Core77

Acer's Innovative Hinged Laptop Screen

The Predator Triton 900 is designed for gamers, but non-gamers might find it useful as well

By Rain Noe - September 3, 2018

in Object Culture

My vision is getting worse with age, and there are times when I have to stick my nose closer to the laptop screen to read certain websites. I can hit buttons on the keyboard to increase the text size, but sometimes this screws up the formatting. I can also pull the entire laptop towards me, but that makes typing awkward.

So this laptop screen design from Acer looks rather intriguing:

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That's their forthcoming Predator Triton 900, which is actually a gaming laptop. I don't need the 4K screen and what's bound to be a high sticker price, but it sure looks nifty in operation:

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And yes, it can be flipped over to show the screen to a person sitting across from you.

No word on release date yet.

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Nitrous F

4 years ago

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You will have to pry my 2014 Acer R7 out of my cold, dead hands. i7, 16gb, 512ssd still going strong. We bought 3, just in case. It was a woefully unsuccessful form factor so they were dirt cheap and finally what I had been waiting for to migrate from desktop to portable workstation. Sadly 5+ lbs, but excellent for my now bi-focal needing eyes. These days track pads are much better so it may be less compelling of a move for many, but the form factor here is superlative for lap and bed use.

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P S

4 years ago

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Here's hoping it has pen support. This could be a pretty great portable workstation for people who need that kind of horsepower for their work.

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Armin Seltz

4 years ago

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"And yes, it can be flipped over to show the screen to a person sitting across from you."

Nobody who will buy this will ever use it. If this is a gaming machine, then why would you want to show someone else by turning around the screen. It's a useless feature that isn't even used in business settings, where it would be at least a little bit useful.

That trackpad looks really crap as well, kind of the wrong shape. Also, screw you if you're left-handed.

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- Martyn Billings
  
  Armin Seltz
  
  4 years ago
  
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  Hi Armin, I agree the flipping thing round might not be needed, but the trackpad par for the couse in high end gaming laptops.
  
  Take a look at the razer blade with its off centre trackpad for a comparison.
  
  Gamers will most likely not even use the track-pad, so using it as a number pad and keeping the keyboard closer to the edge of the laptop actually makes sense in this application.
  
  I agree it's unfortunate if you are left-handed but if you only intend to use it as a number pad its a good use of space.
  
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Ashwin Campbell

4 years ago

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Innovative? What purpose do it serve? More moving part and more electrical contact to malfunction and screen is closer to your eyes to make macular degeneration a sure thing. Actually the designe isn’t new either as it reminded me of the cheap makeup mirrors at ikea.

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Ray Freeman

4 years ago

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Sharp Mobilon TriPad, anyone? Where DO these ideas come from?

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- Bobtato Smith
  
  Ray Freeman
  
  4 years ago
  
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  Yeah, that's the thing I was trying to google. I assumed it was a Zaurus.
  
  I have always thought this screen design sounded like a good idea, for one specific reason: there is not room to use a normal laptop comfortably in most train seats, or at all in most economy aircraft seats. With this design, you could push the whole thing far away enough to type, and still be able to see the screen.
  
  This is probably too hot, heavy and expensive (and Windows-based) to be worth it, but I hope people copy the layout.
  
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  - Adam Richardson
    
    Bobtato Smith
    
    4 years ago
    
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    This was exactly what I thought of too when I saw the Acer! frog design did the original design for this. It was called something else originally (can't remember what), guessing they sold or licensed it to Sharp.
    
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Ken K

4 years ago

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If you are using a Mac like every sensible person… you can zoom the whole screen. Get closer virtually, without any worries about reformatting. I do this all the time. It's like a reflex now.

Go to System Preferences > Accessibility and play around with the "Zoom" settings. You can zoom in/out a preset amount with keyboard shortcuts such as Opt-Cmd-"+" / Opt-Cmd-"–". Or you can 'slide' any zoom amount using your scrolling gesture plus a modifier key such as Cntrl. Incredibly useful. The graphic result is so good that it's sometimes better than actually increasing visual size in any in-app way.

I learned this a few years ago at an Apple software demo at the Apple Store in SoHo. Can't remember which of Apple's applications the demonstrator was demo'ing, but he kept zooming in to clarify, then out again. So cool. After the demo I asked him how he did that. He sighed, and said that that was always the most-asked question after each of his demos. He seemed a little disappointed that my question wasn't about his excellent demo itself.

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- Steve W.
  
  Ken K
  
  4 years ago
  
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  Sensible? Not even slightly, MACs are overpriced and underpowered garbage
  
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