Mac Virtual Display - Definitely the Killer App

[Makosuke]

I yesterday had my first experience where I went to grab my new AVP because I needed it, not wanted to play with it, and that confirmed my suspicion that the Mac virtual display would, at this stage, be the killer app for the thing.

I was working from home on my laptop, which is a pretty good setup for a mini desk in a corner--16" MPB with a ViewSonic portable 15" 4K. The setup plus a mouse pad just fits on the tiny desk I have for WFH, and to date I thought of as being the ideal balance of physical size and screen area.

However, when I was trying to work with three large spreadsheets, plus a zoom share, plus a diagram, I was tabbing through windows a lot and couldn't look at everything side-by-side. "Hey, wait, I have a wall-sized dual-5K monitor sitting on my couch right now." Went and grabbed the Vision Pro, connected to the Mac (which is a perfect sci-fi UI thing, by the way--I love the fact that a hovering "connect" button just automatically appears above the computer), boom--I could line up all the windows I needed with room to spare.

The visual quality isn't perfect (particularly, it seems like the foviated display makes your peripheral vision seem a little blurrier than a real monitor, and it can take a fraction of a second to catch up if you're looking around a lot so it doesn't feel as "crisp" as the real thing), but it's more than sufficient, and it gave me all the screen real-estate I could possibly want while sitting at a tiny desk that I couldn't fit a 27" monitor on if I tried. Absolute game-changer for working while traveling.

I've found a couple of other apps so far that are very cool and actually useful, but in the current state of the technology, for real-world usefulness, the virtual display is the killer app for this thing, and so far as I know there is nothing else available that'll do the equivalent for any price.

 

[JPack]

Great to hear it’s an outstanding virtual display.

But that’s not a killer app. When people talk about killer app, it has to have mass market appeal and limited substitutes. Otherwise, a telescope used for watching the stars would be a “killer app.” An ultra low temp freezer capable of storing biological samples would be a “killer app.”

A 49-inch ultrawide monitor can be purchased for less than $1,000. Most people can’t justify purchasing a $3,500 headset when there are such clear alternatives. People living in tiny spaces or travel frequently would use VP, but it’s then considered a niche professional tool.

 

[richinaus]

Great to hear it’s an outstanding virtual display.

But that’s not a killer app. When people talk about killer app, it has to have mass market appeal and limited substitutes. Otherwise, a telescope used for watching the stars would be a “killer app.” An ultra low temp freezer capable of storing biological samples would be a “killer app.”

A 49-inch ultrawide monitor can be purchased for less than $1,000. Most people can’t justify purchasing a $3,500 headset when there are such clear alternatives. People living in tiny spaces or travel frequently would use VP, but it’s then considered a niche professional tool.

The 'killer app' for Apple is their ecosystem. I dont believe they need to focus on some amazing single thing as these days it is easy for others to replicate that. What is extremely difficult to replicate is the ecosystem and also attitude to do things better in a more humanist way.

so a seamless approach to being able to use a virtual display is a 'killer app' as such as it is part of the ecosystem.

 

[inlvnv]

The 'killer app' for Apple is their ecosystem. I dont believe they need to focus on some amazing single thing as these days it is easy for others to replicate that. What is extremely difficult to replicate is the ecosystem and also attitude to do things better in a more humanist way.

so a seamless approach to being able to use a virtual display is a 'killer app' as such as it is part of the ecosystem.

🥇

 

[JPack]

The 'killer app' for Apple is their ecosystem. I dont believe they need to focus on some amazing single thing as these days it is easy for others to replicate that. What is extremely difficult to replicate is the ecosystem and also attitude to do things better in a more humanist way.

so a seamless approach to being able to use a virtual display is a 'killer app' as such as it is part of the ecosystem.

A virtual display doesn't require tie-in with Apple's ecosystem. This is just like the Studio Display - there are few reasons for consumers to spend $1,599 for an Apple monitor if there are competing options.

 

[Makosuke]

But that’s not a killer app. When people talk about killer app, it has to have mass market appeal and limited substitutes. Otherwise, a telescope used for watching the stars would be a “killer app.” An ultra low temp freezer capable of storing biological samples would be a “killer app.”

