First Impressions: 3D PC Gaming with the Acer Helios 3D 15 Laptop

A few months ago, I wrote a little love letter to the Nintendo 3DS and expressed a desire to see more gaming embrace the glasses-free 3D technology. Then, in April, Acer announced the Helios 3D 15 laptop that uses SpatialLabs’ stereoscopic 3D technology to offer a glasses-free 3D gaming experience on a laptop. This had me so excited and Acer was kind enough to loan me a sample of the laptop and I wanted to share my experience with it.

First, I need to mention that I was not allowed to benchmark anything, so don’t expect those numbers. Second, this machine is a beast. The laptop weighs 6lbs 8oz and the charger was another 2lbs 12oz! That means that you’re lugging around over 9lbs when you go to move this. This kept it from being a daily driver for me and in my opinion it’s a laptop that’s stuck to a desk. That being said, the ventilation seemed adequate to keep everything running smoothly.

Now the part that you’ve been waiting for: how well does 3D gaming on a laptop work? There are a few things to discuss in general before I can dive into all the details. First, there are two types of 3D technology through SpatialLabs: 3D+ and 3D Ultra. The latter is newer and typically works better than the former. In order to take advantage of 3D gaming, only select games will work, so be sure to check out the official list. The only problem I found with it is that for whatever reason I couldn’t play Psychonauts 2 with 3D Ultra, only 3D+. The games I used to experiment with 3D were Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 with 3D+, Psychonauts 2 with 3D+, Forza Horizon 5 with 3D+, God of War with 3D Ultra, and Shadow of the Tomb Raider with 3D Ultra.

Overall, the 3D worked really well with 3D objects in the games. I didn’t really notice any difference between the 3D+ and 3D Ultra, but for that I probably should’ve run God of War in both. Much like the 3DS, the 3D on the Helios was a subtle effect that is noticeable but after a few minutes it just feels normal and you may start to question if it’s actually doing anything. I would rate this entirely as a luxury and is pretty cool. I still want more of this stereoscopic 3D technology to be developed and improved.

Earlier I mentioned that it worked well with 3D objects. I specified this because anything that was not 3D, like text, was such a mess. Most of the text was illegible, menus were a pain to navigate, and even when button hints were thrown up it was hard to discern which button it was. Thankfully, most games made it easy to toggle the 3D effect on and off which was a godsend for menus.

Another interesting aspect was that out of the five games I tried out, only Shadow of the Tomb Raider had in-game 3D controls that allowed for in-depth tinkering. The others had some general 3D settings I could adjust thanks to SpatialLabs and I personally felt like that was the better approach. When I played Shadow of the Tomb Raider, I kept having problems with the 3D image not working as well as it should and so I would adjust it and then two minutes later feel like I had to adjust it again. Maybe it was the lighting in my room at that moment. Maybe it’s the problem with in-depth and in-game controls for 3D. I’m not sure, but the 3D experience was better in the other titles where I had a much more minimal level of control.

Now we get to what I see as the biggest problem. I could only play games in 3D for so long before I got a headache and started to feel ill. This is going to vary from person to person, but be warned that it’s a possibility. My wife struggles with the 3DS for this very reason. I am fine with the 3DS, but for some reason, it really wrecks me on the Helios. I’m not sure if it’s the bigger screen, a difference in technology, the higher resolution, or what. I only know that I can only play for short bursts on it though.

I have just a few final notes for the Helios. The screen is very crisp, but when you go to play a game in 3D, it does get less crisp and has a filter similar to the 3DS because of the 3D technology. That being said, when you’re playing a game, it looks really crisp. It’s more just when games are loading and in menus that it’s noticeable. Also, I’m not a fan of the trackpad at all. It navigates fine, but it is not great at clicking. It seemed to struggle with registering clicks. The speakers are upward facing which I like, but as you’d expect there’s no bass in them so everything sounds a little tinny.

Overall, the Helios is a beast and I’m not sure that I would recommend it unless you really want the 3D. I still want 3D gaming tech to be developed and utilized. I think it has a lot of promise, but this seems to be an awkward pre-teen phase that it has to push through. I wish I knew what caused the headaches so I could better help you know if it will be a problem. I think I also learned that fewer controls regarding 3D is best. The 3DS only has the slider and is the best stereoscopic 3D gaming experience I’ve ever had while Shadow of the Tomb Raider was probably the worst experience while having the most control of it.