Dell's new concept designs are a glimpse at the future of gaming and computing
Which one's your favourite?
Alienware's Concept UFO wants to be a handheld, portable PC. It's quite clearly inspired by the Nintendo Switch, but it's quite a different animal together. For one, you're meant to play AAA PC games on it.
There's a built-in kickstand for when you want to detach the controllers and use the display as a standalone screen. You can also see here the exhaust vents at the top, and I could feel a constant stream of warm air coming out of it.
The controllers are attached to the screen via magnetic rails. The display even has its own dock, for when you want to hook it up to a TV or monitor. It outputs over Thunderbolt 3, but Dell wouldn't say what it was powered by, save for a 10th Gen Intel processor.
There's also a dedicated accessory for connecting the two controllers to form a regular-sized gamepad. It's a little wider than I'm used to, but it otherwise feels pretty comfortable. Dell had a demo running Mortal Kombat 11, but you'll be able to hook up a mouse and keyboard to the system if you want to play FPS games.
The dual-screen Concept Duet somewhat resembles an XPS 13 2-in-1, except a second display sits where the keyboard should be. It can be used in a variety of modes, and even mimic how you would read a regular book. Alternatively, you can read on one screen and take notes on the other.
The Concept Duet is all about multi-tasking. If you're researching for a trip on one screen, you can easily draw up an itinerary on the other display.
In landscape mode, the device can do things like let you hold a video call in the top screen and edit pictures in the bottom one. Alternatively, you can just open up a document and spread it across both screens for a less cramped experience.
Of course, there's a physical keyboard involved somewhere, and you can snap it onto the lower display if you want a more tactile typing experience. In fact, it kind of looks like the ASUS ZenBook Pro Duo when used in this manner.
And if you slide the keyboard up, a virtual touchpad with buttons will pop up to emulate the layout of a regular laptop. It's a nice bit of flexibility that may help ease early adopters into the idea of dual screens.
This tablet-like device is Concept Ori, and it's actually so much more than a tablet. It features a flexible OLED screen, so it can be both a single- and dual-screen device and support a wider range of use cases.
The Concept Ori folds to become a far more compact device. It's still rather thick, but this is still a prototype, and I expect any retail device will be thinner and more refined.
The Concept Ori can be used as a dual-screen device much like the Duet. You can do different things in both halves of the screen, except you don't have a hinge interrupting the experience this time.
Our articles may contain affiliate links. If you buy through these links, we may earn a small commission.