Acer just announced a version of its flagship Predator Helios 300 gaming laptop, and it comes with a glasses-free stereoscopic 3D display.
The Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition uses dedicated software to create a live 3D effect for “over 50 popular games” during play. Acer plans to offer further support for more games after launch.
The availability of 3D in home gadgets isn’t a new phenomenon on this sides, but we must note that most 3D displays have failed to gain popularity with consumers. If we derive a little into history, the 3D TV boom of the 2000s really didn’t generate the traction it needed, and for that reason, it’s heralded as a spectacular failure of the century. Most consumers wouldn’t phantom the inconvenience of wearing cheap plastic glasses to experience the full effect.
Later, the Nintendo 3DS was one of the first successful consumer devices with a stereoscopic 3D display, and the new Acer Predator Helios now seeks to deliver something similar, albeit in a more advanced and technologically backed avatar.
- CPU: Up to Intel Core i9-12900H CPU
- GPU: Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080
- RAM: Up to 32GB
- Storage: Up to 2TB SSD
- Display: 15.6-inch, 4K
- Size: 14.1 x 10.9 x 1.1 inches
- Weight: 5.7 pounds
Display and Features
Acer’s new Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition gaming laptop is a Windows 11 device boasting up to a 12-generation “Alder Lake” Intel Core i9-12900H CPU, up to an RTX 3080 discrete graphics card, up to 32GB of dual-channel DDR5 4800 MHz RAM an upto 2TB of PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD storage and liquid cooling. A solid feature set, never seen in the many Acer predator Helios 300s we’ve reviewed over the years.
However, the most outstanding feature on this new laptop is the 1.6-inch IPS UHD (3840 x 2160) discrete that can create stereoscopic 3D images without the need of glasses.
The laptop comes with the new SpatialLabs TrueGame app that will support more than 50 popular games at launch, and Acer commits to include support for more titles incrementally in the future.
The 3D imagery is courtesy of Acer’s SpatialLabs technology that bonds a liquid crystal lenticular lens atop of the display panel to form a module that can switch between 2D and 3D imagery at the flick of a button. There’s also an eye-tracking camera on the front to aid the creation of 3D images.
While other 3D display technologies have proven gimmicky and utterly unusable in real life, Acer’s new gaming laptop promises to be different thanks to a combination of industry-experience, unique hardware and advanced software.
Release Date and Availability
The Acer Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition is expected to be available for purchase in early Q4 at a starting price of $3,400/€3,299. European gamers can get hold of it from September.
Since the laptop will be available in different configurations, we can predict that the top-end model with the Core i9 chip and RTX 3080 GPU will cost significantly more.
Thanks to its pricing, the Acer Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition will be a niche product, but if the 3D gaming concept becomes popular, we’ll likely see more laptops with the same technology from different manufacturers in the next few years.
We have seen gaming laptops like the MSI Raider GE66 12UHS-235 and the Razer Blade 15, both with Intel’s Core i9-12900H CPU and Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti graphics, so we’re only waiting to see what the glass-free 3D gaming laptops brings into the high-end gaming laptop market in terms of performance and value for money.
The Acer Predator Helios 300 (PH315-54-760S) remains our favorite midrange gaming laptop, thanks to its reasonable price, sturdy construction and solid gaming performance.
Recommended Configuration
Keep it here for a Acer Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition Review.
