Comment by Hippocrates

3 years ago

3,500 seems SO worth it if this can be used to comfortably replace external displays for long periods of time.

If I don't need external monitors, I don't need my large desk, and I don't need my home office, which adds like 100k to the price of any home I'd consider. I'd just work from a bedroom, a closet, or my deck if I had this.

It would be amazing if I could use this to do more work outside, while benefitting from a larger screen without glare, even though "outside" might be watered down a bit. It would be excellent for nomading or work/entertainment from a hotel room.

This could be a great way to regain some privacy and focus in an open office environment, plus be able to personalize your setup. A digital beach backdrop is better than seeing my coworker scratch his crusty scalp 2 feet in front of me.

The benefits for air travel are obvious. People already swaddle themselves with large noise cancelling headphones and zany neck pillows. I don't think this would be weird plane at all. I'd kill for an immersive 4k display over craning at my phone or relying on flaky seatback entertainment.

> If I don't need external monitors, I don't need my large desk, and I don't need my home office, which adds like 100k to the price of any home I'd consider.

First thing my SO mentioned on seeing this was "wow, we can try more kinds of places to stay when we travel". Lots of VRBO / AirBnB can't work for remote work.

This expands the inventory of WR options for less than the price difference of a week's stay.

> 3,500 seems SO worth it if this can be used to comfortably replace external displays

Agreed, but that's a huge IF. The ergonomics problems with VR headsets are well documented - has Apple really managed to transcend them? I'm not gambling $3500 for a thing that probably ends up sitting in a drawer because it gives me neck cramps or eye strain or motion sickness.

If Apple wants to drive adoption they need to lower that risk. A way to have a trial period or a one-week rental would help.

  • I'm pretty sure they would have had extensive trials for comfort and neck strain already.

    • This is the same company that told people they were holding their iPhones wrong because the antenna was dropping out during calls.

      I'd prefer to try it myself rather than just take their word for it.

    • I’m not sure why you got downvoted. Apple is a trillion dollar company. They certainly have looked into this, and many of the leaks supported this theory.

> use this to do more work outside

Can’t wait for the Apple Vision Pro suntan.

Thank you for this! While yes, it is expensive and I do think a bit wild I would pay serious, serious money to migrate away from my home office.

Ever since I began remote work I have been cooking up ways to code outside but the glare alone puts me off from it. I am a solo kind of person who enjoys media a ton and am already a huge fan of Apple’s displays.

I guess with all the naysayers here it makes me happy to see someone who understands the potential. This is awesome, and the first VR set I have wanted to purchase. The price is steep and I may even wait a generation. But if I had to bet, this will end up absurdly successful similar to all of their other recent home runs.

4~5K per eye feels like a lot, and it's impressive VR technology wise. But mapping a monitor at realistic size (let's say half of the field of view) at this resolution means we're below 2K to display text/images.

We've lived with 2K monitors for decades, so that sure could be workable, but the same way it's a clash to move from a Retina screen to an old 1080p monitor, I think it will clash to move from a current MacBook to this headset as a work monitor.

For games that's not an issue of course, but 3500 for a gaming device makes the calculation pretty different.

  • > We've lived with 2K monitors for decades

    This is a bit disingenuous. The 2013 MacBook Pro (a single decade ago) was the first mainstream device with a resolution above 1080p and with scaling people effectively still had a 1440x900 screen anyway. 1280x800 was common at the time for 13" devices. High DPI has really only taken off in the last 5 years.

    edit: fixed info regarding scaling

    • Yes and no.

      That MacBook was the first device to offer High DPI in that package (I wouldn't be surprised if there was some obscure Sony laptop on par with that, but doesn't matter). But weirdly enough CRT at that time had decent resolution for the distance they were supposed to be viewed at. I remember Iiyama having 1600+ px screens for sub 20" CRTs, at expensive but manageable prices (something around 500+?)

      We'd accept many compromizes for laptops anyway, so a lower resolution/worst refresh rate to have LCD panels instead was part of the package.

Depth of desks could go from 2-3' to 1'. Offices could fit more desks.

But I think we'll see people using these with virtual displays, and then co-workers' personas bleeding in from the periphery. Companies will go from requiring in-office workers to being OK with staff WFH if they have a device like this. $3500 is going to be cheap when compared with office space per person.

Quest Pro does the exact same thing for 1/3 the price. It has all sorts of enterprise features and Microsoft is on-board with it.

  • I returned my Quest Pro due to annoying and frequent software bugs. It was a great device when it worked, although I'd prefer a slightly higher resolution.

> I don't need my large desk, and I don't need my home office

Idk man, I'd always prefer having a dedicated work space. I even have a separate 'tinkering' space in my garage purely so I have a frame of mind of 'what' I am working on.

What kind of work are you going to do on this without a keyboard, mouse, and a laptop nearby for tethering? And if all those are still a requirement then you're back to being stuck on your desk.

  • Stuck at a desk, sure, but as it stands I need a pretty big desk to hold my ultrawide monitor while still having enough room to hold regular physical things like notebooks, test hardware, and other tools. Being able to ditch the monitor and work with just a small 13" laptop would make small desks more practical.

  • Your laptop needn't be in front of you. You just need space for a keyboard and mouse/trackpad. That's "Stable Table" size, so works on the couch, dining table, kitchen bench, outside table, etc. Without relocating your external displays. Or your home office desk could be 12" deep rather than 2-3x that.

  • As they demonstrated, Bluetooth accessories like a keyboard and mouse can be used. I basically did this, during the pandemic, with my Quest 2, a TV tray, and my MacBook sitting on the floor, next to me. I used my closet.

    • Making digital music - all the guitars and keyboard / sequencer machine stuff.

  • Sure, for now perhaps. Do you really think Apple will not add those features?

  • No tethering required (It is an M2 based computer) and it works with bluetooth keyboard and mouse. So, to answer your question, you will do whatever kinds of work you do today.

    • I do think you're ignoring a huge part of the problem though, and that's software support. Because reality OS is iOS-based, we're likely going to end up with the same limitations, and many professional industries (software engineering, for one) just won't be able to take advantage of the device fully.

      Of course there's workarounds (I used GitHub Codespaces for a while on my iPad and went without a Mac, and you could use the desktop streaming available on the headset), but they are no match for the same convenience you get by staying fully within Apple's walled garden.

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I think I'll skip the first generation and wait for the resolution to become better. 4k is good for a 22" external monitor, but having 4k cover your field of vision will make have to move your eyes a lot for the text to look good.

  • It's nearly 5k per eye. The Reverb G2 is only 2160x2160, a bit over 1/3rd of that pixel density and is already quite usable for coding, so I expect the Vision Pro to be well beyond "good enough" territory.

  • Yeah I am curious to see how well this works in practice. Resolution and screen size is a delicate balance, and the face-mounted aspect of this throws conventional wisdom of what works well out the window.

    • Yeah, I'm definitely going to try it out in an Apple store but I don't have high hopes for anything text related. I'm also skeptical to the 12ms (83fps) refresh rate.