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Project Linda proposes marriage of Razer Phone with 13.3-inch laptop dock

The hybrid Android portable isn't the first phone-and-docking-system combination, but the gaming hardware company's concept is sleek and packs a "Quad HD" display and 200GB of built-in storage for its new smartphone.
Written by Sean Portnoy, Contributor
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Razer Project Linda

Razer isn't afraid to float some interesting product ideas around CES each year. Over the past few years, the gaming hardware company has offered up such concepts as Project Christine, a modular desktop PC, and Project Fiona, a Windows 8 gaming tablet.

This year is no exception, though 2018's moonshot seems a little more practical. Project Linda actually takes an idea that's been previously developed -- pairing a smartphone with a shell of a laptop to serve essentially as a dock -- by companies big (from Motorola back in 2011 to HP last year) and small (crowdfunded campaigns like the Superbook and the Mirabook), though it gives it the flair that Razer is known for.

Like HP's Elite x3, Project Linda has more style than just a laptop shell. For instance, the aluminum-clad chassis features a 13.3-inch "Quad HD" (2560 x 1440) display compared to the Elite x3's 12.5-inch 1,920x1,080 screen. It would also come with 200GB of built-in storage to supplement smartphone storage, which other phone docks usually don't include.

Something else that other docks don't provide that Project Linda does is a docking area carved out of the space where a touchpad typically goes. That's because it's specifically designed to work with the recently released Razer Phone, the company's high-end Android smartphone that can either serve as a touchpad or an auxiliary screen when connected to the dock.

The dock has the ability to charge the Razer Phone while it's connected, and the keyboard has Android-specific keys for loading apps and navigating the OS. As you might expect, Razer is touting Project Linda's ability to enhance the Android gaming experience with the larger playing screen and the ability to use a mouse to control games, though the result probably wouldn't be as immersive as the company's more powerful and Windows-based Razer Blade family of gaming laptops.

As with its other projects, Razer is seeking community feedback on Project Linda before it decides whether to bring the product to actual fruition. So while there's obviously no pricing or release date for the docking system, this concept may have a better chance of coming to market as it supports an existing device in the Razer Phone and probably won't be extravagantly expensive since it doesn't have an expensive processor and graphics card inside. Stay tuned and we'll report if Project Linda ever sees the light of day.

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