Sightful Spacetop — specification and verdict
Spacetop is a laptop with no screen — a keyboard and trackpad chassis with a pair of birdbath AR glasses on a fixed cable, running Sightful's own Spacetop OS on a Snapdragon XR2 with 8 GB of RAM. Each eye gets 1920x1080 at 75 Hz across a 52-degree diagonal field of view at 280 nits, which is a virtual monitor, not a training environment: text in a browser window is legible, but there is no room in that FoV for a full-scale machine or a walkable scene. The glasses weigh 106 g on their own, with the battery and compute in the 266 x 249 x 40 mm chassis, so the trainee is seated at a keyboard the whole time. There is no app store, no APK sideloading and no published SDK, so our VR courses have no way onto it at all.
There is nothing to deploy. Sightful stopped the hardware programme in 2024, refunded the deposits on the follow-up model and now sells Spacetop only as Windows software, so a new fleet cannot be ordered in Poland, Germany or anywhere else. Existing Early Access units have no vendor MDM, no kiosk mode and no enterprise licensing offer, and Sightful has never published an end-of-support date for Spacetop OS on them. Hygiene is whatever you can do with a glasses-frame temple and a nose bridge; prescription inserts were offered, not bundled. The one thing that survives — the Windows app — is a separate purchase and needs its own glasses.
Do not buy it for training, and you cannot: the hardware line ended in 2024 and the launch price was 2000 USD (2150 USD once it went on general sale) for a device that only ever ran browser-shaped desktop work. If somebody in the organisation wants a private big-screen workspace, look at current tethered viewer glasses plus a laptop instead. For our courses you need a standalone Android VR headset, which this is not.
How it compares within its class
The axis runs from the lowest to the highest published figure among the AR — wearable display devices in this catalogue. The grey tick is the median of that class.
Median for this class: $579, from 13 models that publish the figure.
Full specification
An em dash means the manufacturer does not publish that figure.
- ManufacturerWho makes it — and who you buy support from.
- Sightful
- CategoryWhich kind of product this is. It decides which rows below make sense at all.
- AR — wearable display
- Device typeWhere the computing happens, and therefore what you need to run it.
- Standalone AR
- AnnouncedThe day it was shown, which is not the day it shipped.
- 2023-05-18
- ReleasedYear the model went on sale. Older is not automatically worse in this category.
- 2023
- AvailabilityWhether you can still order it new today.
- Discontinued in 2024
- Support endsThe date the manufacturer stops supporting it. Decisive for a fleet you are about to buy.
- Support ends: not published by the manufacturer
- DisplayHow the image is produced. "No display" is a real answer in this category, not a gap.
- Birdbath optics
- Eyes coveredOne eye or both. Over a full shift this is a real difference in fatigue.
- Both eyes
- Resolution per eyePixels delivered to each eye. Higher means small text and labels stay readable.
- 1920x1080
- Refresh rateImages per second. Higher feels smoother and helps people prone to motion discomfort.
- ≈75 Hz*Notebookcheck
- Field of viewHow much of your view the image covers. Bigger is more immersive, not automatically better for work.
- ≈52° diagonal*VRcompare estimate
- Pixel densityPixels per degree of view — the honest way to compare sharpness between a headset and a pair of glasses. Higher is sharper. Only shown where somebody published it; we never compute it ourselves.
- Pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- BrightnessIn a plant or outdoors, brightness decides legibility more than resolution does.
- ≈280 nits*VRcompare spec sheet
- WeightThe device alone. Anything above roughly 150 g is felt within an hour.
- ≈106 g*VRcompare (glasses only, excludes the compute chassis)
- Visible field of viewWhat the eye actually sees through the optics, by axis.
- Visible field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Rendered field of viewWhat the device draws. Never smaller than what you see.
- Rendered field of view: not published by the manufacturer
- Binocular overlapWhere both eyes see the same thing — this is where depth happens.
- Binocular overlap: not published by the manufacturer
- Average pixel densityPixels per degree across the image. More is sharper.
- Average pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Peak pixel densityThe sharpest point, usually the centre of the lens.
