9 ms·

Ask HN: Are you still using a Vision Pro?

171 points by y1n0 4mo ago

Almost two years ago there was a thread on this (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40872102). I'm curious now that more time has passed what people think?

nickandbro 4mo ago
Waiting for Steam Frame.
- NetOpWibby 4mo ago
  Ooh share results here when you get it!
- daviding 4mo ago
  Will be interesting to see which side of $999 it drops. I'll buy it regardless but the optics (heh) on the high RAM cost issue and the unit price might temper demand a bit.
- some_random 4mo ago
  Does the AVP actually compete with it? I thought it didn't do games?
  - daviding 4mo ago
    It does local stuff of course, and some are trying to bring PC streaming to it, e.g. https://github.com/Kross82/KRVR-releases https://github.com/Kross82/KRVR-releases
- simjnd 4mo ago
  Sadly the passthrough is black and white only. That's the one thing I love about the Vision Pro is it never feels claustrophobic thanks to very good passthrough quality.
  - bananamogul 4mo ago
    Wow, Steam Frame has only B&W passthrough...[1] The Quest 3S has color passthrough and it's hardly an Apple-level device, and it's $349 in comparison. I guess as a gamer, I don't care that much. I put on my headset to game, and if I need to step away for a moment, I'm more likely to take it off than to wander around my house with a headset on. Still, I thought color passthrough was now table stakes for a headset. [1] https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/the-steam-frames-vision-is-only-black-and-white-and-that-could-be-a-real-miss/ https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/the-steam-frame...
    - simjnd 4mo ago
      Yes, same. I'll still get one because I think it being a standalone Linux computer is huge, and I'm so interested in the Proton / Lepton stacks to run Windows and Android games but yeah this is a pretty big compromise.
    - 3092-8121-9924 4mo ago
      I think it's not purely unmotivated cost-cutting. They went for IR sensors and have embedded IR LEDs for low-light tracking, and i figure colour passthrough would have required additional cameras.
    - hgoel 4mo ago
      IIRC there were rumors that the headset would have an open PCIe slot for such things to be added. Presumably they were passed on as defaults for cost reasons.
      - starkparker 4mo ago
        Not rumors: https://www.theverge.com/games/816118/valve-steam-frame-vr-headset-streaming-arm-steamos-hands-on https://www.theverge.com/games/816118/valve-steam-frame-vr-h... > The Frame’s four outward-facing monochrome cameras and IR illuminator seem to provide excellent tracking, though in a brief demo, the black-and-white passthrough view wasn’t useful for much except getting a general idea of my surroundings. Rowe says sticking with monochrome passthrough was an intentional choice because color passthrough would have added to the Frame’s price. “The core focus of the device is the gaming,” Rowe says. > For those who want color passthrough and other changes to the headset, Valve has made its headset modular, including a dedicated expansion port in the nose piece designed to support extra cameras. The expansion port offers 2.5Gbps of bandwidth via MIPI and one lane of PCIe data.
outside1234 4mo ago
The only feature that looked compelling to me was the ability to have "multi-monitor" on a plane. Did anyone ever use that and did it live up to the hype? Or did you just get sick from having a headset on?
- sublinear 4mo ago
  A buddy let me try his Vision Pro, but I instead bought USB C display glasses. I just use them as a second display, not the AR experience you're probably thinking of. I don't specify which brand or model because I have gone through several pairs since then. They're all about the same and somewhat flimsy, but worth it for the reduced bulk.
  - jotux 4mo ago
    >but I instead bought USB C display glasses How did you use these? Did you like them?
    - sublinear 4mo ago
      I like them a lot and carry them as one would with headphones. My use case is boring and I mostly plug them into my phone and laptops, but they "just work" on most devices made in the last few years. I use them any time I'm stuck sitting somewhere for more than about 15 minutes. With this form factor, the main limitation is physical user input, not compatibility or fatigue. There's no battery or adapters or walled garden to mess around with. I would not be opposed to a touch pad or gesture system if it actually worked reliably and didn't require accessories or excessive motion from me. For now, they're literally just a screen in a pair of glasses, and that's all I ever wanted. I'm sure there will be improvements to this category, but any product that strays from this core functionality will be a hard pass from me.
    - wolvoleo 4mo ago
      Not the OP but I use mine a lot too. I use them with Samsung DeX and a foldable keyboard. Means I functionally have a desktop computer with me all the time. It's pretty amazing.
nathanyz 4mo ago
No, haven't found a killer use case for it as of now. Was only a really good personal movie theater.
antimatter15 4mo ago
No
simonjgreen 4mo ago
Asked recently here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48275508 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48275508
bijowo1676 4mo ago
unless Apple allows adult content applications on Vision Pro its future is doomed. There are only two first-adopters for any new technology: military and adult industry. Without these you wont get any traction
- wat10000 4mo ago
  iPhone has never allowed those and it seems to have done alright.
  - bijowo1676 4mo ago
    it did add Safari private browsing mode :), but overall iPhone piggybacked off of the Internet, which was created by Military and adult industry were the first large scale content websites that drove innovation
  - jzellis 4mo ago
    Yes, absolutely no one uses an iPhone to go to Pornhub and spank themselves into oblivion because Steve and Tim said it's wrong
    - wat10000 4mo ago
      And nobody does that on Vision Pro despite it including the same browsing capabilities, apparently.
      - DonHopkins 4mo ago
        Sir, this is a Wendy's.
  - numpad0 4mo ago
    There are nevertheless viewers of such contents on iOS. They pass reviews so long the reviewer testing account only shows SFW sections that nobody uses. The users navigate from such sites to the App Store, and never the other way around, so there's absolutely no need for the app to have anything exposed to App Store.
wahnfrieden 4mo ago
I'm an indie that travels a lot. I'm interested in it to have more flexibility with ergonomic setups for development, such as being able to stand without needing a way to elevate my laptop to eye height (it's easy at least to find ways to get my keyboard halves to proper height for standing) or lying with keyboard halves at my sides. Curious if anyone is using it successfully for ergonomics (not just for the convenience of having a big monitor which is secondary for me - Macbook + iPad sidecar display is very travel-friendly but very difficult to use ergonomically away from home).
- volkl48 4mo ago
  I can't see any realistic way that the ergonomics would be better than your haphazard hotel room setup. Reality is that the device still has weight on your head and neck and is still kind of tiring to wear for long periods of time. It's still 1.5lbs hanging off the front of your face and over hours that's still straining. Lying down or in a recliner or something where you're not really having to support the device yourself is about the only way that I feel you might achieve any kind of better result in an ergonomics sense for a significant length of use time. (Disclaimer: I had one to demo for a few months and used it/experimented with it sporadically, I don't own one.)
  - kudokatz 4mo ago
    > I can't see any realistic way that the ergonomics would be better than your haphazard hotel room setup Looking down onto your lap sucks over time. Resting your head (pillow or other head support) while wearing AVP vs. holding it up is the key to using AVP for better ergonomics compared to using just the laptop.
    - wahnfrieden 4mo ago
      I'm thinking of trying to make a DIY easy rig for holding it up from a backpack mount above my head like this: https://youtu.be/o_guGeVboRg?t=75 https://youtu.be/o_guGeVboRg?t=75 (but with lighter weight parts because it's not as heavy as a serious camera)
