This smart coffee table runs both Windows 8 and Android

We’ve seen some big tablets before — like the Lenovo IdeaCentre Horizon Table PC, which earned the tongue-twisting mantle of The Table Tablet, or Samsung’s 40-incher, which was curiously dubbed the Surface 2 before Microsoft got into the tablet scene.

The Duet beats them all.

The Duet by Ideum is a smart coffee table that looks like something from CSI: Miami.

Beyond that, the beast of a thing runs both Android and Windows 8. With a click (or tap) of a button, you can switch between the two operating systems depending on your taste — work or play.

Apart from messing about with cute two-player games and so on, the coffee table is marketed as a centerpiece for your smart home management. For instance, this means you can adjust the temperature or colour of the room’s lighting via Bluetooth.

Ideum is behind a range of ruggedised, multitouch interactive table and wall mounts. Last year it introduced its HD and 4K Touch Walls, which are available in 46″, 55″ and 65″ versions.

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Unfortunately, there’s no 4K version of the Duet.

The Duet comes in two variants: the 42- and 46″. Both of them sport 1920×1080 resolution and are multi-touch sensitive.

While it might not have an Ultra HD display, it does offer a very impressive 60 simultaneous touch points when in PC mode with up to 12 on Android. This means that the entire Miami cast from Horatio Caine to Justin Bieber can play a round of Monopoly together.

The Duet is powered by an Intel Core i5-4570R 3.20 GHz and Rockchip 2.0GHz system running Windows 8.1 and Android KitKat.

Ideum also points out that the smart table’s made up of aircraft-grade aluminum and cold-rolled steel chassis and a chemically strengthened, dust and water resistant screen. “The Duet 46” Coffee Table is built for demanding environments,” the company says.

So a clumsy coffee spill won’t defeat the US$8 000 device.