Alongside the actual products that Michael Dell announced at his keynote speech, he also demonstrated the XPS Mobile Concept. While Dell has no plans to sell this system, as an example of Dell's engineering and design capabilities, it impressed us. The XPS Mobile Concept sits somewhere between an all-in-one system and a laptop. Its core specs include a 20.1-inch screen and Intel's 945 mobile chipset, complete with most of the trappings of a modern Media Center PC, such as HDTV capability, a pop-up slot-loading DVD player, eight built-in speakers, and integrated video camera and microphone for videoconferencing. Even more impressive is the physical design of the system: The keyboard pops into the CPU unit, and the screen folds down, revealing a stitched leather handle on the back edge. The resulting suitcase design makes for relatively easy portability.

Dell told us that it might consider selling the XPS Mobile Concept one day, but in the meantime, we like the idea of conservative Dell showing off its far-out concepts. If Dell does decide to produce the system, we hope the price is palatable and that Dell can find a way to help people understand where and how to use it to best effect.

Article discussion: Dell demonstrates its R&D chops with the XPS Mobile Concept