Your Mac and Apple Vision Pro: What You Can Do (and What You Can't)

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

The thing that will make or break Vision Pro (for me) is whether the hand gesture interactions can match or go beyond the speed/ease at which your average PC/Mac user operates their computer using the a computer mouse/trackpad and keyboard.

All the other aspects are secondary to me.

It all comes down whether or not "Virtual Computing" can match the kind of computing we've been doing with analog peripherals but bring it all together in one compact, wireless and portable device.

 

[JohnnyQuest]

The first iteration of iPhone (back when it was built by General Magic) flopped because the market wasn’t ready, the internet was still in its infancy. Then social media came, people were using BlackBerry devices and found themselves glued to a clunky “smartphone.” Steve came and said “this is what you need” and everyone was sold on it because it was the logical conclusion to the frustrating smartphones of the day.

What is this device taking the place of? What is its true purpose? I’m an Apple fan and I’m disappointed because, unlike the Apple Watch or AirPods, this device is greatly overpriced for people like me, and clearly has no real purpose to take the place of anything in my everyday life. A huge TV? No thanks I don’t wanna buy 4 total ($14000) for my family and I to watch movies together. A workplace add on? I’m a technician so this is useless to me. I don’t understand who this device is for.

But the iPhone was not the logical conclusion for many many people. It was criticized for it's lack of features (3G, copy paste, photo messaging, etc.) until the 3G was released. You could argue it was a niche product as well, targeted at those who had the money for it, and were already a part of the Apple ecosystem.

The Vision takes the place of a computer or however you consume media. You may not want to lay down the money for a "huge TV", but I think the big draw of this will be immersive entertainment, and IMO that's why it well sell big.

 

[kiensoy]

Um, the XDR display is $5k sans stand.

However, we do not know (do we?) the contrast ratio of the AVP yet.

XDR display is 6K. Vision Pro is 4K using the entire eye. In reality a window in mixed reality "spatial computing" will be 2K or less. It will be perceived bigger by the convergance distance between the two eyes. It's a cheat to make things bigger. Yet people here complain everytime Samsung or someone releases a 4K monitor. "Eww it's not 5K"

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Run parallels on the Mac, mirror the Mac to the vision pro, and boom!

I use a work-issued (hospital) PC. I can't use my own. They don't allow HIPAA data to be viewed/manipulated on personal devices.

...but I can easily plug in my usb-c monitor at home on either my work or personal laptop.

 

[currentinterest]

I am looking forward to flying in February and having a huge Mac Pro screen in front of me, while having a Vision OS text messaging window open or an email screen open at the same time. When finished working, flipping into theater mode and watching a movie on a large display while reclining in the seat, or watching spatial videos of my children and grandchild. The future is here and I love it. I will be ordering at 5 AM on the 19th.

 

[G5isAlive]

It always felt to me that Google gave up way too early.

google relies on presenting to the world a safe, friendly face, so that we don't worry too much about them dipping their hands into our private lives.

Don't you remember the uproar with people wearing these into bars? There were literal fights because people thought the wearers were perverts taking pictures or movies on the sly. Because they were designed to be worn anywhere, people did wear them everywhere. I dont think anyone would have cared except they DID take pictures and movies with a blink of the eye. The potential for creepy was higher than Google wanted to accept.

The AVP is clearly NOT to be worn everywhere, despite what the nay sayers claim. And they are VERY careful to make it blatantly obvious if you are taking pictures. I dont think they will face the same concerns.

 

[puniad]

Good points, I wonder, will the VP be "socially acceptable" to consumers with the marketing materials so far?

Meaning people seen using the VP in mixed social company, that they might be will looked at oddly in regards to some addiction, being distracted, just a odd way carrying on conversations with it being worn, irregardless whether its a normal home/work environments. One might even be thought of as impolite wearing it when active socially, rather then only while in a private home/work environment.

 

[Timo_Existencia]

google relies on presenting to the world a safe, friendly face, so that we don't worry too much about them dipping their hands into our private lives.

Don't you remember the uproar with people wearing these into bars? There were literal fights because people thought the wearers were perverts taking pictures or movies on the sly. Because they were designed to be worn anywhere, people did wear them everywhere. I dont think anyone would have cared except they DID take pictures and movies with a blink of the eye. The potential for creepy was higher than Google wanted to accept.

The AVP is clearly NOT to be worn everywhere, despite what the nay sayers claim. And they are VERY careful to make it blatantly obvious if you are taking pictures. I dont think they will face the same concerns.

Yep, as I said above, I was friends with one of the bar owners who got a lot of national press on this issue.

 

[ApplesAreSweet&Sour]

Sure. But I'm not a fan of comparing V1 device to imaginary perfect device in the future. And I'm not saying that everyone has to buy the AVP V1. Of course not. I'm convinced that this V1 device gives me immediate benefit. It's better than anything else on the market today in terms of what I need/want it to do.

