCs.
While I used to be there, I additionally noticed a heavy steel handheld on a desk that didn’t appear… totally hooked up… to its display. When I lifted the display, it got here away simply.
It felt suspiciously gentle to be an actual pill, so I flipped it over and noticed three connectors beneath:
Above it, on a shelf, was a laptop computer with a suspiciously sized chunk of plastic on the underside that regarded like an ideal match. A minute later, Intel gaming evangelist Colin Helms confirmed: I used to be taking a look at an idea modular PC.
That module comprises a whole Intel Lunar Lake pc, your entire guts you’d have to make one work outdoors of peripherals and display. It’s principally a reboot of Intel’s deserted Compute Card concept, besides it isn’t all Intel’s doing and also you in all probability should not count on it to ship.
It’s an idea from Quanta, an organization whose title you don’t sometimes see on the laptops and tablets they create, as a result of Quanta is an ODM (like Compal, Pegatron, Wistron, and Apple’s higher recognized iPhone provider Foxconn) that designs and manufactures {hardware} on behalf of name names.
Quanta’s calling the entire modular system the “AI8A,” and the aforementioned module at its coronary heart is the “Detachable AI Core.” Helms informed me it plugs into different idea computer systems as properly, together with an all-in-one desktop that Intel didn’t have to indicate off. And presumably, just like the Compute Card concept, you could possibly improve your pc simply by placing a brand new new module into it.
The modular laptop computer has a number of concept-y bells and whistles too, so many who Intel’s CES employees hadn’t even labored all of them out but.
For begins, the laptop computer has a motorized hinge, so you’ll be able to inform it to open and shut its personal lid; it additionally claims to supply eye-tracking that allows you to sling round multitasking home windows simply by taking a look at the place you’d like them to be. It apparently comes with a mouse built-in into a hoop that you could possibly put on.
The most mundane: a built-in Qi wi-fi charging pad within the palmrest, with indicator lights to indicate your battery’s remaining capability.
I couldn’t strive any of it working, sadly, nor did I handle to ask what “AI8A” means, as a result of I mistakenly thought it mentioned Aiba till I checked my images intently simply now. Nor might we hotswap the module between the hand held and laptop computer, because the module apparently would not have a battery inside.
Again, it is a cool computing idea automotive: it’s not going that this pc will ever ship, even in a extra sensible / much less gadgety kind. Thankfully, we now have begun to see some actual, sensible modularity within the laptop computer house because the loss of life of Intel’s Compute Card. Framework simply celebrated its fifth anniversary this week, and Dell took a smaller step ahead at CES with its first modular repairable USB-C port.
Photos by Sean Hollister / The Verge
