Spacetop replaces traditional laptop screens with floating virtual windows.
It’s the first product from startup Sightful, which was founded by former Magic Leap executives Tamir Berliner and Tomer Kahan and has so far been in “stealth mode.”
A slightly modified version of the Nreal Light AR goggles comes with spacetop, is permanently attached, and snaps into grooves above the keyboard when not in use. The lid is molded around the jars so you can fold it down while the jars are securely docked.
The device runs Sightful’s proprietary Spacetop OS operating system, which allows you to create large floating web browser windows around you, rather than hunched over a traditional laptop screen and flipping through tabs.
However, as we noted in our Nreal Light review, the limited field of view of the current transparent AR optics means you only see all of the floating windows at once if they’re placed several feet away. With more reasonable viewing distances, you’ll need to turn your head and remember where content is more often than with physical monitors. This is currently the main compromise between transparent AR and opaque headsets with passthrough cameras like the Quest Pro, but the upside is that the glasses only weigh 100 grams.
Spacetop is powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon 865, the chipset on which the Snapdragon XR2 (used in headsets like the Quest 2 and Pico 4) is based. Due to the much larger battery and larger cooling surface, the CPU is clocked at 3.1 GHz faster than headsets. However, you should still expect performance more akin to that of a Chromebook than a high-end laptop. The chipset is equipped with 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of onboard storage.
Spacetop supports Wi-Fi 6 for home or office use, but also has a 5G modem for phone-free use on the go. Of course, you need a SIM card with an active tariff from a mobile network provider.
Sightful claims a battery life of over 5 hours and USB-C PD charging that can charge the device from 0% to 85% in under 2 hours. In fact, there are two USB-C ports that can be used not only for charging, but also to output 1080p mirroring to a physical DisplayPort monitor for displaying content to others. There’s also a 5-megapixel webcam above the keyboard for video calls.
Sightful is currently selling 1,000 pre-launch units of the device, dubbed “Spacetop Early Access,” priced at $2,000. The startup says buyer feedback will “customize the hardware and software experience of the device” and “directly impact the launch of Spacetop V1.”
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