At CES 2024, Acer has announced a new entry in the still-small, but growing, category of autostereoscopic laptops. That means laptops with screens that can show 3D images without the help of 3D glasses.
The technology has been around for years, but only started gaining popularity when modern webcams allowed for eye-tracking, keeping the 3D image in sync with the viewer. I got a chance to briefly try this new laptop and found its eye-tracking 3D to be as impressive as any I've tried.
Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition: A New Dimension in 3D Laptops
Equipped with a 15.6-inch UHD display, this laptop is designed to deliver 3D content for creative work, but also with some entertainment chops. It operates without the need for specialized glasses, making 3D viewing highly accessible and user-friendly. It runs on (up to) Intel Core 14th Gen i7 processors and up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPUs.
The laptop comes with a suite of AI-powered SpatialLabs applications, such as SpatialLabs Go, which transforms 2D content into 3D in real-time, and SpatialLabs Player, offering control over video playback and mode switching. For creators, the SpatialLabs Model Viewer allows for the import and conversion of CGI and CAD files into 3D illustrations.
The models I viewed in 3D popped out from the screen, adjusting in realtime to my head position, in a much wider field of view than older 3D laptops I've tried. Because of how the eye-tracking works, the image is locked to a single viewer at a time, so someone looking over your shoulder won't get an optimized view.
Like Acer's other new laptops, it also features a dedicated Windows Copilot key, providing quick access to the everyday AI assistant for enhanced creativity and productivity. The Aspire 3D 15 has a 15.6-inch UHD IPS panel and supports 100 percent of the Adobe RGB color gamut, can support up to 32GB of RAM and up to 2TB of NVMe storage.
Predator SpatialLabs View 27: A New View of 3D Gaming
Acer also has Spatial Labs technology built into a new 27-inch gaming monitor, called the Predator SpatialLabs View 27. You don't need special games to use it, instead it creates 3D content based on existing depth information from games. There's a 3D Ultra mode that introduces a second virtual camera for enhanced depth and geometry in scenes, along with customizable visual effects and intensity settings.
The monitor's 27-inch 4K panel has a 160Hz refresh rate at 400 nits of brightness. This is both an Nvidia G-Sync and AMD FreeSync monitor, so it plays nice with a wide range of GPUs.
Availability and Pricing
The Acer Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition is coming in February starting at $1,399. The Predator SpatialLabs View 27 is coming sometime in Q1, starting at $1,999.
Micro Center Editor-in-Chief Dan Ackerman is a veteran tech reporter and has served as Editor-in-Chief of Gizmodo and Editorial Director at CNET. He has been testing and reviewing laptops for almost 20 years and is the author of The Tetris Effect, a Cold War history of the world's most influential video game. Contact Dan at dackerman@microcenter.com.
