Apple

The only part of this that I agree with is the “last 10 years have been toys”. The Vision is the best VR headset I’ve ever used and I fully expect it will be jailbroken or that games will release for it. I backed the Oculus kickstarter and have bought a new headset every generation since and this one blows them all out of the water.

Quest 2 and the other headsets of that generation were the turning point. That was when you could finally do a good looking 1080p screen in VR. Quest pro and Quest 3 are about equivalent to 1440p in actual pixels at a comfortable field of view, but in perceived clarity they are as good as 4k. Mainly the pancake lenses helped, VR has always been able to show more digital clarity than the physical equivalent in pixels on a real screen, since it's got that free temporal antialiasing from your micromovements of your head/neck. But the old lenses really robbed alot of that potential clarity.

I for sure wouldn't spend the money on a vision pro, and not just because I don't have anything else from the apple ecosystem to use it with. That is just too high of a price for a household object to me. A 500 dollar headset and 3000 dollar PC would be a way better use of money.

But I'm glad the vision pro exists. I think Apple getting involved in something helps normal people see it as a real thing finally. I do think the vision pro is worth the price it costs in the sense that there isn't alot of mark up there. The tech they put in there is roughly in that ballpark, but I agree that it isn't quite good enough to replace a desktop, and there isn't a huge need for a VR headset that replaces a laptop. I certainly will stick to 500 dollar headsets as they steadily approach that same power level. Honestly, at the rate mobile chipset upgrades go, it's like 3 years behind laptop power at any given point. Not a huge wait.

A Quest 3 is already in a pretty good place compute power wise. Games already look pretty good, it can stream incredibly high quality video, and having the equivalent of multiple 4k screens all within that relatively tiny price point, hard to compete. But competing is important, and I do hope vision pro does well enough to keep it's line going. I do like that they made sure there was an official source for 3D movies for the vision pro. I like watching 3D movies in VR, but there was no easy source currently still. You have to get them yourself, whether by playing or ripping the disk on a pc, or streaming them in low quality unofficial apps, or by just straight up illegally downloading them. There was no official store front for real high quality 3d movies in VR yet.

I wonder if they have any future plans for whatever apple would end up calling PCVR. It's not just for much better looking games, there are also useful apps that benefit from real computer power instead of laptop power.

I am also not a big fan of "bespoke" headsets. Any of the ones that try to make it only fit one person best. Even the most uncomfortable headsets are able to be a comfortable 8 hour general use headset for less than 100 dollars of after market mods. VR headsets should be for sharing, especially at those kinds of prices. I think more awareness of the aftermarket and third party scene should be a goal.

Like the smartphone market, VR headsets have alot of options for customization, and alot of those options make a huge difference for very little cost. I've got a huge head, basically the biggest most VR headsets can even support, and I also share my headsets with pretty much everyone I know, including my nieces and nephews, one of which actually had a head size below the minimum when she started. We just put a sweatband on her before the headset and she was good.

With a halo strap and swappable battery system, Quest 2 and 3 were good to go for hours on everyone I had try it. Quest 1 actually didn't need anything for comfort other than a counterweight, so I added a 10k mah battery to it, an anker slim. Immediately bringing it to 8 hours of comfortable run time. The pro only needed a new forehead piece, so I got one that was cloth covered memory foam, and then put that same anker slim on it. Speaking of the Quest pro, it was hard enough to spend 1000 dollars on a VR headset. But the eye and face tracking were nice, I still use that one for social VR stuff. But the Quest 3 for anything else.

I basically live in VR, I come out to eat and sleep, and most of the time when I leave the house. Not every time, sometimes I bring the headset with me. But I'm not technically in VR most of the time, I'm in mixed reality. I am certainly what people would call a VR evangelist, I do get any of the people that express interest to try it. I know there is a very good chance my VR demo is likely the best one they have ever gotten, mostly cuz it's often the first, but also because it's actually pretty hard to keep in mind all the best practices of doing VR demos.

I've gotten pretty good at giving impromptu demos to strangers. I always have sanitary covers in my VR bag. And I can eyeball their head size and pupil distance and pick the most likely experience for them. Though I do still let it be their choice, just with my recommendation. And once they are in the headset I do confirm the fit and pupil distance. But having them pre-set pretty close really cuts down on the more uncomfortable parts where a stranger has to be really close to them. And if the fit and clarity are close enough, I can completely skip that even. You don't need perfect in a modern headset for it to blow their mind.