No, your eyes don’t need to be checked. What you’re seeing in that hero image are, indeed, arms from an astronaut sticking out of a laptop. “How can this be?” you may be wondering. Well, all of this is happening on Acer’s newly unveiled 3D laptop.
Called the Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition, this laptop — announced ahead of CES 2024 — is designed to deliver 3D entertainment without requiring you to wear 3D glasses.
Acer is killing it in the 3D space
This isn’t the first time Acer spotlighted a 3D laptop at CES. Earlier this year, at CES 2023, I was blown away by the Predator Helios 3D 15, a gaming laptop that uses a mix of eye tracking, real-time rendering tech, and a 3D stereoscopic display to deliver incredible 3D experiences.
Acer’s SpatialLabs tech
Credit: Acer
I played God of War in 3D and was stunned by the perception of depth it delivered to my eyes. The images didn’t jump off the screen. Instead of looking 2D and flat, it looked as if I could stick my arm through the laptop and interact with the characters. It was wild!
The Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs laptop, on the other hand, isn’t designed for gaming. As mentioned at the outset, it’s more for 3D entertainment and content creation (e.g., 3D modeling). Unlike the Predator Helios 3D 15, it doesn’t necessarily appear to have depth. Instead, certain areas of the screen with 3D objects appear to pop out of the display.
I got to test the laptop for a bit during an Acer showcase, and to my surprise, the astronaut on the display looked like its arms were reaching out of the panel.
Look closely. You’ll see the astronaut’s hands sticking out of the display.
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
How does it work? “It uses Acer’s proprietary AI models to transform 2D content to 3D in real-time,” Acer said in a press release.
Quick look at specs
In 2D mode, the Aspire 3D 15 features a 15.6-inch 3840 x 2160-pixel display. However, when 3D mode is on, you get a 1920 x 2160-pixel panel instead. That’s an unusual pairing of display ratios, but this is an unusual display.
It comes with Nvidia GeForce RTX graphics; you can choose between a 2050 or a 4050. (If you want to play demanding games on this machine, opt for the latter, but for content creation, grab the former.)
Credit: Kimberly Gedeon / Mashable
This laptop doesn’t come with the new AI-focused Intel Core Ultra processors. Instead, it’s configured with a 13th-generation Intel Core i7 or i5 CPU. You can get up to 32GB of RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage. It’s also worth noting that this laptop isn’t lightweight; it’s slightly over five pounds.
The Aspire 3D 15 SpatialLabs Edition will be available in February and has a starting price of $1,400.
