This ingenious concept fixes the biggest problem with gaming laptops

By Luke Larsen April 21, 2023

All high-powered laptops share one problem: cooling. But this fascinating concept from a Taiwanese manufacturer, Compal, demonstrates a unique way of sidestepping that issue.

As spotted by Liliputing, this new concept laptop design takes all the guts of the laptop and builds it into a secondary hinge on the back of the laptop. This gives the screen a floating hinge in the style of the Surface Laptop Studio or an iPad Pro with Magic Keyboard — and, in theory, this also allows for improved cooling without the vents being blocked by the bottom of your laptop.

The Compal concept laptop showing how hot air would move through the hinge. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

More than that, it could allow laptop manufacturers to design a really thin-looking chassis. That thickness would be added on top when the laptop is closed, but it could still make for some very sleek designs.

The other major benefit is that all the heat created by the high-performance components stays away from your hands. I’ve seen the advantages of this type of design in a gaming tablet like the Asus ROG Flow Z13. No matter how hot the components get, you won’t ever notice while using it. Warm surface temperatures are a constant problem for powerful gaming laptops in particular, making for an uncomfortable gaming experience.

The Compal concept laptop showing the back cover off of the hinge. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Compal design is just a concept, of course, so we don’t really know anything about how this exact laptop would be configured or what the dimensions would be. I’d be curious about, for example, just how thick this secondary hinge would need to be.

The Compal concept laptop in three in different modes. — Image used with permission by copyright holder

We do know that the concept won an iF Design Award, which is impressive in its own right. Compal is a manufacturer that partners with many of the most popular laptop brands such as Dell, Lenovo, and Apple, so maybe we’ll see more designs from these companies inspired by this concept in the future.

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Senior Editor, Computing

Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.

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