BERLIN – Acer has unveiled the world’s first laptop to feature a curved screen.
The company, in a statement, says the innovation should make it more immersive to play video games on the machine.
“The curvature of the screen matches the natural curve of the eyes and gives a wider field of view,” Acer Europe’s John Miedema told the BBC.
“This allows people to pick-up in-game details, like spotting enemies or looking in the rear view mirror in racing games, more easily to give a better, more immersive gaming experience.”
Several TVs already feature curved displays, but the feature has proved to be divisive because it has both benefits and disadvantages over flat-panel technology.
Several other consumer electronics brands – including Samsung, Lenovo, DJI, Sony and Huawei – are set to unveil new kit of their own at the Ifa technology show in the German capital this week.
The Predator notebook’s screen is much bigger than the norm – measuring 21in (53.3cm) – but it is its shape that made it possible for the company to claim a “world’s first”.
Curved screens are widely used in cinemas and first appeared in TVs about three years ago.
They are also said to produce a greater sense of depth, because the images they show are not on a single plane.
Samsung, in particular, has been a strong advocate of the technology. Its two highest-end TVs come only in curved designs. But other manufacturers have experimented with and then abandoned the look.
Acer follows another Taiwanese company, MSI, in building the sensors into a laptop.
They allow gamers to: aim at targets by looking at them, freeing up their hands for other controls, change the direction they are looking at by moving their eyes, make use of “dynamic lighting” – the overall scene dims if the player looks at a very bright object or does the reverse if they look into shadows, mimicking the way our eyes work.
‘Pet tech’
At Ifa, Acer also revealed it had acquired the start-up Pawbo. The company makes webcams that allow owners to watch and remotely play with cats and dogs by shining a laser and releasing treats.
Acer announced a new model that allowed up to eight people to interact with a pet at once, as well as accessories including a remote control “cat teaser” and a toy rodent that could be made to pop up out of a surface.
The company said pet owners had spent a total of $104bn (£79bn) on their animal companions last year.
It forecast the sector would grow by 24% by 2019.
Until now, Motorola Mobility had been the only major tech company to have targeted the sector, although there are dozens of smaller firms involved.