- Peak pixel density: not published by the manufacturer
- Subpixel layoutHow the coloured dots sit in a pixel. A stripe looks cleaner on text than PenTile.
- Subpixel layout: not published by the manufacturer
- Foveated renderingWhether detail is dropped outside where you look, to save performance.
- Foveated rendering: not published by the manufacturer
- Vision correctionHow somebody who wears glasses uses it, and in what dioptre range.
- Lens inserts available
- DimensionsWidth, height and depth of the device itself.
- ≈266 × 249 × 40 mm*Notebookcheck
- Weight with strapWith the strap it ships with — the weight you actually wear.
- Weight with strap: not published by the manufacturer
- Head strapSoft band or a rigid one. Decides how the weight sits over an hour.
- Glasses frame
- MaterialsShell and facial interface, in the vendor’s words.
- Plastic
- ColoursColours the manufacturer sells it in.
- Black
- Haptics in the headsetVibration in the headset itself, not in the controllers.
- Haptics in the headset: not published by the manufacturer
- TrackingWhether content stays put in the room (6DoF), follows head rotation (3DoF) or is simply fixed.
- 6DoF (position in space)
- Tracking camerasHow many cameras it uses to know where it is.
- 2
- Tracking rateHow often position is recalculated. Higher is steadier.
- Tracking rate: not published by the manufacturer
- Depth sensorA dedicated sensor for distance, on top of the cameras.
- Depth sensor: not published by the manufacturer
- Hand trackingWhether bare hands can operate the interface, without a controller or the phone.
- Yes*VRcompare spec sheet
- Face trackingTracks facial expression — for avatars, not for training scenarios.
- Face tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Body trackingHow much of the body the device knows about. Estimated legs are not tracked legs.
- Body tracking: not published by the manufacturer
- Controllers includedWhether motion controllers come in the box, or are bought separately — or the device is hands-only.
- No
- Controller modelThe manufacturer's own name for the controller.
- Controller model: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller tracking6DoF controllers track position and rotation, so a hand reaches in space; 3DoF only point. “None” means hands only.
- None (hands only)
- Finger tracking on the controllerWhether the controller senses individual fingers, and how.
- Finger tracking on the controller: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller inputsButtons, sticks and triggers the controller offers.
- Controller inputs: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller hapticsVibration feedback in the hand.
- Controller haptics: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller powerDisposable cells or a built-in rechargeable — a fleet question.
- Controller power: not published by the manufacturer
- Controller weightOne controller, as the vendor weighs it.
- Controller weight: not published by the manufacturer
- Other input methodsWays in beyond controllers and bare hands.
- Other input methods: not published by the manufacturer
- Where it computesWhether the device computes on its own or depends on a phone, PC or belt-worn puck.
- Standalone (own computer)
- ProcessorThe processor and memory inside. This is what the performance grade above is derived from.
- Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
- CPUCores and clocks, where the manufacturer publishes them.
- Octa-core Kryo 585 (1 x 3.1 GHz, 3 x 2.42 GHz, 4 x 2.1 GHz)
- GPUThe graphics part of the chip.
- Adreno 650
- MemoryRAM on the device. Together with the chipset it sets how complex a scene can be.
- 8 GB
- PlatformThe platform an application is built against — and what an MDM has to speak.
- Spacetop OS
- SD card slotWhether storage can be added with a card.
- SD card slot: not published by the manufacturer
- BatteryRuntime as the manufacturer states it. A hot-swappable pack matters more than the figure.
- ≈300 min*Notebookcheck
- Battery capacity (Wh)Energy in the cell. Bigger is longer, given the same power draw.
- Battery capacity (Wh): not published by the manufacturer
- Battery capacity (mAh)The same fact in the other unit vendors use. We never convert between the two.
- Battery capacity (mAh): not published by the manufacturer
- Charge timeFrom empty to full. Rarely stated by the manufacturer, so it usually comes from whoever timed it.
- ≈120 min*Notebookcheck
- ChargerPower of the supplied charger — it decides the charge time above.
- Charger: not published by the manufacturer
- External batteryBattery on a cable or a puck instead of on the head.
- External battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Charging caseExtra runtime carried in the case the glasses ship with.
