The rise of active VR gaming could lead to a bizarre trend for backpack PCs, and HP is latest to announce one.
With the likes of the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift offering an immersive full-movement VR experience, but requiring a lot of hardware to run, a wearable high-end PC could be the ideal solution.
As part of HP’s Omen X gaming PC line, the as-yet-unnamed machine will be designed to be worn on your back. Despite being relatively compact at around 10 pounds (that’s 4.5kg metric fans), the backpack PC will run on the latest Intel Core i5 or i7 processors and an unspecified discrete graphics card, and will be backed by 32GB of memory.
Two batteries will be stashed in the backpack’s waist belt – one for the CPU, and one for the GPU. Admittedly, those batteries will on last around an hour. But they can be hot swapped courtesy of a smaller back-up battery.
Okay, so you’ll look like a complete tool. But you’ve already made your peace with that by embracing VR, right?
Related: Oculus Rift vs HTC Vive
The package will also reportedly contain a wireless monitor, mouse, and keyboard, so you won’t need to take it off and hook it up just to use it as a normal computer. It looks like you’ll get a couple of USB ports and an HDMI port, as well as a headphone socket.
HP is still testing and iterating on its design at present, so there’s no firm launch date or any indication of pricing. However, it should be releasing a working version of the device to developers within a month.
With MSI and Zotac already announcing their own backpack PCs, HP won’t want to hang around for too long.
Take a look at our HTC Vive hands-on video:
Would you strap a PC to your back in the name of immersive gaming? Let us know in the comments
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.