Oculus Rift Won't Support Mac Until Apple Releases a 'Good Computer'

[MacRumors]

During a recent Xbox press event, ShackNews had an opportunity to speak with Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey and asked him whether the company plans to implement Mac support for the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset.

In response to the question, Luckey said Oculus Rift support for the Mac was "up to Apple," and that the company needed to "prioritize higher-end GPUs." If Apple builds a machine that can handle the hardware, Oculus VR would "love to support Mac."

That is up to Apple and if they ever release a good computer we will do it. It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn't prioritize high-end GPUs. You can a buy $6,000 Mac Pro with the top of the line AMD FirePro D700s and it still doesn't match our recommended spec. If they prioritize higher-end GPUs like they used to for awhile back in the day I think we'd love to support Mac.

Right now there's just not a single machine out there that supports it so even if we can support it on the software side there's just no audience of people that can run the vast majority of software out there.

The Oculus Rift, which is available for pre-order, will begin shipping out later this month to PC users. While Mac support was planned early on, work on a Mac version was halted once it became clear Mac machines would not have the graphics capabilities to power the headset.

As Luckey mentions, the Oculus Rift requires a computer with a powerful GPU. Oculus VR's recommended specs for the Rift include an NVIDIA GTX 970, AMD 290, or equivalent, because the Oculus Rift needs to render approximately 400 million shaded pixels per second. Mac machines, even the high-end ones, don't have the graphics power to handle that kind of system load.

On the raw rendering costs: a traditional 1080p game at 60Hz requires 124 million shaded pixels per second. In contrast, the Rift runs at 2160x1200 at 90Hz split over dual displays, consuming 233 million pixels per second. At the default eye-target scale, the Rift's rendering requirements go much higher: around 400 million shaded pixels per second. This means that by raw rendering costs alone, a VR game will require approximately 3x the GPU power of 1080p rendering.

With interest in virtual reality devices like the Oculus Rift picking up, Apple will need to focus more heavily on the graphics capabilities with Macs if it hopes to keep up with PC makers and avoid disappointing customers who want to use the latest technology and gaming peripherals. Rumors suggest Apple is even developing its own virtual reality headset, so there's a good chance the company is already well aware of the need for improved GPUs and working towards improvements.

Article Link: Oculus Rift Won't Support Mac Until Apple Releases a 'Good Computer'

 

[awer25]

As always, no love for the Hackintosh community

 

[DTphonehome]

Obviously "good" refers to higher-powered GPUs. Macs are obviously "good" computers by most measures b Baitclicky headline.

 

[Crosscreek]

Facts are facts so if you want VR it will have to be a PC.

 

[kasakka]

As always, no love for the Hackintosh community

As much as I would like this, it's a pretty niche area, hardly worth spending money to support.

I hope the next gen GPUs mean that iMacs and Mac Pros will finally be able to have some good GPUs in them.

 

[larrylaffer]

If you replace every instance of "good computer" with "better drivers", then he's right.

 

[citi]

Way to fragment your market before you even get started. Also, if VR won't work on your average joe's high end computer, good luck with mass adoption.

 

[R3k]

Good, they need a kick in the pants, even a small one.

 

[Popeye206]

Hummm... so I doubt 95% of the PC users will be able to use it either. Sounds like very high-end video requirements. Not something your average PC (of any brand) is going to have.

 

[SSD-GUY]

Imagine Mac Pro prices with high end GPUs, if Apple already thinks it puts high end specs in the Mac Pro already.

*shudders*

 

[Zaft]

Gaming on mac sucks, its been like that for a while. Apple still includes a 5400rpm HDD as default on the imac.. cmon now.

 

[Norbs12]

It's funny and sad but fair. Why release software for such a limited group of people. Getting a gtx970 equivalent on a PC is much cheaper than a mac. I think it would be fair to say less than 50% of macs even have a dedicated graphics card and very few of those have graphic performance that can compete with a gtx970.

 

[Zaft]

Hummm... so I doubt 95% of the PC users will be able to use it either. Sounds like very high-end video requirements. Not something your average PC (of any brand) is going to have.

Point is you can upgrade your pc.

 

[Norbs12]

Gaming on mac sucks, its been like that for a while. Apple still includes a 5400rpm HDD as default on the imac.. cmon now.

Yeah, that 5400rpm drive on a $1400 computer is such a slap in the face.

 

[samcraig]

#legit I mean really. You can't argue against Oculus here. Not if you believe Apple represents quality experiences. Why would Oculus want to offer their headset on a system that wouldn't give the user a quality experience.

 

[ThisIsNotMe]

The hilarious thing is that this thing should be designed with an iPhone/iPad as a minimum specification not some high end PC that no one in a retail environment owns.

 

[melendezest]

Given their current product offerings and trajectory, I believe Apple doesn't and never will give a flying F about this.

That said, with TB3 the possibility exists for external GPU enclosures that make this viable.

Then again, see statement #1.

 

[Padaung]

I can't fault his logic for why Macs aren't supported. Why build Mac compatibility if no Mac machine can run the system? The Hackintosh community is too small for the effort required to get it there and the potential return in the future would probably not pay for the work. Focus on making Oculus work great on PCs, where the majority of gamers are already, makes perfect sense.

 

[owen.meredith]

Well, considering there's better VR's coming about that Oculus i'm not bothered - it's him that's losing out on money at the end of the day.

 

[turbineseaplane]

"Apple doesn't prioritize high-end GPUs"

yep..
It's sad...

 

[heeloliver]

iMac's need proper graphics. No more integrated graphics.

 

[citi]

Why would Oculus want to offer their headset on a system that wouldn't give the user a quality experience.

Because...the moneys

 

[Crosscreek]

Maybe by the time the price comes down on VR, Apple will build a "good computer".

 

[4tzer]

Mac 12 core, 980 gtx, should be good to go...

 

[turbineseaplane]

He's absolutely right...

Reading through Barefeats benchmarks, you'll find that a 980ti popped into a SIX year old Mac Pro torches the latest and greatest Mac's for anything gaming related.

Sucks...