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Dell Technologies teases the future of the modern consumer PC
Mon, 20th Jan 2020
FYI, this story is more than a year old

Dell Technologies did a lot of crystal ball gazing at this year's CES 2020 and outlined what it believes could be ‘the future of the personal computer'.
That future comes in three different concepts, with quaint names including ‘Concept UFO', ‘Concept Duet' and ‘Concept Ori'.

Far from being some kind of out-of-this-world phenomena, these concepts are merely a range of new devices that bank on some of the latest tech trends: multi-screens, foldables, and touch enhancement.

Dell Technologies Client Solutions Group CTO Glen Robson explains that PCs will remain a huge part of everybody's daily life. He believes those PCs will become ever more intelligence, user-aware, and self-aware.

As such, Dell wants to embrace that experience, although so far it only has a very basic outline of how to do that (in other words, there is no availability or roadmap, pricing or specs for any of the devices outlined below).

So without further ado, let's take a look at Concept UFO, Concept Duet, and Concept Ori.

Concept UFO

This is not an unidentified flying object – rather it's a handheld gaming device with an eight-inch screen and 1900x1200 resolution. 
Robson says that any handheld gaming device must feel ‘right' as soon as someone picks it up.

“Our teams have invested hundreds – if not thousands – of hours on the controller design features and ergonomics. And we've spent the last few months testing and enhancing the buttons, the weight, all to strike a perfect balance between performance, ultra-mobility and battery life,” he says.
It's essentially Dell's competitor to the Nintendo Switch, complete with detachable controllers, external display capability, and the ability to connect a keyboard and mouse.

Concept UFO will include 10th-generation Intel Core Processor for gaming power, plus other features like WiFi, Bluetooth and Thunderbolt.

*Concept art below

Concept Ori

This is Dell's venture into the foldables realm. Billed as a device with a 13-inch screen that can fold into something a bit more portable, this will offer the dual-screen experience with no seams.

Robson explains, “This “seamless” experience is perfect for reading articles in vertical mode and scrolling down the page, watching movies and more. You could switch between the single screen experience with stunning visuals, your favourite apps, and great pen experience; or a dual screen experience that opens new avenues for multitasking and notetaking – and everything in between.

Dell's keeping everything else about Concept Ori under wraps – for now.

*Concept art below

Concept Duet

Concept Duet is essentially a dual-screen notebook, with two 13.4-inch displays. This notebook would feature pen and touch-enabled features, which can be useful in several ways.

“Devices like this will help customers to multitask more efficiently. Consider the productivity benefits of being able to compare and edit images, scenes or documents on each display. With the extra screen real estate, users will also be able to easily host conference calls, check emails and take notes simultaneously on-the-go.

But once again, Dell isn't saying much more than that. Robson states that these concepts are only a few of the things its R-D teams are developing.

“Who knows, if response is positive, you may see more of our early work in the future.

*Concept art below