Amazon introduces 4 pre-built PC form factors for Alexa

Amazon is making it easier for PC manufacturers to integrate Alexa into PCs. The retailer today announced four new pre-tested, white-box form factors designed with its voice assistant in mind from original design manufacturers (ODMs) partners.

The new device lineup from Wistron, Compal, and Quanta, which includes an all-in-one desktop and convertible notebooks, are designed to spec for a “far-field Alexa experience.” All four sport Intel processors, microphone arrays, and Amazon’s Alexa wake word engine.

Here are the specifications:

• Wistron’s All-in-One PC: 27-inch UHD display, FHD webcam with IR sensor, four MEMs microphones, and two stereo speakers.
• Compal’s convertible notebook: 15.6-inch FHD display with touch, 13 hours of battery life, fingerprint security, IR camera, productivity quick-turn knob, a stylus, four digital microphones, and two 2W speakers integrated.
• Quanta’s convertible notebook: 14-inch FHD display, 18 hours of battery life, a fingerprint reader, four digital microphones, and two 2W speakers for interaction with Alexa.
• Wistron’s convertible notebook: 15.6-inch FHD display with touch, an HD webcam, eight hours of battery life, four MEMs microphones, and two stereo speakers.

“Customers use PCs every day for business and entertainment,” Mariel van Tatenhove, principal business development lead on Amazon’s Alexa Voice Service team, wrote in a blog post. “We believe voice is the next major disruption in the PC category, which is an important part of our ‘Alexa Everywhere’ vision.”

The new models join Amazon’s growing Alexa for PCs ecosystem; Acer, Asus, Lenovo, and HP announced integrations earlier this year. Alexa for PC devices offer nearly the full range of features found in the company’s Echo speaker family, including audiobook streaming from Audible and Kindle, timers, shopping lists, calendar appointment scheduling, smart home device controls, third-party skills, and voice ordering from Amazon. Alexa for PCs doesn’t, however, support phone calls or messaging between Alexa-enabled devices, or music streaming via Spotify, Pandora, and TuneIn (the only supported music services are Amazon Music, SiriusXM, and iHeartRadio).

“We’re excited to add the first Alexa for PC ODM products to our portfolio of qualified solutions,” Jon Kirk, director of Alexa Voice Service at Amazon, said in a statement. “These Windows 10 PCs have been designed from the ground up to support Alexa, bringing Amazon’s voice service to customers in new ways.”

The PCs are also an expansion of Amazon’s ODM design program for Alexa. In March, the Seattle-based company took the wraps off “final-product designs qualified by Amazon” from Junlam, Narui, and Adition — two Amazon Echo-like smart speakers and a lamp speaker — with Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and two-mic voice capture arrays. They’re powered by Alexa Voice Service (AVS), Amazon’s developer suite of APIs and software tools.