There’s an AMD Ryzen 7 PC hiding inside this folding keyboard

Headless portable PCs packing everything except a display are growing in popularity among enthusiasts who don’t want to settle for a laptop they can’t easily upgrade — and now Chinese manufacturer Linglong is taking things further with this folding keyboard PC.

Tom’s Hardware points to a presentation posted by the company showing the tiny PC that’s reminiscent of the folding wireless keyboards that were popular with PDAs like the PalmPilot. But this one’s quite a bit thicker, with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U processor, 16GB or 32GB of RAM, up to 1TB of SSD storage, and Wi-Fi 6 connectivity all packed inside, in addition to Bluetooth and a 16,000mAh rechargeable battery.

Linglong suggests pairing the tiny PC with AR or VR glasses to create a truly portable workstation (have they even heard of Samsung DeX?). But it can also be connected to a fixed display monitor using one of the three USB ports, two of which are USB-C.

A claimed battery life of up to 10 hours for lightweight desktop work or up to six hours of watching videos makes this portable PC more enticing than some others since it doesn’t need to be completely shut down every time it’s moved. Unfortunately, while Linglong plans to sell the keyboard PC for between $412 and $495, depending on the specs, the company said it’s only making 200 units available to beta testers, with no timeline for any wider retail availability.

In the earliest days of personal computing, PCs like the Apple II and Commodore 64 were essentially much larger versions of this keyboard PC. And while we’ve seen several modern attempts to stuff entire PCs into keyboards — the cheaper Pentaform Abacus and custom CJ64 come to mind — Linglong’s solution looks more appealing to those prioritizing portability.