Why Acer's ConceptD 7 SpatialLabs Edition laptop will be a game-changer for creators

In case you hadn’t heard, Acer has announced its ConceptD 7 SpatialLabs Edition laptop for 3D creators that can render stereoscopic 3D images. Like something out a science fiction movie, 3D images appear to pop out of the laptop’s panel without the need for 3D glasses. PC World spoke to Acer about the reason behind its development and some top-level applications for its new device.

Jane Hsu, director of spatial computing product business at Acer says the ConceptD 7 was developed to meet a need in a rapidly changing creative industry. “The design world has embraced 3D in a way that demands a rethink about creative laptops and their capabilities,” she says.

“A lot of creators, they’re actually 3D creators. If you look at Sketchlab.com for instance, where creators go to buy 3D models for their projects, there are six million users of that platform. This is an indication of how many creators are dealing in 3D design, 3D modelling and 3D scenes,” she says.

Credit: Acer

Feedback from 3D artists highlights a problem that they face right around the world – having to work mainly in 2D environments. “Despite the big growth in 3D art and modelling there are a whole lot of 3D designers working in 2D environments that are really limited in what they can see and achieve with their work. So, it was pretty obvious after our research that reaching out to these customers was something we wanted to do,” explains Hsu.

Hsu says Acer’s development process for the ConceptD 7 brought in a cross section of creative professionals as part of a broad consultation process, to determine how to best deliver this technology. In amongst this group was an aerospace aircraft designer whose experience working on laptops was a case in point.

“He was so impressed by the ConceptD 7's 3D rendering. By using hand gestures in the modelling software he was able to see the aircraft displayed in a crisp 3D image in front of him, which is something he hadn’t been able to do before,” Hsu says.

Credit: Acer

What other creative professionals stand to benefit? Hsu says the technology’s application is only limited by the imagination of the user but she says one industry in particular jumps to mind.

“Digital professionals in the museum industry are rapidly digitising works into 3D to not only preserve a copy of their artworks and treasures, but to provide visitors with a more immersive experience. Despite this, they’ve lacked the kinds of displays to really show off their 3D works properly,” says Hsu.

“Our feedback from museums and others in the development process has been that people have been saying: ‘This is it. This is the creator laptop that I’ve been looking for and waiting for,’ so we’re really excited to be able to deliver that technology soon,” she says.

Credit: Acer

While that all sounds promising, it’s no secret that 3D work requires some hard-hitting performance specs. That said, will the ConceptD 7 be able to keep up? According to Hsu the ConceptD 7’s hardware - including its 11-gen Intel H-Series processor and Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU - has been specifically chosen to deliver the kind of performance 3D creators are looking for.

“If you take the aerospace designer needs as an example, rendering an aircraft needs a lot of data and that requires a very powerful system and requirements. The ConceptD 7 has this," says Hsu. 

"This kind of performance has really only been made possible in portable laptops thanks to the latest generation of processors and graphics cards. So, we’re really witnessing a kind of evolution in laptop technology,” she says.

The ConceptD 7 will be available in Australia sometime in the first half of 2022 with prices starting at AU$7,099. For a rundown on some of the ConceptD 7’s features you can read our announcement here.