21 ms·
Ask HN: Vision Pro owners, are you still using it?
If so, what are you using it for?
- wpnx 2y agoInteresting this is top of HN but no comments. A lot more folks interested in the answer than able to answer perhaps.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoIt’s just too expensive for many to have an opinion on it.
- seaal 2y agoTruly, just too many other things I would rather spend $4000 on than a first generation Apple product. Hopefully the next revision can start at $2000, more palatable. Something like the Quest link cable and SteamVR support would also be tremendous, but I'm not holding my breath on that.
- spectre3d 2y agoThat would be great, my Q3 spends almost all of its time in SteamVR in a fantastic and free overlay called Desktop+. https://store.steampowered.com/app/1494460/Desktop/ https://store.steampowered.com/app/1494460/Desktop/ Everything being more legible on the AVP would make it even better. However, it’s also controlling some Windows things that I don’t think would be permitted on macOS. I don’t have one to be able to test Steam Link or anything similar.
- dagmx 2y agoAlso, importantly it’s had a very limited release. US only till this last week. Supposedly only 450k units available this year in total, which in the grand scheme is a very low distribution likelihood among a given demographic.
- teruakohatu 2y agoI am interested in people’s responses but I do not own one. The market much be quite small, even within the HN audience.
- anal_reactor 2y agoIt's a gimmick product for $4000 released during cost of living crisis. There is no universe in which this makes sense. I know that Apple is pushing hard for the whole "spatial computing" or whatever thing, but this is not how people want to use VR. The only thing Vision Pro excels at is showing you how it feels to be buying a computer if you live in a poor country and you're the first person in the village to spend two entire salaries on a device that has no clear practical use cases besides entertainment but your kid spent six months telling you otherwise. That porn though, totally worth it.
- thefz 2y ago3500€ is steep for a vanity device that you are basically not paid to beta test.
- romanhn 2y agoThere was a thread about it three weeks ago: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40660270 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=40660270
- Firmwarrior 2y agojust using it to dynamically run a multi-monitor battlestation at the local cafe for now
- jjtheblunt 2y agoBattlestation?
- neocritter 2y agoProbably in the /r/battlestations/ sense. https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations/ https://www.reddit.com/r/battlestations/
- smegsicle 2y agocomputer desk
- benatkin 2y agoIt generally includes the desk and everything that's on it, the chair, and the whole area surrounding the desk, and sometimes the whole room.
- freeqaz 2y agoI bought and returned mine. Without decent window management integration in OSX it feels limited to only "fun" use cases. If it were able to pair with a Bluetooth keyboard and sync to my MacBook with many screens... I would buy one again immediately.
- dagmx 2y agoIt does pair with a Bluetooth keyboard and VisionOS 2 introduces an ultrawide monitor mode that’s equivalent to two displays, fwiw.
- gallabytes 2y agoI use it as a fancy monitor that I can strap to my face and fits in a suitcase. sometimes I want to work lying down and it's great for that. It being based on ipados makes it kinda useless aside from the display.
- bilsbie 2y agoHow do you type when lying down?
- AndrewOMartin 2y agoCould have been a typo.
- madiele 2y agoNot the OP but you can do it with a split keyboard
- twistedanimator 2y agoNot OP, but I type while lying down in bed. I don't have the AVP, but I do have xreal Air AR glasses that basically mirror my macbook pro's screen. I rest my Apple keyboard across my crotch/upper thighs, wherever my arms are most comfortable. To my right (on the bed) is my Apple Trackpad. It's kind of a hastle to move my hand from keyboard to trackpad, but I can drive almost all functions on my computer through the keyboard, so it's only used as a last resort. I also have airpods in my ears because the laptop is closed and on the floor. I do this when my sciatica pain is preventing me from sitting and I'm tired of standing at my desk. I can work lying down for up to a couple of hours and find the position to be highly comfortable and productive.
- xvector 2y agoHuge VR fan here. I tried the demo in the Apple Store. It was cool and all, but nothing game changing. From a company like Apple - somewhat disappointing even. The technology just isn't there yet for a compelling product. Apple should wait until they have this in a glasses form factor before hyping it up any more.
- Animats 2y agoYes. That's what Carmack said when he quit Oculus. The headgear has to get down to swim goggle size to get any traction, and eyeglass size to go mainstream. Apple got it down from a brick on your head to a half-brick, but that's not good enough.
- D13Fd 2y agoIt doesn’t seem like they were even prioritizing size and weight. They made it out of heavy glass and aluminum, and sacrificed size to add the front-facing screen.
- toasterlovin 2y agoSki goggles seem like existence proof that Vision Pro is only roughly 2x bigger than it needs to be for people to feel comfortable wearing it in public.