Yes, my V1 iPhone didn't have copy/paste. But again, compared to what else was on the market? Compared to the phone I abandoned? It was a revolution. Even in V1.

This is the right attitude.

-Judging AVP before personally testing it out, and viewing this first iteration as the best Apple can do with it is completely pointless and unfair.

Sure, I'm open to it being a flop. But let's let the first version roll out and see how it's received and what it actually can do.

If this or a future version succeeds at what Apple is (seemingly) aiming at, then I'm convinced it will replace my iPad, TV, laptop and desktop computer entirely or partially.

Exciting.

 

[puniad]

Apples campaign to normalize headset wearers will be an uphill battle - one ad will not cut it - only a sustained campaign over a few months can begin changing minds. The VPs social acceptability parallel is headphones. If a family member/ friend is wearing a headphone in your presence it would be rude, unless they have excused themselves with a good explanation. If your seatmate on a flight is wearing headphones it’s a an explicit do-not-disturb signal. Same with headsets I would project. We will be spotting a passenger or 2 with headsets on before the year is out for sure. Whether other passengers react with disdain or envy remains to be seen.

 

[arkitect]

I don't think it will be socially acceptable anytime soon. Personally, I won't even use my phone in a social setting, and always lay it face down on the table if it's not in my pocket.

Remember glassholes? That stigma hasn't abated in the slightest, despite 10 years of time.

👍 Indeed.

I still feel awkward if I use my over the ear headphones in, for example, a coffee shop or some such place.

The noise cancelling cuts me off and there is a sense of isolation. And that's when I can actually see people moving about…

 

[puniad]

Good points, I wonder, will the VP be "socially acceptable" to consumers with the marketing materials so far?

Meaning people seen using the VP in mixed social company, that they might be will looked at oddly in regards to some addiction, being distracted, just a odd way carrying on conversations with it being worn, irregardless whether its a normal home/work environments. One might even be thought of as impolite wearing it when active socially, rather then only while in a private home/work environment.

Apples campaign to normalize headset wearers will be an uphill battle - one ad will not cut it - only a sustained campaign over a few months can begin changing minds. The VPs social acceptability parallel is headphones. If a family member/ friend is wearing a headphone in your presence it would be rude, unless they have excused themselves with a good explanation. If your seatmate on a flight is wearing headphones it’s a an explicit do-not-disturb signal. Same with headsets I would project. We will be spotting a passenger or 2 with headsets on before the year is out for sure. Whether other passengers react with disdain or envy remains to be seen.

 

[arkitect]

Apples campaign to normalize headset wearers will be an uphill battle - one ad will not cut it - only a sustained campaign over a few months can begin changing minds. The VPs social acceptability parallel is headphones. If a family member/ friend is wearing a headphone in your presence it would be rude, unless they have excused themselves with a good explanation. If your seatmate on a flight is wearing headphones it’s a an explicit do-not-disturb signal. Same with headsets I would project. We will be spotting a passenger or 2 with headsets on before the year is out for sure. Whether other passengers react with disdain or envy remains to be seen.

And I think they should have started selling the (in old advertising slang) "sizzle" a long time ago… No one I know outside of this rumours site and a few tech heads are even aware of the imminent Second Coming or whatever this is supposed to be.

Where's the excitement?

 

[arkitect]

But the iPhone was not the logical conclusion for many many people. It was criticized for it's lack of features (3G, copy paste, photo messaging, etc.) until the 3G was released. You could argue it was a niche product as well, targeted at those who had the money for it, and were already a part of the Apple ecosystem.

The Vision takes the place of a computer or however you consume media. You may not want to lay down the money for a "huge TV", but I think the big draw of this will be immersive entertainment, and IMO that's why it well sell big.

But, but, but… I like to create media.

I am not just a passive consumer.

So. This AVP needs to help me create. In an easier and faster way than I can right now on my Mac and external displays.
Not just because it's the new shizz with bells and whistles.

 

[diego]

It won’t be THE future though, 3D TVs failed because no one liked wearing glasses all the time and it made some people sick, I wonder if this Vision Pro will do the same like other VR headsets can? For the price too most will probably opt to buy that MacBook Pro on the desk as I imagine it’s a lot more versatile then the headset is if it’s based on iOS.

Exactly. One of Marques Brownlee's takes on the Vision when he first reviewed was something like: "if we were in an alternate universe where the Vision Pro had happened before the iPhone, the natural evolution of the Vision would be to become a small gadget that you can take anywhere AND that you don't need to be wearing all the time. Something with a discrete screen that doesn't encompass your whole visual space."

I think the above also applies to Mac and to me this proves that the Vision Pro will definitely be useful for some tasks, but there will always be a need for something like the iPhone and Mac... hopefully!

