Apple Vision Pro…. Anybody buying?

[rdrr]

Have there been prototypes or ideas out there to use different gestures to cycle through screens, cut/paste? It seems that there is an opportunity to use new methods and layouts that aren't available on a desktop/tablet.

 

[Roller]

That's correct based on my testing.

Getting the AVP and a Mac to work together is very much a work-in-progress. You can display the entire Mac desktop one space at a time in a window on the AVP and interact with it using the Mac's pointing device(s). Apple says the Mac's cursor can move beyond the confines of its display and control AVP apps, but I haven't been able to get it to work.

As things stand, I just see this as a way to use Mac apps that aren't compatible with the AVP and cut-and-paste between the two platforms. It's not very efficient, though. At some point, it would be great to have apps running on the Mac but displayed in their own individual windows on the AVP. I don't know if that's technically feasible, but it's something that will be needed if the AVP is to succeed for productivity.

One more point I forgot to mention yesterday: Some people are reporting glare inside the AVP. It's hard to describe, but it appears as lighter patches in various places, and it's more obvious when viewing content in a dark background. I'm convinced the cause is internal reflections within the headset. It's annoying at times, but hardly a show-stopper for me.

Just to change things up from politics, I thought I'd update y'all on my AVP.

In short, I love it. visionOS 2.x is what the initial version of the headset should have had. I use it nearly every day for watching movies and TV shows, as well as listening to music. Apple's rollout of immersive content has been slow, but what's there is generally excellent. More apps are available each month too. One of my favorites is FLY, which lets you soar over landscapes using Google's dataset. You move the flying platform by leaning and increase or decrease your height by moving your arm up and down. Everything looks cartoonish at low altitude, but it's quite realistic as you get higher. Here's a shot of Apple Park in Cupertino:

Much has been written about use cases for the AVP, and it's been criticized as an expensive content-consumption device, which it is. But there are some settings where the AVP offers an experience not available with phones, tablets, or computers, such as on an airplane. I've flown with the AVP almost ten times, and I'll never travel without it again. I'm a bit of a nervous flyer, and watching a massive virtual screen while relaxing in an immersive environment like a beach in Bora Bora is a wonderful distraction.

I also use my AVP for work. For example, I'd rather read scientific papers on it than on a monitor. I hadn't explored using the AVP with my Mac until the other day, and I'm sorry I waited so long. It's gotten better. I can connect to my Mac and interact with its virtual display on the AVP using my mouse and keyboard while using AVP apps. The virtual screen is crystal clear, and this has become my new setup. (I'm typing this in macOS Safari.) The keyboard is easily visible, even with the environment turned up.

With visionOS 2.2 and macOS 15.2, the virtual display can be much larger – wide or ultrawide – greatly increasing the screen available for Mac apps. I haven't tried them yet because I don't want to install 15.2 beta on my main machine, but it should be released in December.

The AVP is an excellent adjunct for photography too. You can view spatial images and videos captured with a newer iPhone, and you can convert old ones to spatial. The effect is surprisingly good when the subject is distinguishable from the background. But the device really shines looking at panoramas, which fill your field-of-view and give a compelling sense of "being there." I'm making it a point to take more of these now.

So, yeah, I'm happier with my purchase every day. I hear you can pick up a used AVP for around $2k.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming.

 

[casperes1996]

In half a decade I’ll get an Apple vision SE 3.

 

[MEJHarrison]

Thanks for the review! It's nice to hear impressions a year later. As a VR enthusiast, I'm really rooting for Apple to do well in this field. It's still not the headset for me, but if their VR does well, my VR does well. Competition is a great thing.

 

[Roller]

Thanks for the review! It's nice to hear impressions a year later. As a VR enthusiast, I'm really rooting for Apple to do well in this field. It's still not the headset for me, but if their VR does well, my VR does well. Competition is a great thing.

Agreed. I wrote it in part as a discretion from the political stuff, which has me more frightened than I've ever been in my life.