[HN Gopher] Coding in Vision Pro
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Coding in Vision Pro
        
       Author : willemlaurentz
       Score  : 330 points
       Date   : 2024-02-16 22:37 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (willem.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (willem.com)
        
       | willemlaurentz wrote:
       | At first I thought it would be weird, but after a few minutes it
       | all felt very natural and a deep work focus was achieved without
       | me really realising it. I tried to grasp some of the awe I
       | experienced in this blog post.
        
         | shakow wrote:
         | How is the resolution? I never tried a Vision Pro yet, but that
         | was my main gripe with my Rift. Indeed, IME, the ``real world''
         | size of the windows is nothing, it's their angular resolution
         | that is a make or break.
        
           | willemlaurentz wrote:
           | I love high dpi displays as I like text (and other details)
           | to be crisp and clear.
           | 
           | Vision Pro is approaching a quality that I feel is
           | acceptable, somewhere between "flawless reality" and a decent
           | screen. The virtual environments are crisper than the camera
           | passthrough mixed environments.
           | 
           | There is definitely room for improvement on screen quality,
           | but in general I am impressed.
        
           | larrysalibra wrote:
           | It ranges from okay to not that bad. It's not as good as the
           | "retina" screens in Apple's other products.
           | 
           | I can definitely see pixels on the device if I'm wearing
           | contacts unlike what most of the early reviewers claimed.
           | 
           | But it's not so bad as to be unusable and you don't really
           | notice them in most contexts - the main place I notice pixels
           | is using it as a screen for macOS. VisionOS apps are rendered
           | very large by default so the resolution deficiencies aren't
           | as apparent.
           | 
           | Overall it is very impressive but there's also much room for
           | improvement in resolution.
        
             | ribosometronome wrote:
             | For non-text content, I think it's pretty good, actually.
             | Watching content in Disney+ or Max's theater modes is
             | really satisfying despite those virtual screens being
             | sub-4k.
        
             | bed99 wrote:
             | I don't think it is possible to see the pixels, they are
             | the size of a red blood cell. But maybe you can see
             | antialiasing or noise from the cameras.
             | 
             | Personally I can't see any pixelation. It's even better
             | than reality. That being said passthrough cameras'
             | resolution do suck but it's not what it's important and
             | probably the easiest problem to solve.
        
               | hatsix wrote:
               | sure, they're small, but some of them are closer to your
               | eye lense than your retina. The pixels per degree are
               | lower than any Apple product in the past 10 years
        
             | euroderf wrote:
             | Now there is a topic. How does it work with contacts ?
             | 
             | Does it obviate the need for the 149$ Zeiss add-ons ?
             | 
             | Do you blink enough in the environment ?
        
               | robterrell wrote:
               | I have been using contacts and just got the zeiss lenses
               | today. So far it's roughly equivalent. I think there is a
               | touch more distortion (chromatic aberration along the
               | edges) with the inserts. But my contacts are progressives
               | and kinda sucked for this, single vision would probably
               | be great.
        
               | astrange wrote:
               | The purchase path in the online store will ask what kind
               | of contacts you have, and if they're compatible will
               | recommend using them instead of inserts.
               | 
               | The main advantage is that it's less crowded in there, I
               | suppose.
        
               | euroderf wrote:
               | I wonder what are the criteria for compatibility...
        
             | drcode wrote:
             | I don't know, if I need to use my macOS laptop, it sounds a
             | lot easier to just use my laptop, instead of using a helmet
             | and then doing the connection dance to get a single ok-ish
             | screen anyway
        
               | veec_cas_tant wrote:
               | A single screen that is much larger than a MacBook
               | screen, that is the advantage. And the connection dance
               | is really just...tapping the connect button?
        
               | kllrnohj wrote:
               | But with the same "resolution" such that you can't fit
               | any more content on it and with much worse density.
               | 
               | Why would I actually want that? You've been able to do
               | this for decades by hooking a TV up to your laptop and
               | while that certainly has space challenges that limit the
               | number of people that'll try it, it's not like tech
               | bloggers were flocking to hook up 65" TVs to their macs
               | and lovingly wax poetic about the productivity gains,
               | either.
        
