It's not a laptop, nor is it your usual desktop. It's Project Cielo from Aorus, and it really does look a lot like a high-end Roomba with all the bells and whistles. Sans vacuum, of course, and any powers of self-determination. Instead, this stacked gaming PC is modular, mobile, and totally wireless.
You're probably wondering why this thing comes in three parts, but Aorus says there's a good reason for it. Each section serves a specific purpose: there's the gaming PC module, the battery pack module, and the speaker module. You can combine these in various ways depending on your needs at the time.
With mains power, you can plug just the gaming PC into the speaker module. Or add in the battery pack if, for some reason, you prefer this to a gaming laptop and want to head out on the move. You can also plug the battery pack right into the speaker and leave the gaming PC at home, turning this instead into a sizeable speaker for your other devices.
On top of that modularity, Project Cielo comes with a built-in 5G antenna, which the Aorus team says is key to the PC's portability and flexibility. Again, it feels like a gaming laptop kind of delivers all you could want in portability—for one there's no built-in screen on Project Cielo—but this is only a fun concept, so I won't sweat the small stuff right this second.
Though all it would need is a projector module as a fourth option and that would take care of the imaging. Something like those portable AndroidTV-powered projectors, such as the XGIMI Halo, would add either full mobile gaming PC or mobile cinema functionality.
You can have that one for free, Gigabyte.
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There's definitely something in the promise of ditching wires altogether for PC gaming—a completely wire-free desk is the end goal of cable management, surely. But if that comes at the cost of everything coming with a huge battery, including my desktop PC tower, I could take it or leave it.
Still, it's great to see someone roll the dice on a new design, and to see where one major PC manufacturer envisages PC gaming going next.
