A year ago, tech start-up Sightful introduced a thousand productivity pioneers to its innovative Spacetop system, a laptop that employs AR glasses for its display. Now, the enhanced and refined Gen 1 product, Spacetop G1, has officially gone on sale.
A Revolutionary Approach to Remote Working
The Spacetop G1 aims to transform the remote working experience by replacing the traditional laptop screen with a pair of augmented-reality glasses. These glasses, connected to a keyboard base the size of a 13-inch laptop, project a 100-inch virtual display in front of the user’s eyes. This setup allows users to avoid hunching over small screens and instead interact with a large, immersive workspace.
User Interaction and Design Changes
Users interact with productivity windows, video boxes, games, and other applications via the keyboard and touchpad, similar to a standard laptop. Unlike the original model, which used a tracking camera to adjust the virtual display as users moved, the G1 release has shifted these controls to the trackpad.
The dock for the AR glasses has been relocated from above the keyboard to the angled upper cover, maintaining the hard-wired connection to the base. The Spacetop G1 features a Snapdragon QCS8550 chipset with KRYO CPU and Adreno 740 graphics, boasting a 70% performance increase over the previous Qualcomm model.
Enhanced Hardware and Connectivity
The system includes 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and 128 GB of UFS 3.1 storage, though not all of this is user-accessible. Connectivity has been upgraded to Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.3, and integrated 5G/LTE. The base unit houses a 60-Wh battery, offering up to 8 hours of usage per charge, and includes two USB-C ports for peripherals.
Operating System and Display Features
Running on Space OS, optimized for spatial computing, the Spacetop G1 also includes a 5-megapixel webcam. Users can choose to display an avatar during video chats instead of appearing on camera with the AR glasses.
The glasses weigh just 3 oz (85 g) and feature dual OLED display panels, each providing 1,920 x 1,080 pixels at a 90 Hz refresh rate and a 50-degree field of view. Auto-dimming technology enhances focus and text legibility in bright environments. The glasses also support custom prescription inserts for those who wear corrective lenses.
Audio and Voice Capabilities
Each side of the glasses includes an open-ear speaker and a microphone for voice communication, complemented by a 6-watt speaker in the base unit.
Vision and Collaboration
“We introduced Spacetop to free people from the constraints of time and space,” said Tamir Berliner, CEO and co-founder of Sightful. “We believe in the power of AR glasses as the first step. Physical reality has always been limiting – with bulky headsets, limited battery, and processing power. This is why we collaborate with world-leading companies to deliver what we see as the world’s best laptop.”
Partnering for Success
Sightful has partnered with Qualcomm, Wistron, and XReal to bring the Spacetop G1 to market. Reservations for the Spacetop G1 are now open at $100 per unit, with the final price set at $1,900. Shipping is expected to begin in October.
For more information, watch the demonstration video below:
Main Image: Road to VR