               | ninkendo wrote:
               | The virtual resolution is adjustable and you can fit a
               | lot more contents on the screen than you can with a real
               | monitor. It basically allows one more setting past the
               | maximum "more space" mode you normally get from macOS. It
               | does render a little bit blurry, though, if you crank up
               | the virtual resolution to the max.
        
           | grumbel wrote:
           | The original Oculus Rift had 1080x1200, VisionPro has
           | 3660x3200, field of view is similar. In virtual monitor terms
           | that means a Rift can display a 640x480 monitor and the
           | VisionPro a 1920x1080 one. Still quite far away from Retina,
           | but should be pretty usable, especially since it allows
           | making the virtual screens bigger than a real monitor can be.
        
             | newshorts wrote:
             | Nah it's bigger than 1080...
             | 
             | You can choose 4k resolution and get extra real estate
        
           | joshstrange wrote:
           | It's better than anything else I've tried by a long shot,
           | which admittedly is only the Quest 2, but still not good
           | enough to work in all day. It wasn't the weight/comfort for
           | me, just it was too blurry. I fully expect to be using one
           | eventually as an external monitor replacement but it's got a
           | little ways to go. Probably needs another generation or 2 of
           | screen/camera improvements. It's _good_ but not worth keeping
           | unless you already use mostly iPad apps for work.
        
         | jdriselvato wrote:
         | You have a great humorist writing style. I enjoyed the read and
         | it just makes me want one even more.
         | 
         | I just went to an Apple Store to demo the Vision Pro and walked
         | out feeling like I had a religious experience. I was overcame
         | with emotion over that immersion demo, those baby rhinos
         | completely blew my mind. I'm booking another appointment soon
         | to get another taste. I really hope the price becomes
         | manageable for consumers like me; I love the tech and want the
         | future but can't afford it.
        
           | iknowstuff wrote:
           | Have you tried the Quest 3?
        
       | larrysalibra wrote:
       | "Active noise cancellation for your eyes" is a great way to put.
       | I also have found myself using the mount hood environment set to
       | daytime as the setting for macOS + visionOS multi-window set up.
       | 
       | I took it off yesterday before some friends came over for dinner
       | and I was kind of shocked that it had gotten dark outside because
       | my mind felt like it was still day time since the sun was out in
       | mount hood. I had actually been sitting on my office in darkness
       | for a least an hour.
        
         | xnx wrote:
         | Is there a setting to allow the environment to change lighting
         | conditions on a 24 hour schedule?
        
           | LeoPanthera wrote:
           | Yes, in fact that's the default, it tracks sunrise and sunset
           | based on your location.
        
             | larrysalibra wrote:
             | Yeah I changed the default to day which in hindsight wasn't
             | a great idea especially since I'm trying to recover from
             | North America -> Asia jet lag.
        
         | enos_feedler wrote:
         | Okay but as I sit here in my own private space in a city, one
         | of these I need and one of these I don't.
        
       | frozenport wrote:
       | Had the opposite experience.
       | 
       | My 6k monitor kicked the butt of the spatial computing screen. My
       | Macbook was easier to use. I could use my phone laying on the
       | side.
       | 
       | There were ultimately a lot better, less blurry display options.
        
         | mangosteenjuice wrote:
         | Which 6k monitor do you have? I'm looking to get one.
        
           | frozenport wrote:
           | Dell UltraSharp 32 6K Monitor - U3224KB is pretty good.
           | 
           | The same as the `Pro Display XDR` but with more ports, and
           | half the cost.
        
             | jwells89 wrote:
             | Have the kinks with the U3224KB been worked out? I had one
             | for a while but ended up returning it and replacing it with
             | a Studio Display due to a bunch of papercuts (blog post
             | with details in my profile, if interested) mostly
             | concerning its functionality with macOS (though there were
             | a couple of issues with the monitor itself too, mainly the
             | AG coating).
        
         | joshstrange wrote:
         | Same here, 3 2K screens were better than it. Also, re: using
         | your phone, that was a huge issue for me. I would get
         | notifications for things I couldn't do on the AVP (at least not
         | well, worst of all was text input) or just notifications only
         | on my phone that I wanted to read but couldn't though the AVP
         | passthrough. I hope they do an on-demand "Mac Virtual Display"
         | for your phone in a future version so it looks clear.
        
