3D Notebooks planned from Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Sony

All with stereoscopic screens

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21 September 2009 20:00 GMT / By Duncan Geere

Reports claim that Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and Sony are all planning to launch notebooks that come equipped with a stereoscopic screen capable of generating 3D images.

Dell, HP, Lenovo and Sony are all working with one manufacturer - a Taiwanese company called Wistron - to build the notebooks, whereas Acer is working with the US-based DDD on its machine.

What's uncertain is how the market will respond. The only machines that'll cope with the increased demands that 3D places on the system is high-end desktop-replacement machines that cost a lot. Those are already a very niche part of the market, and that chunk is getting smaller, analysts say, thanks to the economic slump.

Also, there's not currently much in the way of content that works well on 3D displays. Nvidia has drivers that'll convert many games into 3D, but the majority of laptops - even at the higher end - don't have the power to run modern games at acceptable frame rates - especially at double the frame rate required by standard 2D displays.

When individual manufacturers announce their products, we'll be sure to bring you specs, stats, and a full review of whether they're worth the cash or not, so stay tuned.

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