HP just squeezed a desktop computer into a keyboard – and it’s powerful enough to be a Copilot+ PC
- HP has revealed a keyboard that’s a full-on PC at CES 2026
- The HP EliteBoard G1a is built around a powerful AMD Ryzen CPU
- This means it’s a Copilot+ PC and should be pretty capable with Windows 11, though it’s still nicely slim
Typically, an all-in-one PC is a computer built into a monitor, but HP is doing things a bit differently with a twist on the formula at CES 2026, having unveiled a mini PC that’s packed into a keyboard.
As The Verge spotted, this is the HP EliteBoard G1a and, perhaps inevitably, it’s branded as an ‘AI PC’ which, the PC maker boasts, provides “next-generation local AI power in a keyboard-sized form factor that moves at the speed of modern work”.
In short, this is a Copilot+ PC shoehorned into a compact keyboard that’s 12mm thick, weighing 750 grams, so it’s pretty trim given what the device contains.
Obviously you should temper expectations with the spec of this device, but it does have an AMD Ryzen AI 300 series chip inside which boasts more than the requisite 40 TOPS (it has 50) to qualify as a Copilot+ PC (meaning you get access to exclusive AI features in Windows 11).
More specifically on the CPU front, you get options from a baseline Ryzen AI 5 350 up to a Ryzen AI 7 370 Pro, backed with up to 64GB of system RAM (DDR5) and up to 2TB of storage.
You also get built-in speakers and dual mics, so all you need is a monitor to hook up the keyboard with – or two, as the EliteBoard G1a is capable of driving dual 4K displays – plus a Bluetooth mouse for a full PC setup. (Or you could just run with a touchscreen monitor on its own, of course).
There’s Thunderbolt 4 connectivity, and this keyboard PC can optionally be configured with a fingerprint sensor for biometric logins, and a 35Wh battery providing a claimed 3.5 hours of juice (which is user replaceable).
HP tells us that the EliteBoard G1a should be on sale in March 2026.
Analysis: Amiga nostalgia
A keyboard-based PC is not actually a first, of course. In fact, you could argue that these were around in the 1980s, and they were called Commodore Amigas (or you could take your retro computing pick, really – although the rival Atari ST was even bulkier). The key (no pun intended) difference is that unlike the Amiga 500 I owned as a teenager, HP’s EliteBoard isn’t a great chunky thing – it sounds enticingly compact, all in all.
Even so, there are slimline takes on this formula that already exist, like the Raspberry Pi 500 (which, of course, takes the latter part of its name from the aforementioned classic Amiga). This is 23mm thick, so not as slim as HP’s creation here, and neither does it pack the same power in its CPU (the Pi has a modest Arm chip).
However, while we don’t yet have a price, the EliteBoard is obviously not going to be nearly as cheap as the Pi 500, offering a much more powerful computing (Copilot+) experience. There’s the rub, of course, because with the spiraling cost of RAM and storage, HP is launching this new keyboard in very trying market conditions (to say the least – especially as the EliteBoard packs DDR5 RAM).
Consumers who fancy a slice of the PC keyboard action will doubtless find the cost difficult to stomach, though the primary target market of business users may get more palatable volume pricing. Still, I’d still expect the current memory headwinds to make life tricky for HP in terms of selling this machine down the line.
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