Lian Li reveal bizarre new desktop PC design

Taiwanese PC chassis manufacturers, Lian Li, are preparing for the upcoming CeBIT trade show in Germany with the announcement of a collection of fresh case designs. As well as some pretty standard-looking aluminium PC cases, Lian Li have also shown off some pictures of this bizarre DK01. Is it a desk? Is it a PC? Whatever it is, it's supposedly “combining the symbiotic relationship of desks and computer cases,” according to Lian Li's press material. Let's take a closer look

Lian Li have revealed precise measurements for their hybrid thing: 80cm x 79.5cm x 60cm. Your screen, keyboard, mouse and peripherals will sit on a tempered glass top ready to eagerly absorb your palm and finger prints. The actual PC hardware is housed in a sliding drawer beneath the glass desktop, allowing you to slip the tray out without needing to sweep everything off it onto the floor if you just want to re-seat a couple of RAM sticks.

I'll be honest, I think the idea of a PC built into a desk — as well as pretty much all those coffee-table PCs — is pretty ridiculous. That said, if I didn't have the space for a proper desk, combining the PC and bench does make some sense. I guess I'm just not particularly sold on the Fisher Price aesthetics.

Aesthetics aside, it should be a versatile chassis capable of housing up to the beefy Extended-ATX motherboard form factor as well as everything going down to a mini-ITX board. It will also comfortably house a hefty CrossFire or SLI graphics card array and 240mm water-cooling radiators too. Saw off those red legs and you might have an impressive chassis, even if you did then have to sit it on top of an actual desk.

CeBIT is set to start on the 10th March, so I'd guess the DK01 is set to be launched at the show. There's no pricing information yet.