Most gaming laptops have similar basic features: a clamshell form factor, a keyboard (sometimes mechanical), a big touchpad and some booming speakers. But Acer has a unique idea it’s showing off at IFA in Berlin: a gaming laptop with a wireless controller that serves as a touchpad and pops out on demand when you are gaming.
Dubbed the “DualPlay,” this concept laptop’s controller looks a bit like a Nintendo Switch JoyCon grip, but with a large square between the two joysticks that serves as a touchpad when the peripheral is docked in the laptop. The controller uses an electromagnetic lock to stay in place and you make it pop out by pressing a release button that sits above the keyboard.
When you pop out the wireless controller, two 5-watt speakers pop out of the sides of the DualPlay laptop. These are supposed to offer more immersiveaudiothan you get in a non-gaming mode.
If you want to play a two-player game, you may detach the two joysticks from the touchpad and use each independently. Acer didn’t say how many buttons each of its joysticks would have, but pictures show at least six buttons on each of its Nintendo Switch-Joycon-style pieces. Presumably, yet another person could use the keyboard and an external mouse as controls at the same time.
In addition to the pop-out controller, the DualPlay has a lot of RGB lighting. It has a light strip going around the sides and some light-up shapes on the deck. The keys on the keyboard have RGB lighting as well.
Acer hasn’t yet shared many details of how the DualPlay works. For example, we don’t know what the battery life for the controller is and whether you can charge it outside of the laptop. We don’t have the measurements or weight or battery capacity of the laptop itself.
However, since DualPlay is just a concept, the specific specs are less important than the idea on display. There’s no price or release date, because there’s a very good chance that this never comes to market. It’s a fun idea, but PC gamers who want controllers can easily spend $45 on an Xbox controller or even less on a clone and get a similar experience.
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Avram Piltch is Managing Editor: Special Projects. When he’s not playing with the latest gadgets at work or putting on VR helmets at trade shows, you’ll find him rooting his phone, taking apart his PC, or coding plugins. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram developed many real-world benchmarks, including our laptop battery test.
