Unconventional Laptop with Mechanical Keyboard and Ultra-Wide Screen Announced

Startup Kernelcom has announced the start of a fundraising campaign to produce a compact laptop that is radically different from conventional models. The device's main features are its non-standard ultra-wide screen and mechanical keyboard.

Instead of a classic format, the engineers opted for a 24:9 aspect ratio for the display, featuring a 12.5-inch OLED screen with a resolution of 1920x720 pixels. This format could be convenient for working with code, long texts, or displaying multiple windows simultaneously. However, this design choice has a drawback – the limited screen height, which won't suit all use cases.

Another detail that immediately stands out is the lack of a touchpad. Cursor control is entirely delegated to an external mouse or the touch screen, which is available as an option. The freed-up space is occupied by a low-profile 84-key mechanical keyboard with Outemu Blue switches and RGB backlighting, which may appeal to users who value tactile feedback.

Buyers will be offered two versions of the device: the base configuration is built on the Intel N150 processor, has 16 GB of RAM, a 1 TB SSD, and comes with Ubuntu pre-installed. The more powerful model is equipped with an AMD Ryzen 7 8840U chip, the same amount of memory and storage, but with Windows 11 Pro. The configurations also differ in their port selection and wireless communication standard.

With a weight starting from 1.24 kg, the device is positioned as portable, although its dimensions can hardly be called ultra-compact. The Kernelcom crowdfunding campaign has already launched. According to the developers' plans, the first shipments to customers are scheduled to begin in February 2026. The version with the Intel processor will cost $389, while the AMD-based model will be priced at $789.