Acer Unveils The World’s First Laptop To Feature A Curved Screen

Acer has unveiled the world’s first laptop to feature a curved screen.

The company says the innovation should make it more immersive to play video games on the machine.

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.

The Taiwanese company also announced it had acquired a pet technology start-up, at a press conference in Berlin.

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”.

“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.”

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.

“Curved screens are great if you are in exactly the right position and equidistant from the various points of the display, but as soon as you are not in the ideal place you get distortions of the image and glare,” said David Mercer, from the consultants Strategy Analytics.

“With TVs this is a problem, as you tend to have more than one person watching at a time.

“But I can imagine it makes more sense on a laptop for a single user.”

However, one games hardware expert had doubts.

“It’s a bit of a marketing gimmick because while 21in is massive in laptop terms, it’s not particularly big in general screen real estate,” said Dave James, from the PCGamesN news site.

“Desktop monitors are normally 34in or higher for a good curved screen, and that makes a difference as it wraps around your field of view.

“For a 21in laptop, your face would have to be extremely close to it to get the effect.

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“The fact the Predator’s screen has an ultra-wide aspect ratio is probably more exciting for gamers.”

The model’s other unusual feature is the inclusion of eye-tracking technology developed by Sweden’s Tobii.

It was originally developed to help people with disabilities control PCs.

Acer follows another Taiwanese company, MSI, in building the sensors into a laptop.