Acer’s new idea {hardware} is a gaming handheld with a keyboard

For the previous couple of years, PC avid gamers on the go have had a selection: Buy a gaming laptop computer, or choose up one of many many Steam Deck–impressed handhelds which can be a fraction of the scale however rather a lot much less versatile. Acer’s newest idea gadget, Project DualPlay Mini, is an try to upend that dichotomy by sticking a keyboard in a handheld.

The DualPlay Mini is before everything a Windows gaming handheld, reduce from the identical fabric as Acer’s current Predator Atlas 8 (which is being joined this week by a brand new 7-inch mannequin). In its default configuration, the hand held’s display is flanked by analog sticks, a D-pad, and Xbox-style ABXY face buttons, plus two triggers on every shoulder. But the DualPlay Mini’s “flip-and-swivel design” means that you can flip the gadget open and swivel the display spherical to as an alternative line it up with a compact, backlit mini keyboard.

With a dinky little 8-inch display, I’m unsure the DualPlay Mini would ever turn out to be anybody’s main work gadget, except they supposed to make heavy use of its skill to hook up with an exterior display. But it may be simply sufficient to make it a helpful backup choice whereas touring, letting you convey one gadget as an alternative of two. The choice to play keyboard-friendly PC video games on a tool the scale of a Steam Deck is an apparent attraction too.

Since the DualPlay Mini is strictly an idea, with no plans for a retail launch, Acer hasn’t gone into a lot element on the specs inside it up to now. It’s powered by an Intel chip and makes use of an identical dual-fan cooling design to the Predator Atlas 8 — with one steel fan and one plastic — although the blades on the steel aspect are thinner than earlier than. A pair of USB-C ports sit on the again, with Thunderbolt assist on one.

It’s unclear if Acer will ever launch an actual product with something just like the DualPlay Mini’s design, however I’ll be seeing all of Acer’s new IFA {hardware} this week, and I’m hoping for an opportunity to get my palms on the DualPlay Mini to see if the idea has legs.