The wholly-owned subsidiary of Dell known for its high-quality gaming desktops and laptops, Alienware, has showcased at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2008 in Las Vegas a double-wide DLP rear projection monitor. The device is about as wide as two 24" widescreen monitors standing side-to-side and features a resolution of 2880x900.

The thing is actually made up of four displays and has an incredible .02 millisecond response time, about 100 times faster than current gaming LCD monitors. However, the revolutionary device has some serious flaws, most of which will be fixed by the time the gaming display will start shipping later this year.

First of all, there are three very visible vertical lines where the four displays overlap a little. The three-foot monitor is also very large and significantly heavy. Also, the color depth seems not quite up to today's standards, looking much like cheap LCDs a few years ago. As in those models, the black looks washed out.

There's not even an inkling of an MSRP on this contraption yet, but it is quite clear that the thing will be more expensive than two 24" displays. It features DLP rear projection on a curved screen, with OLED illumination to reduce power consumption and make it more comfortable for the gaming nut's eyes.

Overall, it's quite clear that this technology is not quite up to production standards yet. However, it seems rather obvious that this is the way things will eventually go, as curved monitors eliminate distortions associated with the fact that in large monitors, different parts of the screen are at different distances of the user's eye. Also, the most interesting feature is the immersion effect a curved screen generates, covering much more of a person's field of view.

Alienware is currently wholly-owned by Dell Inc and was founded in 1996. Before being acquired by Dell in 2006, Alienware competed against Dell XPS gaming systems. Allegedly, the Alienware name was chosen because of the founders' fondness for the hit television series The X-Files, which ran between 1993 and 2002. The popular TV Series 24 features the easily-recognizable Alienware laptops.