Although my Elac speakers and SVS sub have an opinion of their own, but I agree generally regarding Oculus. Apple MacBook Pros are the best approximation for stereo-only. My Thinkpad T series has terrible speakers, so headphones are an improvement for almost any activity there. Quest Pro sound is pretty good, but it's nothing spectacular and good luck casting or viewing multichannel media there, i.e., there's no Plex or VLC for Oculus (this app doesn't work on Quest[0]). Without the encouragement and convincing of each major app vendor to get on another platform, they won't and can't justify the expense. This is one of catch-22's of platforms being double-ended marketplaces that must be addressed, or it will bomb.
It's not super great but I connected my Quest to my Macbook Pro 2015 and I can use it for work - multiple virtual monitors floating in space where I can edit code etc. The limiting factor is the resolution of the headset, not the GPU of the laptop.
You do not want a VR headset that requires headphones to operate. That's one more set of batteries to charge. It's one more thing to adjust when switching between users.
The Quest is the same as the AVP. Both have surprisingly good audio. The AVP's built-in audio does a great job. You need headphones if you want privacy, first and foremost. Certain headphones will also enable spatial audio and stuff like that.
But Apple's audio approach here is very sound. It's nothing like the huge upcharge for more storage.
I bought an Oculus Quest 2 when it came out and it's pretty fantastic. The whole experience with setup and gaming is excellent, especially for the price.
There are plenty of little rough edges that I feel like Apple would do a good job of smoothing off. Things like not being able to get phone notifications or use bluetooth headphones.
I had Rift, Quest 1, and Quest 2. The problem with these is
1. They’re really high friction to turn on so I don’t usually bother
2. The displays are too low rez so I don’t want to read text/do work or watch non-3D movies in them (though 3D ones are spectacular, but too hard to set up and no streaming service support means even more friction “acquiring” them), and
3. There aren’t enough AAA blockbuster narrative games (Half Life Alyx made my entire Rift purchase worth it, but nothing single handedly justified the Quest 2). The UI is also really annoying to navigate without controllers. Idk why they didn’t instantly adopt the Apple look-and-pinch model (even without eye tracking a crosshair with snapping would probably be fine).
I think with respect to compute/GPU capability the Apple headset will be vastly superior. One of the major issues with the Quest is the lack of graphics quality that can be brought to the virtual environments. Unless you run it via Link to a PC with a top end GPU it is just a toy. Having VR experiences like the recent Unreal Engine provides is simply orders of magnitude away for Quest in the current state... Thats one major reason that this thing does not take off for FB
You think testing VR apps in a simulator on a laptop is more indicative of the final experience than another VR headset that almost has feature parity?
I imagine you'd probably still want to use the simulator to ensure your code will run on the actual Apple hardware, but for verifying actual UX/behaviour I'd take the Quest Pro over that any day.
It is not fair to compare the Quest devices, given what we know about the Vision Pro so far.
The AR functionality on current-gen gaming headsets is terrible, and the screen door effect is glaringly obvious.
What Apple is advertising blows the Oculus devices away. Whether the difference is worth the extra $3000 is a question that has yet to be answered, but it’s a category error to compare them directly.
There is a segment that uses the virtual desktop with the oculus quest 2 quite extensively, so you still have that argument with their current lineup of devices IMO.
I was extremely bullish on Meta’s VR effort. The Quest 2 is extremely impressive and you really feel like peering into the future of computing.
I’m starting to realize that it may be the far future. The $1500 Quest Pro was just released to scathing reviews. The AR color passthrough feature sounds like a low quality joke. The headset is heavier and the battery lasts a hour or 2. The screen fidelity is still too low for productivity computing. The eye and face tracking result in extremely underwhelming animation that I can’t imagine adds any value to the social proposition. The primary Meta dream of all your social interactions in VR with friends, family and coworkers around the world is starting to seem more than a decade away.
And on top of all that, Apple looks like it may have a serious entrant into this market and might easily beat Meta to the finish line to the next computing platform.
My initial venture into VR began with the PSVR 1, but it proved challenging – heavy, hot, prone to fogging, and with poor resolution, making it uncomfortable after just 10 minutes of use.
On a whim, I bought the Quest 3 at launch with low expectations due to its price, but it pleasantly surprised me. The headset is lightweight, doesn't fog, and performs well. The gaming experience, along with hand tracking and XR capabilities, surpassed my expectations. I find myself using it more than my iPad for YouTube and web browsing. I understand Apple's positioning of the Vision Pro as a living room entertainment replacement.
However, I believe Meta missed an opportunity to enhance the OS for productivity and entertainment. Downloading movies and TV shows for offline viewing is not straightforward, and managing multiple browser windows can be convoluted. Not all apps support running in a window, limiting the device's flexibility.
