HP is launching a PC built into a keyboard and bringing the Commodore 64 back to life—at a sky-high price!

The EliteBoard G2a is almost a “concept PC.” It integrates all the components of a traditional PC into its keyboard, creating an ultra-compact solution.

In an era that people under twenty—and even those under thirty—can’t possibly remember, personal computers were most often made up of a keyboard that actually contained everything that makes up a computer: the motherboard, the processor, the memory, and the floppy disk drives or hard drives were all housed within this single chassis, atop which the keyboard sat. Some of you will no doubt shed a tear when thinking back on such iconic machines as the Commodore 64 or the Amstrad CPC 6128, or even the Atari 520 ST or the Amiga 500 for the more powerful models. With the advent of the PC, this type of machine has completely disappeared. Today’s standard is a “tower” case paired with a separate keyboard and mouse. Well, not quite!

The EliteBoard G2a is a very appealing machine… until you look at its price. © VideoCardz

In early 2026, HP unveiled the EliteBoard G1a, a machine that revived the form factor of the small personal computers from the 1980s and adapted it for modern components. We haven’t heard much about the success of that model, but it was enough for HP to launch a second version and a slightly more robust marketing campaign. The EliteBoard G2a builds on the concept of its predecessor and uses the same chassis. It measures 358.1 × 118.7 × 17.9 mm and weighs approximately 670 grams, making it a truly ultra-compact machine that can easily be placed on a desk.

Inside, however, there’s no shortage of powerful components. HP is launching three versions, offering a choice between a Ryzen AI 5 PRO 435, featuring six cores (for twelve threads), or a Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 (eight cores for sixteen threads). HP emphasizes that both models feature an NPU capable of delivering 50 TOPS of processing power, opening the door to artificial intelligence. For our part, we note the possibility of having up to 64 GB of RAM thanks to two SO-DIMM slots, as well as an SSD with up to 2 TB of storage. Unfortunately, all of this comes at a cost, and, as we mentioned in the headline, the EliteBoard G2a is a far cry from the philosophy behind Commodore, Amstrad, Atari, or Amiga machines. The Ryzen AI 5 PRO 435 model with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 GB SSD costs $3,028, while the Ryzen AI 7 PRO 450 version with the same SSD but 32 GB of RAM comes in at $4,191. As you can see, it won’t be anytime soon that prices for computer components will settle down.