       | jm20 wrote:
       | I tried to use the Vision Pro for work, and I'm not sure if it
       | was just my eyes or what, but looking at code inside of that
       | thing was just...exhausting. When I took it off, I looked at my
       | regular monitors with a newfound love.
       | 
       | I'd love for this thing to reach it's full potential as this
       | 'work from a mountaintop, but really your garage' device, but I
       | feel like until the resolution gets to the same as existing
       | monitors (no small task, I know) it's just...not as good for the
       | vast majority of use cases.
        
         | judge2020 wrote:
         | Were you using macos virtual display? Using the passthrough to
         | look at monitors is passable but not suitable for even a few
         | minutes of use.
        
           | joshstrange wrote:
           | Not you you responded to but I tried both. I mean I never
           | seriously thought the passthrough would be good enough, and
           | it wasn't, but it was just barely legible and useful when I
           | was trying to pair my AVP to my MBP. But I really tried to
           | like MVD and I just couldn't do it. It wasn't clear enough
           | and felt like an added "tax" on my mind, also I felt very
           | limited compared to when using my external monitors.
        
           | lucb1e wrote:
           | > not suitable for even a few minutes of use
           | 
           | Because of lag, or why?
           | 
           | Many people work on remote desktop all day long, and I spend
           | my fair share of time in SSH sessions as well. It's not like
           | it improves the experience compared to working locally, but
           | for me it works fine so long as you're within a few hundred
           | kilometers without much jitter. On the VR, the screen should
           | move as you move your head because that position isn't what's
           | being passed through, so that can't be the difference either.
           | I don't understand (without having a device myself)
           | how/whether this is worse than normal video streaming over
           | LAN?
        
             | judge2020 wrote:
             | You misunderstood, the video passthrough of your
             | surroundings is not good enough. Using the macOS virtual
             | display is fine, there is some noticeable streaming
             | latency, maybe 30ms (that would be solved if it could just
             | take DP over USB-C or Thunderbolt in) but it's suitable for
             | long term use.
        
               | steveBK123 wrote:
               | Not just giving a display port of some sort seems like
               | such a mistake given that there's already the battery
               | cord/pack and that the virtual display latency is so bad.
        
             | xp84 wrote:
             | If i'm not mistaken, judge2020 meant that what's not
             | suitable is looking through your AVP at your real monitor.
             | The virtual display (glorified VNC or whatever) that you're
             | saying is OK, I think the agree is also OK.
             | 
             | And I'd assume that yes, it would be torture to try to view
             | a monitor through the AVP just due to the resolution loss.
             | It would be like poorly downscaling the 4k/5k resolution of
             | your 27" monitor to like 1366x768 but much worse since the
             | pixels are not even staying lined up on a level grid but
             | resampled at slightly diagonal angles as your head moves
             | even a couple of degrees. I am pretty sure setting up 2
             | more big $1000 monitors left and right would be better than
             | "center monitor + AVP with virtual apps left and right"
             | (and it would save about $2000 lol).
        
               | smaudet wrote:
               | Eh?
               | 
               | For coding you don't need a 2k$ monitor setup, you can
               | get by comfortably on 3-400$.
               | 
               | It's an interesting argument but they are going to need
               | to try a lot harder for it to be a compelling desktop
               | replacement.
        
           | prawn wrote:
           | Is the virtual display feature as it's presented now likely
           | to be a stopgap or fallback? A bit like emulation or Rosetta
           | apps when Apple silicon was new, or running iPhone apps on an
           | iPad. Those were things that seemed core when each was first
           | introduced and then quickly disappeared for most people in
           | most cases.
           | 
           | I wonder if it could largely be replaced by native AVP apps
           | or a better way for them to send out data from the Mac to the
           | headset once there is broader software support?
        
         | testfrequency wrote:
         | I had the same exact experience.
         | 
         | It's felt more like I was playing a simulator game of myself
         | coding, and it was not enjoyable at all.
         | 
         | I often wonder how people who actually work at fast paced
         | places as engineers are claiming to be more productive with
         | this strapped on.
         | 
         | If I just ingested and read email and slack messages all day,
         | or talked in zoom all day, sure (maybe), but I don't.
        
