HP just launched a keyboard that is anything but peripheral

HP has launched a mini PC inside a keyboard as part of its new computing lineup at CES 2026.

The EliteBoard G1a Next Gen AI PC is, at face value, a keyboard. But inside is an AMD-powered mini PC, which takes a mere peripheral and puts it front and center.

Oddly, the first thing I thought of was the main villain from the Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, Elliot Carver. Jonathan Pryce’s Carver is the most insane Bond villain of all time, and it isn’t because of his plans for world domination; it was the unusual way he used a keyboard. He holds it in one hand, typing frantically with the other, in the middle of a room, talking to someone on a giant wall of screens. It looks ridiculous. At no point in the film do you see the text he was typing – absolute madness.

But then again, Carver might just have been well ahead of the curve because here at CES 2026, HP’s PC-keyboard can allow you to be an idiot in the middle of the room, typing on a keyboard with no visible PC. That’s because the EliteBoard G1a Next Gen AI PC is a mini PC, fiendishly disguised as a keyboard (cue maniacal laugh).

I cannot recall ever being so intrigued by a peripheral, or so confused. I had to check with a colleague that I was indeed seeing a keyboard-cum-PC. It was both thrilling and strange… why had no one thought of this before? Mini PCs are powerful, usually stocked with all your favourite ports, occasionally cute (see M4 Mac Mini), and great for office work. If you have a monitor on your desk, you can plug your mini PC in and go. That is, of course, if you also have all the peripherals. And this is the cleverness of the EliteBoard.

It also comes with what looks like a swish leather case, where you can unsheathe your keyboard (like a sword!) and just look so cool before sitting down at your desk.

Naturally, HP has not wasted an opportunity to slap an ‘AI’ label on it. There is a brand new AMD Ryzen 400 series chip inside. But I don’t care about the AI bit. The EliteBoard works in a space that doesn’t need AI. It’s cool, it's practical, and it’s this kind of innovative thinking that only HP seems to get right. It’s bold and out there, but not so much that it’s a weird, forgettable novelty, like say, Lenovo’s laptop with a rolling screen.

There is also an HP Series 7 Pro 4K Monitor being released with it, but you and I won’t be getting our hands on this for a while. So I will be leaving CES 2026 slightly besotted by a keyboard… well played, HP, well played.