Acer shows off new 3D monitors that don’t require glasses

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Acer announced a substantial number of new devices today, but the coolest trio features something special. That special something is Acer’s SpatialLabs glasses-free stereoscopic 3D, which makes things literally pop off the screen.

The first device is the latest in the Predator gaming laptop line. The Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition brings glasses-free 3D to the PC gaming world, in much the same way that the Nintendo 3DS brought it to the mobile gaming world.

The special screen uses a 2D UHD display panel with a special lens in front of it to switch between 2D and 3D content. That currently works with over 50 games, with Acer adding support for more as time goes on.

The rest of the laptop is similarly high-end, with up to a 12th-gen Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, up to 32GB of DDR5 RAM, and up to an Nvidia RTX 3080 laptop GPU.

Connectivity is handled by Thunderbolt 4, three USB-A 3.2 (Gen 2) ports, HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, a Mini DisplayPort, and a 3.5mm audio port. Oh, and it’s got an Intel Killer Wi-Fi 6E 1675i card with Killer DoubleShot Pro, and an eye-tracking camera.

Glasses-free 3D from Acer

The best use for this glasses-free 3D tech isn’t gaming. At least, not in our opinion. Sure, it’s done well for Nintendo’s 3DS line, but the retail applications are even more interesting.

Current retail uses for 3D images are pretty bad. 360-degree views of rendered products just fall flat of the mark on a 2D screen. Imagine seeing those same products in 3D, without needing special glasses, thanks to Acer’s SpatialLabs tech.

This idea ties in directly with Acer’s other new offerings, the SpatialLabs View and View Pro monitors. Both have 4K, stereoscopic screens, and both have 400-nit brightness and 100 percent coverage of the Adobe RGB gamut.

The biggest difference between the two is that the Pro has Ultraleap hand tracking, for interacting with the 3D models in a professional environment.

The Acer Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition is launching “early Q4” with a starting price of approximately $3,400. The SpatialLabs View and SpatialLabs View Pro portable monitors release this summer, with pricing to be announced.

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Joe Rice-Jones

Maker, meme-r, and unabashed geek with nearly half a decade of blogging experience at KnowTechie, SlashGear and XDA Developers. If it runs on electricity (or even if it doesn't), Joe probably has one around his office somewhere, with particular focus in gadgetry and handheld gaming. Shoot him an email at joe@knowtechie.com.