           | awskinda wrote:
           | I'm not extremely productive, but I have 2 use-cases I'm
           | excited about.
           | 
           | 1. Having more screen real estate in my small home office. I
           | often dive into spaghetti code, and seeing more of it helps
           | me maintain context.
           | 
           | 2. Working in my RV. I can't take my extra screens with me
           | (it's a multi-use family RV, so I'm not mounting anything.
           | Plus, there isn't room.), and I'm so, so excited about having
           | more screen real estate in there. We lived/worked in it for 3
           | months last summer, and it was really nice coming home to
           | more screens at the end of the trip.
        
             | reneherse wrote:
             | Similarly, I'm intrigued by the possibility of using it for
             | coding whilst aboard a sailboat, where having multiple
             | large physical screens isn't a possibility due to limited
             | space and lack of suitable mounting surfaces.
             | 
             | Very curious to see how tolerable the UX is in an
             | environment that's almost always experiencing some degree
             | of motion independent of the user.
        
               | randmeerkat wrote:
               | > Similarly, I'm intrigued by the possibility of using it
               | for coding whilst aboard a sailboat, where having
               | multiple large physical screens isn't a possibility due
               | to limited space and lack of suitable mounting surfaces.
               | 
               | It's amazing to me what people will do to avoid being
               | present in the moment. You're on a sailboat, enjoy it,
               | smell the ocean, feel the water on your face, breathe
               | deeply and take it all in. If you're just going to strap
               | goggles on your face to blind you to the beauty around
               | you, then why did you even get a sailboat to begin with?
        
               | shuckles wrote:
               | Life on a sailboat is mostly pretty boring.
        
               | bagels wrote:
               | Seems like a recipe for motion sickness.
        
               | luqtas wrote:
               | https://www.yachtingworld.com/yachts-and-
               | gear/seasickness-cu...
        
         | iamjake648 wrote:
         | I returned mine today after attempting to use it for work for a
         | few hours at a time over the last week. I felt the same eye
         | strain with my Mac as a mirrored display.
         | 
         | Zoom calls were cool, but nobody could take the Persona
         | seriously.
         | 
         | After a few days the eye strain seemed to get worse and worse,
         | until yesterday it give me such a bad headache I decided that
         | was enough.
        
           | cromka wrote:
           | > Zoom calls were cool, but nobody could take the Persona
           | seriously.
           | 
           | This is going to be another of their socially awkward
           | gimmicks like Memojis they will double down until they
           | inevitably fail.
           | 
           | I really feel like Apple actually just doesn't feel it and
           | every time they're pushing their weird geeky ideas onto their
           | users they loose a bit of coolness factor. And if kids decide
           | Apple got too cringe, while someone else manages to use that
           | to spin their momentum (think e.g. Nokia respawning riding
           | the 90s sentiment wave), they may actually start to seriously
           | struggle.
        
             | ApolIllo wrote:
             | Damn. My family use Memojis heavily!
        
               | amiantos wrote:
               | Don't worry, most people on Hacker News have no real idea
               | how normal everyday people use tech products. This person
               | thinks Memojis are unused, but they just lack
               | perspective.
        
               | gffrd wrote:
               | 100% of my social circle works outside tech, and nobody
               | uses memojis
        
               | jnaina wrote:
               | The world is bigger than just the US of A. Memojis are
               | big among the teen set elsewhere.
        
               | cromka wrote:
               | If the amount of internet content regarding Memojis is to
               | be a judge, Memojis might as well not exist at all.
               | 
               | From my broad circle in the US and Europe, I know one
               | person who sends one maybe once a quarter.
        
               | hnaccount_rng wrote:
               | Wait till you find out where Apple makes >50% of its
               | revenue ;)
        
               | maximus-decimus wrote:
               | > how normal everyday people use tech products
               | 
               | What do you mean? Obviously normies all browse the web in
               | emacs and write their own plugins in elisp.
        
               | cromka wrote:
               | > This person thinks Memojis are unused, but they just
               | lack perspective.
               | 
               | Or maybe you lack perspective, because maybe some people
               | use it in your circle, but otherwise it's very unpopular?
               | 
               | Observational fallacies work both ways.
        
               | fnordpiglet wrote:
               | They're wildly popular with the kids in my orbit
               | especially 6-12
        
               | starkparker wrote:
               | The point is that Apple trades in part on being
               | fashionable.
               | 
               | Lots of people use Facebook but virtually nobody
               | considers Facebook to be fashionable.
               | 
               | Meta doesn't care if Facebook is fashionable, but the
               | more Apple looks like Meta, the bigger the opening for
               | being disrupted on that front gets.
        
