At CES 2025, Intel let journalists into its private \u201cInnovation Showcase,\u201d where we saw things like prototype next-gen laptops<\/a> and giant stereo 3D handheld gaming PCs<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n While I was there, I also <\/em>spotted a heavy metal handheld on a table that didn\u2019t seem fully… attached to its screen. When I lifted the screen, it came away easily. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n It felt suspiciously light to be a rea tablet, so I flipped it over and saw three connectors underneath:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Above it, on a shelf, was a laptop with a suspiciously sized chunk of plastic on the bottom that looked like a perfect match. A minute later, Intel gaming evangelist Colin Helms confirmed I was looking at a prototype modular PC. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n That module contains a complete Intel Lunar Lake computer, the entire guts of a PC. It\u2019s basically a reboot of Intel\u2019s abandoned Compute Card idea<\/a>, except it’s not all Intel\u2019s doing and you shouldn’t ever expect it to ship.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n It\u2019s a concept from Quanta, a company whose name you don\u2019t typically see on the laptops and tablets they create, because Quanta is an ODM<\/a> (like Compal, Pegatron, Wistron, and Apple\u2019s better known iPhone supplier Foxconn<\/a>) that designs and manufactures hardware on behalf of brand names. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Quanta\u2019s calling the whole modular system the \u201cAI8A,\u201d and the aforementioned module at its heart is the \u201cDetachable AI Core.\u201d Helms told me it plugs into other concept computers as well, including an all-in-one desktop that Intel didn\u2019t have to show off. And presumably, like the Compute Card idea, you could upgrade your computer just by putting a new new module into it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The modular laptop has lots of concept-y bells and whistles too, so many that Intel\u2019s CES staff hadn\u2019t even worked them all out yet. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n For starts, the laptop has a motorized hinge, so you can tell it<\/em> to open and close its own lid; it also claims to offer eye-tracking that lets you sling around multitasking windows just by looking at where you\u2019d like them to be. It apparently comes with a mouse integrated into a ring that you could wear.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The most mundane: a built-in Qi wireless charging pad in the palmrest, with indicator lights to show your battery\u2019s remaining capacity. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n I couldn\u2019t try any of it working, unfortunately, nor did I manage to ask what \u201cAI8A\u201d means, because I mistakenly thought it said Aiba until I checked my photos closely just now. Nor could we hotswap the module between the handheld and laptop, since the module apparently doesn’t have a battery inside.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Again, this is a cool computing concept car: it\u2019s not likely that this computer will ever ship, even in a more practical \/ less gadgety form. Thankfully, we have begun to see some real, practical modularity in the laptop space<\/a> since the death of Intel’s Compute Card. Framework just celebrated its fifth anniversary<\/a> this week, and Dell took a smaller step forward at CES with its first modular repairable USB-C port<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n