Time to Throw Away Those 3D Glasses!

By DE Editors

Sharp Systems of America (Huntington Beach, CA) has announced theavailability of the Sharp Actius AL3D notebook. The Actius AL3D represents thecompany'ssecond generation of 3D Technology enhanced notebook systems.

The Actius AL3D features Sharp's TFT 3D LCD Technology, which is designed toprovide anenhanced visual experience through a realistic sense of depth andpresence. The notebook's display can be easily switched between 2D and3D display modes at the touch of a button, providing a flexible workingenvironment that takes full advantage of both 2D and 3D applications,says the company.

How It Works

According to Sharp, the Actius AL3D's 3D effect is achieved through aparallax barrier technique to separate light signals. Light fromthe LCD is divided so that different patterns reach the viewer's leftand right eyes. The direction in which light leaves the displayis controlled so that the left and right eyes see differentimages. When centered in front of the display, each eye receivesthe correct visual information for the brain to process. Thismakes it possible for the image on the screen to appear in threedimensions without the user having to wear special goggles.

Designed with the high performance demands of 3D applications in mind,the SharpActius AL3D is equipped with the Intel Pentium M Processor P750(1.86GHz) anddriven by Microsoft Windows XP Professional operating system. Thenotebookis equipped with 1024 MB of DDR2 SDRAM, and comes complete with an 80GB Serial ATA hard drive. Additionally, the notebook is equipped withNVIDIA's GeForce Go 6600 GPU and 128 MB of dedicated graphics memory.

The notebook is equipped with a 15-inch XGA LCDscreen and features an array of I/O options including an IEEE1394 (firewire) port, three USB 2.0 compliant ports, and microphone andheadphone jacks. It will come with an evaluation version of the Amiravisualization package from Mercury Computer Systems for 3Dvisualization of 3D models for medicine, biology, physics orengineering.

Lastly, the Actius AL3D also offers 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T (Gigabit),LAN for super-fast wired networking, a 56kbps (V.90) fax modem, and includes aVGA out port.

The Sharp Actius AL3D sells for an estimated street price of $3,499, and is availableimmediately through Sharp directly, orthrough Sharp's network of retail partners and reseller channels. Visit the company'swebsite for additional information.