djsavvy 4mo ago
It's quite fun and I'll drop into it from time to time, but it's mostly a novel plaything for me. I do have a friend who has used it for full-time work for years though.
curiouscavalier 4mo ago
having developed multiple apps on it and tried every which way to use it (as an XR enthusiast in general), I have never been so happy to put a headset up on the shelf and never pull it out again. using as a spatial monitor was cool. for about 10min until my neck got tired of the added weight. but I’ll give credit that those 10min were pretty cool.
- system2 4mo ago
  If you are not going to pick it up from the shelf, why wouldn't you sell it before it loses even more value as tech evolves?
  - dehugger 4mo ago
    most gen1 apple products are a small retirement investment if you keep it in working condition for long enough
    - system2 4mo ago
      You mean 40-50 years? It would make more money if you invested in a tech stock. Apple itself has gone up 3,000x since its ipo. $1K would be $3M today.
    - al_borland 4mo ago
      This is gambling on a 50 year timeline.
- orimirs 4mo ago
  Is there a headset you like use for prolonged periods?
  - ChoGGi 4mo ago
    I don't have any issue going a couple hours with my HP reverb g2, it is wired though, and I imagine quite a bit lighter.
  - 4mo ago
AAYALAG 4mo ago
[dead]
mzagaja 4mo ago
Primarily as an external monitor and when good 3D or immersive videos are released.
some_random 4mo ago
Does the AVP still not integrate with VR games/simulators? I understand why Apple wants it to be a productivity tool not a gaming device, but it really sucks to restrict it in that way.
- fsiefken 4mo ago
  It can with: KRVR - https://krvr.app/ https://krvr.app/ ALVR - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alvr/id6479728026 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alvr/id6479728026
- sleepybrett 4mo ago
  I think apple needs to turn the page on it's 'not friendly for game developers' stance that they've had for a very long time. They've done some embracing on phones/ipads for sure but the m-series graphics capability is massive, they should be making investments with game engines to really squeeze performance out of their stack. This might be a little difficult seeing as how the largest gaming engine in the industry for AAA (unreal) is owned by a dude that has sued them for their store practices but shrug.
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tracyhenry 4mo ago
Not regularly, but I do watch movies on it once in a while (in those beautiful environments), especially when I'm on a flight. WWDC also just rolled out some quite exciting features to RealityKit: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/279/ https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/279/ as well as visionOS itself (https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/287/ https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/287/) It makes me wonder if Apple is really giving it up as news have claimed.
- jeromegv 4mo ago
  > It makes me wonder if Apple is really giving it up as news have claimed. I don't think anyone serious has claimed that.
  - alt227 4mo ago
    https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/29/apple-vision-pro-m5-flop/ https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/29/apple-vision-pro-m5-flo... https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-apples-incoming-ceo-cancels-vision-pro-2-vision-air https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-apples-incoming-ceo-cancel... https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-reportedly-scraps-apple-vision-pro-development?test_uuid=zXnWOLjQQwkYjMVwrvo5w&test_variant=B https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-reportedly-scraps-apple-vi...
  - asadotzler 4mo ago
    Vision Pro's top talent all moved with their boss, Mike Rockwell, to Siri where they have at least a prayer of promotions, not to mention the satisfaction of working on a product that's not a miserable failure in the market. Apple shelved the follow up v2 over a year ago and signaled very clearly it was refocusing its XR efforts toward AR glasses. There hasn't been a new Vision Pro component order since the late 2023, early 2024 original orders that were capped (by SSS's display capacity) at 500k units worth, so Apple hasn't sold even that tiny amount yet. It was Tim Cook's baby, his last shot at a product legacy, and the guy that just inherited Cooks role put even the lesser Vision Air on ice, the last goggles product that was still on Apple's roadmap. So, it's not dead, but it's clearly on life support with no goggles of any kind remaining on the roadmap and Apple's attention fully moved to glasses and AI.
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zorobo 4mo ago
Still using the AVP but not exclusively, about 3 hours a day, with a hardware Bluetooth keyboard. Mostly multiple safari windows opening on servers via webterm, cli and emacs. It’s especially great when traveling. Only problem, I cannot share a window when presenting…
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dmitshur 4mo ago
I'm using it ocassionally - whenever I have time to do further WebXR development beyond what I've already done, and when an interesting new immersive video or 3D movie becomes available on it. I'll sometimes use it to relax and catch up on any new VR180 videos on youtube. For other work or entertainment that doesn't take advantage of its spatial features, I tend to revert to using a computer with an external display. The display in the Vision Pro cannot quite match the resolution and HDR headroom of the external display I ended up having (a Pro Display XDR). Maybe if it didn't get outclassed by my external display when displaying 2D content, I'd have additional motivation to use it more often.
jordemort 4mo ago
I forgot those existed
CraigJPerry 4mo ago
I bought the refreshed M5 version with the new headstrap. I read so many complaints about weight and it was just never an issue for me personally. Maybe the new strap is that much better? That said, the battery cable was super annoying, id accidentally catch it multiple times per day. The battery is good for less than 2 hours so i used it plugged into the wall. For zoom calls, the persona thing is hilariously bad, unusable in a business context. Interesting for a few minutes as a tech demo though. The virtual layout is good - a big citrix app screen (its the ipad app) for remote desktop, zoom, safari etc off to the sides and then things like calendar widget pinned to physical wall. But text clarity / quality is just slightly not good enough for software development. Almost, its close. If you dont mind large fonts its good enough. Ultimately returned it but it was a close run thing, i almost kept it. I do still hanker for something like this, tempted to try xreal or other glasses but seems like the PPD is even lower.
- goldenarm 4mo ago
  What makes zoom bad ? Lag ?
  - CraigJPerry 4mo ago
    Zoom itself works absolutely fine, it's just the ipad app you get on vision pro. My complaint is what happens when you turn your camera on - meeting participants see an uncanny valley representation of yourself - your "Persona" which you scan in when you get the device.
- asadotzler 4mo ago
  It's literally half-Retina visual fidelity. I couldn't stand reading text on it for more than a few minutes.
  - sgt 4mo ago
    Once they make such a headset with full retina I'm in
  - CraigJPerry 4mo ago
aspenmartin 4mo ago
Almost every day. Meanwhile my quest pro gathers a lot of dust. The AVP as a screen is just so much more comfortable and productive for me and nothing beats it for entertainment. It also just still feels like a really great user experience and I was genuinely sad to see the project sunsetted.
- dsernst 4mo ago
  The sunsetting rumors are almost certainly untrue. See https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/on_the_future_of_apples_vision_platform https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/on_the_future_of_apples_v... for example. Just yesterday they announced a new OS with a number of interesting new features, like custom environments, improved click-with-your-eyes-controls (Dwell Control), a bunch more: https://www.apple.com/os/visionos/ https://www.apple.com/os/visionos/
