Acer Predator Helios 300 SpatialLabs Edition Review: Glasses-Free 3D Excess – SlashGear

The effectiveness of the glasses-free 3D hangs in a sort of delicate balance. If you are facing the laptop dead on, don’t move your head an inch, and aren’t dealing with many in-game directions, subtitles, or other on-screen text, you’re golden.

However, as soon as you turn your head — maybe to check your phone, grab a drink of water, or stretch — eye and head tracking starts to panic and it will scramble to adjust to your head and eyes moving around. Especially if you’re doing quite a bit of moving around, the 3D simulation is all sorts of messed up for a few moments, leaving your eyes to panic and scramble in an attempt to adjust, too.

S.G. Howe/SlashGear

Also, while quests, maps, and menus were still easy to read, it was difficult to manage subtitles, directions, and other forms of in-game text. And when a dialogue box or notification from outside of the game would pop up — or the Windows key was bumped, accidentally calling up the Windows menu — that was abrupt and jarring. 

Poor 3D performance isn’t necessarily to blame — but it is a weakness of the design as a whole. Eye fatigue came quickly, and gaming for more than an hour with the 3D mode engaged all but guaranteed a headache. This was a disappointing conclusion to reach since the glasses-free 3D screen is kind of the major selling point of this considerably expensive machine.