I should perhaps clarify my statement slightly in that I mean the killer app for me, and presumably others with similar needs to me. The term "killer app" can be used in a lot of different (and inconsistent) ways, and in the way I'm using the term mass-market appeal is irrelevant--it's a reason for me to buy the device, and to break it out and use it. (Which I in fact just did, in lieu of sitting at work at a triple-monitor workstation, because it was better.)

Your examples don't work because both are single-purpose devices. When I say that a large virtual screen in a portable device is a killer app, it's closer like saying that the killer app of, say, an F-150 Lighting is the ability to drive to an off-road location with a large AC-powered device in the bed, run that device for three hours, then drive away, all without making any engine noise. Not everyone needs a vehicle that does all that, and there are other ways to achieve the same thing, but for some people it alone is reason to buy one.

A 49-inch ultrawide monitor can be purchased for less than $1,000. Most people can’t justify purchasing a $3,500 headset when there are such clear alternatives. People living in tiny spaces or travel frequently would use VP, but it’s then considered a niche professional tool.

And that's my point exactly--I don't think by any stretch of the imagination most people even want that feature, nor can many justify the current price for it if they do. But for those niche professionals who do need a lot of screen real-estate, and need it to be portable and compact, and can justify the price, the virtual screen is absolutely a killer app.

(Also, of note, the virtual screen is at least in driver-terms roughly 10K by 3K resolution--precisely dual-5K. To my knowledge all the currently-available 49" ultrawides are 5K by 1.4K, so the same effective dimensions but not retina.)

 

[Makosuke]

A virtual display doesn't require tie-in with Apple's ecosystem. This is just like the Studio Display - there are few reasons for consumers to spend $1,599 for an Apple monitor if there are competing options.

It doesn't, but does anyone else offer an equivalent feature? I was just using a Windows box at work via RDC with my Vision Pro, but is there a device I can buy that'll stream a 10K (or even 5K) ultrawide image from a Windows box wirelessly?

And like the Studio Display (or any of the other ultra-high-end monitor options), there are indeed few reasons for a consumer to spend a lot of money on one. Professionals, on the other hand, can and will spend a lot of money for a thing that does what they need, be it a very portable ultrawide display, or a $32,000 reference monitor for color graders.

 

[MacCheetah3]

(Also, of note, the virtual screen is at least in driver-terms roughly 10K by 3K resolution--precisely dual-5K. To my knowledge all the currently-available 49" ultrawides are 5K by 1.4K, so the same effective dimensions but not retina.)

It doesn't, but does anyone else offer an equivalent feature? I was just using a Windows box at work via RDC with my Vision Pro, but is there a device I can buy that'll stream a 10K (or even 5K) ultrawide image from a Windows box wirelessly?

I’m not sure what the class would/could be… UW 5K? It’s ~7K by ~3K.

More specifically, the virtual desktop is reported as:

Resolution: 6720 x 2880
UI Looks Like: 3360 x 1440 @ 60.00Hz

That’s ~19.4 million pixels.

The Pro Display XDR is 6016 x 3384 or ~20.4 million pixels, about five-percent more.

 

[Makosuke]

I’m not sure what the class would/could be… UW 5K? It’s ~7K by ~3K.

More specifically, the virtual desktop is reported as:

Resolution: 6720 x 2880
UI Looks Like: 3360 x 1440 @ 60.00Hz

That’s ~19.4 million pixels.

The Pro Display XDR is 6016 x 3384 or ~20.4 million pixels, about five-percent more.

You're only listing the wide resolution; I've been using the Ultrawide, which is even bigger than that, and what makes it so nice to use for work: 32:9 ratio, and reports as 10K by ~3K (exactly double a 16:9 5K monitor). From Apple's own support page:

Resolution: 10240 x 2880
UI looks like: 5120 x 1440 @ 60Hz

The full resolution is thus ~29.5 MP, which is a little less than an 8K monitor's 33.2MP but significantly higher than anything else on the market.