  - aspenmartin 4mo ago
    That’s very exciting! Thank you for the reference!
  - MegaDeKay 4mo ago
    Two out of the three links in this post are from less than a week ago and paint a much less optimistic picture. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48467606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48467606
    - aspenmartin 4mo ago
      That is very depressing. Can anyone make something up that will cheer me up? An LLM hallucination would do just fine.
      - fouc 4mo ago
        "Apple is now focused on its rival to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2027, and a “display-equipped AR/XR smart glasses device powered by optical waveguides” in 2029, Kuo says." seems like basically Vision Pro is going to become Vision XR. All roads lead to Rome.
dsernst 4mo ago
I use it every day, approx ~95% of the days since it launched over 2 years ago. Many hours a day. Far and away my biggest use-case is connecting it to my laptop for gigantic (private) movie theater-sized screen. Getting it comfortable was the most important step. The 6-months-old DualKnit band is really great for making it a lot more comfortable. An open face mod (eg $10 Macally on amazon) helps a lot with eye breathability, and restoring peripheral vision. Also really great for being able to work well from anywhere. Sad that so many people are sleeping on it, but what can you do? Check out r/VisionPro for tons of people that love theirs and use them constantly.
- chocochunks 4mo ago
  Have you used XR glasses (e.g., from Rokid or Viture)? If so, how do they compare for that use case?
  - dsernst 4mo ago
    I tried on the Xreal for 3 minutes when I met someone with them at a party. They were cool but noticeably a lot less bright. Similarly I tried the original HoloLens, many many years ago (2016?), with the similar waveguide technology. It was outside, at night, so relatively easy to see, albeit with jarringly tight field of view. Without a doubt I'm excited about lightweight AR glasses that I can wear in public. My non-expert opinion is we're still a few years away. In the meantime, I love my Apple goggles. For home usage only, and not when guests come over. Going open face (no lightshield) makes them feel a lot more like magic AR glasses, with the ~95% accurate passthrough.
    - BoorishBears 4mo ago
      I have AVP and Xreals amongst other things, and the Xreals definitely get brighter in my moderately shaded living room. But also not really a surprise given the difference in optics.
    - sofixa 4mo ago
      > Without a doubt I'm excited about lightweight AR glasses that I can wear in public. My non-expert opinion is we're still a few years away. Not the same type of AR, but the Even G2 look very promising. Can't use them as an external screen, they're more of an assistant with notes, live translate, app ecosystem, etc. I imagine they might be useful as a moving teleprompter.
BryantD 4mo ago
Yeah -- mostly for media, though. Occasionally with my laptop while traveling for work, for the sake of the huge screen.
hmokiguess 4mo ago
Yes, except, wait, I don't have one. Nvm.
nightsd01 4mo ago
Got mine on launch day. It's been sitting in the case for over a year. It's frankly just not comfortable to use for more than 10 minutes.
cglee 4mo ago
Yes, it feels like the future every time I put it on. For work, the ultra wide has been wonderful when I'm not at my desk. I also get to have the NBA playoffs to the side on a 10ft screen while I work. For videos, it's a complete game changing experience. They're slowly but surely releasing more "immersive" features. Eg, I recently watched an immersive Lakers game and immediately thought I'd pay to watch games like this. It reminded me when HD became default and we finally realized what we were missing. I don't want to watch games where I'm not courtside anymore. The two things that consistently delight me are AI and my AVP. I'm trying to combine the two.
elicash 4mo ago
My wife is the primary user and frequently uses it when she works. She also travels with it and doesn’t mind occasional weird looks. I use it occasionally, either to watch movies or the content that Apple releases specifically for it.
mkw5053 4mo ago
I use it about once every 3 months now to watch content while laying in bed when I don't think it'll annoy my wife too much
brian_herman 4mo ago
No I barely use it
iFred 4mo ago
Yes, nearly every working day. The ability to focus on something while the world around me melts away. When it is just myself, the virtual display of my Mac, and the drifting grains of gypsum at White Sands, I seem to be at peace with whatever I am working on.
hbn 4mo ago
I'd love to buy one cause I love the idea of watching movies in that and I watch stuff alone all the time. I just can't justify the $5000CAD starting price to watch movies. I've considered getting a used M2 model, but I believe you still need to get fitted for the eye piece to ensure a proper seal, and the closest Apple Store to me is about a 6 hour drive. Also I'm not even sure all the cool new Siri stuff yesterday would be supported on the M2 model, so it'd kinda suck to spend all that money and be locked out of new features right away.
Me1000 4mo ago
Stopped using it after about a week or two of usage. The only interesting use case was screen mirroring from my Mac, but that wasn't compelling enough to endure the weight of it on my face. I expected watching a movie would be a good use case, but in reality the brightness of the screen would reflect (I guess?) off my face and create a glare... so it ultimately wasn't a good movie device. Gave it to a friend who was excited about it, and he also stopped using it after about a week or two.
- dmarcos 4mo ago
  This is the most common scenario. That’s why can’t compare Vision Pro with the iPhone. First iPhone was limited yeah but those who bought it loved and used it all the time. Word of mouth setup the success of later versions.
- racl101 4mo ago
  Wow, if you can't get a buddy to use it for free... this really is not the same league as the iPhone.
  - scotty79 4mo ago
    I wouldn't use an iPhone if somebody gave me one for free.
racl101 4mo ago
My buddy hasn't used it to do any work in a while. Only uses it every now and then to watch movies.
breakds 4mo ago
Almost every day, watching videos, having meetings, hands on (the agent) coding and playing games.
t1234s 4mo ago
Are they worth it if you fly frequently?
- asadotzler 4mo ago
  If you're just watching movies or need a big virtual monitor, and you've got a smartphone on you, you're better off with something like XREALs that cost 1/6th as much, weigh 1/10th as much and look like a dorky pair of off-brand sunglasses rather than a scuba mask. They're just virtual displays, not a whole-ass PC on your face, and they work pretty well for that.
rpowers 4mo ago
I use it every day, sometimes for hours. Once I embraced that fact that my family goes to bed before I do, I use it watch all of my "nerdy" shows at night. During the day it's been really great for having a large desktop that I can see throughout the house. For gaming, I use the geforce now service and a playstation controller. It's been quite fun!
oxferd 4mo ago
[dead]
thepryz 4mo ago
I recently just picked up a used, like new, M5 Vision Pro for a steal. I've had it for a month and use it a few times a week, mostly for content consumption but very occasionally when I need to work, want a bigger screen, and don't want to sit at my desk.
- y1n0 4mo ago
  If you don’t mind answering, where did you get it?
  - thepryz 4mo ago
    You can occasionally find great deals on Facebook marketplace which is where I found mine. It can be a bit stressful to give someone off the street a couple grand in cash and assume the risk but in my case, we were able to meet at an Apple Store, I was able to evaluate the unit and it was new enough that it had the original box and packaging along with that new Apple smell. Swappa’s another place I’ve had decent success for used Apple products but like any market, it’s often a matter timing and luck.
oxferd 4mo ago
probably intended to be the rehearsal for building applications that will power more ergonomic form-factors released when the hardware is perfected never owned one but this makes sense
