Tag Archives: Monitor

Is the World Ready for 3D Laptops? Ask Acer

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I’m all for technology advancements–a new OS, a slicker smartphone, Tang, whatever. Now Acer’s making an odd-but-interesting bet with its new Aspire 5738DG laptop: a 3D display. Yep, the future is now–watch out for flying DeLoreans!

Before I crack any more jokes, let me explain what goes into Acer’s 3D technology. Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America, took a few minutes to break it down for me. Forget fancy proprietary names (TriDef 3D screen!), what’s at work here are polarized plastic shades, a 60-Hz polarized display, and software working in tandem to trick the image into seeming three-dimensional.

With 3D movies (like, say, Monsters vs. Aliens), it works. It also does the best it can to represent 2D images in 3D. I haven’t had a chance to test it just yet, but the spokespeople say I need to check out The Lord of the Rings–and I will soon, since I expect to see a review unit any day now.
3D: Must-Have Tech, or Gimmick?

Obviously, the big deal here is what this could mean to gamers. I should know; I’m a card-carrying member. The video game crowd’s been chasing that 3D dragon for ages, with some of the best results coming from real-time strategy titles like Command & Conquer 3. Most recently, Resident Evil 5 is a great example of what 3D can do to make the action jump off the screen.

Or maybe Excel spreadsheets will come alive as you get lost in cells–exciting, I know.

Is 3D too much of a niche gimmick? I’m inclined to think so. 3D seems to be the new rationale to sell movie theater tickets, special-edition Blu-ray discs, and apparently PC hardware.

Even Acer’s Sawall seems to agree: “My gut is that [touch-screen technology] has more traction than 3D. Honestly, I’m not sure if there’s a home for 3D in mobile.”

Still, Sawall says the Aspire 5738DG’s been better received by retailers than expected.
Decent Specs for a Good Price

The Aspire 5738DG, available later this week with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit edition, packs decent hardware for the $780 asking price: an Intel Core 2 Duo processor T6600, an ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4570 GPU, 4GB of RAM, and a 320GB 5400-rpm hard drive. Stay tuned and I’ll give you the skinny on how well this machine works when I get my hands on it.

What are your thoughts? Substance, style–or something in-between? Hit the Comment box below or send e-mail to PC World with “ATTN: Laptops (3D? I can barely handle two dimensions)” in the subject line.

Need even more nerdity? Follow PC World Senior Writer Darren Gladstone on Twitter (gizmogladstone) for oddball links, 140-character game reviews, and whatever else comes to mind.

IBM and Canonical team up against Windows 7

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Windows 7IBM and Canonical, the commercial entity behind Ubuntu Linux, on Tuesday are launching a combined cloud and Linux desktop package designed for Netbooks and low-end PCs.

For those of us still waiting for Linux to hit the desktop, this type of packaging may be exactly how the move from Windows starts to pick up steam.

The IBM Client for Smart Work was first launched in South Africa in September and was initially geared toward emerging markets. IBM found that there was strong interest in the U.S. and other markets that had aging PC infrastructure and little desire for continued Windows upgrades.

The U.S. version of the package contains a number of IBM products including word processing and spreadsheets via Lotus Symphony, e-mail via Lotus Notes or LotusLive iNotes, and collaboration tools from LotusLive.com. As with the previously launched initiative, the package runs on Ubuntu Linux.

Bob Sutor, IBM’s vice president of Linux and open source, told me that the target is not a drop-in replacement scenario, but rather something for IT shops that don’t want to be stuck in an endless cycle of upgrading desktop operating systems and applications.

This is an interesting development for multiple reasons:

* IBM and Canonical are teaming up to bring Linux to the desktop, offering what could be considered a next-generation thin-client that relies on cloud services but remains based on an actual operating system rather than just running in a Web browser.
* IBM is targeting Windows installations in the co-opetition model the company excels in–effectively insulating itself regardless of who wins the desktop.
* Canonical is building a channel to deliver solutions rather than depend on individuals and organizations to roll their own.

IBM has been making some interesting moves of late, launching a cloud-based e-mail and collaboration suite to rival Google Apps and now a direct attack on Microsoft’s operating system footprint.