Razer unveils Project Fiona Tablet Gaming PC

The Blade gaming laptop is the current spearhead of PC gaming on the go (except that the laptop still hasn’t shipped thus far) and with Project Fiona, Razer is hoping to bring a new control paradigm into PC gaming.

Yes, the image you see in front of you is a Tablet PC featuring the following specifications:

Intel® Core i7
10.1″ 1280×800 display
Full-screen user interface supporting multi-touch
3-axis gyro, magnetometer, accelerometer
Force feedback
Dolby® 7.1 surround sound
WiFi 802.11b/g/n
Bluetooth® 3.0

For a gaming PC, it seems to be missing on key component, the GPU. Like the original Switchblade concept, it could be using an on-chip graphics card which could come from Intel’s upcoming Ivy Bridge processor by the time this thing starts shipping. Now that the graphics issue has been addressed, lets take a look at the input.

See any keyboard? No? Well that’s because the Fiona doesn’t ship with one. You’ll control the Fiona with the 10.1inch multitouch display, accelerometer, gyroscope and integrated gamepad located on the sides of the tablet. From that spec sheet it’s like one of the currently popular tablets in the market (iPad 2, Transformer Prime, Kindle Fire) with an Intel processor and dedicated gamepads attached.

Fiona is expected to ship with Windows 8 and priced below $1000.

The problem with Fiona is that the Core i7 appears to be all she has to offer – there’s no separate graphics referenced in the proposed specs, which means that even though she can play PC games, she’s not going to be up to a reasonably priced laptop’s standard.

The quirkiness continues, however, with the controller. Rather than sticking a fold out keyboard underneath her rear – Fiona isn’t that sort of girl – there’s an integrated gamepad in the shape of two large handles sticking out from either side. On top of that, there’s a built in gyro and accelerometer for motion based controls.