nilkn 4mo ago
I bought it on launch day, and I still use it at least a couple times a week. I also pretty much always take it with me when I travel (along with my MBP). Frankly, I'd use it even more, but because it's a fairly anti-social device I prefer to use it only when I have meaningful alone time. If I were living alone by myself, I imagine it could be a daily device for me. My main use cases are Mac Virtual Display, movies/entertainment, PS5 gaming [0], casual browsing, and -- most surprisingly -- reading. The first few are pretty self-explanatory, but reading is one of my favorite unexpected niche use cases. It's really nice having a floating book (via Apple Books) perfectly positioned at eye height in front of you in your favorite virtual environment, listening to music of your choice. This use case didn't really take off for me until the recent dual knit band fixed the comfort issue. I dabbled with reading in the Vision Pro before but the comfort level just wasn't quite there yet. The new band is good enough to make this one of my favorite ways to read today. [0] I use the Portal app for this. It lets you stream PS5 games into a gigantic screen inside the Vision Pro. I combine it with a Dolby Atmos surround sound speaker setup in our upstairs game room. It's truly a stunning experience. The only reason I wouldn't declare this the gold standard way to play games is because it currently relies on WiFi streaming, which introduces some input lag. The lag tends not to be an issue with the games that I play, but it's enough that you wouldn't play competitive twitch shooters with it. If Apple had just allowed you to plug in an external device via HDMI, this would hands down be the most impressive gaming experience out there. I'm personally very sensitive to input lag thanks to years of low-latency PC gaming, but I know not everybody is. If you're not, you may be even more impressed by it than me.
frizlab 4mo ago
I have bought one recently and am using it almost daily.
marinhero 4mo ago
Not really. I keep waiting to see if Apple would take it as a trade-in for something else. It's great for watching movies but only as a solo-experience.
fe1nroq 4mo ago
well, i never could afford it, but was so intrigued by it. i was hopeful that this would be the product to usher in HMDs as more than a medium for indie gaming. i thought that perhaps, with the biggest in consumer tech producing their very own XR headset, we'd surely see rapid developments in device weight, lens and display quality, pricing, and whatnot. don't get me wrong, great strides have been made, but still, XR for productivity doesn't feel as if it has crossed a certain threshold. The devices are still too weighty, 4k-per-eye is still too expensive, and glasses like that of XREAL are heavily limited in FOV. ultimately, not enough is offered, in my mind, to justify dropping two bands on something like the Galaxy XR, when two 1080p monitors costs ~$300, and a portable laptop monitor extender costs ~$150. one of these days, but certainly not now.
izzimus 4mo ago
Yes, I use mine many times per week for hours at a time, and my top use case is as the ultrawide theater sized screen for my Macbook Pro. I'm a software developer and the lack of text clarity doesn't bother me much. It's really not that bad. Of course it helps that I make the screen really big so it's easier to read everything. And it doesn't put strain on my neck like others have experienced. One bonus benefit is that with normal computer screens I have to wear glasses, but inside the Vision Pro, I don't. So when eye strain becomes an issue after hours of programming, it's very comfortable to switch to the Vision Pro. Much less eye strain.
- ebbi 4mo ago
  What's the text clarity equivalent to? 27" 1080p monitor?
  - izzimus 4mo ago
    Yeah that's probably a good estimation. To me the clarity is fine. I definitely recommend trying one before buying though to make sure you'd be happy with it.
    - ebbi 4mo ago
      Thanks! I tried the demo when I went to Sydney (we don't have Apple Stores in NZ, sadly), and was blown away by the demo. Unfortunately they couldn't show me a demo of the virtual display.
ggm 4mo ago
Reading these responses it's clear the biomechanics works for some, but also clearly doesn't work for others. How much this could be compensated for by physio or gym isn't clear, but it says to me that that the system may simply never suit some people who have higher sensitivity to the weight and momentum. In the same sense, your dependency on corrective lenses and the nature of the problem also stand out. Some people feel fine, Some people feel fine with script matching inserts, some people can't handle internal reflections and the focus effects of a "pseudo horizon" on your focus region. TL;DR Some people.
FumblingBear 4mo ago
I still use mine pretty consistently for some specific use cases. Video editing in DaVinci Resolve using my MacBook Pro w/ Mac Virtual Display helps a ton with workflows where I need the extra space, and is definitely what I find the most helpful for it. I've also used it some for music production with Logic Pro, and it can be somewhat helpful, as long as I'm not live tracking instruments. Pretty much anything that benefits from more screen real estate is great on it. Also, media consumption in general on it is unparalleled. I watched Lawrence of Arabia a few weeks ago in the Super Panavision 70 native resolution and was in awe of how much a difference it made for my appreciation of the film. It's not a product for everyone, but I've not used anything quite like it. One of my favorite memories of it was getting my father to send me some of his favorite photographs from his travels (he's a professional photographer with a great camera setup) and making an album of spacial and panoramic photos for him and some other family members to relive. My grandma literally cried because she can't travel anymore so being able to see the world as if she was there was super meaningful :)
al_borland 4mo ago
I got bored with mine after a week and returned it. I couldn’t even muster up the energy to actually use it on the final weekend I had it. The window management was buggy. I didn’t see a point to the virtual displays on the Mac. Maybe it was me, but some elements were tack sharp while others felt blurry, which messed with me a lot. The battery didn’t last long enough to feel like I could be cordless, but also got in the way while plugged in. Overall the whole experience felt really finicky. Some of the immersive content was cool, but the cuts in the video were really jarring. I felt like they should have been done in a single shot. Movies were… ok… I watched Avatar for the first time, and in 3D. It was fine. Not enough for me to sit down for 3 hours to watch the 2nd one before returning it. I thought the dinosaur demo was the most impressive, but it was rather short and I didn’t know where to go for more stuff like that. I had the new one, so that demo was already old by the time I tried it, and still the more impressive part of what I tried. I found some immersive 360 travel videos on YouTube, which were cool, but limited. I wanted to like it, but the discomfort wasn’t worth what it gave me.
4d4m 4mo ago
No, headaches after 15 min. Same with XReal.
jnaina 4mo ago
Yes. Best YouTube and Movie/TV viewer. And occasional large screen interface to my MacPro. It is still heavy as hell on my head, even with tons of 3rd party harnesses. On the other hand, my neck muscles are getting stronger.
JMiao 4mo ago
yes, nearly every day. i focus much better inside avp. i am lucky to find it comfortable, especially with the dual knit band, but i still take breaks every hour to rest my eyes.
wolvoleo 4mo ago
I wish I could buy them and had the money for them. Perhaps I can buy the Galaxy XR some day, they are half the price and similarly specced. But it's not available in Europe at all (and the vision pro only in a handful of countries) I use my Quest 3 and Xreal (AR) headsets a lot though. For content (including adult as I've mentioned elsewhere, but not only of course) and also development of dedicated corporate stuff.
shaojunwang 4mo ago
I'm more into Rayban Meta Glasses now. I think they are just more useful.
homo_sapiens 4mo ago
I have been waiting for a vision pro 2 for 2 years ...

