Apple Vision Pro…. Anybody buying?

[tomO2013]

Any of you fine folks considering picking up generation 1 of the Vision Pro?

We got a meta quest 3 for Christmas and it’s a lot of fun. I can see the appeal of a spatial computing platform for 1000 or even 1500 bucks. However, I’m struggling though with the price targets being suggested for Vision Pro it just must be above the threshold I’d be willing to spend on a generation 1 product that for my use case is not an essential buy like a laptop with more horsepower.
I’m falling into the “wait and see” for the time being!

 

[leman]

If I had this much money laying around I'd get one

 

[Citysnaps]

I'm holding out for now.

I first want to see what interesting AR-focused apps will be developed and released over the next year. And what improvements and size reductions of Apple's 2nd gen device will have. And *maybe* a reduction in price.

 

[Eric]

I would love to pre-order this thing the day it's available but I vlew my budget on drone equipment this year so I'll wait and see how well it does and plan for later down the road. I'm excited about the tech though and I think if anyone can bring it to the mainstream it's going to be Apple.

 

[Alli]

Hard pass. I imagine it will be great for gamers, but not much for productivity.

 

[Citysnaps]

I would love to pre-order this thing the day it's available but I vlew my budget on drone equipment this year so I'll wait and see how well it does and plan for later down the road. I'm excited about the tech though and I think if anyone can bring it to the mainstream it's going to be Apple.

I can see some interesting AVP possibilities with your drone photography.

Still, I'd wait for a 2nd gen device, along with some nice easy to use developer tools being released.

 

[Roller]

Hard pass. I imagine it will be great for gamers, but not much for productivity.

I'm not ready to say the VP will only be good for gaming or other applications until it's been released and people get to use it. For example, I'm eager to see how well it'll work in real-world productivity settings. I'm also interested in the VP for viewing photos, self-captured spatial video, and content. If it's truly more immersive, especially when re-living experiences with family or traveling, that would be quite compelling to me. As well, I'm intrigued by potential uses in medicine, especially teaching.

I readily admit the entry price will be high, but I've spent similar amounts or more for new tech before. My main concern is the need for internal corrective lenses, which may not be possible for my eyes. Since I can't imaging buying a VP without trying one, I wonder how this will be handled in practice.

 

[leman]

Hard pass. I imagine it will be great for gamers, but not much for productivity.

I think it could work very well for software development, as an extension for a Mac. The huge virtual desktop space certainly sounds interesting.

 

[ArgoDuck]

I’m very hopeful it will offer unique and desirable productivity features. But i say this as a strongly visual thinker anyway - except that raises the possibility it would interfere with my visual processes!

All that said, it’ll be a while before it hits New Zealand. Good i guess…it’ll give me time to assess how it’s working out for people

 

[Citysnaps]

It would be neat if Apple (or someone else) developed an AR/VR app-builder application for non (or minimally skilled) programmers.

Kind of like the old 4D (Fourth Dimension - with Guy Kawasaki as a co-founder) database program from 20 years ago, that was incredibly useful for quickly building a wide range of Mac applications. Even applications that weren't necessarily database oriented.

 

[rdrr]

I admit I haven't watched the video on this product. But for the collaboration aspect of this, I do have a question. I am unclear on how you would show up on video, with or without the googles. My assumption is that it would look kinda odd to have a video meeting with you wearing your Vision Pro gear, so some sort of Virtual Avatar?

Edit: Never mind, I found the answer myself. I got to admit, I am skeptical and wondering how glitchy it will look. My guess is that without excellent bandwidth, it will be a bit like Max Headroom from the 80s.

 

[ArgoDuck]

^ Max Headroom was cool - sign me up!

 

[jbailey]

This is probably why Apple/Goldman Sachs upped my Apple Card credit to $18,000. I wish I could say that that won’t work.

 

[Alli]

If it's truly more immersive, especially when re-living experiences with family or traveling, that would be quite compelling to me. As well, I'm intrigued by potential uses in medicine, especially teaching.

But you could only experience those things by yourself - unless everyone in the family has their own set. Same thing with using it as a teaching tool. It’s a solo experience.

I think it could work very well for software development, as for a Mac. The huge virtual desktop space certainly sounds interesting.

That was the only thing that excited me when I watched the original
announcement. And then I started having visions of the cat jumping on my lap and destroying the entire experience.

 

[leman]

But you could only experience those things by yourself - unless everyone in the family has their own set. Same thing with using it as a teaching tool. It’s a solo experience.

This is also something that concerns me the most about this device. It seems I can’t even share it with my partner since we require different lens prescriptions…

That was the only thing that excited me when I watched the original
announcement. And then I started having visions of the cat jumping on my lap and destroying the entire experience.

Haha, (un)fortunately for me my cats are not lap cats.

 

[Citysnaps]

I'm more interested in what AVP will bring to the table with respect to AR.

As a very simple example... with a pair of AVPs, I can see home/building architects (interior designers and landscape architects, too) being all over this for immersive 3D design walk-throughs with clients.

Currently, client design approvals are done with printed paper presentations, or on computer displays showing different areas of a home/building design in a flat 3D-generated space. Both are pretty substandard, never giving clients a realistic feeling of designed spaces.

Also...architects would be able to make simple on-the-spot modifications based on real-time client feedback. Landscape architects would be able to quickly change elements (plants, trees, mounds, rocks, sprinklers, etc) based on client comments. Being able to walk through a proposed landscape project in immersive 3D, and suggesting changes as you go would be great. Much better than looking at a flat 2D top view plan.

 

[Citysnaps]

I would love to take an immersive 3D walk-through of the Louvre (and other museums), being able to look around at the art, and being able to instantly call up fact sheets about the piece I'm looking at. Or maybe a 3D walkthrough of the Colosseum.

And it would be awesome walking through the caves in Lascaux, France, seeing the primitive paintings made on cave walls 20,000 years ago.

Or the fresco murals Diego Rivera made in different US cities/states and countries.

 

[Clix Pix]

It all sounds very interesting and definitely I can see the value in some applications for some users, but as for me? No, thanks! I'd rather put the money into something else.

 

[Roller]

But you could only experience those things by yourself - unless everyone in the family has their own set. Same thing with using it as a teaching tool. It’s a solo experience.

That was the only thing that excited me when I watched the original
announcement. And then I started having visions of the cat jumping on my lap and destroying the entire experience.

Much medical education is done one-on-one, which accounts for considerable individual variations in how students progress through the material. As well, a lot of the content is visual. These are the applications for which the AVP may be well-suited. For example, a student could be viewing a guided tour though a real or 3D-modeled human body while simultaneously looking at imaging (e.g., CT) in an adjacent floating window in the field-of-view.

It's true that the AVP won't work for families who want to view movies, TV, or personal videos/photos together, unless each person has a headset, which is probably prohibitively expensive for now. But people sometimes do this alone, either because of different preferences or timing. For example, I'd love to be able to watch a sci-fi movie my wife has no interest in seeing on a large virtual screen with high quality sound.

As I noted before, the lenses are one of my biggest concern about the AVP. As I recall, they're interchangeable, but it's unclear how they'll work for people with vision problems or how much they'll cost, especially if they have to be replaced periodically. I suspect Apple and its partners are working on alternative technology (like variable focus lenses) that will be less expensive.

 

[Nycturne]

I'm just not exactly seeing the killer feature here for me. It's a bit like the Apple Watch in that way.

And as someone who can't seem to find headphones that aren't a huge pain to wear for more than 30min, it's hard for me to get jazzed about yet another "fits the average person" gadget that may or may not fit me.