Dell Unveils Curved Gaming MonitorDell Unveils Curved Gaming Monitor

Dell is showcasing at the Consumer Electronics Show a gaming monitor that's the equivalent of two 24-inch displays and is curved to draw gamers deeper into a PC game.

The monitor can run off any PC, but Dell hopes that it will be the display of choice for buyers of the company's high-end Alienware machines, which have the horsepower and graphics capabilities attractive to serious gamers. The monitor was chosen as a finalist for the Best of CES award Tuesday.

The monitor, which is scheduled for release in the second half of the year, is curved in order to encompass more of the gamer's peripheral vision. "It's a more immersive experience," Bryan de Zayas, an associate director of product marketing for Alienware, told information.

The monitor has a resolution of 2,880 by 900 pixels, which is the equivalent of two 24-inch monitors, and has a response time of 0.02 milliseconds. To build a curved screen, Dell used a digital light-processing display, which uses a rear projector, de Zayas said. LCD and plasma screens, which are most commonly used in the PC industry, cannot be bent.

Pricing for the new product will be released closer to when the monitor goes on sale.

Dell took a big step toward shedding its image as a supplier of inexpensive business computers with the release in November of its first all-in-one entertainment computer. The stylish XPS One, which is on display at CES, starts at $1,499 and is the computer maker's answer to the most elegant high-end consumer machines from Apple, Gateway, and Hewlett-Packard.

Rather than get trapped in a low-margin price war over commodity PCs, computer makers are trying to lure consumers willing to pay more for stylishly designed PCs with more processing power, graphics capabilities, and lots of features geared toward digital video, pictures, and music.

Dell bought Alienware in 2006 in order to enter the market for high-end gaming PCs, which can easily cost more than $3,000. Not to be bested by its rival, HP announced about six months later its acquisition of VoodooPC.