Compaq gave journalists attending the launch of the company's new Evo product range a glimpse of what might be the world's first hybrid laptop-desktop PC. Code named Dual Worlds, the ambitious project is yet to settle on a final design for the device -- let alone a functioning example -- but demonstrated the ergonomic concept of the hybrid-device with one of the R&D team's most promising candidates.
Road-ready, there's nothing about the dual-role machine that would distinguish it from scores of portables that pass through the world's transit lounges each week, but on the desktop it stands out from the fold -- literally. After being put through a combination of origami and dismembering that completely offends common sensibilities about laptop care, the Dual Worlds machine transforms into something with a strong resemblance to an integrated, flat-panel LCD desktop computer.
Even if it never graces desktop, it will still stands as an example of wireless technology's ability to break design barriers. The magic behind the design lies in its wireless keyboard, monitor and wireless optical mouse. The ability to detach these components from the chassis allows the torso of the machine to bend and support the LCD monitor independently, matching the ergonomics of desktop displays. Any attempt to create a wire dependent device like this would have strangled itself in a tangle of copper and plastic long before the blueprint stage.
Sources at Compaq say that it will be at least 7 to 8 months before the company could even consider releasing a market-ready version of what at this stage might be labelled as a 'portatop'. However at the Evo launch the company made it clear that the Dual Worlds is more than a proof-of-concept device.
Compaq was only able to provide a broad estimates of what the Dual Worlds PC might retail for. At the Monday launch company representatives said that they would be aiming at a cost somewhere just below that of owning both a desktop and a laptop PC.
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