Apple's Work on visionOS Continues With Beta 5 Launch

[AppliedVisual]

I'm curious about this. Do you see yourself mainly using this in an airport terminal or on the plane?

Probably not at all in an airport terminal unless I'm stuck somewhere for an unusual amount of time. I rarely even pull out my MBP unless I have a good reason. Usually I just take care of emails, maybe play a quick game on my phone or a phone call if needed.

On the plane? Maybe on long flights it might be nice to for movie watching or other tasks, but I don't see myself doing anything that would have me waving my hands about when I have to sit that close to others. Yes, much of the gesture controls are designed to work close to the body... Virtual keyboard still needs some work. I think the holy grail of this sort of spatial gesture recognition would be where I could type on a virtual keyboard without even looking at the keyboard... It's not there yet.

I see the primary advantage for when I'm actually at my destination. Be it at a client location, in a hotel room, whatever, I can have a virtual workspace with large displays. ...We'll see how it goes, but that sort of tech may just transform my home office as well.

 

[InGen]

Who are the best developers to follow in order to keep up with regular posts on experiences with continued use of Vision Pro but also the changes and additions as updates come out?

Are they under NDA’s even if they work as independent developers?

 

[AeroEd]

I use three 4K displays at my office desktop. I would love to instead use an AVP - - but of course I do not really know. I am just guessing at this point, but the AVP tech looks good enough to me that I will invest time and money to find out.

(3) 4k displays > (2) 4k displays

 

[128KMac]

I got to try the Vision Pro at one of the developer labs sessions. I'll order one ass soon as they're available. I will use it a ton when I travel -- virtual large screens and more, wherever I go.

Is this a mainstream consumer product? No. Especially not at $3500. I believe it will be when the tech matures a bit and they build the version for everyone at $1500. Or who knows, maybe inflation will quickly get us to $3500 consumer devices.

in 1984 I paid $2500 for a 128K Mac w a 400k 3.5 inch floppy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macintosh_128K. That’s about $7500 2023 dollars. best believe there will be buyers.

 

[Donoban]

I will order it day one. I am not a gamer, nor am I developer. I’m just a guy who believes in the future.

Pr0nhub? The possibilities for virtual relationships is mind blowing.

Trust me that the novelty will wear off quickly.

The movie watching is intriguing but I wonder how comfortable to wear this for 2 hours will be.

If you’re rich fine. Otherwise play with a demo unit and get the second gen.

 

[dmi]

(3) 4k displays > (2) 4k displays

Even a single 4k display, that can be tossed in a carry-on bag, and plugged into a MacBook at ones destination, seems intriguing enough to consider an early order.
But I’m now starting to think it might even be better than (3) 4k displays, that one would normally look back and forth between anyway, and which could be repositioned with a gesture.

 

[flottenheimer]

Prediction: This product and the following iterations will be a huge commercial failure.

— Alone, the discomfort of wearing a bulky headset for an extended period of time is a deal breaker.
— This product is not designed as a "digital outdoor reality overlay" - and that is where the real AR-magic is.

We will see.

 

[KENESS]

I will order it day one. I am not a gamer, nor am I developer. I’m just a guy who believes in the future.

And has plenty of money...

Not a dig. I totally would buy one as well if my money weren't all tied up in a remodel! haha

$3500 is a lot when I would really rather get that circular stair kit I like... Or that tile that I know would just be perfect... Or yet even more drywall.

I think people are making good comparisons with the inflation adjusted cost of many of the things we consider almost commodities now. $3500 is a LOT. But, there are plenty of people who can swing it.

And there's no way Apple is expecting huge sales numbers right off the bat. They know this is a long haul return. But also potentially such a new and interesting interface that it could be a major product category for them, maybe #2 behind iPhone.

(Topping the iPhone...? Well, maybe. But that's a long way away. It'll depend on how much smaller and convenient it can eventually get. And if our collective opinion on what is dorky changes. After all, taking a call on a bluetooth headset USED to be peak lame/poser/wannabe. Until enough people actually realized it is actually pretty convenient.)

 

[JippaLippa]

Not being interested in this product, I can't wait for it to be released, so that we can move on.
I'm looking forward to an M3 Ultra Mac Studio

 

[ZeroQuest]

It surely will come out with M3.

They just could not announce M3 with Vision Pro as it would have been distraction.

I think this is a valid point...

