You should swap your work or gaming monitor for a pair of AR glasses, and I'm not joking

Image of XREAL Air 2 AR glasses, wearable displays that use bird bath optics to superimpose content into your field of vision, in red showing a 3/4 rear view of the optics and frames on a teal backdrop with the words 'XREAL Air 2' repeated in the background.

(Image credit: Laptop Mag / XREAL)

Having the hardware required to run a game is half the equation. The other half is having a display that lets all of that graphical prowess shine. Laptop owners have a leg up in this sense, as the best gaming laptops come readily equipped with some pretty impressive displays.

The downside? You're typically limited to a much smaller screen. Even the largest of gaming laptops, like 2017's ludicrous Acer Predator 21 X (I mean, seriously. Look at this monstrosity) with its 21-inch curved screen pales in comparison to a decently-sized standalone gaming monitor.

It's at this stage I could easily steer you towards checking out some of the best gaming monitors to augment your gaming setup — and by all means, if you're looking for a great display to amplify your game time, go for it. However, to borrow a phrase from Star Wars' wise old sundowning swamp gremlin "There is another."

Let's do away with the long-winded wind-up: I'm talking about AR glasses. Specifically, the XREAL Air 2 AR glasses — face-worn displays that make you look as cool as The Fonz while offering sharp, vibrant, full-HD, micro-OLED per eye pictures with up to a 120Hz refresh rate on virtual displays of up to 330 inches (cutting through the marketing talk, this is seen as about a 27-inch to 32-inch display in front of you), featuring impressive open-ear stereo audio and capable of connecting to any DisplayPort over USB-C compatible device including smartphones, laptops, handheld gaming consoles, and tablets.

"All of that, in a pair of glasses weighting only 75 grams?" I hear you dubiously question. "What is this? Some sort of pitch for me to invest in the research and development of a product that surely only my children's children will enjoy?" I hear you skeptically suggest.

No. These Happy Days are yours and mine, and if you act now you can save $60 off of the typical $359 asking price of a pair of XREAL Air 2 AR glasses, securing your very own frames of tomorrow, today, for the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses rivalling price of just $299 at Amazon.

XREAL's Air 2 glasses are another incredible pair of smart glasses that offer bright and immersive mirco-OLED-powered AR displays and built-in speakers that transform your approach to entertainment.

I gave these AR glasses a four-star review in 2023, and the tech still holds up, offering great benefits to productivity, privacy, and deeper immersion in games and media.

XREAL's glasses also work flawlessly with Windows and Apple computers, as well as handheld gaming PCs like the Steam Deck or ROG Ally, granting you a virtual display that would make even the biggest of Samsung's Odyssey monitor line blush.

For a limited time, purchase a pair of XREAL Air 2 AR glasses and claim an XREAL Kaleido Kit for free to customize your frames with easy-to-apply (and remove) decals.

Features: Built-in micro-OLED displays (1920 x 1080, 120Hz, maximum size 330"), built-in speakers.

Subtle references to 50-year-old American sitcoms aside, it's worth pointing out that this isn't some blind recommendation on my behalf. I wear smart glasses all of the time and I've previously given up monitors entirely to work and play on a setup powered by these very XREAL Air 2 glasses.

While my initial experience was positive, things have only gotten better with time following XREAL's proprietary Nebula software arriving to Windows (albeit in beta at the moment) alongside several third-party options that enable better 3DoF (three degrees of freedom, essentially the ability to "pin" a window in a particular place for you to turn to and away from at will), and multi-display support.

Not to mention the release of the XREAL Beam Pro, a smartphone-sized spatial computer that allows you to do away with your laptop entirely and work or play at a truly impressive spatial setup. If you'd prefer to go all out on the AR computing experience, then you can also save $60 on XREAL's Air 2 and Beam Pro bundle, now only $548 at Amazon.

XREAL's Air 2 AR glasses are impressive, but when they're paired with the company's Beam Pro spatial compute puck, the real AR vision for computing comes into focus.

The Beam Pro has access to all your favorite and familiar Android apps including the full Google suite of tools and access to the Google Play Store.

This gives you an ultra-portable spatial computer for entertainment, games, and productivity with a sizeable 4300 mAh battery to draw from and two 50 mega-pixel cameras to capture spatial photos and video, which you can play back in full 3D on your Air 2 frames or export to compatible 3D media players.

Features: (Air 2 AR glasses) Built-in micro-OLED displays (1920 x 1080, 120Hz, maximum size 330"), built-in speakers. (Beam Pro) 256GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, twin 50MP cameras for 3D content capture, smartphone-like design with 6.5-inch, 90Hz LCD touchscreen, and access to Google Play Store.

Still, as a standalone pair of AR glasses attached to your usual array of devices, the XREAL Air 2 makes for an especially impressive viewing experience thanks to the increased immersion of the focus-stealing displays and open-ear audio.

Do you have a Steam Deck or similar handheld gaming console? AR glasses like XREAL's can greatly improve the viewing experience while allowing you to recline comfortably, soaking up all of the action on a larger display without having to hunch over a smaller screen with the posture of a gargoyle.

Do you have limited space in your home office? Ditch the flatscreen. A pair of XREAL Air 2 AR glasses means you can make the most of even the most cramped conditions while foregoing none of the benefits an external monitor would previously offer you. Sorry webcam, you're going to need to find a new place to perch.

Do you need a portable setup that matches your "cofficer" lifestyle? Not only do AR glasses offer improved privacy from prying eyes, but you can run your entire setup using XREAL's Beam Pro as your computer and a lightweight portable keyboard to get just about everything you need to be done anywhere at any time.

XREAL's Air 2s offer impressive versatility, and with several deals knocking down the price on these fantastic frames, I'd be remiss not to make the suggestion: it might just be time to say farewell to the flatscreen.

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Rael Hornby, potentially influenced by far too many LucasArts titles at an early age, once thought he’d grow up to be a mighty pirate. However, after several interventions with close friends and family members, you’re now much more likely to see his name attached to the bylines of tech articles. While not maintaining a double life as an aspiring writer by day and indie game dev by night, you’ll find him sat in a corner somewhere muttering to himself about microtransactions or hunting down promising indie games on Twitter.