Asus’ Project Dali laptop crams a color e-ink screen on the lid

Asus makes a lot of sharp-looking laptops, but its latest concept device shown off at Computex definitely takes the cake. The ROG Project Dali uses a full-color e-ink display on the lid, making it customizable in a way that your standard RGB bling simply can’t match.

The idea implementation, as shown off at Asus’ Computex booth and spotted by Yanko Design, is far more decorative than functional. It uses a 12-inch 1600×1200 Spectra 6 panel from the official E Ink corporation, which is more typically seen on high-end e-readers meant to handle comic books or specialized advertising displays.

The screen can display more or less any image, but it has a 10-to-12-second time to actually apply an image, so it won’t be functioning as a secondary screen like on Lenovo’s ThinkBook Plus Gen 2. Once set, the image consumes zero power from the laptop.

Given that devices featuring similar color e-ink screens tend to start at about $700 on their own, it seems unlikely that Asus will actually bring the Project Dali design into any kind of retail product.

The concept device is, well, a concept, with the panel that’s slapped on the lid featuring some very visible bezels. The laptop underneath appears to be an ROG Zephyrus G14, or something very similar.

Still, with e-ink becoming more and more common as an advertising tool (e.g., in electronic store displays that can automatically update prices), it’s possible we might see something like this in the future when those components come down dramatically in price.

I’d love to be able to set both a front and back wallpaper for a gaming laptop, if only so I could have one for showing off at home and one for being a little less flamboyant at meetings.