- tanelpoder 2y agoI sent it back before the return deadline, would have considered keeping it if it had supported showing more than one display of my MacBook. I know by now they've released some sort of a "very wide display" in a VisionOS update, but back then it didn't really make sense. I thought, ok, I'll just try using one Mac desktop and all the other apps, messages & browser would be the Vision OS native ones open side by side. Then it turned out I had to connect my bluetooth mouse/keyboard to the Vision device instead (if I wanted to type something into the browser/Messages) and it was too much friction. I did like the brief period of working (or just browsing stuff) while lying on the couch, but I knew from the beginning that I didn't need an even lazier position for staring at a screen all day.
- Terretta 2y agoUp to 5 monitors: https://immersed.com/ https://immersed.com/ “Hi-Res Screens: Enjoy up to 5 high-resolution screens with support for resolutions up to 2560x1400 (with Immersed Pro subscription), supports curved and portrait screens.” https://immersed.helpscoutdocs.com/article/6-immersed-on-apple-vision-pro https://immersed.helpscoutdocs.com/article/6-immersed-on-app...
- dzhiurgis 2y agoAsking as a newb: Why separate screens? Can you use it as one massive screen but move windows within? Pushing further - the concept of window doesn't even make sense on such device.
- AndrewOMartin 2y agoHere's how I understand it, to make a VR app which can display one or more of your physical monitors you "just" need to make an app that's a fancy upgrade to VNC, nothing trivial but you'll be building on some fairly solid ground. To make a VR app where programs all just float around in space you need to build more like a whole Window System like X11 or Wayland, which is a decent chunk of an entire OS.
- bastard_op 2y ago
- dagmx 2y agoYes using it regularly multiple times a week. I watch tons of media on it. My background was in film production and I firmly believe this is the best current way to watch films at home , as long as you don’t mind doing so alone. The only better experience visually is a laser projector with active shutter glasses. I literally exclaimed out loud when I saw some of my shots on here for the first time. Depth for stereo movies adds so much, but you lose so much vibrancy and light with passive glasses. This solves both issues. I get why James Cameron said it was a religious experience. For fellow film makers, this is the highest quality way that I’ve experienced my own work. It also is probably the only place at home to experience these movies at that quality. Nobody else has 4k 3D HDR with HFR. Nobody. So as a previous film buff, it’s worth it alone for me for that. However I also use it for work regularly. I join industry meetings with it, I multitask regularly. I spend more time on the couch working off my laptop with this as my screen now. The passthrough and eyesight features have been surprisingly great for being with my family. While people think it’s sad that I’m doing my own thing in the headset, the reality is that we all do our own hobbies in the evening after work. I can now spend that time with my partner and interact with them while they do their thing. I think it’ll take a while for Apple and the app developers to really get into the swing of things, but it’s been a huge, positive change for me.
- wysewun 2y agoThat’s a great insight. I have the Vision Pro and do like the quality and sound from my Sony a90j and Sonos system a bit more, but the size of the screen in the Vision Pro is amazing
- jiggawatts 2y ago> Nobody else has 4k 3D HDR with HFR Sadly that content basically doesn't exist outside of computer games. I got myself a 240 Hz OLED HDR monitor and I wanted to see Gemini Man in 120 fps, but it turns out that this is unobtainable by the public. The only other HFR movie I'm aware of is the Hobbit series, but they're only 48 fps. It's a bit weird to me that I have an ordinary consumer camera that can capture 120 fps or 8K at 60 fps, but that content fidelity exists only in YouTube or Vimeo.
- paul7986 2y agoI hope Apple makes a comparison product to Meta Ray Bans which i use daily. Though today using my Ray Bans and asking it questions got tedious and annoying as the reliability of "Hey Meta," working is 60 to 65 percent of the time. I did wish for a display to get the info (use a ring on my finger to control what I see ... the swiping UX on the glasses is clumsy..it needs more tactile type buttons) instead of having to ask questions and intently listen. Though overall i love my Meta Ray Bans .. i feel they are a no brainer purchase for people who wear sunglasses and take pics with their phone. Meta Ray Bans are only $300.
- azinman2 2y agoWhat do you do with it daily?
- paul7986 2y agoUse it to block the sun of course and take pics and sometimes videos. It's super handy to take pics and videos and a better experience then pulling out your phone to do the same thing. Yesterday used it while river tubing to easily capture pics and videos of my journey and of course to give my eyes protection from the sun.
- dorkwood 2y agoFor all the people laughing at the Vision Pro and saying it's useless, just remember that when the first iPhone came out people were saying the same thing. It's often the second or third generation of a product where it really starts to shine.
- wilsonnb3 2y agoThere are also plenty of products that just aren’t that good or useful from the beginning and it doesn’t matter how many revisions it gets. Also, Apples version is on its first generation but it’s not like VR as a whole is, “modern” VR has been around for a decade.
