Europe’s biggest tech show, IFA, is currently underway in Berlin, Germany, and Acer decided to show off not one, but two working prototypes of its “Project DualPlay Mini.”
The handheld gaming PC seems fairly innocuous at first glance, other than its aggressive, brand-appropriate Predator styling, but a quick lift of its front gaming panel and a subtle flip of its screen turns it into a surprisingly adequate mini PC.
It’s very important, now that I’ve hyped this up, for me to mention this is only a prototype. This isn’t something you can buy anytime soon, if ever. Acer told me they’re basically feeling out the market with it, seeing if there’s enough interest. Now this is purely anecdotal, but an informal survey of “me” says “yes, please, I want this device in my life.”
For a prototype with no solid release plan, the Project DualPlay Mini was surprisingly full-featured. I played Forza Horizon 6 and it looked great, and I was really surprised there were rumble features built in. If there was anything pre-release about the rumble feature, it’s that it was surprisingly loud. But other than that, it worked really well and helped add an extra dimension to the already cool experience.
The buttons and joysticks also felt awesome, with great tactile feedback and an extremely smooth thumbstick experience. The screen looked amazing, although Acer’s representative wouldn’t give me much in the way of specs since the units on display are still in the prototype phase.
Turning from gaming to mini laptop mode is legitimately fun. You just open up the top and give the screen a little flip to get it into laptop mode. The one big downer here is there’s no trackpad, but the prototype did have a touch screen, and I had no trouble navigating around the Windows 11 desktop and in the Steam app.
Honestly, when I first opened it up into laptop mode, I got heavy 2011-esque Netbook vibes, and I say that from a place of love. Those teeny Netbooks are just old enough now to evoke some wistful nostalgia for that weird age when smart phones weren’t quite smart enough but regular laptops were still too clunky. I found the keyboard to be a pleasure, as far as laptop keyboards go, and while it’s meant to be a convertible gaming handheld, the WASD and arrow keys are highlighted on the face of the keys.
This could be the best way to play mouse and keyboard on a handheld device, should it ever become a reality. And honestly, after my very brief time with it, I want so badly for it to be real. It’s the best of both worlds and I feel like busting one of these out on the train or the airplane would have the same feel as busting out a T-Mobile Sidekick circa 2006.
Please, Acer, make this into a reality.
Seth Macy is Senior Social Commerce Producer, and just wants to be your friend. You can find him on social media sites @SethFromMaine.