Sightful’s ‘Spacetop’ laptop ditches the screen in favour of augmented reality (AR) glasses in an effort to free users from the constraints of a typical laptop display.
Yup, that’s right. The Spacetop looks like a laptop with its screen ripped off. It attaches to a pair of AR glasses that, theoretically, gives you a 100-inch virtual display. That massive virtual display gives you much, much more space to work with compared to typical laptops, which usually max out around 17 inches at the biggest.
While that actually sounds pretty useful, there are several caveats with the Spacetop that hold back its potential. As Engadget points out, the laptop runs Android. While you do get a desktop environment, running Android rather than a more traditional laptop OS like Windows could be considered a setback for some (including myself).
The Spacetop’s bundled AR glasses are the Xreal Lights. Engadget reports they have a narrow field of view, which hampers using the 100-inch virtual display.
Moreover, the Spacetop’s specs arguably leave something to be desired. It sports a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 chip, the same one used in Meta’s Quest 2 from 2020. It also has 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage.
Ultimately, the Spacetop presents an intriguing concept, but maybe without the best execution. I could definitely see an AR-focused laptop proving popular for a few reasons. The virtual display could boost productivity by giving users more screen space to work with while also improving privacy by preventing snooping eyes from looking at your screen. The hardware just needs to catch up.
Images credit: Sightful
Via: Engadget
