Zalman, a company largely known for their cooling products, had quietly launched a line of 3D monitors late last year. The newest product in the Trimon series is the ZM-M220W, a 22″ widescreen 2D/3D convertible lcd monitor. Now what the hell does that mean? Basically for normal applications, its works just like a high-end 2D lcd monitor. However when you are playing one of the many supported games, you just hit a hot-key, put on the included glasses and start playing in true 3d! These aren’t your grandmother’s red-blue paper glasses either. The monitor works using circular polarized light, and the glasses you wear look just like regular sunglasses. This is called “passive stereo 3d” and a similar type of technique to that used in theaters like for Beowulf 3D. The device also works for 3D-DVD although, aside from the IMAX movies, most of them are pretty low-budget.

I’ve been keeping an eye on this monitor since I first heard about it. Tweaktown broke the review last month, and since then I’ve just had to have it. I have yet to see it with my own eyes, but I’ve got a good feeling that this is really going to complete my setup. I still have a few more additions I want to make to my new machine (SLI, etc.) but a 3D monitor will really take it to the next level. However it just doesn’t work on any computer. First off, you need an Nvidia video card and the drivers are for Vista only. So when building my new rig I made sure to hook something up that would support this 3D monitor. The device is a bit more than a standard 22″ monitor, it lists for $800, but I’ve seen deals for under $700. I figure I’ll be writing my own in-depth review sometime later this month, stay tuned.

For those of you still using XP or running ATI cards, all hope is not lost. There is another 3D monitor thats been on the market for some time. Its called the iz3D and it works with a wider range of platforms (xp/vista/nvidia/ati). The iz3D is supposed to be really nice for gaming in 3D, and can be had for under $600 on NewEgg.

For all you Mac readers, sorry, not much luck there. But you already knew all the cool stuff always comes out on the PC first. Maybe by the time OSXV comes out Apple will debut the eyePod 3D and it will be heralded as the greatest innovation in computing!!! Remember, you read it here first!

link: Zalman TRIMON 22″ 3D Monitor [TweakTown]

Tags: Hardware, Stereo 3D //