Apple fans are starting to return their Vision Pros::The return window for the very first Apple Vision Pro buyers is fast approaching — and some have taken to social media to explain why they won’t be keeping their headsets.
There’s a lot of salient points here, but here’s my perspective. I have a gaming rig and a high end headset (index) and it’s tied down to one room. The sensors are mounted on the wall and my gigantic PC isn’t going anywhere. The controllers are usually dead, the sensors disconnect when my cats pull the cords. It takes a while for anything to load up and my room has to remain clean and empty. To get a VR experience going it takes time and effort which often is too much for me. The only thing I’m going to do with that setup is play a VR game and I’ve already gotten bored of most of those. The Vision Pro can just go on anytime anywhere and I just gesture to use it. I can stream Steam Link from my gaming PC to allow me to game anywhere and AVP pairs with my Xbox controller. I can take the AVP to work and look at my Mac mini and start working in it. Sure, the setup you describe is more capable for gaming, but AVP fills a wider role, is more accessible, and just works each time I use it. It won’t replace my VR setup for high end VR gaming at home but it’s much more attractive to use regularly, at least for me personally.
That’s a solid argument toward using an AVP vs a traditional PCVR set up.
… So why not just do that for a fraction of the price on the Quest 3? I do everything you listed on mine, I even take it with me when I travel without any perceived constraints. I, too, can use Steam Link (although I prefer Virtual Remote Desktop currently) and even found myself making some use of the new Xbox GamePass app, and yes, it also pairs with my controller, and my Logitech keyboard and mouse too.
I understand the AVP can fill a wider role than a standard PCVR gaming rig set up, but I feel what you describe as something to compare with the AVP is honestly kind of outdated.
Eye tracking, hand gestures and resolution are superior on AVP. It accesses all my content already in the Apple ecosystem, has no noticeable latency when working from my Mac minis display. It does not require room setup and remembers the locations of my virtual displays all around my home or office. It can display all the spatial videos I’ve shot over the past year on my iPhone 15 pro. I also don’t trust facebook and refuse to have their data farming device scanning my every move. Yes, apples device also has access to that data, but I don’t believe they are allowing it to leave the Secure Enclave chip inside the AVP.
I’m not really a fan of Facebook, but I’m kind of wanting a Quest 3 because the cost of the AVP and other headsets just reinforce how much of a value it must be. Maybe it’s just early days, but the AVP just doesn’t do enough of what I want from a headset at even half its price point.
I do want to see what an AV (non pro) will bring to the table, but I think Meta is in a better position to impress with their next Quest headset now that apple has laid their cards on the table. They could sell a quest 4 at twice the price of a quest 3, add in whatever new technologies that might afford, and still be insanely more affordable than an AVP.
