The Taiwanese company CPT has recently shown their 15″ 3D laptop display to TomsHardware. These 1440 x 900 displays can support a stereoscopic 3d image without the need for glasses. Meaning that, in the very near future, you will be able to play some of your favorite games, on the go, with your own portable holodeck! Reportedly, the effect is very good and better than previous attempts:

We like what we saw. This particular model had a 1440 by 900 resolution and he 3D action was smooth with a real sense of depth of field and compared to other solutions in the past, we were impressed with the view angle. You can see the 3D effect without sitting directly in front of the display.

Now don’t get the wrong idea, this isn’t real holographic technology. The 3d effect is simulated using what they call a “Display Barrier” or commonly a parallax barrier. It can be turned on and off using a switch and when in “3d mode” will allow the display to send a different image to each of the viewer’s eyes. This thus creates the 3d illusion such that your laptop screen will appear to be a window into a virtual world. This likely won’t match the quality of other methods, like the polarized projection used for the IMAX3D. But it should provide a much easier experience and also accommodate multiple viewers. Reportedly the displays only cost slightly more to produce than a standard panel, which is a great boon to bringing stereo3d to the mass market. These will be available starting late 2008, early 2009.

Not to be left out the 3D craze, ASUS is bringing a gaming laptop to market with a built-in 3d display. The G50V model includes a 15.6in WXGA 3D display, a 9700M GT, and 512MB of DDR3 memory among other features. Unlike other stereo 3d monitors on the market, this new ASUS laptop doesn’t need any glasses or fancy headsets to be worn. This could very well be that holographic gaming system I know everyone’s been waiting for. I’ll reserve judgment until I can see the thing with my own eyes, but its sounds very promising if it does what they say it does. ASUS is also traditionally known for providing affordable solutions to the pc market. Depending on the pricing, this model could turn out to be very popular.

From the looks of it, ASUS won’t be the only big name jumping into this new 3d market. One angle to consider is that CPT specializes in manufacturing display components, and supplies the panels other vendors use in their products. The CPT display is at the same 1440 x 900 WXGA resolution as the ASUS laptop and most likely the same technology thats driving the G50V display. It will be interesting to see what other companies get in on this. Surely Alienware doesn’t want to get left in the dust from the likes of ASUS once the 3d market really takes off.

link: Asus has two Geforce 9700M gaming notebooks [Fudzilla] // via: NeoSeeker
link: CPT Shows 3D Display On A Laptop [Toms Hardware] // via: MTBS3D
Thanks go to Silversurfer for the tip.

Tags: Hardware, Stereo 3D, Video Games //