AR Spacetop laptop available for pre-order – but is it the future?

Grandma Sightful unveiled a new product last year called the Spacetop G1, which is described as an “AR laptop.” This is because the device consists of lightweight AR glasses connected to a laptop equipped with a keyboard and trackpad. The Spacetop G1 is available for pre-order now, but what does this tell us about the future of AR/VR devices?

Spacetop G1 is a laptop connected to AR glasses

For the uninitiated, the Spacetop G1 is basically a laptop without a screen. Instead, it’s connected to special glasses with tiny 1080p displays that let you show what’s happening on your computer without interrupting the real world. 9to5Mac Seth Weintraub had the opportunity to try out the device earlier this month and was very excited about the possibilities.

This is the first time I see AR turned into a real product. Sure, I lined up over a decade ago to try out Google Glass. I play a lot of Oculus games with my kids. I’m always trying out the newest headgear. But until Spacetop, I hadn’t seen a finished product that I wanted to use. Very.

This could be just one of many features Apple includes in its AR headset, and the company could be wiped out in a matter of weeks. But still, to me it shows the next (albeit familiar) step in desktop UI into the world of augmented reality.

In recent years, we have seen many companies focusing on AR/VR devices. This year, Apple officially joined the industry with the launch of Apple Vision Pro, which combines augmented and virtual reality. However, AR and VR are not yet fully mainstream, so the question arises: what is the ideal form factor for such devices to be attractive to most people?

AR glasses vs. XR headsets

While the Apple Vision Pro is undeniably one of the best headsets you can buy in terms of technology, it does have some drawbacks, such as being bulky and heavy on the head. And since it relies on pass-through cameras, the actual image may not look good in some scenarios.

On the other hand, AR glasses may be slightly less invasive. Not only because they are more discreet, but also because you can see the real world with your own eyes from behind the screens. Even though these aren’t AR glasses, I recently tried out the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses with AI Voice Assistant and loved having a discreet computer on my face.

My colleague Ben Lovejoy shares the same thoughts:

Even if you wouldn’t normally buy a Ray-Ban, I still think $300 for the convenience of instantly capturing POV video without having to take your phone out of your pocket is a good value. Add to this the fact that the set includes headphones (albeit ones that I would personally only use for calls), and we are dealing with a very comfortable package at a very decent price.

I don’t particularly like the Spacetop G1 in its current form. However, the idea of ​​AR glasses excites me much more than full XR headsets. I believe that AR glasses are the future and I hope that Apple will eventually launch its own glasses.

What do you think about AR glasses? Let us know in the comments section below.