Acer Shows Off 2880x1620 Panel
by Jarred Walton on January 14, 2013 10:58 AM ESTWe visited with Acer at this CES, and they didn't specifically have anything that we were told we could discuss, but after seeing another publication with pictures of Acer's pre-release 2880x1620 IPS display laptop it appears that's fair game. So, let me tell you what we know.
The panel as noted is 2880x1620, with a diagonal of around 15.6" (give or take 0.1" I'd guess). This is basically the non-Apple version of the QWXGA+ display, only in 16:9 attire rather than 16:10. The display is clearly IPS or some other wide viewing angle design, and when we walked into Acer's suite to look at the laptops and tablets, from an oblique angle it stood out as far and away the best display of the bunch. I also took some time to show the same image (wallpaper) on the 2880 panel alongside adjacent 1366x768 and 1080p panels (both TN), and the difference in color was astounding.
My best guess for when we'll see this LCD show up in an Acer laptop (and potentially in laptops from other vendors) is around late Q2 2013, when the Haswell launch occurs. That should give the OEMs plenty of time to figure out how they're going to deal with an ultra-high-DPI panel in Windows, and that's where Apple's control over both the hardware and the OS is going to be difficult to beat. Hopefully when the display shows up, manufacturers will also remember to spend the extra time and money to pre-calibrate for accurate colors, and it sounds like that's at least in the cards.
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damonlynch - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
The 95% gamut full HD display on my Lenovo laptop works pretty well, thanks - that's better gamut than any Apple laptop.KoolAidMan1 - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Higher gamut does not mean that it is better. They are actually very inaccurate and not appropriate for work out of the box. Wide gamut displays are often oversaturated and not calibrated to proper sRGB. They can be properly calibrated of course, but there's a good reason why they are so derided on pro forums.Outside of NEC (the best), Apple, and the most expensive Dell displays, there are very few options out there suitable for color work.
surt - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
I think you left out the word 'amateur'. Pros do not use apple.KoolAidMan1 - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Almost all I see in the high end motion picture industry is Apple. How much more professional are we looking at here?nidz109 - Thursday, January 17, 2013 - link
Do you have a source to back that up? I've heard that the motion picture industry is very fond of Linux. Actually, I can't find any information about Apple and major studios.euler007 - Tuesday, February 26, 2013 - link
Someone sitting at starbucks pretending to work for a movie company does not constitute "all (...) in the high end motion industry".evilspoons - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
Even if I never buy a Retina Macbook Pro I will still be grateful for their existence: it might just be what's getting everyone off their arses about the frankly embarrassing pixel densities in current laptops.Blibbax - Monday, January 14, 2013 - link
And desktops, for that matter.KoolAidMan1 - Tuesday, January 15, 2013 - link
Color is the thing that I'm even more excited by. It looks spectacular and there's much less need to plug into an external IPS display when doing color correction in the field. Until then the best displays you'd have in the field are color calibrated LCDs or (seriously) an iPad.Sabresiberian - Wednesday, January 16, 2013 - link
I very much agree here.