You can buy 49" ultrawide monitors that are 5120 x 1440, and at normal viewing distance (either real or virtual) those have the same practical size as the virtual ultrawide, with three differences:

1. The ~4K screens on the AVP limit the resolution you actually see at normal virtual viewing distances (the virtual monitor doesn't look as crisp as a physical Retina pixel-doubled monitor would) so for most purposes it looks no sharper than a real 5K x 1.5K ultrawide, but it is possible to get closer to it and actually see the higher resolution. Small, but slightly useful in edge cases.

2. I can't find any spec on what the virtual curve radius of the ultrawide display option is, but I'm nearly certain it's more than the 3800R that I think most (all?) 49" ultrawides use. For a screen that wide, the sharper curvature is genuinely useful.

3. You of course don't need 4 feet of horizontal desk space for it, even if you aren't using it as a portable. 49" ultrawides are impressive beasts, but need a massive amount of desk space.


All that said, what I actually meant by equivalent products was "are there any other VR headsets that will let you display an ultrawide virtual monitor, either a 5K x ~1.5K, or a 10K x ~3K? Looking around a bit, there are certainly virtual monitor apps for most headsets, and the largest option I've found is Virtual Desktop which can generate 3x 2.5K monitors on a Quest 3; that's 1.5x better than the non-pixel-doubled size of the VP default option, and arguably better, but nowhere near the 10K theoretical resolution of the built-in Apple version.

I also found Immersed, an app for the Vision Pro that generates multiple 2.5K virtual monitors (three for free, five if you pay). The reviews aren't glowing, but if you really wanted multiple virtual screens instead of one huge one, that does seem to be an option.

 

[Makosuke]

An additional note to this: I was at the dealership for a recall repair on my car this week and really needed to get some work done that is very impractical on a laptop screen. I decided to suppress my sense of shame at wearing a big goofy headset in the waiting room and brought my AVP and laptop with me, found a couch in the corner where it was quiet and at least only a few people could see me, turned on the noise cancelling on my AirPods, and fired it up.

I don't know if I should be surprised or not, but it worked as well as I could have hoped. I got logged into a remote system with enough space to display three windows, opened up the reference documents next to it all, got on Zoom, shared the part of the screen I needed to with a coworker, and was off and running with everything I needed and pretty much the same setup as if I were in the office.

I didn't turn on a virtual environment so I could see if someone walked up to me (and I could find my cup on the table), which was really useful, although I also realized that having the huge floating monitor in front of me (combined with the noise cancelling) made it feel like I was in a semi-private space hiding behind something, even though in reality people sitting in front of me could of course look right at me. Kind of like being in a small office with windows, where you're aware people are nearby and might be looking at you, but it doesn't feel like you're in a public space.

Purely psychological, and potentially awkward, but hey, I guess if you can't see people staring at you, who cares if they are.

It did make me realize that when I'm remoted into another system via Windows App (I will never get over how stupid that re-brand is), I don't really need to be on a Mac laptop, I could do the same with a virtual RDC/VNC/Screen Sharing widow, and standard browser or document apps on visionOS. I see at least one AVP VNC app that theoretically can do this, so while there doesn't appear to be a Windows App yet (or maybe ever), which would be better for the Windows stuff I have to use at work, maybe it's doable. Not sure about mouse support on the AVP, though--navigating by sight would be impractical. (Although if I'm lugging around a keyboard and mouse or trackpad, the question then becomes whether it's any worse to bring a MacBook Air instead, apart from cost.)

 

[richinaus]

An additional note to this: I was at the dealership for a recall repair on my car this week and really needed to get some work done that is very impractical on a laptop screen. I decided to suppress my sense of shame at wearing a big goofy headset in the waiting room and brought my AVP and laptop with me, found a couch in the corner where it was quiet and at least only a few people could see me, turned on the noise cancelling on my AirPods, and fired it up.

I don't know if I should be surprised or not, but it worked as well as I could have hoped. I got logged into a remote system with enough space to display three windows, opened up the reference documents next to it all, got on Zoom, shared the part of the screen I needed to with a coworker, and was off and running with everything I needed and pretty much the same setup as if I were in the office.

I didn't turn on a virtual environment so I could see if someone walked up to me (and I could find my cup on the table), which was really useful, although I also realized that having the huge floating monitor in front of me (combined with the noise cancelling) made it feel like I was in a semi-private space hiding behind something, even though in reality people sitting in front of me could of course look right at me. Kind of like being in a small office with windows, where you're aware people are nearby and might be looking at you, but it doesn't feel like you're in a public space.