171 points by y1n0 4mo ago

Almost two years ago there was a thread on this (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40872102). I'm curious now that more time has passed what people think?

nickandbro 4mo ago

Waiting for Steam Frame.

NetOpWibby 4mo ago
Ooh share results here when you get it!
daviding 4mo ago
Will be interesting to see which side of $999 it drops. I'll buy it regardless but the optics (heh) on the high RAM cost issue and the unit price might temper demand a bit.
some_random 4mo ago
Does the AVP actually compete with it? I thought it didn't do games?
- daviding 4mo ago
  It does local stuff of course, and some are trying to bring PC streaming to it, e.g. https://github.com/Kross82/KRVR-releases https://github.com/Kross82/KRVR-releases
simjnd 4mo ago
Sadly the passthrough is black and white only. That's the one thing I love about the Vision Pro is it never feels claustrophobic thanks to very good passthrough quality.
- bananamogul 4mo ago
  Wow, Steam Frame has only B&W passthrough...[1] The Quest 3S has color passthrough and it's hardly an Apple-level device, and it's $349 in comparison. I guess as a gamer, I don't care that much. I put on my headset to game, and if I need to step away for a moment, I'm more likely to take it off than to wander around my house with a headset on. Still, I thought color passthrough was now table stakes for a headset. [1] https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/the-steam-frames-vision-is-only-black-and-white-and-that-could-be-a-real-miss/ https://www.pcgamer.com/hardware/vr-hardware/the-steam-frame...
  - simjnd 4mo ago
    Yes, same. I'll still get one because I think it being a standalone Linux computer is huge, and I'm so interested in the Proton / Lepton stacks to run Windows and Android games but yeah this is a pretty big compromise.
  - 3092-8121-9924 4mo ago
    I think it's not purely unmotivated cost-cutting. They went for IR sensors and have embedded IR LEDs for low-light tracking, and i figure colour passthrough would have required additional cameras.
  - hgoel 4mo ago
    IIRC there were rumors that the headset would have an open PCIe slot for such things to be added. Presumably they were passed on as defaults for cost reasons.
    - starkparker 4mo ago
      Not rumors: https://www.theverge.com/games/816118/valve-steam-frame-vr-headset-streaming-arm-steamos-hands-on https://www.theverge.com/games/816118/valve-steam-frame-vr-h... > The Frame’s four outward-facing monochrome cameras and IR illuminator seem to provide excellent tracking, though in a brief demo, the black-and-white passthrough view wasn’t useful for much except getting a general idea of my surroundings. Rowe says sticking with monochrome passthrough was an intentional choice because color passthrough would have added to the Frame’s price. “The core focus of the device is the gaming,” Rowe says. > For those who want color passthrough and other changes to the headset, Valve has made its headset modular, including a dedicated expansion port in the nose piece designed to support extra cameras. The expansion port offers 2.5Gbps of bandwidth via MIPI and one lane of PCIe data.

outside1234 4mo ago

The only feature that looked compelling to me was the ability to have "multi-monitor" on a plane. Did anyone ever use that and did it live up to the hype? Or did you just get sick from having a headset on?

sublinear 4mo ago
A buddy let me try his Vision Pro, but I instead bought USB C display glasses. I just use them as a second display, not the AR experience you're probably thinking of. I don't specify which brand or model because I have gone through several pairs since then. They're all about the same and somewhat flimsy, but worth it for the reduced bulk.
- jotux 4mo ago
  >but I instead bought USB C display glasses How did you use these? Did you like them?
  - sublinear 4mo ago
    I like them a lot and carry them as one would with headphones. My use case is boring and I mostly plug them into my phone and laptops, but they "just work" on most devices made in the last few years. I use them any time I'm stuck sitting somewhere for more than about 15 minutes. With this form factor, the main limitation is physical user input, not compatibility or fatigue. There's no battery or adapters or walled garden to mess around with. I would not be opposed to a touch pad or gesture system if it actually worked reliably and didn't require accessories or excessive motion from me. For now, they're literally just a screen in a pair of glasses, and that's all I ever wanted. I'm sure there will be improvements to this category, but any product that strays from this core functionality will be a hard pass from me.
  - wolvoleo 4mo ago
    Not the OP but I use mine a lot too. I use them with Samsung DeX and a foldable keyboard. Means I functionally have a desktop computer with me all the time. It's pretty amazing.

nathanyz 4mo ago

No, haven't found a killer use case for it as of now. Was only a really good personal movie theater.

antimatter15 4mo ago

simonjgreen 4mo ago

Asked recently here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48275508 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48275508

bijowo1676 4mo ago

unless Apple allows adult content applications on Vision Pro its future is doomed. There are only two first-adopters for any new technology: military and adult industry. Without these you wont get any traction

wat10000 4mo ago
iPhone has never allowed those and it seems to have done alright.
- bijowo1676 4mo ago
  it did add Safari private browsing mode :), but overall iPhone piggybacked off of the Internet, which was created by Military and adult industry were the first large scale content websites that drove innovation
- jzellis 4mo ago
  Yes, absolutely no one uses an iPhone to go to Pornhub and spank themselves into oblivion because Steve and Tim said it's wrong
  - wat10000 4mo ago
    And nobody does that on Vision Pro despite it including the same browsing capabilities, apparently.
    - DonHopkins 4mo ago
      Sir, this is a Wendy's.
- numpad0 4mo ago
  There are nevertheless viewers of such contents on iOS. They pass reviews so long the reviewer testing account only shows SFW sections that nobody uses. The users navigate from such sites to the App Store, and never the other way around, so there's absolutely no need for the app to have anything exposed to App Store.

wahnfrieden 4mo ago

I'm an indie that travels a lot. I'm interested in it to have more flexibility with ergonomic setups for development, such as being able to stand without needing a way to elevate my laptop to eye height (it's easy at least to find ways to get my keyboard halves to proper height for standing) or lying with keyboard halves at my sides. Curious if anyone is using it successfully for ergonomics (not just for the convenience of having a big monitor which is secondary for me - Macbook + iPad sidecar display is very travel-friendly but very difficult to use ergonomically away from home).

volkl48 4mo ago
I can't see any realistic way that the ergonomics would be better than your haphazard hotel room setup. Reality is that the device still has weight on your head and neck and is still kind of tiring to wear for long periods of time. It's still 1.5lbs hanging off the front of your face and over hours that's still straining. Lying down or in a recliner or something where you're not really having to support the device yourself is about the only way that I feel you might achieve any kind of better result in an ergonomics sense for a significant length of use time. (Disclaimer: I had one to demo for a few months and used it/experimented with it sporadically, I don't own one.)
- kudokatz 4mo ago
  > I can't see any realistic way that the ergonomics would be better than your haphazard hotel room setup Looking down onto your lap sucks over time. Resting your head (pillow or other head support) while wearing AVP vs. holding it up is the key to using AVP for better ergonomics compared to using just the laptop.
  - wahnfrieden 4mo ago
    I'm thinking of trying to make a DIY easy rig for holding it up from a backpack mount above my head like this: https://youtu.be/o_guGeVboRg?t=75 https://youtu.be/o_guGeVboRg?t=75 (but with lighter weight parts because it's not as heavy as a serious camera)

djsavvy 4mo ago

It's quite fun and I'll drop into it from time to time, but it's mostly a novel plaything for me. I do have a friend who has used it for full-time work for years though.

