The best thing about laptops is that they have everything that one can take them anywhere and work or enjoy without the bulk of a desktop PC. Its design has remained more or less constant over the past few decades, but that could be changing thanks to a flashy idea.
Visible. That’s the name of the startup that developed the project and has two co-founders with multiple boards. One of them is Tamir Berliner, co-founder of Primesense, to whom we owe the Kinect technology. The other is Tomer Kahn, a former N-Trig engineer who was also key to the development of the Surface Pen. Both later worked for Magic Leap until the company shifted its focus to the professional segment.
Spacetop. The concept created by Siteful is called the Spacetop, and it’s like a laptop, but without the physical screen. Instead, this team uses augmented reality glasses that allow you to enjoy a curved screen of up to 100 inches to work with multiple windows and applications.
It would be expensive. The Spacetop costs $2,000 and is designed for professional and business users. Its hardware isn’t particularly powerful: it uses the 2019 Qualcomm Snapdragon 865 SoC, and it’s accompanied by 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage. So this is a team designed for minor office tasks, but perhaps thanks to services like Xcloud, it is also possible to enjoy playing it.
It doesn’t have a screen, but you can connect one. It has Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.1, and also has a webcam with a sensor with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,920 pixels. There are also two USB-C ports to which it is possible to connect an external DP 1.4 monitor if that is really needed.
and glasses? But the really differentiating element of the device are the augmented reality glasses that have projected virtual screens. The glasses weigh 106 grams and deliver 1080p resolution at 72Hz in each eye. It’s not possible to use them over prescription glasses – at least not for now – but the manufacturer promises to supply prescription lenses that will be provided to the user free of charge. Product part.
It promises. At PCWorld they have already tested Spacetop and they confirm that the experience, at least when working with different applications as if it were a job, is better than that offered by Meta Quest Pro. Text, they confirm, was readable, running apps was smooth and the experience is so similar to that offered by a traditional laptop that using that virtual screen is immediate.
Limited units. At the moment, yes, there are only 1,000 units available for those interested to place their request on the Siteful website. The proposal is certainly noteworthy, but it remains to be seen whether this type of approach to portable computing takes off.
