What you need to know
- Sightful just announced a laptop that has a pair of XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses rather than a traditional laptop screen.
- The unique laptop lets you use a virtual screen within the glasses that appears as if it's 100 inches.
- Alternatively, you can span multiple apps across the virtual display within the XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses.
- You can reserve a Spacetop G1 now with a $100 deposit and the device will start shipping in October.
Sightful just announced a new laptop that has spatial glasses rather than a traditional display. The Spacetop G1 comes months after early access to a similar device was available to small group of testers last year. Now, a commercial version of the Spacetop G1 is on the way and available for preorder.
The Spacetop G1 looks like a traditional laptop, at least on its bottom here. There, you'll see a keyboard and trackpad akin to any clamshell laptop. The laptop runs on a Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 processor and has 16GB of RAM. But the top of the device is a cover for a pair of XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses that tether to the base of the Spacetop G1.
XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses are impressive, but they aren't a standalone machine. Both when it comes to computing and interacting with content, you need to pair the XREAL Air 2 Ultra with another device, such as a smartphone and keyboard. Our Managing Editor took a pair of XREAL glasses on a trip alongside a Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra and a Bluetooth travel keyboard. That setup certainly worked, but it had its limits. The Spacetop G1 consolidates your devices into a convenient package centered around the smart glasses.
The design of the Spacetop G1 lets you use an interface that you're familiar with in the form of a laptop keyboard and trackpad. You don't have to use your phone as a virtual mouse or swipe around webpages with a hand like in augmented reality. The form factor also means you aren't wasting a screen. You could just connect any laptop to a pair of XREAL glasses, but you could end up wasting a screen and burning battery life in some situations.
An advertisement for the Spacetop G1 (shown below) has someone using the device on an airplane, which are infamously cramped for laptop use. The keyboard of the Spacetop G1 fits on a tray table but there isn't room for a laptop screen at an optimal viewing angle. Instead, the user types on a tray table as they look around their expansive virtual display. Of course, that's an ad for the Spacetop G1, so we'll have to see how the system stands up to long-term use in the real world. But the makers of the laptop have made a case for the niche the Spacetop G1 can fill.
The Spacetop G1 does not run Windows. Instead, it runs Space OS. That Android-based operating system is built around the web, allowing you to interact with websites and web apps within a series of virtual displays or a single massive virtual display. The library of web apps available in 2024 is expansive and includes productivity tools, entertainment apps, and much more. You will, however, have to deal with the limits of web apps. For example, the web versions of the Microsoft Office apps lack some features found on desktop counterparts (there are also some features exclusive to the Office web apps).
If you need a full Windows experience, you can use Windows 365, though you'll need an internet connection. The Spacetop G1 supports Wi-Fi 7 and 5G, though a SIM card is required for the latter.
A main selling point of the Spacetop G1 is that only you can see what you're doing. But if you need to share what's on your screen, you can connect the laptop to a monitor and mirror what's on display.
The Spacetop G1 will ship in October. You can reserve one now with a $100 refundable deposit. If you reserve one now, you can save $200, bringing the laptop's price to $1,700.