curiouscavalier 4mo ago

having developed multiple apps on it and tried every which way to use it (as an XR enthusiast in general), I have never been so happy to put a headset up on the shelf and never pull it out again. using as a spatial monitor was cool. for about 10min until my neck got tired of the added weight. but I’ll give credit that those 10min were pretty cool.

system2 4mo ago
If you are not going to pick it up from the shelf, why wouldn't you sell it before it loses even more value as tech evolves?
- dehugger 4mo ago
  most gen1 apple products are a small retirement investment if you keep it in working condition for long enough
  - system2 4mo ago
    You mean 40-50 years? It would make more money if you invested in a tech stock. Apple itself has gone up 3,000x since its ipo. $1K would be $3M today.
  - al_borland 4mo ago
    This is gambling on a 50 year timeline.
orimirs 4mo ago
Is there a headset you like use for prolonged periods?
- ChoGGi 4mo ago
  I don't have any issue going a couple hours with my HP reverb g2, it is wired though, and I imagine quite a bit lighter.
- 4mo ago

AAYALAG 4mo ago

[dead]

mzagaja 4mo ago

Primarily as an external monitor and when good 3D or immersive videos are released.

some_random 4mo ago

Does the AVP still not integrate with VR games/simulators? I understand why Apple wants it to be a productivity tool not a gaming device, but it really sucks to restrict it in that way.

fsiefken 4mo ago
It can with: KRVR - https://krvr.app/ https://krvr.app/ ALVR - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alvr/id6479728026 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/alvr/id6479728026
sleepybrett 4mo ago
I think apple needs to turn the page on it's 'not friendly for game developers' stance that they've had for a very long time. They've done some embracing on phones/ipads for sure but the m-series graphics capability is massive, they should be making investments with game engines to really squeeze performance out of their stack. This might be a little difficult seeing as how the largest gaming engine in the industry for AAA (unreal) is owned by a dude that has sued them for their store practices but shrug.

deleted 4mo ago

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tracyhenry 4mo ago

Not regularly, but I do watch movies on it once in a while (in those beautiful environments), especially when I'm on a flight. WWDC also just rolled out some quite exciting features to RealityKit: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/279/ https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/279/ as well as visionOS itself (https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/287/ https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2026/287/) It makes me wonder if Apple is really giving it up as news have claimed.

jeromegv 4mo ago
> It makes me wonder if Apple is really giving it up as news have claimed. I don't think anyone serious has claimed that.
- alt227 4mo ago
  https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/29/apple-vision-pro-m5-flop/ https://www.macrumors.com/2026/04/29/apple-vision-pro-m5-flo... https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-apples-incoming-ceo-cancels-vision-pro-2-vision-air https://www.pcmag.com/news/report-apples-incoming-ceo-cancel... https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-reportedly-scraps-apple-vision-pro-development?test_uuid=zXnWOLjQQwkYjMVwrvo5w&test_variant=B https://lifehacker.com/tech/apple-reportedly-scraps-apple-vi...
- asadotzler 4mo ago
  Vision Pro's top talent all moved with their boss, Mike Rockwell, to Siri where they have at least a prayer of promotions, not to mention the satisfaction of working on a product that's not a miserable failure in the market. Apple shelved the follow up v2 over a year ago and signaled very clearly it was refocusing its XR efforts toward AR glasses. There hasn't been a new Vision Pro component order since the late 2023, early 2024 original orders that were capped (by SSS's display capacity) at 500k units worth, so Apple hasn't sold even that tiny amount yet. It was Tim Cook's baby, his last shot at a product legacy, and the guy that just inherited Cooks role put even the lesser Vision Air on ice, the last goggles product that was still on Apple's roadmap. So, it's not dead, but it's clearly on life support with no goggles of any kind remaining on the roadmap and Apple's attention fully moved to glasses and AI.

deleted 4mo ago

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zorobo 4mo ago

Still using the AVP but not exclusively, about 3 hours a day, with a hardware Bluetooth keyboard. Mostly multiple safari windows opening on servers via webterm, cli and emacs. It’s especially great when traveling. Only problem, I cannot share a window when presenting…

deleted 4mo ago

[deleted]

dmitshur 4mo ago

I'm using it ocassionally - whenever I have time to do further WebXR development beyond what I've already done, and when an interesting new immersive video or 3D movie becomes available on it. I'll sometimes use it to relax and catch up on any new VR180 videos on youtube. For other work or entertainment that doesn't take advantage of its spatial features, I tend to revert to using a computer with an external display. The display in the Vision Pro cannot quite match the resolution and HDR headroom of the external display I ended up having (a Pro Display XDR). Maybe if it didn't get outclassed by my external display when displaying 2D content, I'd have additional motivation to use it more often.

jordemort 4mo ago

I forgot those existed

CraigJPerry 4mo ago

I bought the refreshed M5 version with the new headstrap. I read so many complaints about weight and it was just never an issue for me personally. Maybe the new strap is that much better? That said, the battery cable was super annoying, id accidentally catch it multiple times per day. The battery is good for less than 2 hours so i used it plugged into the wall. For zoom calls, the persona thing is hilariously bad, unusable in a business context. Interesting for a few minutes as a tech demo though. The virtual layout is good - a big citrix app screen (its the ipad app) for remote desktop, zoom, safari etc off to the sides and then things like calendar widget pinned to physical wall. But text clarity / quality is just slightly not good enough for software development. Almost, its close. If you dont mind large fonts its good enough. Ultimately returned it but it was a close run thing, i almost kept it. I do still hanker for something like this, tempted to try xreal or other glasses but seems like the PPD is even lower.

goldenarm 4mo ago
What makes zoom bad ? Lag ?
- CraigJPerry 4mo ago
  Zoom itself works absolutely fine, it's just the ipad app you get on vision pro. My complaint is what happens when you turn your camera on - meeting participants see an uncanny valley representation of yourself - your "Persona" which you scan in when you get the device.
asadotzler 4mo ago
It's literally half-Retina visual fidelity. I couldn't stand reading text on it for more than a few minutes.
- sgt 4mo ago
  Once they make such a headset with full retina I'm in
- CraigJPerry 4mo ago

aspenmartin 4mo ago

Almost every day. Meanwhile my quest pro gathers a lot of dust. The AVP as a screen is just so much more comfortable and productive for me and nothing beats it for entertainment. It also just still feels like a really great user experience and I was genuinely sad to see the project sunsetted.

