Intel nonetheless goals of modular PCs — it introduced a pill laptop computer gaming handheld to CES

At CES 2025, Intel let journalists into its non-public “Innovation Showcase,” the place we noticed issues like prototype next-gen laptops and big stereo 3D handheld gaming PCs.

Whereas I used to be there, I additionally noticed a heavy metallic handheld on a desk that didn’t appear totally… hooked up to its display screen. Once I lifted the display screen, it got here away simply.

It felt suspiciously gentle to be a rea 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 a prototype modular PC.

That module comprises a whole Intel Lunar Lake pc, your entire guts of a PC. It’s principally a reboot of Intel’s deserted Compute Card concept, besides it is not all Intel’s doing and also you should never 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 identified iPhone provider Foxconn) that designs and manufactures {hardware} on behalf of brand name names.

Quanta’s calling the entire modular system the “AI8A,” and the aforementioned module at its coronary heart is the “Removable AI Core.” Helms advised 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 would improve your pc simply by placing a brand new new module into it.

The modular laptop computer has a lot of concept-y bells and whistles too, so many who Intel’s CES workers hadn’t even labored all of them out but.

For begins, the laptop computer has a motorized hinge, so you possibly can inform it to open and shut its personal lid; it additionally claims to supply eye-tracking that permits 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 would put on.

Essentially 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 pictures carefully simply now. Nor may we hotswap the module between the hand-held and laptop computer, because the module apparently would not have a battery inside.

Once more, 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. Fortunately, we’ve begun to see some actual, sensible modularity within the laptop computer area because the dying 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.

Photographs by Sean Hollister / The Verge