Having experienced disappointments with first-gen Apple products like the Intel Mac, iPhone, and Watch, I'm hesitant to jump into the Vision Pro unless Apple takes gaming seriously and offers PCVR compatibility. The transformative experience of playing MSFS with Quest Link in VR has been a game changer.
Is the quest better yes for most people you basically won’t be able to afford it and the best selling point of the quest is the software library and games with the special controllers. This is what most people do with headsets right now regardless .
Will the quest ever really break into the productivity space with apples headset? Probably as a Chromebook like device and Apple controlling the high margin ground which I think is most likely .
The main problem with headsets is that the pass through isn’t as seamless as Apple’s and it can always get cheaper and faster .
Quest can't do VR titles. It will always be a niche mobile game market that can't give VR justice. If they would integrate h264 hardware decode and allowed the PC oculus software to stream to it, then we'd be in business.
Wireless VR is a big problem right now, it's expensive, doesn't work well, and for it's price you might as well get better hardware.
Oculus should ship quest with a cheap little 5Ghz USB broadcaster that you can put into your gaming PC and the oculus software can then stream through. Everyone wants to be able to have no cords and tuck their PC into a corner, not drag it with them.
Speaking of hardware, Apple's A-series processors have a significant lead over Qualcomm's Snapdragon, which Oculus is stuck with for their standalone Quest headset.
If they do make a VR / AR headset, that's going to translate into better performance and/or longer battery life than their competitors.
I think Tim Cook and Apple made the correct decision.
I own an Oculus Quest, which is fairly light weight and totally self contained while my Brother owns a more capable Oculus device that is tethered to his gaming PC.
I use my Quest many times a day, often for just a few minutes at a time. It is so easy to get up from my desk, and jump into a ping pong game, enjoy a favorite part of Vader Immortal, randomly try a VR art piece, etc., etc.
I don’t want to spend huge amounts of time on the quest, rather to just use it the way I would take a walk or a hike.
I love the Oculus Quest, and if Apple sells something better with good content, then I am all in.
This is a bit of a rant, but I bought a Quest Pro last year, and I feel it was a total waste of money. It's actually embarrassing how much of an unpolished piece of garbage it feels like. Sure, it's fun as a PCVR headset, but as a productivity tool or as a multimedia consuming device, or as a social tool, it completely misses the mark.
And I'd say that 80% of its failure can be attributed to bad software. It's buggy, I constantly have to re-calibrate my work/play area, the hand tracking is janky, and even though it supports (incredible) eye tracking, almost nothing takes actual advantage of the hardware.
It's insane that a billion-dollar company like Meta actually felt proud to release such a steaming pile of trash. Do they seriously expect VR enthusiasts to build an entire operating system for them? Much like the reports we're getting about the Vision Pro, the eye tracking in the Quest Pro feels like magic, but nothing uses it—basically it's irrelevant to navigating the operating system and barely any games use foveated rendering. It's infuriating.
If I was Zuck, I'd fire all my product managers. I say good for Apple. I'll probably be selling my Quest Pro and buying the Vision Pro.
This is the most relevant comment. I have the Meta Quest 2 running on a very powerful workstation[0] and its fun for an hour or two every month or so. I get VR sickness sometimes which is really not fun at all. Its actually really fucking terrible. I can fish all day (Ocean or Lake) and not get sick, but these VR headsets can be debilitating.
[0] I was a Macbook Pro user for many, many years until they started soldering everything to the darn MB. Apple is user hostile, imo, to the point that the juice isn't worth the squeeze. I strictly buy used workstations (Think Dell 7820's, SuperMicro, etc.) that are a generation or two behind the latest and greatest. TCO is just phenomenal here AND I can upgrade them or downgrade them very easily. A chromebook with internet access is all I need to have my own private, GPU enabled, "datacenter" when I am away from the house. I love my setup and its so gdamn practical that "justification" is not a verb in my vocabulary.
I recently tried the Quest 2 and was blown away by the level of isolation from the external world it provides. It's pure concentration. I think VR has lot of potential for productivity (and education).
Regarding the price point of Simula VR my thoughts are that they are only high for a yet unproved product. On the other hand, if the product delivers I could see myself expending 2500€ for personal use. After all I'm evaluating laptops right now for 1/2 the price. And then of course a company can recover that amount multiple times if people is just 5% more productive.
Forgot to mention: I love it's Linux based, as it's my daily driver. I have seen the light but most of the people I know at work have switched to Mac, so I suppose that at some point it would make sense to give that option.
0. https://www.meta.com/experiences/1779825005402730/
reply