14 DAY TRIAL // Sure thing this year's Consumer Electronics Show is full of surprises. Since gaming gear is a major part of the big picture, Alienware has come with a new gaming monitor prototype. What makes it special is the curved aspect of the wide display, as seen in the picture.
The monitor is more than a traditional display. Alienware has dropped the LCD panel and adopted a revolutionary technology, called DLP, that makes it respond 100 times faster than the fastest current LCD screen on the market. It's the DLP technology that allows a .02-millisecond response time.
The monitor is made of four panels that can support a resolution of 2880x900 - the equivalent of two welded 19" 1440x900 displays. Currently, the welding points between the four panels are visible, but Alienware states that the final version of the curved monitor will feature perfectly joint panels.
The monitor still comes with a LED backlight. Its curved aspect allows for wrap-around immersive gaming experience as it mimics peripheral vision, but this fact makes it a little too bulky when compared to the normal LCD monitors. Although the display is not so bright as expected, this is a minor drawback since the monitor's concept gives the screen proper gaming dimensions.
The monitor can be used with pretty every existing software application, from multimedia rendering to photo editing or 3d image creation, as it is extremely fast. The monitor connects to the signal source via a DVI cable that leaves the user all the options, including SLI or CrossFire. However, the monitor still depends on game and driver support for these unusually high resolution modes.
The monitor has been announced for mass availability starting the second quarter of 2008. Since the gaming monitor is targeting at a niche segment of the market, it is expected to bear a four-figure price tag.