The screenless laptop that got a ton of attention a few months ago is getting an upgrade. Sightful has unveiled the Spacetop G1. The new laptop looks more like a portable keyboard than a computer, but users wear included augmented reality (AR) glasses to view a 100-inch virtual display that replaces the traditional laptop screen.
After fine-tuning hardware and software attributes based on user feedback in an early access program, Sightful improved the original Spacetop and made it available for $2,150 in early 2024. Continued feedback has helped the company develop the G1 laptop, which offers a more powerful processor and a sleeker design, for a lower price of $1,900.
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The Spacetop G1 features the Qualcomm Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 processor, a chip built on a 4-nm process that delivers improved computing power and a 70% faster performance than the original Spacetop’s Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2, lending itself more to enterprise and IoT applications.
“Qualcomm has been a pioneer and committed to supporting the XR industry for over a decade,” Said Bakadir, a senior director of product management at Qualcomm, said in a statement. “We are proud to be powering Sightfulf’s Spacetop Gen 1 who are looking to enhance consumer technology for spatial computing.”
The GPU in the upgraded device has gone from an Adreno 650 to an Adreno 740, translating into improved 90Hz refresh rates for more fluid visual experiences. This boost makes the Spacetop G1 more capable of supporting artificial intelligence and AR workloads, better video playback, richer colors and contrasts, and more realistic graphics. The G1’s new Snapdragon 8cx Gen 4 delivers better AR applications than the Snapdragon XR2, thanks to enhanced performance and lower latency.
“We introduced Spacetop to free people from the constraints of time and space, as we don’t believe people should be stuck in 14″ screens,” Sightful co-founder and CEO Tamir Berliner said in a statement. “We firmly believe in the power of AR glasses as the first step. Physical reality has always been the limiting factor — bulky, uncomfortable headsets, limited battery and processing power, and a world that is not yet built for daily AR. This is why we are collaborating with the world-leading companies to deliver the most delightful product, and what we see as the world’s best laptop.”
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The Spacetop G1 also brings an upgraded battery life of up to eight hours, up from five hours in the previous model. The AR glasses are lightweight and meant to be comfortable enough for long-term wear, with automatic dimming in bright environments for enhanced focus and legibility.
In addition to Qualcomm, Sightful partnered with tech companies Wistron and XREAL, an AR solutions developer that has created several AR glasses, including the Air 2 Ultra.
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“All of the world’s tech giants have clearly signaled that they see spatial computing as the future, but their clear focus is entertainment and gaming,” Berliner added. “We are focused on unlocking productivity benefits with a product people want to use every day.”
The new Spacetop G1 will ship later in 2024. Although its retail price will be $1,900, prospective buyers can reserve their device now for only $100.