The stunning dual-screen concepts of Intel show what laptops could be in 2 years

Laptops have become thinner and smaller, but their basic design has not really changed dramatically. Intel thinks that will change within two years.

At Computex 2019, the chip maker brought several proof of concept devices that show what notebook makers like Asus, Dell and HP can do with their technology. The common denominator across the devices? Two screens. Keyboards, it seems, will be coming soon so 2019.

Twin Rivers, the Ultrabook concept, a futuristic version of thin, lightweight notebooks like the Dell XPS. It combines two touch screens of 12.3 inches, the lower display having a keyboard on the screen, as on a tablet. However, the concept also comes with a physical Bluetooth keyboard that fits on the screen for longer sessions.

This concept is not unheard of. Lenovo's yoga book series includes laptops with electronic ink rather than physical keyboards. Jim Johnson, chief executive of Intel, told me that the design of the removable keyboard was inspired by comments from Lenovo. He also said we would see models like this on the market "imminently", but another Intel representative indicated a more moderate delay of "one to two years".

Twin Rivers works as a laptop, tent and cookbook, the latter being introduced by Intel with a comic book application. These were developed with Intel's Whiskey Lake processors, and an Intel representative announced that more efficient Ice Lake chips will make devices like this one easier to manufacture.

The second concept, deliciously titled Honeycomb Glacier, is aimed at players. It combines a 17.3-inch screen with a second 12.3-inch display (shallower than a traditional display of this size) backed by ergonomic magic features.

The most impressive feature is eye tracking. The second screen can contain three programs. There is a camera between the two screens to follow your route. He knows which window you are looking at, whether on the top or bottom screen, and gives you automatic control of that window. This facilitates navigation on both screens, in a very futuristic sense, and also avoids having to use the trackpad as much as possible.

Dual-screen gaming laptops are already a reality. Most recent HP Omen has a 6-inch screen above the keyboard, and the new Asus ZenBook Pro Duo has an impressive 14-inch 4K screen underneath its 15.6-inch main screen that acts essentially as a screen extension. (The ZenBook Pro Duo is not marketed as a gaming laptop, but it can be configured with a Nvidia RTX 2060 to not do not a gaming laptop.)

However, unlike Twin Rivers, Intel would not say when we can expect something similar in the market. Screen technology is already present, as the aforementioned ZenBook Pro Duo has almost the same configuration, but the ergonomics can be more difficult to determine – at least from the point of view of marketing and ease of use.

Again, Intel does not manufacture these laptops, they are just concepts (for now). Intel, however, announced a series of real products at Computex, including new products of the 10th generation. Ice Lake CPU, which introduce the features of AI into notebooks, plus the Athena Project class of appliances.