HP Invent Logo
An HP Invent logo is pictured in front of Hewlett-Packard international offices in Meyrin near Geneva August 4, 2009. Reuters/Denis Balibouse

The Dell Smart Desk Prototype was recently showcased at Dell World in Austin. The Dell "smart desk" is a new desktop touchscreen prototype which dwells on the concept of using a large multi-touch LCD monitor paired with a horizontal digital work surface designed to take advantage of natural interactions within a workspace such as use of touch, stylus and totem-based tools. As of today, there is no official statement from the PC producer of its plans to fully commercialize the prototype, PCWorld reports.

Similar to HP's Sprout, the two touch-enabled screens concept aims to create a perfect work environment for architects, graphic artists and other "creative" type of work. The Smart Desk, unlike its HP counterpart, appeared to be facing an uncertain future. Features like having a scanner or even having a camera was not clearly stated by Dell. Both mentioned features are present on the Sprout. The camera installed in the modern HP desktop serves as a surveillance camera because it allows Sprout users to see what each team or project member is working at in real time, providing more teamwork in the collaboration department.

The Dell 5K monitor is presumed to be the screen that will be part of the Smart Desk. According to Digital Trends, the 5K monitor called the UltraSharp 27 is the world's first ever standalone consumer display which has an amazing 5120 x 2880 resolution. Supported by a technology called PremierColor, this gives the monitor seven times the resolution of 1080p or over 14 million pixels in total. However, despite the impressive specs of the UltraSharp 27, Apple's iMac with Retina display was able to beat Dell with the over-all features and efficiency.

Aside from the 5K monitor, the Smart Desk is also presumed to be supported by a couple of Harmon Kardon speakers that are capable of delivering crisp sound with its 16 watts of power. With the UltraSharp 27 plus the Harmon speakers, the market should expect that the Smart Desk will not come cheap.

But then again, this is just a conceptual product preview which means Dell has no specific plans for production as of today. However, consumers can already get their hands on the 5K monitor.

Dell is charging $2500 and shipping will begin on Dec. 18. Dell website already has a page for the monitor which consumers can already add to their cart.