Purely psychological, and potentially awkward, but hey, I guess if you can't see people staring at you, who cares if they are.

It did make me realize that when I'm remoted into another system via Windows App (I will never get over how stupid that re-brand is), I don't really need to be on a Mac laptop, I could do the same with a virtual RDC/VNC/Screen Sharing widow, and standard browser or document apps on visionOS. I see at least one AVP VNC app that theoretically can do this, so while there doesn't appear to be a Windows App yet (or maybe ever), which would be better for the Windows stuff I have to use at work, maybe it's doable. Not sure about mouse support on the AVP, though--navigating by sight would be impractical. (Although if I'm lugging around a keyboard and mouse or trackpad, the question then becomes whether it's any worse to bring a MacBook Air instead, apart from cost.)

Did you have to plug your mac in to make all this work? I am getting very close to pulling the trigger on the AVP as I do feel it is the best way for my future work, and also may have a lot of travel coming up.
My ideal is a Parsec app for AVP, so I can have that running for my PC access and also a virtual mac desktop.

 

[H_D]

I think Screens5 works on AVP, JumpDesktop would be great… and parsec would be outstanding. It has some quirks, but the latency and sharpness is genius.

 

[richinaus]

I think Screens5 works on AVP, JumpDesktop would be great… and parsec would be outstanding. It has some quirks, but the latency and sharpness is genius.

yep Parsec is genius. I use it everyday and has been the saviour for my workflow - A Powerful desktop PC with high end GPU's running remote, and a nice cool mac laptop running at near native speeds with real time rendering apps. Its the perfect workstation.

 

[Makosuke]

Did you have to plug your mac in to make all this work? I am getting very close to pulling the trigger on the AVP as I do feel it is the best way for my future work, and also may have a lot of travel coming up.
My ideal is a Parsec app for AVP, so I can have that running for my PC access and also a virtual mac desktop.

I did not. Laptop on my lap running on battery, AVP not plugged in and running on its battery, worked perfectly. The only cord in sight was from the AVP to its battery pack.

I did, I think, have to connect the AVP to the place's wifi (apparently it doesn't sync your saved wifi passwords?), but that's it. Curious if I could have used my phone's hotspot if there was no wifi network, I didn't try that, but will at some point.

 

[Makosuke]

One addition to this that I tried out out of curiosity: The default setting is to offer virtual screens with pixel-doubled resolution and effective 1440pt high by either 2.5K, 3.3K, or 5K pt wide, which are nice, huge, and immense, respectively.

BUT, you can set it to not be pixel-doubled, in which case you get a 2880px by 5K, 7K, or 10K width non-retina screen. So those pixels are not at all hypothetical as far as macOS or the AVP's ability to display them goes.

It's interesting because on, say, a "normal" 27-inch (or even 32-inch) 5K screen, if you have it not-pixel-doubled everything on the screen is just too small to see. But in this case, you can make the virtual screen as big as you want, so if you for some reason want a room-sized wraparound 10K x 3K monitor (or a 5K screen the size of a monster TV), you can absolutely have that. I'm not saying it's useful under most circumstances--most people who need that much screen real-estate are going to be better served by space-switching than more screen area--but I can imagine some specialized niche where you could actually make use of the ability to lay out many square feet of windows and walk around to see them all at reasonable sizes.

Also interesting: The virtual screen doesn't feel as sharp as an actual retina screen unless you're quite close, because the AVP's screens can't resolve as much resolution as your eyes can see at normal viewing distances, while with a retina screen your eyes are the limiting factor. So in practice for the most part the pixel-doubling isn't actually getting you much added quality. Thus, if you use a non-pixel-doubled resolution, you lose very little quality-wise, and you can make the screen as big as it needs to be to make use of all those pixels.

 

[The Game 161]

i use it often and is really impressive.

 

[richinaus]

I did not. Laptop on my lap running on battery, AVP not plugged in and running on its battery, worked perfectly. The only cord in sight was from the AVP to its battery pack.

