CES 2018 is now on-going and our series of articles covering the biggest tech show on earth are now dropping! Check them out HERE.
Yes, we already hate bezels. On smartphones, when the 18:9 display ratio came out, we always mock-up subsequent releases of high-end smartphones with larger bezels. Of course, who would forget bezels in a multi-monitor setup, where the main goal is to have an immersive field of view and experience? We hate it right? It’s irritating to the eyes.
However, at CES 2018, ASUS demonstrates a new concept that hides bezels behind ‘optical camouflage’ to create a more seamless picture, using light refraction, making monitor edges disappear.
The concept is simple. Thin lenses are placed along the seams where screens meet; they contain optical micro-structures that refract light, bending it inward to hide the bezels underneath. Sounds neat right?
The lenses are made from PMMA, a type of transparent thermoplastic that’s much more durable than glass. This material lets 90% of the light from the monitors shine through, making the picture under the lenses slight dimmer than the rest of the screens but less distracting than the opaque seams created when two bezels are pushed up against each other. Reducing the dimming requires glass lenses that are too fragile to be practical for mass production.
Custom clips hold the monitors together at the top and bottom of each seam, which helps align them at the correct angle. The lens sits between them, reducing the kit to just three parts per seam.
The kit’s optical obfuscation is designed to work at a specific angle. According to ASUS, they’ve selected 130° because it offered the best balance of comfort and immersion in their internal testing.
The Bezel-Free kit from ASUS can be seen at CES this January 9-12 at ASUS’ booth, in Las Vegas, NV.
Pricing and availability isn’t revealed yet, but ASUS said that it will surely come out this year. ASUS also confirmed that this mount will work with other display & monitor brands as well!
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