 

[crsh1976]

The simplest benefit is TRAVEL. It's hard to take the large, high-res display with you. This virtual version will be small, light and easily mobile.

If you never travel, or never need to compute beyond an iDevice or laptop screen when traveling, this may not be for you. But if you want to get stuff done everywhere on a large, high-res display, this one should be a great option when away from the one probably anchored to a desk at a single location.

Oh, and it likely does a bunch of thing things too besides only this mobile super-sized monitor use. And some of those may prove appealing as all is revealed soon.

This is incredibly niche, even a niche of a niche - my VP at work who has more means than actual technical needs would likely love this.

I'm perfectly fine with not being the target for this, but does this mean it's bound to remain an expensive toy for the business elite rather than a new way of working?

If it's anything like:
VP: This is the future! This changes how we work and collaborate!
Us: Ok when we do get ours?
VP: Surely you can't expect the company to spend this much on hardware, we encourage you to buy your own tho!

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

Apple’s most loved and profitable product [iPhone] continues to get larger and more expensive as it matures. iPad Pro and Apple Watch also get larger and more expensive as they mature. It feels strange that we’re expecting [counting on] the game changer platform to get smaller and less expensive [for it to succeed]

This isn’t really the case though.
The original iPhone at launch required $599 for an 8 GB model, a two-year contract, and a special (extremely expensive for the time) AT&T plan.
Even back then the estimations for the actual cost of the phone over those two years was around $800-$900.

The iPhone 3G definitely brought down prices, but not as dramatically as you would think, mostly because of again those hidden AT&T premiums.

The first iPhone Apple offered totally unlocked in the US (if I’m not mistaken) was the 4S, and for a 16 GB model it started at $649 and went up to $849 if you wanted the 64 GB model, and this is all in 2011 money.
Even when they later tried to do a budget model with the iPhone 5C, it was still $549 off contract, and that’s around $720 and today’s money.
$720 for what they considered the “budget” model.

Today you can get a brand new iPhone SE from Apple, which has a very modern processor, 5G, and at least another five years of software updates, totally unlocked, absolutely no carrier involved whatsoever for $429.
And if you go prepaid, you can get it even cheaper, as low as $200. And you own the phone, no contracts, nothing.
To put it another way, if that iPhone SE came out in 2007 at the exact price it is today, it would’ve only been around $250, totally unlocked with no contracts.

To put it even clearer, keeping inflation in mind, between 2007 and now the entry price for an iPhone has pretty much been cut into fourths.

And also keeping inflation in mind, the latest generation iPhone 15 pro base model… Is barely any more expensive than that Original iPhone with inflation.

Another product that was originally criticized for its price before moving on to becoming apples best selling Mac was the MacBook Air.
It originally started at $1799 for a version with a hard drive, and $3199 for a version with an SSD.

By 2010 those prices were pretty much cut in half, with a 13 inch MacBook Air starting at $1299 and coming with an SSD by default, and a new 11 inch at $999.
And again with inflation, all of these prices are actually several hundred dollars more expensive.

As for the iPad it started at $499 (around $697 in todays money).

These days you can get an iPad nine from Best Buy for $250, and even straight from Apple the iPad nine, 10, mini and air are all cheaper than $697, the inflated price of that original iPad.
You can get a brand new iPad for around 1/3 the cost of what that original was.


Of course the Apple Watch hasn’t had as dramatic of a price drop over the years, but it should be noted that the SE is frequently on sale for under $200, which at this point is several hundred dollars cheaper than that original. Even the sport model.


So yeah, it’s pretty certain that if the Vision Pro is successful, overtime the prices will fall. Maybe not as dramatically as some are hoping, I highly doubt we’re going to see a vision pro reach iPhone levels of pricing within the decade.

But I would absolutely not be shocked if we see an “apple vision Air” or “SE” that’s under $2000, around the pricing of the studio display, before the end of the decade.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

This is incredibly niche, even a niche of a niche - my VP at work who has more means than actual technical needs would likely love this.

I'm perfectly fine with not being the target for this, but does this mean it's bound to remain an expensive toy for the business elite rather than a new way of working?

Then it's niche, even niche of niche. This thread is about this ONE use of this product. It does more than this but we're talking about this one use in this thread.

You posted how you don't foresee any benefits vs using a large high-res display. Obviously you like getting things done on a large high-res display. If you like getting things done when away from that large display, how do you do it now? Would you rather have it with you if you could easily summon it? This may make that possible- a smallish device also in the laptop bag that can give you access to that large display when you are not wherever you keep it now. I offered the example because the subject of this thread is basically "large, high-res display wherever you happen to be." Call it up on demand instead of rolling with only an up to 16" laptop screen.

I would make no argument that this should REPLACE your large, high-res display- just give you an easy way to use a virtual version when away from it. When you get back, you still use the one you like.

