HP's new EliteBoard made me believe in keyboard computers again

A keyboard machine has ever been connected my wishlist — that is, a machine wherever nan full instrumentality was stuffed into a keyboard. Perhaps I caught a glimpse of nan Commodore 64 astatine an impressionable age, but regardless, nan thought has ever been intriguing to me. At CES 2026, HP is bringing that conception backmost pinch nan caller EliteBoard G1a, which is dubbed a “Next Gen AI PC.”

It's an IT administrator's dream: It looks a emblematic desktop keyboard, but it has nan afloat powerfulness of a Copilot+ AI PC inside. You tin equip it pinch Ryzen 5 aliases 7 CPUs and their embedded Radeon 800 GPUs, up to 64GB of RAM and arsenic overmuch arsenic 2TB of NVMe SSD storage. All you request to do is adhd a show and a mouse, and you've sewage a full-fledged desktop setup.

The much I deliberation astir it, nan much sad I americium that nan arc of nan computing manufacture trended towards standardized desktops and laptops. There was a little spark of liking pinch nan UMPC (ultra mobile PC) inclination successful nan 2000's, which Engadget covered extensively arsenic a young blog, arsenic good arsenic ASUS's Eee keyboard. But they couldn't past nan emergence of nan smartphone and tablet. It turns retired putting an full machine down a surface was much compelling than stuffing them into a keyboard.

I was capable to trial retired an early EliteBoard prototype, and while nan acquisition wasn't perfect, it's still an intriguing computing option. I had problem mounting it up initially because it only had 2 USB-C ports connected its rear, which meant I had to find a measurement to powerfulness it done 1 larboard and walk a video awesome done nan other. Thankfully, my Anker USB-C charging hub was capable to juice it up, and I besides had a USB-C hub pinch an HDMI port, which allowed maine to link to my monitor.

Sadly, nan wide setup was a jumble of wires, and not nan cleanable layout I expected from a keyboard PC. Once I was capable to commencement up Windows though, I was little irritated and much amazed that nan keyboard contained an full computer. I suppose I shouldn't beryllium excessively surprised, arsenic Intel's Compute Stick placed a functional PC successful a overmuch smaller case, but dissimilar nan grounded product, nan EliteBoard really felt usable. I was capable to load up respective browser windows pinch tabs, edit a fewer photos and moreover play a fewer ray games, for illustration Vampire Survivors. And yes, typing connected it felt beautiful awesome too.

Since I was testing retired prototype hardware, I agreed not to benchmark nan EliteBoard. But from nan capacity I saw, it felt astir nan aforesaid an entry-level laptop. Basically, it's perfectly suited to its main task: Being a boring agency computer. Back successful my IT days, I surely would person preferred deploying a fewer ray keyboards alternatively of nan tank-like Dell desktops we typically ordered.

While nan EliteBoard is targeted astatine commercialized users, HP is considering it an research to spot really group respond to a keyboard PC. There's a chance we could spot 1 that's yet meant for mainstream consumers. I'm not judge if that's exactly, necessary, though. The full conception of a desktop PC chiefly appeals to tinkerers and IT folks. And for anyone who wants to get their hands connected an EliteBoard soon, there's really thing stopping you.