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By YURI KAGEYAMA (AP Business Writer)

September 11, 2003

TOKYO - Users won't need special glasses to view the three-dimensional images that pop up from Japanese electronics maker Sharp Corp.'s new laptop.

The Mebius PC-RD3D, billed by Sharp as the world's first 3-D laptop, goes on sale Oct. 27 in Japan and is planned for release later this year in the United States.

The new laptop is mostly targeted for people who design three-dimensional software, but Sharp is also planning a model for average consumers, company spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama said Thursday.

Tokyo-based Sharp has been selling cell phones with 3-D displays for NTT DoCoMo, Japan's top mobile carrier, since November last year. They were so popular the feature is being introduced in notebook computers, Nakayama says.

The computer display produces 3-D images by sending a slightly different image to the right eye and the left eye at once by bending them in different angles, according to Sharp. The special screen has applications in architecture, medicine, science and gaming.

The $3,000 laptop switches back and forth between its 3-D feature and a regular display by a push of a button. The company hopes to sell 1,000 of the laptops a month, she said. Sales plans for Europe are still undecided.

Mebius now only has a small sample of 3-D applications, such as an image of fruit and flowers and an animation of dinosaurs. But Sharp is hoping other companies will design 3-D games and videos.

"This is the first step in 3-D laptops. But we think it's a market with great potential," Nakayama said.

Mebius comes with Microsoft Windows XP, an Intel Pentium 4 processor, a 15-inch display and a 60 gigabyte hard drive.

Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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