With ideas like the Adaptive All-In-One, Intel hopes to pump some excitement into a PC market that seems to get more . For the quarter ending in June, for instance, Gartner reported that PC shipments declined 5.7 percent. IDC's estimates for the period were even worse: a 10.6 percent drop.

"The traditional desktop is a box that's beige, black, or brown. Most likely it's under the desk," Intel Innovation Segment Manager Lynda Grindstaff told Technology Review. "Our adaptive all-in-one [design] is going to change the way that people interact with their desktop PCs."

That kind of optimism about a form factor has been heard from Intel before. A year ago when it announced the Ultrabook -- its answer to the MacBook Air -- it predicted the form would grab 40 percent of consumer sales by the end of this year. Nearly nine months into the year, the form has in the languishing PC market.

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