dsernst 4mo ago
The sunsetting rumors are almost certainly untrue. See https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/on_the_future_of_apples_vision_platform https://daringfireball.net/2026/04/on_the_future_of_apples_v... for example. Just yesterday they announced a new OS with a number of interesting new features, like custom environments, improved click-with-your-eyes-controls (Dwell Control), a bunch more: https://www.apple.com/os/visionos/ https://www.apple.com/os/visionos/
- aspenmartin 4mo ago
  That’s very exciting! Thank you for the reference!
- MegaDeKay 4mo ago
  Two out of the three links in this post are from less than a week ago and paint a much less optimistic picture. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48467606 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48467606
  - aspenmartin 4mo ago
    That is very depressing. Can anyone make something up that will cheer me up? An LLM hallucination would do just fine.
    - fouc 4mo ago
      "Apple is now focused on its rival to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2027, and a “display-equipped AR/XR smart glasses device powered by optical waveguides” in 2029, Kuo says." seems like basically Vision Pro is going to become Vision XR. All roads lead to Rome.

dsernst 4mo ago

I use it every day, approx ~95% of the days since it launched over 2 years ago. Many hours a day. Far and away my biggest use-case is connecting it to my laptop for gigantic (private) movie theater-sized screen. Getting it comfortable was the most important step. The 6-months-old DualKnit band is really great for making it a lot more comfortable. An open face mod (eg $10 Macally on amazon) helps a lot with eye breathability, and restoring peripheral vision. Also really great for being able to work well from anywhere. Sad that so many people are sleeping on it, but what can you do? Check out r/VisionPro for tons of people that love theirs and use them constantly.

chocochunks 4mo ago
Have you used XR glasses (e.g., from Rokid or Viture)? If so, how do they compare for that use case?
- dsernst 4mo ago
  I tried on the Xreal for 3 minutes when I met someone with them at a party. They were cool but noticeably a lot less bright. Similarly I tried the original HoloLens, many many years ago (2016?), with the similar waveguide technology. It was outside, at night, so relatively easy to see, albeit with jarringly tight field of view. Without a doubt I'm excited about lightweight AR glasses that I can wear in public. My non-expert opinion is we're still a few years away. In the meantime, I love my Apple goggles. For home usage only, and not when guests come over. Going open face (no lightshield) makes them feel a lot more like magic AR glasses, with the ~95% accurate passthrough.
  - BoorishBears 4mo ago
    I have AVP and Xreals amongst other things, and the Xreals definitely get brighter in my moderately shaded living room. But also not really a surprise given the difference in optics.
  - sofixa 4mo ago
    > Without a doubt I'm excited about lightweight AR glasses that I can wear in public. My non-expert opinion is we're still a few years away. Not the same type of AR, but the Even G2 look very promising. Can't use them as an external screen, they're more of an assistant with notes, live translate, app ecosystem, etc. I imagine they might be useful as a moving teleprompter.

BryantD 4mo ago

Yeah -- mostly for media, though. Occasionally with my laptop while traveling for work, for the sake of the huge screen.

hmokiguess 4mo ago

Yes, except, wait, I don't have one. Nvm.

nightsd01 4mo ago

Got mine on launch day. It's been sitting in the case for over a year. It's frankly just not comfortable to use for more than 10 minutes.

cglee 4mo ago

Yes, it feels like the future every time I put it on. For work, the ultra wide has been wonderful when I'm not at my desk. I also get to have the NBA playoffs to the side on a 10ft screen while I work. For videos, it's a complete game changing experience. They're slowly but surely releasing more "immersive" features. Eg, I recently watched an immersive Lakers game and immediately thought I'd pay to watch games like this. It reminded me when HD became default and we finally realized what we were missing. I don't want to watch games where I'm not courtside anymore. The two things that consistently delight me are AI and my AVP. I'm trying to combine the two.

elicash 4mo ago

My wife is the primary user and frequently uses it when she works. She also travels with it and doesn’t mind occasional weird looks. I use it occasionally, either to watch movies or the content that Apple releases specifically for it.

mkw5053 4mo ago

I use it about once every 3 months now to watch content while laying in bed when I don't think it'll annoy my wife too much

brian_herman 4mo ago

No I barely use it

iFred 4mo ago

Yes, nearly every working day. The ability to focus on something while the world around me melts away. When it is just myself, the virtual display of my Mac, and the drifting grains of gypsum at White Sands, I seem to be at peace with whatever I am working on.

hbn 4mo ago

I'd love to buy one cause I love the idea of watching movies in that and I watch stuff alone all the time. I just can't justify the $5000CAD starting price to watch movies. I've considered getting a used M2 model, but I believe you still need to get fitted for the eye piece to ensure a proper seal, and the closest Apple Store to me is about a 6 hour drive. Also I'm not even sure all the cool new Siri stuff yesterday would be supported on the M2 model, so it'd kinda suck to spend all that money and be locked out of new features right away.

Me1000 4mo ago

Stopped using it after about a week or two of usage. The only interesting use case was screen mirroring from my Mac, but that wasn't compelling enough to endure the weight of it on my face. I expected watching a movie would be a good use case, but in reality the brightness of the screen would reflect (I guess?) off my face and create a glare... so it ultimately wasn't a good movie device. Gave it to a friend who was excited about it, and he also stopped using it after about a week or two.

dmarcos 4mo ago
This is the most common scenario. That’s why can’t compare Vision Pro with the iPhone. First iPhone was limited yeah but those who bought it loved and used it all the time. Word of mouth setup the success of later versions.
racl101 4mo ago
Wow, if you can't get a buddy to use it for free... this really is not the same league as the iPhone.
- scotty79 4mo ago
  I wouldn't use an iPhone if somebody gave me one for free.

racl101 4mo ago

My buddy hasn't used it to do any work in a while. Only uses it every now and then to watch movies.

breakds 4mo ago

Almost every day, watching videos, having meetings, hands on (the agent) coding and playing games.

t1234s 4mo ago

Are they worth it if you fly frequently?

asadotzler 4mo ago
If you're just watching movies or need a big virtual monitor, and you've got a smartphone on you, you're better off with something like XREALs that cost 1/6th as much, weigh 1/10th as much and look like a dorky pair of off-brand sunglasses rather than a scuba mask. They're just virtual displays, not a whole-ass PC on your face, and they work pretty well for that.

rpowers 4mo ago

I use it every day, sometimes for hours. Once I embraced that fact that my family goes to bed before I do, I use it watch all of my "nerdy" shows at night. During the day it's been really great for having a large desktop that I can see throughout the house. For gaming, I use the geforce now service and a playstation controller. It's been quite fun!

oxferd 4mo ago

[dead]

thepryz 4mo ago

I recently just picked up a used, like new, M5 Vision Pro for a steal. I've had it for a month and use it a few times a week, mostly for content consumption but very occasionally when I need to work, want a bigger screen, and don't want to sit at my desk.

y1n0 4mo ago
If you don’t mind answering, where did you get it?
- thepryz 4mo ago
  You can occasionally find great deals on Facebook marketplace which is where I found mine. It can be a bit stressful to give someone off the street a couple grand in cash and assume the risk but in my case, we were able to meet at an Apple Store, I was able to evaluate the unit and it was new enough that it had the original box and packaging along with that new Apple smell. Swappa’s another place I’ve had decent success for used Apple products but like any market, it’s often a matter timing and luck.

