The hardware giant says the industry is on the edge of a significant refresh cycle, and soon, everyone will have an AI PC, even if they don’t want one.

Dell's boss for Commercial PCs and Software, Meghana Patwardhan, said there will be two worlds, one with AI hardware and one without, but eventually “every PC is going to be an AI PC."

Dell's sales teams have been talking up the energy saving and future-proofing in dedicated AI hardware, such as Neural Processing Units (NPUs) that are increasing in CPUs. They boasted about how much more efficient background blurring is on video calls when AI hardware is running than when it isn't, which is essential for those of us who have a pile of books and rubbish behind us.

However, finding uses for AI was flagged as a problem for PC makers in October. Despite the hype around the tech, experts, including IDC, have worried that "uses have yet to be fully explained."

After all, an AI PC is just a standard PC with a bit more RAM and a good GPU and NPU. If that is the case, then the future seen by Dell is no giant leap in imagination.

Dell also used the Mobile World Congress event in Barcelona to show off new versions of its Surface-rival Latitude 7350 convertible – "the world's easiest commercial detachable," according to the company – and its workstation-class Precision 3680 tower. Other devices in the Precision range include mobile workstations and the 3280 Compact Form Factor PC.

Dell wanted to show itself as a leader in hybrid working with the Premier Wireless ANC headset, packed with AI-based noise cancellation.