- wombat-man 2y agoI’m happy to wait and see what they come up with. Tempted to get a quest in the meantime. AVP was too heavy, quest a bit too limiting. I’ll say that I was very happy with my G1 instead of an iPhone back in the day.
- TheLoafOfBread 2y agoWe can also remember Siri when it came out. Jaw-dropping demo, but still more less useless after 10 years.
- sys_64738 2y agoThe iPhone had a killer feature back then which allowed you to make phone calls. Less needed nowadays I suppose but back then it was key to success.
- jwells89 2y agoI've mostly been using mine to watch TV/movies, though when I get some extra time I've been meaning to try the AVLR port that makes it work with SteamVR as a VR headset with joycons serving as controllers.
- wilsonnb3 2y agoThey had some good perspectives on the latest vergecast about this. https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/2/24190641/apple-vision-pro-headset-future-cheaper https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/2/24190641/apple-vision-pro-...
- wire_owl 2y agoYes, but in a fairly specific niche. I've found that the primary use case is for travel. It is really quite compact if you disconnect the straps. Being able to have the functional equivalent to desktop monitors is really quite handy for doing work on the road. It does struggles when not using a laptop with it despite having tried to make that work a couple times.
- LeoPanthera 2y agoYes, but I'll use it a lot more when 2.0 comes out, so I can see my keyboard in environments, which is my biggest complaint. Mostly it's the best cinema screen I've ever viewed in my life. "Avatar 2", in 3D and at 48fps, is an absolutely stunning viewing experience. I wish high-framerate movies were more common. They look incredible.
- ilrwbwrkhv 2y agoNope I have not been using mind. It is sitting next to my Oculus Quest now. I wish there were more interesting things to do in it. Honestly having that strapped to my head for any long thing (such as a movie) is a bit much. It's also heavy-ish and the field of view is still quite limited. But most importantly there is really not much to do in it once the novelty wears off.
- tikkun 2y agoPeople who own Bigscreen headsets as well as Vision Pro, how do they compare for you?
- kaveet 2y agoI’m still using Vision Pro for about 10-15 hours each week, but the bulk of that is spent mirroring my Mac or having focused writing time using the Obsidian iPad app—there really aren’t apps that take full advantage of the platform yet (and I don’t watch a lot of movies). Still, it’s been the best way to stay productive away from my desk. The launch was a bit rocky with bugs and missing features, but the recent updates to mirroring and keyboard/mouse support are starting to hint that Apple is focusing in on productivity as a first-class use case. I’m okay paying the premium knowing that this platform has the potential to keep heading in this direction. It feels like the hardware has a decent amount of headroom.
- khazhoux 2y agoEchoing dagmx, I use mine constantly for movies and TV. Binged Fallout in 2 days — I’ve never done that before. Just watched ep5 of The Last Of Us 30 minutes ago. And so many movies, after watching probably <10 movies a year prior.
- p1esk 2y agoWhat makes it better than simply watching it on a TV?
- khazhoux 2y agoTo watch a show or movie on a gigantic and sharp screen is just a qualitatively better, and often jaw-dropping experience. Pause the screen and you truly appreciate the art of cinematography. This was totally unexpected. I figured I’d use it for a few VR games and then put it down. But I wind up not playing any games at all.
- larrysalibra 2y agoYes, daily. Mobile workspace for programming with Mac screen + 1 visionOS safari window for documentation and + 1 visionOS safari window for Kagi Assistant (Ai chatbot access) General browsing, reading and watching apple tv or youtube (via juno). Writing...magic keyboard + vision pro. Missing are decent writing apps...the popular iOS/iPadOS/macOS disabled their access on visionOS. I end up using Notes because I don't have a microsoft office subscription and Pages also isn't on visionOS. I don't use it for all of these use cases every day.
- pazimzadeh 2y agoI barely use it, but I might be particularly sensitive to blurriness/vision discomfort. Objects are not perfectly crisp for me unless ~2 feet away. I got my eyes checked and will re-try with the minor prescription. Mac mirroring was especially blurry. So far it's been good for watching videos while traveling.
- dagmx 2y agoThis is unfortunately just the physics of a fixed lens system. You’re experiencing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergence-accommodation_conflict https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergence-accommodation_conflic... To overcome this, there would need to be a significant development in optics to enable varifocal lenses. Meta have made a few public attempts but the results have huge tradeoffs in weight, mechanics and response time with todays technology.
- agg23 2y agoI have the same problem with everything being slightly blurry, including Mac mirroring, rendering it unusable. It's very annoying given I have very good vision normally, but have so much trouble seeing in Vision. I discovered recently that I can focus fine on my hand a few inches from my face in real life, but the default onscreen keyboard position on Vision is too close for me to see clearly, even though its "much further away".