oxferd 4mo ago

probably intended to be the rehearsal for building applications that will power more ergonomic form-factors released when the hardware is perfected never owned one but this makes sense

nilkn 4mo ago

I bought it on launch day, and I still use it at least a couple times a week. I also pretty much always take it with me when I travel (along with my MBP). Frankly, I'd use it even more, but because it's a fairly anti-social device I prefer to use it only when I have meaningful alone time. If I were living alone by myself, I imagine it could be a daily device for me. My main use cases are Mac Virtual Display, movies/entertainment, PS5 gaming [0], casual browsing, and -- most surprisingly -- reading. The first few are pretty self-explanatory, but reading is one of my favorite unexpected niche use cases. It's really nice having a floating book (via Apple Books) perfectly positioned at eye height in front of you in your favorite virtual environment, listening to music of your choice. This use case didn't really take off for me until the recent dual knit band fixed the comfort issue. I dabbled with reading in the Vision Pro before but the comfort level just wasn't quite there yet. The new band is good enough to make this one of my favorite ways to read today. [0] I use the Portal app for this. It lets you stream PS5 games into a gigantic screen inside the Vision Pro. I combine it with a Dolby Atmos surround sound speaker setup in our upstairs game room. It's truly a stunning experience. The only reason I wouldn't declare this the gold standard way to play games is because it currently relies on WiFi streaming, which introduces some input lag. The lag tends not to be an issue with the games that I play, but it's enough that you wouldn't play competitive twitch shooters with it. If Apple had just allowed you to plug in an external device via HDMI, this would hands down be the most impressive gaming experience out there. I'm personally very sensitive to input lag thanks to years of low-latency PC gaming, but I know not everybody is. If you're not, you may be even more impressed by it than me.

frizlab 4mo ago

I have bought one recently and am using it almost daily.

marinhero 4mo ago

Not really. I keep waiting to see if Apple would take it as a trade-in for something else. It's great for watching movies but only as a solo-experience.

fe1nroq 4mo ago

well, i never could afford it, but was so intrigued by it. i was hopeful that this would be the product to usher in HMDs as more than a medium for indie gaming. i thought that perhaps, with the biggest in consumer tech producing their very own XR headset, we'd surely see rapid developments in device weight, lens and display quality, pricing, and whatnot. don't get me wrong, great strides have been made, but still, XR for productivity doesn't feel as if it has crossed a certain threshold. The devices are still too weighty, 4k-per-eye is still too expensive, and glasses like that of XREAL are heavily limited in FOV. ultimately, not enough is offered, in my mind, to justify dropping two bands on something like the Galaxy XR, when two 1080p monitors costs ~$300, and a portable laptop monitor extender costs ~$150. one of these days, but certainly not now.

izzimus 4mo ago

Yes, I use mine many times per week for hours at a time, and my top use case is as the ultrawide theater sized screen for my Macbook Pro. I'm a software developer and the lack of text clarity doesn't bother me much. It's really not that bad. Of course it helps that I make the screen really big so it's easier to read everything. And it doesn't put strain on my neck like others have experienced. One bonus benefit is that with normal computer screens I have to wear glasses, but inside the Vision Pro, I don't. So when eye strain becomes an issue after hours of programming, it's very comfortable to switch to the Vision Pro. Much less eye strain.

ebbi 4mo ago
What's the text clarity equivalent to? 27" 1080p monitor?
- izzimus 4mo ago
  Yeah that's probably a good estimation. To me the clarity is fine. I definitely recommend trying one before buying though to make sure you'd be happy with it.
  - ebbi 4mo ago
    Thanks! I tried the demo when I went to Sydney (we don't have Apple Stores in NZ, sadly), and was blown away by the demo. Unfortunately they couldn't show me a demo of the virtual display.

ggm 4mo ago

Reading these responses it's clear the biomechanics works for some, but also clearly doesn't work for others. How much this could be compensated for by physio or gym isn't clear, but it says to me that that the system may simply never suit some people who have higher sensitivity to the weight and momentum. In the same sense, your dependency on corrective lenses and the nature of the problem also stand out. Some people feel fine, Some people feel fine with script matching inserts, some people can't handle internal reflections and the focus effects of a "pseudo horizon" on your focus region. TL;DR Some people.

FumblingBear 4mo ago

I still use mine pretty consistently for some specific use cases. Video editing in DaVinci Resolve using my MacBook Pro w/ Mac Virtual Display helps a ton with workflows where I need the extra space, and is definitely what I find the most helpful for it. I've also used it some for music production with Logic Pro, and it can be somewhat helpful, as long as I'm not live tracking instruments. Pretty much anything that benefits from more screen real estate is great on it. Also, media consumption in general on it is unparalleled. I watched Lawrence of Arabia a few weeks ago in the Super Panavision 70 native resolution and was in awe of how much a difference it made for my appreciation of the film. It's not a product for everyone, but I've not used anything quite like it. One of my favorite memories of it was getting my father to send me some of his favorite photographs from his travels (he's a professional photographer with a great camera setup) and making an album of spacial and panoramic photos for him and some other family members to relive. My grandma literally cried because she can't travel anymore so being able to see the world as if she was there was super meaningful :)

al_borland 4mo ago

I got bored with mine after a week and returned it. I couldn’t even muster up the energy to actually use it on the final weekend I had it. The window management was buggy. I didn’t see a point to the virtual displays on the Mac. Maybe it was me, but some elements were tack sharp while others felt blurry, which messed with me a lot. The battery didn’t last long enough to feel like I could be cordless, but also got in the way while plugged in. Overall the whole experience felt really finicky. Some of the immersive content was cool, but the cuts in the video were really jarring. I felt like they should have been done in a single shot. Movies were… ok… I watched Avatar for the first time, and in 3D. It was fine. Not enough for me to sit down for 3 hours to watch the 2nd one before returning it. I thought the dinosaur demo was the most impressive, but it was rather short and I didn’t know where to go for more stuff like that. I had the new one, so that demo was already old by the time I tried it, and still the more impressive part of what I tried. I found some immersive 360 travel videos on YouTube, which were cool, but limited. I wanted to like it, but the discomfort wasn’t worth what it gave me.

4d4m 4mo ago

No, headaches after 15 min. Same with XReal.

jnaina 4mo ago

Yes. Best YouTube and Movie/TV viewer. And occasional large screen interface to my MacPro. It is still heavy as hell on my head, even with tons of 3rd party harnesses. On the other hand, my neck muscles are getting stronger.

JMiao 4mo ago

yes, nearly every day. i focus much better inside avp. i am lucky to find it comfortable, especially with the dual knit band, but i still take breaks every hour to rest my eyes.

wolvoleo 4mo ago

I wish I could buy them and had the money for them. Perhaps I can buy the Galaxy XR some day, they are half the price and similarly specced. But it's not available in Europe at all (and the vision pro only in a handful of countries) I use my Quest 3 and Xreal (AR) headsets a lot though. For content (including adult as I've mentioned elsewhere, but not only of course) and also development of dedicated corporate stuff.

shaojunwang 4mo ago

I'm more into Rayban Meta Glasses now. I think they are just more useful.

homo_sapiens 4mo ago

I have been waiting for a vision pro 2 for 2 years ...