As to "new way of working", I think it's an ALT way of working with a screen. There are laptop screens that fold out into bigger usable screens...

There are portable screens one can also carry to crate more screen R.E. Rollable screens are trying to get a foothold too. This is a variant of the same idea: small package-big screen on demand.

To me, the great attraction is the subject of this thread: a way to bring my "large, high-res display" onto long flights where I want to get a lot done but no way to balance a 40" on a tray table and also be able to plug it in somewhere. If Vpro can give me a realistic but virtual version of that, that's great for mobile productivity.

As to "expensive", the definition of that is "eye" or "wallet" of the beholder. Many of us just fell all over ourselves to spend $2K for a 27" ASD with stand option that will basically sit in one spot for life of device and forever be limited to a 27" size. Is $1500 more than that worth having any size screen wherever we might be wanting to do some laptop work? Only each person can decide that for themselves.

I spent $6K for a big screen TV that will forever be limited to a single size and anchored in a single spot too. There would be NO getting that thing on the plane for some in-flight viewing. Conceptually, when I'm done working on a 40" virtual screen (or 50" or 30" or whatever I want) and then have some time left to watch a movie, I can summon my tv screen size and watch the movie on it while I fly.

One little block of tech can give me multiple sizes of screens for work or consumption on demand. Is that "expensive" or worth it? Again, each person would have to decide how important a benefit like that is to them. Are $500 headphones "expensive"? How about thousand dollar phones? (Starting at...) $2500 laptops?

 

[JohnnyQuest]

But, but, but… I like to create media.

I am not just a passive consumer.

So. This AVP needs to help me create. In an easier and faster way than I can right now on my Mac and external displays.
Not just because it's the new shizz with bells and whistles.

I don't think it'll ease creation of media tbh. The iPad for instance is perfect for drawing/painting, but I don't see how the Vision would help to create. So I agree it's targeted way more for consumption than creation.

 

[Mescagnus]

I wonder if it's possible to drink coffee from a big cup while wearing these? I'm calling it: cup-gate!

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Perhaps you can go pick the virtual beans yourself, oversee them baking in the tropical sun, virtually package them, fly along side the plane that delivers them to you, virtually grind them, make the coffee and then drink it without a bit of caffeine jitters or risk of "too hot" burns.

In pictures, it appears the mouth is far enough from the base to make eating & drinking in them possible. However, slipping them off to do the same should be trivial. Off, feast/drink/be merry, then on again and resume work or consumption.

 

[G5isAlive]

👍 Indeed.

I still feel awkward if I use my over the ear headphones in, for example, a coffee shop or some such place.

The noise cancelling cuts me off and there is a sense of isolation. And that's when I can actually see people moving about…

so.. again.. the right tool for the job. Where I would never think to use my AirPod Max in a coffee shop, I would use my AirPod Pro (still sound isolated but not as dorky, plenty of people do this), I have no problem using the AirPod Max while flying (in public).

Everything has a context. Nope not going to wear the APV in coffee shops. Probably will in a plane where I am sitting and relatively on my own. Wont wear them in a bar for sure. Will wear them sitting in my home enjoying a dram or two. Won't wear them at a meeting table with others. Will wear them in my office alone.

 

[LogicalApex]

I'm not seeing the use yet. It still looks like just VR glasses which don't really excite me at all.

But we'll give it some time to mature. They may have a longterm vision on this that will take a while to show its full shape.

 

[jclardy]

It won’t be THE future though, 3D TVs failed because no one liked wearing glasses all the time and it made some people sick, I wonder if this Vision Pro will do the same like other VR headsets can? For the price too most will probably opt to buy that MacBook Pro on the desk as I imagine it’s a lot more versatile then the headset is if it’s based on iOS.

3D tv's failed because it was a gimmick, there was basically 10 movies that were actually shot with the intention of being 3D (Even now I think that is probably pretty accurate.), all the others were just hacked together to make extra cash for movie studios. The glasses of course don't help, but they made people sick because the tech was awful - in the active glasses case it would blank out each eye momentarily so that it could sync with different images on the TV.

 

[Surf Monkey]

So again, who said this is going to be drastically smaller in 3 or 4 years? No one. Sure people comment on the future but is that 5, 10, or 20 years? I suspect closer to 10 for glasses with this capability.

Countless people have said EXACTLY that. “I’ll wait a couple generations until it’s smaller and cheaper.”

And no, this system will never be “glasses.” Not in 10 years. Not in 20.

But many have said (I personally disagree) that the iPhone wasn't good enough until 4 years had passed. Maybe thats where you are getting confused. But the point is, it did improve, and so will this. Got to get the ball rolling somehow.

Misdirect. I’m not confused at all. Rather, you’re trying to deny the truth for a cheap win.