             | haswell wrote:
             | > _This is going to be another of their socially awkward
             | gimmicks like Memojis they will double down until they
             | inevitably fail._
             | 
             | I don't necessarily agree. Some have talked about how the
             | weirdness starts to fade after getting into a conversation
             | and focusing on the discussion or collaboration at hand. It
             | seems that once the brain has adjusted a bit, it can start
             | to fill in for the badness somewhat.
             | 
             | The feature clearly has a long way to go before it's _good_
             | , but I think it's premature to dismiss it. Future
             | iterations will only improve, so if some people are finding
             | some success with it now, that will only grow.
        
               | cromka wrote:
               | No, I absolutely get that. I still remember how talking
               | to yourself wearing wired headset on the street was
               | weird.
               | 
               | But it's been over 5 years since Apple started pushing
               | Memojis, they still continued as recently as last year
               | and they have little adoption still, as far as I am
               | aware.
               | 
               | Those who watched WWDC remember how cringey those Memoji
               | bits were, I specifically refer to that aspect of their
               | being increasingly out of touch.
        
               | haswell wrote:
               | I dunno. I know people who use their Memojis regularly
               | and seem to enjoy it. I personally do not, but I think
               | I'm not their target user. Not sure what the broader
               | adoption looks like.
               | 
               | But I think these are different enough capabilities that
               | the success or failure of one is not necessarily
               | predictive of the other.
        
               | cromka wrote:
               | > Not sure what the broader adoption looks like.
               | 
               | Just google news Memojis and see what you get. Hardly any
               | content, and if you navigate 2-3 pages further, you
               | quickly reach 2022 and 2021 articles.
               | 
               | If that doesn't scream "low adoption" then I don't know
               | what does.
        
               | haswell wrote:
               | As a method of estimating adoption, that seems fairly
               | suspect. It doesn't exactly seem like a capability that
               | would generate much news.
               | 
               | Google Trends seems more likely to be instructive, and as
               | a topic, it has shown fairly steady (if low) interest
               | over time after peaking on release with some periodic
               | spikes most likely correlated with major updates.
               | 
               | But as a feature, I wouldn't expect even Google trends to
               | be very instructive (for understanding adoption), since
               | people who know how to use them aren't likely to be out
               | there searching. More use = more familiarity = less
               | searching. Who knows; maybe they're barely used, but
               | there isn't good data to back up that claim, and there
               | are a number of other ways to interpret the data that
               | does exist.
               | 
               | With all of that said, I'll maintain that I don't see any
               | real connection between them and Personas, or any
               | predictive value in comparing them.
        
               | bsdpufferfish wrote:
               | Good thing its not Memoji.
        
             | gffrd wrote:
             | I've wondered the same. Apple has been a "given" for 20
             | years because they somehow keep shipping great stuff and
             | avoid the Microsoft trap of looking like total dorks by
             | existing in an echo chamber.
             | 
             | Even if they made a small misstep or had an awkward moment
             | in a launch announcement, it was seen as endearing and
             | forgivable.
             | 
             | But there seem to be an increase in moments where Apple
             | comes across as behind the curve, or not as aware of where
             | the public is at relative to them, compared to then.
        
               | leptons wrote:
               | >avoid the Microsoft trap of looking like total dorks by
               | existing in an echo chamber.
               | 
               | Lolwhut?? Microsoft _wishes_ it had a fraction of the
               | echo chamber Apple fans create. It 's what Apple is known
               | for.
               | 
               | >Even if they made a small misstep or had an awkward
               | moment in a launch announcement, it was seen as endearing
               | and forgivable.
               | 
               | Uhhhh... "You're holding it wrong" was an absolute
               | unmitigated PR disaster for Apple. It was one of the
               | worst kinks ever in the "reality distortion field".
               | People were rightly pissed. It was smug and stupid, not
               | endearing.
        
               | RajT88 wrote:
               | > "You're holding it wrong"
               | 
               | I cringe every time I hear someone say this to malign
               | stupid users. Yes, I hear it at work.
               | 
               | Some people legit only read the headlines about that
               | story, not the articles.
        