I did, I think, have to connect the AVP to the place's wifi (apparently it doesn't sync your saved wifi passwords?), but that's it. Curious if I could have used my phone's hotspot if there was no wifi network, I didn't try that, but will at some point.

I think this just about tips me over the edge. Will book in another demo at the store and ask for a mac virtual display set up and test it out.

 

[Makosuke]

I just discovered another feature that I had absolutely no idea existed—I don’t remember seeing it advertised anywhere—and makes the virtual Mac monitor even better: Mac keyboard and mouse integration with visionOS.

I could swear this didn’t happen the last time I tried, but while using a Mac virtual monitor I opened up a visionOS browser window, and was shocked to see a mouse cursor appear in it. Turns out both the keyboard and mouse automatically switch from the Mac virtual monitor to visionOS apps, meaning I can mix and match between Mac apps and visionOS apps. Particularly if I need browser windows open in addition to stuff on the Mac screen I can see this being incredibly useful—put a browser window above, below, to the side, wherever, and it switches just by looking at the window you want to interact with. I assume this is similar to how you can mix your Mac interface devices with an iPad, although I’ve never tried that.

It’s funny, because I had just been pondering whether there was a way to make a visionOS browser window useful combined with a Mac app, and was thinking no because I’d need to have a whole separate keyboard to do that.

It is, unfortunately, a bit glitchy—was working perfectly earlier, but just now the command key and shift key stopped working entirely, which is kinda not ideal, and I’m not sure what I need to do to get it to restart and kick in again short of rebooting one or both devices. Still, it’s pretty darned cool, and genuinely useful.

 

[Makosuke]

Not sure how I missed this previously, but it looks like there is at least one physical monitor with similar specs and size to the AVP ultrawide virtual option: Samsung's 57 Inch Odyssey Neo G9. It's got a dual-4K resolution (so, close to the dual-5K), jumbo 57" size, and 1000R curvature, which to my eye looks pretty similar to what the AVP provides.

So it is possible to put something on a desk that's equivalent, for mid-range viewing distances. It's also nearly four and a half feet wide and a foot and a half deep, so not my desk, but a really big one.

 

[Roller]

Not sure how I missed this previously, but it looks like there is at least one physical monitor with similar specs and size to the AVP ultrawide virtual option: Samsung's 57 Inch Odyssey Neo G9. It's got a dual-4K resolution (so, close to the dual-5K), jumbo 57" size, and 1000R curvature, which to my eye looks pretty similar to what the AVP provides.

So it is possible to put something on a desk that's equivalent, for mid-range viewing distances. It's also nearly four and a half feet wide and a foot and a half deep, so not my desk, but a really big one.

I probably could make a monitor that wide fit on my desk if I moved some things around, but it would look silly, and I don't need it most of the time. That's the beauty of the MVD, in my opinion. I can fire it up just when I want it.

 

[JulianL]

For a certain group of people I agree that the Mac Virtual Display is a killer use case, by which I mean that for some people that use case on its own is sufficient to justify the investment (cost) of an AVP and any additional use for things like media consumption become simply an added bonuses. For such a person (e.g. me) the Apple Vision Pro might not even be thought of as a Spatial Computing device at all, or a "computer on your face" (although technically it is both of those things), but instead be thought of simply a very expensive peripheral for their Mac. That is certainly how I primarily view the AVP and anything extra is a bonus.

$3.5K - $4.0K is a crazy price to pay for a peripheral? Well, another group of people are already paying almost twice that for a peripheral for their Mac. The 32" XDR display is $6.0K (give or take a couple of Dollars) for the display plus the stand but if someone really has that specific need for an ultra-high resolution > 27" monitor with extremely accurate colour rendition then until fairly recently (until the likes of ASUS and LG started releasing 32" 6K models) those people pretty much had to get an XDR display to meet their needs.

If someone like the OP really can't be productive with only a MacBook screen - even a 16" one with an additional 15" portable screen attached - then what are they to do? I share that dilemma.

In a home or fixed office environment then an obvious answer might be, space permitting, to buy a bigger desk and a decent desktop monitor setup but what if someone finds themselves working for weeks or months on end in remote locations such as hotels where they don't have complete control of their environment? That is my situation and I have investigated a number of options.

