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| ACER 5738D |
Even if you have a passing interest in the consumer electronics space, chances are that you would have heard the terms “3D” and “multi-touch” being ballyhooed all over the place over the past couple of months! While the third dimension has found its champions in Avatar and the slew of 3D TVs launched in CES ’10, multi-touch has the weight of Apple —everything from its iPhones, Macs, Magic Mouse to the iPad support it — behind it! So when Acer added 3D and multi-touch to their latest range of laptops, we had to take them out for a spin! Gimmick or path-breaking USP? Read on!
With the 5738D, Acer’s foray into the market of one — at least as far as 3D laptops go — has been nothing short of a great big technological move forward. Previously, if you wanted 3D hardware on your desk, you’d need special powered 3D glasses, not to mention a screen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a specialised graphics card. At Rs 43,500 + taxes, this is a far cheaper solution to living the world of Pandora on your desk than ever before.
Sure, so the laptop itself isn’t the slimmest or the sleekest model out there, and the power under the hood is capable, not awe-inspiring, but that’s not why you’re reading this, are you? The real attraction is the screen, which at 1366x768 pixels is a little on the lower side, but it’s 3D, so that makes it all worth your while, right?
Almost. There’s still no escaping the glasses, no matter how comfy Acer’s made them. The screen is covered with a thin layer of polarising filters, which when combined with Acer’s stylish polarised specs works the 3D magic. A piece of software — TriDef 3D — sends the left and right images to the correct parts of the screen for the corresponding eye, and with the glasses blocking out alternate pixels to each eye, your brain tells you it’s 3D.
Much like the Fujifilm 3D camera that was here not too long ago, you will have to tilt the screen and focus till you see the sweet spot for all that 3D goodness! Once that’s done, fire up the demo content provided on the TriDef media player, and the stuff quite literally leaps out of the screen at you!
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| ACER 5738PZG |
It tweaks your images too for a nice 3D effect, and better still, the TriDef 3D software can add a 3D effect to any game that uses DirectX 9 rendering. The effect is insane — games render really well in 3D, but it’s a pity that the graphics card is not upto snuff for many modern games. Your mileage may vary.
Movie watching is a bit of a miss than a hit, with the 3D effect working intermittently and forcing you to keep switching your physical position ever so often. Plus 3D rendering adds to the processing load on your system, which means really high def content (should this system have featured a Blu-ray) would crawl. And before I forget, do yourself a favour and don’t watch 3D content over a sustained period of time — you’ll just be lining yourself up for a massive headache.
But as a proof of concept, the 5738D really works, and it does so without charging a massive premium. If you’re the early adopter who needs the latest tech on your table, this would a good point to dive in!
Acer’s 5738PzG multi-touch notebook is a whole different kettle of fish, although it does have one thing in common with the 5738D — unique screens. Kitted with a 15.6-in HD CineCrystal display with 16:9 aspect ratio and 1,366x768 pixel resolution, the 5738PzG features a multi-touch screen, which lets you use two fingers to zoom in and out on Web sites, create handwritten notes, not to mention other mundane tasks such as starting your favourite media apps and editing photos and videos. In addition, it also features a multi-gesture touchpad a la the Apple notebooks that will allow you to use gestures to navigate, such as pinching, flicking and swirling.
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| ACER 5738D |
So with the new multi-touch capabilities built in with Windows 7 (included), it promised a refreshing take on what are otherwise reasonably good but ultimately bog-standard components. So how well does the multi-touch work on this screen? Well, for starters, it is responsive, which is always a good sign with touch screens. You can quite easily flick back and forth between pictures, your internet history etc, though I did find tasks like minimising windows and others that require a degree of precision to be better left to the trackpad. At Rs 45,204 (MRP), it is well priced, and the multi-touch capability gives it the edge over similarly specced laptops.
Acer 3D laptop 5738D
Rating: 8/10
Price: Rs 43,500 plus taxes
Acer multi-touch 5738PzG
Rating: 8/10
Price: Rs 45,204
URL: http://www.acer.co.in
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