Acer keeps the Nintendo 3DS dream alive with 3D laptops, no glasses required

Acer SpatialLabs laptop tech — (Image credit: Acer)

Ever felt the need to work on your 3D models in the space between you and your laptop screen? Or watch movies in stereoscopic 3D?

Well, those who answered yes to the above will be excited to hear 3D panel tech is finally coming to laptop screens, and Acer is spearheading the movement. With its newly unveiled SpatialLabs software (via Trusted Reviews), it aims to give developers and 3D artists a new angle from which to work on their projects, no 3D glasses necessary.

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3D display technology has been around for a while. We saw it with the 3DS back in 2011—albeit in a rough and ready form, that gave a lot of people headaches. Last year we saw Sony's 4K holographic 'spatial reality' 3D panel tech pop up with the ELFSR1, which seemed to be a step in the right direction.

SpatialLabs tech, however, will be integrated into your Acer mobile workstation, and will not only be able to convert side-by-side videos into stereoscopic 3D, but will also support programs like Blender, Autodesk Fusion 360, and Unreal Engine—which, as we saw yesterday, will be getting some nifty upgrades with UE5, way before this tech hits consumer markets.

A stereoscopic screen and eye-tracking camera are required to support SpatialLabs, which means it won't work on any old laptop or PC, unfortunately.

Sony's ELFSR1 was just a screen and is still going for $5,000, so you can imagine how expensive a laptop with both the ability to run intensive 3D modelling software, and a fancy 3D screen will be. Still, SpatialLabs tech is not likely to hit the consumer market for some time, so you have a bit of time to pre-emptively re-mortgage your house.

Having been obsessed with game mechanics, computers and graphics for three decades, Katie took Game Art and Design up to Masters level at uni and has been writing about digital games, tabletop games and gaming technology for over five years since. She can be found facilitating board game design workshops and optimising everything in her path.