Skip to main content

Upcoming Toshiba laptop delivers simultaneous 2D and 3D display

Even if you haven’t yet been sold on the 3D format, it’s hard to argue that this news isn’t cool. Toshiba has revealed the first details on its upcoming Qosmio T851 laptop, which starts shipping in Japan this July. The 15.6-inch portable PC has some decent specs — Core i5-2410M CPU, 8GB of RAM, an NVIDIA GeForce GT540M video card and a BDXL-ready Blu-ray player — but it’s the screen you’ll want to pay attention to, as it is capable of displaying both 2D and 3D content simultaneously.

Whoa.

The multi-dimensional content appears side by side in separate windows, a press release reveals. It is all thanks to the use of a parallax barrier that delivers separate images to the left and right eyes, the same technology used to deliver glasses-free 3D on the Nintendo 3DS. As anyone who owns one of those new portable gaming devices knows, it is easy even on that small screen to shift your viewing angle slightly and disrupt the 3D effect. Toshiba has built in a noteworthy workaround to ensure that the effect is maintained on the Qosmio’s 15.6-inch display.

The T851 uses a built-in web camera to essentially track the movement of your face and eyes. The camera automatically adjusts with your movements to maintain the 3D effect. The laptop also features built-in support for real-time 2D to 3D conversion, with added Face3D tech that automatically recognizes and improves the conversion of human faces in an image.

There’s no price listed, but “cheap” probably isn’t it. The jury’s still out on whether the recent rise of 3D is just a fresh coat of paint on an old gimmick or a sign of things to come, but does it really matter in the case of the Qosmio? This thing tracks your face and eye movements to maintain a 3D effect without the need for glasses. Gimmick, evolution, whatever you want to call it… that’s just straight-up cool.

Editors' Recommendations

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
AMD may have just leaked the Ryzen 9 7950X3D release date
A hand holding AMD's Ryzen 9 7950X3D processor.

AMD may have confirmed the release date of the hotly-anticipated Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and Ryzen 7 7800X3D, but it doesn't look intentional. According to OC3D, AMD briefly published a launch date of February 14 for its new processors.

The launch date has since been removed from all listings on AMD's website, so this was probably a slip-up. However, February 14 isn't out of the question. AMD confirmed when announcing the processors that they would arrive in February.

Read more
AMD’s new Ryzen 9 7950X3D is up to 24% faster than Intel’s best
AMD CEO Dr. Lisa Su showing the Ryzen 9 7950X3D at CES 2023.

AMD is starting off its CES strong with the introduction of new 3D V-Cache Ryzen 7000 CPUs. Unlike the previous generation, AMD isn't restricting its 3D V-Cache to just a midrange CPU, and is instead introducing three chips that match most of AMD's current-gen lineup.

AMD introduced the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, Ryzen 9 7900X3D, and Ryzen 7 7800X3D during its CES keynote today. The flagship chip, the Ryzen 9 7950X3D, tops out with 16 cores, a 5.7GHz boost clock speed, and 144MB of cache.

Read more
AMD 7000X3D V-Cache CPUs could challenge Intel at CES 2023
AMD 3D V-Cache chip is shown over a coppery background.

New AMD 7000X3D V-Cache CPUs could be shown as early as January 2023 at next year’s CES, promising big gaming performance gains and potentially wrestling the title of best gaming chip from Intel once more.

The latest news comes from a supposedly leaked internal road map that reveals AMD is planning to unveil its next-generation 3D V-Cache CPUs based on the Zen 4 architecture at CES 2023. This information comes from Wccftech which has a good track record of uncovering insider information. The report goes on to suggest that there will be two 3D V-Cache chips announced at the event, which is notable.

Read more