A new $2,000 mobile device called “Spacetop” comes with its own augmented reality glasses that can create a 100-inch virtual display. Sightful, the Tel Aviv-based startup behind the new AR laptop, was co-founded by CEO Tamir Berliner and COO Tomer Kahan, both previously with Florida-based AR glasses firm Magic Leap. Spacetop utilizes a custom operating system that Sightful says is compatible with Web-based applications such as Google Workspace, Zoom and Figma. The glasses reportedly offer resolution of 1080p per eye, which Sightful says provides sub-pixel viewing resolution.

“In a pinch the Spacetop can also connect to a traditional monitor for some features, with more available later via software updates,” writes Axios, explaining that Sightful is initially selling 1,000 Spacetops “as part of an early access program, with hopes of using the feedback to inform a broader launch.”

Sightful is carefully setting expectations, noting that this initial release will not be suitable for gamers or power users or gamers, though later models will target those markets. Wistron, a laptop contract fulfiller, has been retained to manufacture the Spactops, which are expected to begin shipping in July. The AR glasses are being made by Nreal.

The fact that laptop size has been tied to physical screen inches has been an ongoing issue for laptops, Axios reports, noting that “the idea of using virtual space to display traditional computer windows has been tried in a variety of ways, but has yet to move beyond niche status.”

Meta cited the ability to expand mobile screen size in its marketing pitch for the Meta Quest Pro headset, while the Microsoft HoloLens “packs a Windows computer into a standalone augmented reality display,” Axios says.

“While we’ve seen many other ‘virtual desktop’ applications in the PC VR and standalone space, Sightful is trying to close the loop” on making virtual desktops functionally productive, writes Road to VR, detailing how the company’s “all-in-one product, which essentially consists of the bottom half of a laptop, a pair of tethered AR goggles, and a custom software environment,” aims to be an easy-to-use streamlined virtual desktop experience.

Spacetop has a sort of dock in which to stow the glasses, and a ‘lid’, allowing the entire unit to be portable. Axios posits that long term, “many see augmented reality glasses as the likely successor to the smartphone, but there are lots of technical hurdles around battery life, image quality and cost that need to be overcome.”