1. They didn't want the distraction. Announcing the AVP and saying "with an M3" before the M3 is launched would elicit a lot of questions.
2. Launching without Ray Tracing and Mesh Shading and then (objectively) relying on it for future versions of AVP would potentially cripple Version 1 of the product when the M3 is an option right now.

I think there's enough of a reason to bump this to an M3 (especially given the price) that it's a no-brainer. Apple threw everything they had at the original iPhone - right up until the moment of launch. The visual benchmarks they showed off on the iPhone 15 launch with Ray Tracing sticks in my head as a potential buyer of AVP with an M2. With Apple's recent emphasis on gaming, the idea that they'd put a less powerful chip from their lineup in a new product that will be highly criticized, by everyone - at launch AND that's supposed to be "the future of Apple" doesn't seem very "Apple" to me.

If Apple sees this as the future (and everything points to that), then there's no reason to assume they wouldn't do the same here. For those who preach of "roadmaps" and "reasons to upgrade later", this is a new product and not a "seasoned" one. I'm reminded of the launch iPhone, the iPhone 10 and the fact that they threw an M1 into an iPad. I have a hard time believing they'd push this out with an M2 given the leap the M3 would provide visually.

My bet is on this thing being loaded with an M3 and serving up a slew of features we haven't seen yet. I suspect there's a very good chance near PC quality VR gaming is actually on the table with this headset. (I suspect their recent interest in AAA gaming isn't by accident) They have one chance to get this launch right beyond the announcement and they don't want to blow it. Especially given the price disparity between the AVP and Meta Quest Pro/3.

My money's on this thing being as loaded as possible at launch. Swapping in an M3 isn't going to disappoint anyone.

Under promise - over deliver, right?

 

[doelcm82]

Not being interested in this product, I can't wait for it to be released, so that we can move on.
I'm looking forward to an M3 Ultra Mac Studio

We won’t move on, if by “move on” you mean no more articles that you have to comment on to underscore your disinterest.

There will be articles about beta point releases of VisionOS into the foreseeable future.

 

[Jensend]

I think this is a valid point...

1. They didn't want the distraction. Announcing the AVP and saying "with an M3" before the M3 is launched would elicit a lot of questions.
2. Launching without Ray Tracing and Mesh Shading and then (objectively) relying on it for future versions of AVP would potentially cripple Version 1 of the product when the M3 is an option right now.

I think there's enough of a reason to bump this to an M3 (especially given the price) that it's a no-brainer. Apple threw everything they had at the original iPhone - right up until the moment of launch. The visual benchmarks they showed off on the iPhone 15 launch with Ray Tracing sticks in my head as a potential buyer of AVP with an M2. With Apple's recent emphasis on gaming, the idea that they'd put a less powerful chip from their lineup in a new product that will be highly criticized, by everyone - at launch AND that's supposed to be "the future of Apple" doesn't seem very "Apple" to me.

If Apple sees this as the future (and everything points to that), then there's no reason to assume they wouldn't do the same here. For those who preach of "roadmaps" and "reasons to upgrade later", this is a new product and not a "seasoned" one. I'm reminded of the launch iPhone, the iPhone 10 and the fact that they threw an M1 into an iPad. I have a hard time believing they'd push this out with an M2 given the leap the M3 would provide visually.

My bet is on this thing being loaded with an M3 and serving up a slew of features we haven't seen yet. I suspect there's a very good chance near PC quality VR gaming is actually on the table with this headset. (I suspect their recent interest in AAA gaming isn't by accident) They have one chance to get this launch right beyond the announcement and they don't want to blow it. Especially given the price disparity between the AVP and Meta Quest Pro/3.

My money's on this thing being as loaded as possible at launch. Swapping in an M3 isn't going to disappoint anyone.

Under promise - over deliver, right?

Ray tracing is irrelevant. PC VR headsets have access to much more powerful GPUs than an M2 or M3, and also run at a much lower resolution than the Vision Pro, yet no PC VR games take advantage of ray tracing.
In any PC game with a ray tracing option, enabling it lowers the frame rate, even with the highest-end GPU. Ray tracing increases the quality ceiling, but it doesn't improve performance, and VR games/apps can use all the performance they can get.
Yes, they showed ray tracing on a phone, but phones games don't have to run at a consistent 90 FPS with tens of millions of pixels.

 

[jole]

I think there's enough of a reason to bump this to an M3

Also, 3nm M3 is more power efficient than M2. This is important in a headset.