Intel nonetheless goals of modular PCs — it introduced a pill computer gaming hand held to CES

At CES 2025, Intel let reporters into its personal “Innovation Show off,” the place we noticed such things as prototype next-gen laptops and giant stereo 3D handheld gaming PCs.

Whilst I used to be there, I additionally noticed a heavy steel hand held on a desk that didn’t appear totally… connected to its display. After I lifted the display, it got here away simply.

It felt suspiciously mild to be a rea pill, so I flipped it over and noticed 3 connectors beneath:

Above it, on a shelf, used to be a computer with a suspiciously sized bite of plastic at the backside that seemed like a really perfect fit. A minute later, Intel gaming evangelist Colin Helms showed I used to be taking a look at a prototype modular PC.

That module accommodates an entire Intel Lunar Lake laptop, all of the guts of a PC. It’s mainly a reboot of Intel’s abandoned Compute Card idea, aside from it is not all Intel’s doing and you should not ever be expecting it to send.

It’s an idea from Quanta, an organization whose identify you don’t normally see at the laptops and drugs they invent, as a result of Quanta is an ODM (like Compal, Pegatron, Wistron, and Apple’s higher identified iPhone provider ) that designs and manufactures {hardware} on behalf of brand name names.

Quanta’s calling the entire modular device the “AI8A,” and the aforementioned module at its center is the “Removable AI Core.” Helms advised me it plugs into different idea computer systems as neatly, together with an all-in-one desktop that Intel didn’t must blow their own horns. And probably, just like the Compute Card concept, it is advisable improve your laptop simply by striking a brand new new module into it.

The modular computer has a whole lot of concept-y bells and whistles too, such a lot of that Intel’s CES group of workers hadn’t even labored all of them out but.

For begins, the computer has a motorized hinge, so you’ll be able to inform it to open and shut its personal lid; it additionally claims to provide 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 it seems that comes with a mouse built-in into a hoop that it is advisable put on.

Essentially the most mundane: a integrated Qi wi-fi charging pad within the palmrest, with indicator lighting fixtures to turn your battery’s closing capability.

I couldn’t take a look at any of it running, sadly, nor did I set up to invite what “AI8A” way, as a result of I mistakenly concept it stated Aiba till I checked my footage carefully simply now. Nor may we hotswap the module between the hand-held and computer, for the reason that module it seems that does not have a battery within.

Once more, this can be a cool computing idea automotive: it’s probably not that this laptop will ever send, even in a simpler / much less gadgety shape. Fortunately, we have begun to see some real, practical modularity in the laptop space for the reason that 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.

Pictures via Sean Hollister / The Verge