Razer is no stranger to wild CES prototypes, and CES 2022 is no exception: the business disclosed its new Job Sophia concept, which aims to establish an whole modular desktop computer into a desk that appears to be like like a Star Trek LCARS console appear to lifetime.
Razer has had modular laptop aspirations prior to. There was 2014’s Venture Christine, a precursor to Job Sophia that imagined a desktop tower that was created out of conveniently swappable Jenga-like bricks. 2020’s Tomahawk took a much more practical tactic to that notion, based mostly on Intel’s Aspect NUC types.
But Task Sophia feels like Razer’s conceptual tendencies turned to 11. The desk is developed to element 13 unique swappable module slots, wherever consumers can add in a extensive array of distinct parts: temperature readouts, touchscreen software launchers, devoted chat and calendar shows, wi-fi Qi chargers, a mug heater, pen tablets, audio mixers, CPU and GPU monitors, and much more. Razer imagines that the modular nature of its laptop desk would allow consumers to customize it to their particular wants and use cases. A streamer, for illustration, would be equipped to quickly snap on much more highly effective speakers, microphones, and cameras for streaming, with extra displays to observe their followers chatting, even though a video clip editor could add audio mixing and enhancing modules for focusing on get the job done.
As for the precise “PC” part, Razer’s principle imagines that crafted into the desk, as well, in a tailor made-designed, magnetically connected chassis that can be easily taken off so that users can swap out parts when they get a new CPU or GPU. The total detail is connected to a significant OLED panel (possibly 65-inch or 77-inch) to screen your games in the greatest probable quality. And of system, there’s a lot of Razer’s RGB Chroma lighting — it’s nonetheless a gaming Personal computer, following all, even if it appears to be like a desk.
Of system, Razer’s heritage of flashy CES prototypes has usually been just that: a collection of fanciful, one-off assignments demonstrated off on a yearly basis as an illustration of the likely of future gaming PCs or add-ons which just about hardly ever turn into actual solutions. And searching at the flashy Task Sophia renders, it’s tough to visualize any other destiny for the notion than Razer’s solution graveyard alongside prior showcases like 2014’s modular Project Christine, 2017’s triple-screened Project Valerie, or 2018’s cellphone-docking Task Linda.
Modular computing equipment are difficult. Even the quite standardized world of regular Computer system creating is rife with various specs for SSDs, motherboard sockets, and RAM. Proprietary units are even tougher — recall Google’s ill-fated modular Ara smartphone job? The only way something like Task Sophia would exist is if Razer is willing to build all the modules and accessories itself. And even if it is inclined to do that, it’s difficult to visualize that the price would be nearly anything fewer than astronomical, specifically when when