Acer just launched another new monitor under their Predator gaming brand. The Z1 monitor is not only curved, but has a 200Hz refresh rate and one of the first 27-inch curved monitors to support G-Sync. It also comes with the Tobii Eye Tracker, a new piece of tech that, as the name implies, can track the eye movement allowing new ways for interaction with some games that support the new tech.
The Z1 monitor sports a 1800R curvature and up to 1920×1080 resolution (no 4K just yet). G-sync should help reducing screen tearing without the big impact to performance that the current solution, in-game v-sync options, provides. There’s adjustable angles (from -5° to 25°) and height ( up to 120mm) and swivel (from +30° to -30°) and can be wall mounted as well, so it’s pretty customisable.
The Tobii Eye Tracker seems to be the new built-in tech that all new monitors and laptops seem to want to have now. The collection of games is still growing (full list of supported games can be found here), and while the tech seems to work, the jury is still out on whether it’s an innovative input device or just a gimmick. The best example of it being used interestingly is in the 4X game Master Of Orion where you can intuitively zoom into a certain part of the galactic map by just looking at it and scroll the mouse wheel. This video by Quill18 demonstrates this in action (Note: it’s a sponsored video)
The Predator Z1 will be available in Malaysia by mid-December of this year with the price of RM2,999.00. Yes, it’s pricey as expected. But when you pack so many features like this, the price just have to match up.