You no longer need a single slab of aluminium to get laptop-class productivity, a two-week trial for Tom's Guide found. The test swapped a traditional notebook for a pocketable Khadas Mind mini PC, AR glasses and a high-capacity power bank, and also assessed foldables such as the OnePlus Open, Framework's modular DIY laptop and a curated futuristic desktop build. The experiment singled out pocket mini PCs with modular docks, wearable AR displays, OnePlus's multi-window Open Canvas, Framework's repairable kit and a high-end desktop as workable replacements; Khadas is developing a portable display with a magnetic keyboard that would narrow the gap with conventional laptops.

The main read from Tom's Guide is straightforward. You don't need a single slab of aluminium and a built-in screen to get laptop-class productivity. What you do need is a clear idea of trade-offs, and the kit to accept them. The test rig that drove the experiment was a Khadas Mind mini PC, roughly 5.75 x 4.13 x 0.79 inches, powered from a 25,000 mAh power bank and paired with optional docks when desktop connectivity mattered.

Pocket mini PCs and AR glasses

Khadas sits at the centre of the pocketable mini PC argument. The Mind uses USB-C for power and is part of an ecosystem of optional docks. Khadas sells a Mind Dock that expands ports, adds dual-monitor support, a fingerprint reader and a physical volume knob. For users who want graphics horsepower at a desk, Khadas also offers a premium Mind Graphics dock that accepts a full-size Nvidia RTX 4060 Ti desktop card.

In Tom's Guide's hands the Khadas Mind, when paired with a high-capacity 25,000 mAh power bank, offered true portability while preserving desktop-class connectivity through the docks. That arrangement lets you slip the Mind into a pocket or bag, then attach it to a Mind Dock at a hotel or client site and regain a full array of ports. Khadas is developing a portable display with a magnetic keyboard that would attach to the Mind. If it ships, the Mind would look and behave more like a conventional laptop while keeping the advantages of a pocket PC.

Augmenting the Mind with AR glasses was the most radical departure reported. Wearing AR glasses turned the pocket mini PC into a private, multi-window workspace on the move. The pairing recreated a multi-monitor workflow away from a desk without carrying an external monitor. Tom's Guide framed AR glasses as a practical private display rather than a vague novelty because the combination relied on the Mind's small footprint and USB-C power. The trade-off is added accessories. You gain a private, multi-window experience but you must buy the AR hardware and the Mind docks to make it seamless.

Mastheads

Phone-first multitasking, modular laptops and staged futurism

OnePlus took a different route. Tom's Guide named the OnePlus Open its top foldable pick after the device launched on October 20. The OnePlus Open stood out on screen real estate, battery life and price positioning versus the Galaxy Z Fold 5 and Pixel Fold. Open Canvas, OnePlus's multitasking feature, lets users open up to three apps in side-by-side or 2+1 arrangements and switch focus between windows without relaunching apps. Tom's Guide measured battery draw in Open Canvas mode at about 10 to 15 percent per hour. That figure made it doable to write, research and communicate from the device alone, albeit with intermittent lag and some cursor quirks during heavy multitasking.

For many users the OnePlus Open will replace a laptop for day-to-day writing and communications, at the cost of some performance headroom and occasional interface roughness.

Framework offers the opposite philosophy to ditching a laptop: don't abandon the laptop form, make it endlessly serviceable. Framework's 12th Gen Intel Core DIY Edition ships as an assembly kit with labeled parts, a two-ended screwdriver-pry tool and configurable expansion cards so buyers can pick the exact ports they need. The reviewer at Tom's Guide assembled a top-of-the-line DIY unit fitted with two 16 GB SO-DIMMs and a 1 TB WD_Black SN850 NVMe drive. Framework supplied a high-end DIY model priced at $2,220. The price isn't cheap, but the appeal is obvious. On-the-spot repairs and future upgrades are straightforward compared with sealed ultrabooks, which means the Framework machine is a long-term bet rather than a disposable device.

Finally, Tech4Gamers proposed a hardware-and-aesthetic route that reimagines the desktop as a futuristic alternative. The site recommended large ultrawide and 3D-capable monitors such as the Samsung Odyssey 4K 3D in 27-inch or 34-inch sizes, or the 49-inch Odyssey OLED G9 and 45-inch UltraGear OLED for panoramic productivity. Their brief emphasised a white, minimal palette, tidy cable management, and components that read as deliberately futuristic. Choices included a TYRX Panoramic CPU cooler, wireless Lian Li fans and a curved Zotac 4090 GPU. The point was not vanity. Look and ergonomics were treated as part of the productivity equation. A well thought-through desktop, Tech4Gamers argued, can recreate the multi-window experience laptop users often miss, provided you accept the space, cost and component complexity that comes with it.

Across these options the trade-offs line up clearly. Pocket mini PCs plus AR glasses deliver extreme portability and private screens while requiring several add-ons. The OnePlus Open can shoulder many writing and communications duties, but sacrifices some performance headroom and shows occasional multitasking rough edges. Framework asks you to accept a larger initial outlay in exchange for repairability and future upgrades. A curated futuristic desktop needs space and multiple high-end parts, but it restores the full multi-window, multi-peripheral workflow without compromise.

Tom's Guide's two-week experiment does something useful. It strips back the romanticism around replacement gadgets and forces the practical question. If you want pocketability and the option to return to a desktop, Khadas's Mind and its docks make sense. If you want a single device in your pocket that often replaces a laptop, OnePlus's Open seems ready for that job. Still if you value long-term repairability, Framework's DIY Edition is the rational choice. If you want a desktop that looks like a stage prop from a near-future film and performs like one, follow Tech4Gamers' component list and commit the space and budget.

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Khadas's planned portable display would narrow the gap between pocket PCs and conventional laptops. Framework is continuing to ship its modular, repairable laptop and expand parts availability, and OnePlus began rolling the Open out on October 20.

This article was created with AI assistance.