Crazy curved Alienware monitor perfect for Crysis

by Ross Miller { Jan 10th 2008 at 1:26PM }

Many uses come to mind when thinking of a curved, 2,880x900 resolution (16:5 aspect ratio) monitor - multitasking aside, we'd have quite a fun time opening every Photoshop panel simultaneously, or created the most complex, intricate World of Warcraft user interface imaginable. Alienware decided to show off its arcing display at CES with Crysis, the apparent benchmark for all technology of the future.

Our friends at Engadget who are attending the show noticed three faint vertical lines, indicating the curved illusion is assisted by four sub-panels. The DLP display with LED illumination is due out the second half of this year for a currently-unknown price. Check out their gallery of the monitor; we also have video of the display embedded after the break.

Tags: alienware, ces, ces-2008, crysis, engadget

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Alaina @ Mar 30th 2008 5:17PM

I love the idea because unfortunately I had the idea.....The multi millon dollar company just beat me to the punch...

Alaina @ Mar 30th 2008 5:40PM

It looks to me that it may be designed with 3-4 rear projections.....what happends when one of them fails? may want to think about implementing a standard LCD or Plasma instead of 3-4 projections It would alleviate the "bulkyness" that a standard 30" flat screen does not have. Using the existing flat screen and adding a slight curve to it will save a lot of $$ and materials. Observing the way TV's were designed, I am sure they will eventually evolve to a more slim line appearence once the curved proto gets off the ground.

commen-cents @ Jan 10th 2008 1:30PM

a little late to the party on this one me thinks

Bob @ Jan 10th 2008 1:31PM

Cool stuff, too bad their actual computers started sucking after Dell bought 'em out.

xFenixKnightx @ Jan 10th 2008 1:32PM

Damn that monitor is nice!!!

Chris @ Jan 10th 2008 1:32PM

In most of the pics of this thing you can visibly see four screens put together to make the image. Is that due to the camera capturing at a different speed, so you can't see those lines in person, or are they visible in person as well?

Not that it matters because I won't be able to afford this. just curious.

Chris @ Jan 10th 2008 1:34PM

Also Veronica Belmont is an attractive young lady.

Burritoclock @ Jan 10th 2008 1:36PM

Actually they stated this was because there are four projectors, they also said that it would be resolved when it is brought to market.

Also on price they stated "More than a 17" monitor, more than a kia.." ha!

Burritoclock @ Jan 10th 2008 1:38PM

Whoops, that should read "More than a 17" monitor, LESS than a kia.."

Hikaru @ Jan 10th 2008 4:42PM

So...is she the one destined to defeat Dracula this year?

Hikaru @ Jan 10th 2008 4:42PM

So...is she the one destined to defeat Dracula this year?

Abuzar @ Jan 10th 2008 5:15PM

Less than a Kia? That sounds reasonable lol.

Abuzar @ Jan 10th 2008 5:15PM

Less than a Kia? That sounds reasonable lol.

XanthouS @ Jan 10th 2008 1:36PM

/orgasm

chispito @ Jan 10th 2008 1:36PM

Contrast appears to be lacking.

Marty @ Jan 10th 2008 1:47PM

Perfect for Crysis? Most people can barely run the game well at 800x600 ~ 1024x768 levels. 2880 x 900 is just a pipe dream.

KhrisKiller @ Jan 10th 2008 9:48PM

If you can afford this monitor you can afford a rig that will run Crysis at any res. lol!

Jerk Face @ Jan 10th 2008 2:27PM

Yeah, seriously. My computer would squeeze out an actual turd if I tried to make it do that!

WiNG @ Jan 10th 2008 2:43PM

ACtually the default resolution to Crysis on this monitor is 12x2

Zeus.:God @ Jan 10th 2008 11:42PM

As said above, if you can afford this monitor, you can afford a rig to play it. I would say tri-SLId GTXs will do it just fine, which is going to be my next rig here in a few months, as I'm waiting to see if they're going to update the GTX.

mark donovan @ Jan 10th 2008 2:05PM

nice - but how much does it cost?

NATO_Duke @ Jan 10th 2008 3:10PM

Price confirmed: 1 Kidney and your soul.

mark donovan @ Jan 10th 2008 5:34PM

what can i get in the one kidney and my left nut price range?

dustandechoes91 @ Jan 10th 2008 2:06PM

They said that the final wouldnt have the lines, and would look nothing like this one, as the final wasnt ready enough for the show, so they brought an early working prototype.

