Acer just redefined the gaming laptop, with detachable controllers

Gaming laptops have all been about better specifications and better thermal performance and cooling. Granted, these are important aspects in any machine that’s geared towards processing large amounts of data to output lots of pixels in real-time. However, we haven’t really seen any signature innovations to the form factor of the gaming laptop. That changes with Acer’s newest laptop.

Meet the Project DualPlay laptop by Acer, a concept laptop under the Predator series that the brand showcased earlier today at IFA 2024 in Berlin. Among aspects like the signature Gaming Laptop design, lots of RGB and sharp, edgy looks, the laptop also features something a little extra – a detachable gaming controller.

ALSO READ: What features to look for when buying a gaming laptop

That’s right. This laptop takes the basic concept of consoles like the Nintendo Switch and dial it up to 11. Here’s how that works.

Acer Predator Project DualPlay Laptop: What’s new?

To quote Mark Ruffalo from Avengers: Infinity War, your first question may be “where did that come from?” Well, the answer to that is the trackpad.

The detachable controllers are placed on either side of the trackpad of the laptop, and the entire unit comes off when you want to switch from the keyboard + mouse mode, to the controller mode.

Multiplayer support

The detachable controller can also be split into two individual mini controllers for multiplayer use-cases. Sure, these controllers will not have the versatility and features of the Xbox controller or Sony’s DualSense controller. However, they will always be a part of the laptop, and will not require separate carrying or charging.

The Acer Predator DualPlay laptop also doesn’t skip on other conventional gaming laptop additions. The device sports a 360-degree dynamic RGB lighting which goes from the keyboard to the screen bezels and of course, the trackpad area.

ALSO READ: HP Omen Transcend 14 review

The DualPlay is a concept laptop, and there’s no word on whether we will ever see it in real life. However, the tech that makes the detachable controller possible, might just be a part of another commercially available Predator-branded laptop in the future. Now, wouldn’t that be a gaming laptop you’d blindly want to spend on?