- herpdyderp 2y agoIf sim racing had better Mac support I would buy one in a heartbeat. It’d be much better than buying wrap around screens.
- tmikaeld 2y agoYou’d get that quality with a bigscreenvr headset at a lower cost even if you would have to buy a new computer. https://youtu.be/tIIWYh601tg?si=3azdig7logfSWYKu https://youtu.be/tIIWYh601tg?si=3azdig7logfSWYKu Check what this simmer is saying about it, it was an eyeopener for me as well
- lern_too_spel 2y agoI know people who work on AR/VR systems for Apple, Meta, and Microsoft. None of them use these toys for productivity at home. They rarely use them for entertainment. The technology to make a useful AR device just doesn't exist yet, despite Apple marketing's heroic efforts to fool people into thinking otherwise. It's like telling people that they should have a computer at home built with vacuum tubes. It's multiple technological breakthroughs too early.
- sys_64738 2y ago> toys Apt description to me. I do wonder if APPL has managed to wring every dollar out of the market with their inflated price and limited delivery quantity. Kudos to them if they did.
- jnaina 2y agoYes, everyday. Use it for work computing, video calls, movie watching, etc. https://pasteboard.co/Uxu6mwAv5svN.png https://pasteboard.co/Uxu6mwAv5svN.png
- gield 2y agoFYI, your links says "Image not found"
- SaintSeiya 2y agoit is trash and I worked on it
- disqard 2y agoPerhaps you can help it attain its full garbage potential -- casually slip in suggestions to integrate AI into version 2.0: e.g. setting a "background glow" color based on the user's mood, holographic flying creature-pets and other cool-sounding-but-actually-asinine ideas. You can make a difference :D
- plun9 2y agoCare to elaborate?
- alxlu 2y agoI found it put too much pressure on my face (even with the dual loop band) and not useful enough to justify the discomfort. I haven't used it since February, but I keep telling myself I'll eventually take it out and try it again if they come up with a compelling use case for it.
- joeguilmette 2y agoI sold mine about a month after purchase. It’s ok at a lot of things like general app usage, browsing, and running an external monitor for your laptop. It is absolutely incredible for watching video, even 2D video. The 3D video it can produce is stunning. For me it was the best way to watch video, imo on par with or better than an IMAX screen. Just insane. However, what got me selling it was: - It doesnt work well on flights. If it did, I could have justified keeping it. - I don’t watch much video alone at home. - Weight. If it was lighter and more comfortable the things it is ok at would be better. In 10-15yrs, I think this type of device will be as widely used as smartphones are today.
- smaccona 2y agoFlights seemed to be one of the use cases they talked about being an amazing immersive experience even though you’re physically confined to a (usually) small seat. What about it didn’t work?
- jaybeavers 2y agoYes, daily, as a virtual screen for my Macbook using a BLE mouse and keyboard paired to the Macbook not the AVP. Then I supplement the Mac with the occasional AVP side app using fingers and eye gaze control. If only the AVP ran MacOS natively on the M2. Somewhat ironic that I have to park an M1 Macbook on a table next to my AVP, screen open so I can unlock it (requirement for the screen pairing). I’m considering putting my Mac Studio into ‘never screen lock’ and then using a long range Logitech dongle for the wireless keyboard and mouse so I can use my AVP without an opened Macbook by my side all the time. A big bonus for me was VisionOS 2 added lower latency screen mirroring (and I think foviated rendering of the mirrored screen). Prior to that I had to use a developer strap with a second usb cable to the Macbook to get no noticeable latency on the screen and cursor.
- blarfingar 2y agoIt’s almost completely replaced any other screen for watching video — suddenly, my televisions look unconscionably small. Sandwich Vision’s two apps, Television and Theater, have become my default ways to watch YouTube. And it can’t be understated how cool it is watching things on your own personal movie screen. But this fits my lifestyle. I’m single, so if I had someone I wanted to watch this stuff with, I bet the Vision Pro might begin to feel isolating. I don’t really use it for anything else. I’ve yet to find many (any?) compelling native apps aside from those that display video. Once Apple apps like Pages or Logic or Final Cut — or third-party apps I use regularly on my Mac like iA Writer — are native to VisionOS, I’d certainly be more interested in this platform, but as is, the dearth of useful software is painful. I regularly check the App Store to see if any of the thousands of apps I’ve purchased since 2008 have been updated for the Vision Pro and I’m always disappointed.
- seeknotfind 2y agoNot really using it much anymore. I want to get Steam integration setup. It's fun for movies, but only if you are watching yourself, and honestly, the comfort is not worth it. Still, really cool, pinching to control is magic, and I can't wait to see where this goes. Yeah - probably not worth it yet, if you dev, can be fun.