And I still dont get why joystiq and everyone here bashes on crysis so much. Everyone here makes it seem like it performs way worse than it really does. It requires a newer computer, not an expensive one, and even if you dont have that, learn to overclock.

madatoman @ Jan 10th 2008 3:50PM

@dust

Wrong. Crysis is the new Doom. Nothing can run it except the super high end. Especially if you want to play it "the way it was meant to be played," that is, everything on High or max. Even then the framerate is not ideal. I understand consolers are used to 60 and 30fps but us PC gamers play smooth 100fps games. Quake3, Counterstrike, all the racers, any new FPS (except for Quake Wars).

Point is, Crysis will run at what many noobs call "playable" but that's about it. Or you can disable a lot of stuff and play it on mid-range computers though it stops being Crysis then. And you can't disagree with the benchmarks. Just because you're fine with 34fps doesn't mean the rest of Joystiq is making a "big deal" over Crysis.

"Just overclock it"? You know overclocking doesn't squeeze out more than 10-15% in most cases right?

dustandechoes91 @ Jan 10th 2008 4:01PM

My $800 pc is in no way high-end, and with a little overclocking i run between 30 and 40 fps. My amd x2 5400 is overclocked from 2.8 to 3.2 GHZ, and my 8800gt is oc'd from 600 to 730MHz. I bought my pc in june for 800 from cyberpowerpc(who I do NOT recommend), and it would probably be cheaper now because my cpu cost twice as much at the time.

I only run the game at 1280x1024, but with x2 AA 30-40fps is great, and shows you dont need 3 8800ultras and a quad core oc'd to 4 GHz to run it. Crysis is poorly optimized, but that doesnt mean it doesnt run.

Hikaru @ Jan 10th 2008 4:50PM

@madatoman: Don't you know that the human eye can't perceive more than 60FPS?

Irresponsible Robot @ Jan 10th 2008 5:39PM

Actually, the human eye has what you would call a variable framerate. When necessary, it can percieve upwards of 200 fps. However, doing this for any prolonged amount of time can lead to headaches and seizures.

Normally, though, yes, human vision runs at about 60 fps.

dustandechoes91 @ Jan 10th 2008 5:43PM

you also have to take in account the monitor...unless you have a new or expensive monitor it wont actually display the framerate your pc is outputting

Burritoclock @ Jan 10th 2008 5:51PM

@Hikaru: Don't you know that PC gamers do not care about things like that, they only wish to grow their framerate penis.

oz @ Jan 10th 2008 2:25PM

Perfect monitor for Crysis? BAH! There is no video card that will play that game at that resolutions fluidly. Crysis is beyond current hardware. Even the 3-SLI will drop to teens at that. So, what is the point of having this then?

Would be cool for Supreme commander though.

Warlord @ Jan 10th 2008 2:23PM

The only thing that prevents me from playing a single game stretched across 2 widescreen monitors is the fact that there will be a huge gap right in the center of the crosshair, which for FPS games is NOT acceptable. This monitor is something I will be looking at.

Hopefully it's price won't be much more than the price of just the parts that go into it. Say, the price of 4 17" monitors...

please...

inconceivable @ Jan 10th 2008 2:37PM

Ummm...if there's no video card that can run it then how is that Alienware computer running it?

DemonGSides @ Jan 10th 2008 3:41PM

its... its... INCONCEIVABLE!

Lekko @ Jan 10th 2008 4:23PM

All its really doing is playing a pre-recorded video of someone else playing it from the future playing crysis at that resolution exactly like you would as you play.

Simple, really.

Zeus.:God @ Jan 10th 2008 11:43PM

Most computers can play Crysis. It really isn't AS much of a hog as everyone makes it out to be, but it isn't the most scalable game ever.

SLId GTXs or Ultras can easily run that.

Mr.ESC @ Jan 10th 2008 5:20PM

First thought:It most be expensive as a Hummer.

Second Thought:Maybe is the video but Crysis looks like Farcry in that monitor.

MuToiD_MaN @ Jan 10th 2008 5:27PM

Perhaps someone on here can check my math for one's horizontal FOV on this monitor, assuming no loss of vertical FOV as it gets wider:

4:3 ratio has a 90-degree HFOV, therefore a VFOV of 67.5
if a 16:5 monitor shows a VFOV of 67.5 its HFOV would be 216 degrees! That's pretty major hax.