I could ship a large monitor to my next destination and then ship it back when I leave (hoping there is enough desk space at the destination and fretting about the logistics of making sure that I or someone else is there to accept the delivery and that I am back home in time to accept delivery for the return shipment). I could rent a monitor at each destination. I've investigated that and such rentals are either unavailable or the prices are horrible in cities where I've considered doing it. I've even considered buying medium quality monitors at the locations I visit and then selling them or donating them to charity when I leave but the losses involved in that would mount up over the years. So for me an Apple Vision Pro becomes a perfectly reasonable purchase simply to give me the big monitor experience when working remotely for extended periods.

Slightly off topic but one sub-optimal thing that worried me about the AVP for my use case was that the device does take up a lot of space in one's luggage when travelling, at least based on the size of most of the travel cases I came across, but recently I discovered this case from SFBags (https://www.sfbags.com/collections/...vision-pro-shield-case?variant=41368302321747) and, while I still wish that there was a pair of smart glasses on the market from the likes of XReal or Viture that could meet my needs in a much smaller and more convenient form factor (and I don't believe there is due to insufficient resolution, field of view and probably no or not solid enough 6DoF anchoring), this bag is one heck of a lot smaller than others I've looked at so does at least take some of the sting out of having to pack an AVP in my luggage when travelling.

 

[subjonas]

I have the same use case as OP and other people here of needing large monitors for work but not enough physical space for them nor the ability to bring them with me when working in different locations.

The issue for me though is I use a portable drawing monitor with a stylus with my MacBook for work, but turning on MVD turns off the physical Macbook display and all attached physical displays, which means I’m unable to draw, which means I’m unable to use MVD for work. This is the only reason I haven’t bought a VP already. Hoping Apple changes this in a future software update.

Edit-
My only other hope is that Apple would enable a secondary MVD (or individual floating windows) and figure out a way to anchor it to a physical flat surface to be able to virtually draw on it using the Logitech Muse. This seems difficult to make it comparable to the drawing experience of a good physical drawing monitor though.

 

[noblesoul117]

I just discovered another feature that I had absolutely no idea existed—I don’t remember seeing it advertised anywhere—and makes the virtual Mac monitor even better: Mac keyboard and mouse integration with visionOS.

I could swear this didn’t happen the last time I tried, but while using a Mac virtual monitor I opened up a visionOS browser window, and was shocked to see a mouse cursor appear in it. Turns out both the keyboard and mouse automatically switch from the Mac virtual monitor to visionOS apps, meaning I can mix and match between Mac apps and visionOS apps. Particularly if I need browser windows open in addition to stuff on the Mac screen I can see this being incredibly useful—put a browser window above, below, to the side, wherever, and it switches just by looking at the window you want to interact with. I assume this is similar to how you can mix your Mac interface devices with an iPad, although I’ve never tried that.

It’s funny, because I had just been pondering whether there was a way to make a visionOS browser window useful combined with a Mac app, and was thinking no because I’d need to have a whole separate keyboard to do that.

It is, unfortunately, a bit glitchy—was working perfectly earlier, but just now the command key and shift key stopped working entirely, which is kinda not ideal, and I’m not sure what I need to do to get it to restart and kick in again short of rebooting one or both devices. Still, it’s pretty darned cool, and genuinely useful.

This. Is. AMAZING.

I just got a new-to-me used AVP and had not fully explored MVD yet, but MVD is also one of my killer app use cases, along with having a personal cinema screen for watching movies and shows, which is actually a big part of my life and creativity/inspiration.

But this auto-integration of keyboard & mouse with MVD is stunning, and very similar to Screen Sharing yet obviously on a whole different level. It Just Works™.

It's both brilliant how I can use mouse & keyboard with AVP apps, and how I'm able to still use hand gestures in AVP apps when using mouse & keyboard. It is very seamless to use the keyboard for typing, then move eyes to a menu or whatever, and tap to select it without barely lifting hands and without needing to even use the mouse. Or using the mouse for pointing and then looking around and being able to tap. Really stunning integration. Simple but profound. It can be surprisingly more ergonomic than normal mouse & keyboard usage due to leaving the hands in place.