- Charging case: not published by the manufacturer
- Hot-swap batteryWhether a charged battery can replace the empty one without ending the session. This is what decides if a headset can hold an all-day training station.
- Hot-swap battery: not published by the manufacturer
- Third-party appsHow a third party's application reaches the device: an ordinary Android package, a vendor-only SDK, or not at all.
- Closed platform
- Runs Skillsive appsOur own statement about whether Skillsive training applications run on it today.
- No
- Suitable for trainingOur judgement on whether it survives real deployment: comfort, hygiene, fleet management.
- No
- CertificationsIndustrial certifications stated on the manufacturer's own page. Empty means unconfirmed, never "probably fine".
- Certifications: not published by the manufacturer
- PortsPhysical sockets and charging contacts.
- USB Type-C
- Wi-FiThe Wi-Fi generation — it decides how well wireless streaming holds up.
- Wi-Fi 6
- BluetoothFor controllers, headphones and accessories.
- Bluetooth: not published by the manufacturer
- Video from a computerWhether a computer can drive it, over a cable or wirelessly.
- Video from a computer: not published by the manufacturer
- AudioBuilt-in sound. Matters most where somebody has to hear a remote expert while working.
- Built-in speakers
- MicrophoneBuilt-in microphone — the other half of talking to a remote expert.
- Yes
- MicrophonesHow many. An array picks a voice out of a noisy hall; one does not.
- Microphones: not published by the manufacturer
- CameraA camera is what makes a remote expert call and photo documentation possible.
- Yes
- Price bandThe band it sits in, rather than a price that goes stale.
- Premium
- Launch priceThe manufacturer's launch price. Fixed history, so it never goes stale.
- $2000
- Price by configurationWhat each configuration cost at launch.
- Early Access (2023) $2000 · General availability (2024) $2150
- Price todayApproximate current net price in USD — a general figure, since these barely differ between regions once tax is stripped out. A snapshot from the date shown, not an offer.
- Price today: not published by the manufacturer
Who this device is for
Spacetop was aimed at people who work all day in a browser and want a large private screen on a train or in a shared office, not at anyone running training content. With a closed OS, no controllers and a seated keyboard-and-trackpad interaction model, it has no overlap with a VR training programme; the only realistic audience left is a collector or someone already holding an Early Access unit.
What is missing, and what the manufacturer does not publish
Sightful's own site no longer documents the hardware at all — it now sells the Windows app — so every figure here is second-hand, and two sources disagree: VRcompare lists a Snapdragon 865 at 60 Hz with 256 GB, Notebookcheck's spec list says Snapdragon XR2 at 75 Hz with 128 GB. Nobody published an end-of-support date, a formal discontinuation notice for the Early Access units, or any brightness or FoV figure from the maker. We could not verify the hand-tracking claim against Sightful at all; it comes only from the aggregator.
Sightful Spacetop — frequently asked questions
- Can you still buy the Sightful Spacetop AR laptop in 2026?
- No. Sightful ended the hardware programme in 2024, refunded the deposits taken on the follow-up model and now sells Spacetop only as a Windows application that pairs with separately bought AR glasses. Existing Early Access units still work, but there is no way to order new hardware and no published end-of-support date for Spacetop OS.
- Do Skillsive VR courses run on Spacetop OS?
- No. Spacetop OS is a closed system with no app store, no APK sideloading and no published SDK, so there is no route to install our courses. It is also a seated device driven by a keyboard and trackpad, with no controllers and a 52-degree diagonal field of view — a virtual monitor rather than a VR environment.
- Why does Spacetop weigh only 106 g if it is a laptop?
- The 106 g figure covers the glasses alone. The battery, the Snapdragon XR2 and the 8 GB of RAM all sit in the keyboard chassis, which measures 266 x 249 x 40 mm and is wired to the glasses, so the weight on your face is small while the rest of the machine stays on the desk. That split is also why the quoted five hours of battery life is realistic.
Compare this device
Consider these too
The nearest devices in the same class, ranked by availability and launch price — not by our opinion of them.
Specifications checked against the manufacturer's page on 2026-08-10. Manufacturer's specification
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