If you thought the webcam on your laptop was only good for photo-booth apps and the occasional Skype call, Acer has a surprise for you in its Aspire V 17 Nitro. It's one of the first machines to feature Intel's RealSense 3D camera, which can do a lot more than just snap pics and record video.

The Nitro's camera is capable of sophisticated motion tracking (think Kinect) and 3D scanning. Similar to the cameras on board Amazon's Fire Phone, the Nitro's webcam uses an infrared sensor and emitter, as well as a normal camera, to gather both visual and depth information.

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The result: Cool apps such as Warrior Wave, a game that comes preloaded, and lets you control characters and their actions with gestures. There's also 3DMe, which can quickly create a 3D scan of your face, and let you put it on animated characters in virtual 3D environments. If you ever wanted to see what you'd look like as a superhero or rock star, this laptop can show you. You can even print out a figurine (a 3D printer is necessary, of course).

As the name suggests, the Aspire V 17 Nitro is a big 'un as laptops go, with a 17.3-inch screen and full HD (1,920 x 1,080) resolution. It's powered by a fourth-generation Intel Core i7 processor — not the latest-and-greatest Broadwell chip, but still nothing to sneeze at. To help with all that 3D imagery (not to mention gaming), it packs Nvidia GeForce GTX 860M graphics, with up to 4GB of VRAM. Memory goes up to 16GB, and storage can be as high 1TB (maximum is 256GB for an SSD, though).

The Acer Aspire V 17 Nitro will be available later in January; there's no price yet.