The mouse cursor even jumps around between MVD and AVP apps based on eye focus location. Super useful instead of having to manually push it around like on macOS.

Going back to MVD as a killer app: I like to travel and do urban camping during the summer (essentially a form of vanlife). Yes, I get out and enjoy the nature plenty and do not miss out on it. However I still use my tech during this time, as this is basically just adjusting my normal life & remote work to a summer lifestyle, and I am not off-grid this whole time. It gets dark early up north near the coast and I like to keep the lights low post-sunset. In the past I've used my MBA: I once had a 13" then got the 15". It's great for this mobile life setup.

But you know what? AVP is the perfect solution for me to grant a screen way larger than my vehicle's physical dimensions. The AVP will grants me large screen in a tiny spaces, and of course a great cinema experience for watching movies & shows late into the night.

I understand AVP is not for everyone and the app ecosystem is minuscule compared to iOS and macOS due to the financial inaccessibility of AVP. But for some specific use cases, it is literally perfect. Apple just needs to decide when they're going to bring out a lower priced version (or Apple Glasses) which will bring AVP/AR to many more people, which will enable more use cases and more app development.

I typed this in MVD. The only unfortunate limitation is that we're unable to use AVP hand gestures within MVD. Maybe over time MVD will evolve to enable more AVP-level interaction, or even windows popping out and such. Time will tell. But for now this is really good for those of us with specific use cases that genuinely justify this device and its unique features.

 

[Makosuke]

For a certain group of people I agree that the Mac Virtual Display is a killer use case, by which I mean that for some people that use case on its own is sufficient to justify the investment (cost) of an AVP and any additional use for things like media consumption become simply an added bonuses. For such a person (e.g. me) the Apple Vision Pro might not even be thought of as a Spatial Computing device at all, or a "computer on your face" (although technically it is both of those things), but instead be thought of simply a very expensive peripheral for their Mac.

This is a good way to frame it if MVD is your primary "real world" use case for AVP. Even if you are using the spatial features with the MVD, it's still fundamentally functioning like a Mac peripheral with the "real" visionOS features just a bonus.

What's interesting to me, though, is that to a great degree what I'm using the MVD for doesn't technically need to be attached to a Mac and if the visionOS apps to do it were in place would actually be better than the MVD at least most of the time--the huge screen is great but I start wanting to just drag windows outside of it.

What I personally am doing most frequently is displaying a large Remote Desktop screen which I'm sharing with Zoom while talking to people, and two or three browser windows with web apps in them. This works fine on a MVD, and the giant screen actually gives me the space I need, but there's already a Zoom app on visionOS, Safari, and screen sharing apps (albeit not the MS first-party one).

So I could, if I tried and paired a mouse and keyboard (you can use a non-shared mouse with AVP, right?), do all the same things with native apps, and arrange them with far less restriction than the MVD has. I in fact did a little of this at one point when I opened a native Safari window and placed it above the MVD screen where I could refer to it. (Actually, I'd also need visionOS to support my organization's VPN software, which I don't think they do, so that's also a currently-insurmountable hitch.)

At this point, the tools just aren't developed and integrated enough that I can use all the above as efficiently and smoothly as I can by just running off a Mac, but with some more polish it could certainly get there and would, indeed, be a better experience than as a Mac peripheral. The irony, though, is that even if this were all working, to use it while traveling if I didn't have a desk I'd want a trackpad/keyboard setup that is for practical purposes a MacBook Air, so I'd kind of be back to using a Mac as the input device anyway.

All of which is a very long way of saying that using a massive Mac Virtual Display has, conversely, started to turn me on to the potential of spatial computing as a genuinely useful tool and not just a gimmick. Right now it feels a little like trying to use an iPad for the things I use a Mac for--possible but awkward--but unlike trying to replace a Mac with an iPad for tasks that a Mac is good for, I can see the potential for visionOS to do at least some of the things I do with a Mac better than the Mac can, even if it's not there yet.

 

[PBG4 Dude]

@Makosuke

I just paired my Bluetooth mouse to my AVP directly and it worked as expected. Was able to manipulate AVP app windows.

Kinda stoked, this means I don’t have to be in front of my laptop using the trackpad when in MVD mode. Sweet!