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Acer's new gaming monitors have built-in Tobii eye-tracking

Acer's new gaming monitors have built-in Tobii eye-tracking

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Curved screens are apparently here to stay, but that's not the only trick available to an intrepid gaming monitor manufacturer in the year 2016. Acer just announced a trio of gaming monitors, and while only one of them is curved, all three of them include built-in Tobii eye-tracking.

The standout is the Predator Z271T, a 27-inch curved screen with 1920 x 1080 resolution and a 144Hz refresh rate, but many gamers might prefer the 240Hz refresh rate of the 24.5-inch XB251HQT, or the 2560 x 1440 resolution of the 27-inch XB271HUT. Whatever your flavor, all of the monitors have Nvidia G-Sync, so don't even worry about screen tearing (as long as you have an Nvidia graphics card).

So, what about this Tobii eye-tracking? Is that just a gimmick? Well, yes, pretty much. A few games offer support, including the recently released Deus Ex: Mankind Divided, a couple Assassin's Creed games, and The Division. You can also (with difficulty) control your Windows desktop. The actual Tobii tech seems amazing, but nobody's really figured out what to use it for yet. I guess it's not a big deal if it's just there, waiting to be useful, staring deeply into your eyes, tracking every blink and flicker. Forever. Waiting.

Prices for these monitors start at €799 for the Z271T and €899 for the XB271HUT (that's the high resolution one). The screens ship in October and December, respectively; no word on US availability or pricing.