The next dimension

With this new gizmo, your movies and images will all appear in 3D.

With a rugged matte-finished interior and glossy exterior, the physical attributes of ACER Aspire 5738 3D notebook are really impressive. The keyboard is roomy and features full-sized shift and enter keys and a 'numpad'. The overall finish of the model is quite nice without a wobbly overhang in the screen tilt.

The connections available are four USB 2.0 ports, one HDMI out, and two headphone jacks. Connectivity includes the regular Bluetooth, 802.11n Wireless and Ethernet. There's also a Webcam and Flash card reader.

Under the hood
We have basic gear — a 2.2 GHz Intel Core2Duo T6600 CPU, 4 GB of DDR2 RAM at 667MHz, a 320 GB, 5400 rpm hard drive and an ATI Radeon Mobility HD 4750 GPU discrete graphics card.

To display, the laptop uses the third type of 3D, and that is via polarisation; the first two being Anaglyphic (think tinted goggles) and shutter glasses (think Nvidia). The software's job is to render 2D graphics in 3D, and that's also the monitor's USP.

Tests and battery
We ran SiSoft Sandra lite all-purpose benchmark test and came up with a combined index of 261. Battery Eater Pro drained the battery in two hours 48 minutes, which is a bit on the lower side.

The three dimensions
Now comes the main part. First we played the numerous 3D demos, which requires you to tilt the screen and attain a good viewing spot. The 3D is fun and works well for photos. All the media that you want played in 3D can be accessed through the TriDef media player, which has a slider for depth adjustment. We played an AVI encoded in DivX and it worked real well. But this isn't consistent in all movies. Due to weak graphics, the 3D game doesn't play smoothly either.

Verdict

At an MOP of ₹43,506, this laptop strikes the right midpoint in the market. The internal system is good, the aesthetics and ergonomics are superb and the 3D will pique multimedia buffs. On the flipside, not all movies work well in 3D, and all games cannot be played. But the feather in the cap is the screen — it's bright and vibrant, and makes this laptop great for business work, entertainment and lighter gaming. http://tech2.in.com/go/106432 .