               | rpmisms wrote:
               | You're misunderstanding. Apple exists in an echo chamber,
               | Microsoft _wishes_ they did.
        
               | saurik wrote:
               | I believe the premise is that Microsoft--the employees
               | and management or whatever: the entity, not the ecosystem
               | or the users--exists in an echo chamber... as in, they
               | keep thinking their users want stuff but their users
               | actually don't.
        
             | cozzyd wrote:
             | I've never heard of memojis before...
        
               | tyfon wrote:
               | Same, and now I feel old again : - \
        
             | threeseed wrote:
             | By definition it isn't a gimmick.
             | 
             | You either have some rendered 3D model or you take the
             | headset off when making a call.
             | 
             | Physics dictates that those are your only two choices.
        
             | Kon-Peki wrote:
             | > they're pushing their weird geeky ideas onto their users
             | 
             | This thing is like $5k all-in and even then you have to get
             | on a waiting list. I wouldn't really say that they're
             | _pushing_ this on people.
        
               | cromka wrote:
               | Not talking about the device itself here.
        
             | elif wrote:
             | I imagine version 2 will likely have uncanny-valley-
             | crossing AI filters to make it indistinguishable from your
             | real face, background and expressions.
        
             | 38 wrote:
             | > coolness factor
             | 
             | Apple hasn't been cool for a long, long time. Everyone has
             | an iPhone so it's no longer special. It's just a waste of
             | money when you can get basically the same android phone for
             | half the price
        
             | mvkel wrote:
             | What's the alternative? You have goggles strapped to your
             | face. Personas are the only thing you -can- do to have any
             | sense of presence on a call.
             | 
             | It's not perfect. It's not even good. But it's better than
             | nothing.
        
             | bagels wrote:
             | We're so close to having ai just re-render your face in the
             | videos.
        
           | crazygringo wrote:
           | > _After a few days the eye strain seemed to get worse and
           | worse, until yesterday it give me such a bad headache I
           | decided that was enough._
           | 
           | Curious if you've ever gotten your vision tested?
           | 
           | I don't need glasses in everyday life, but I did go to an
           | optometrist and got a pair anyways after I got annoyed one
           | night that a friend could read a faraway sign and I couldn't
           | quite. They make things a little bit sharper but not that it
           | ever makes a difference for anything I actually need.
           | 
           | But then I discovered that if I wear them, zero eye strain in
           | VR. Without them my eyes hurt after 20 minutes. With them, I
           | can use VR for hours, zero problem.
           | 
           | No idea why. And I can't seem to find much information on it,
           | but I asked my optometrist and they said it's a whole thing
           | -- people who wear glasses sometimes not to see better, but
           | to reduce eye strain and headaches.
        
             | valvar wrote:
             | Interesting. I'm also nearsighted, so I've always assumed
             | that I don't need glasses when wearing VR headsets. It's
             | easier to just take them off before putting on the headset
             | (MQ3) and I've not noticed a difference in clarity -- but I
             | do experience eye strain and visual exhaustion if I wear
             | the headset for too long, so it might be worth comparing
             | longer sessions with and without glasses.
        
               | astrange wrote:
               | VR headsets work like you're focusing at least a few feet
               | away, so if you're nearsighted you need vision
               | correction.
        
             | fossuser wrote:
             | Other vision issues can be relevant too. I have a very
             | slight lazy eye - I can still see 3D video but my stereo
             | vision is worse than average. I suspect it affects the eye
             | tracking because for me it feels a little tedious and
             | imperfect, but others don't seem to feel that way.
        
               | astrange wrote:
               | You may be able to help this with toric contacts. The
               | inserts don't do prism correction so can't help with that
               | specifically.
        
             | barkingcat wrote:
             | The problem with the vision pro is that you can't wear
             | glasses to use them, and neither does Zeiss make all the
             | prescriptions available.
        
               | astrange wrote:
               | You can wear contacts for VR as long as they're not
               | colored. (Well, if there's no eye tracking even that's
               | fine.)
        
               | SkyPuncher wrote:
               | With my Xreal airs, something is just always slightly off
               | with focus. It's fine for movies and games, but it sucks
               | for reading text.
        
           | rubicon33 wrote:
           | Could be the motion blur. Vision Pro is in this really weird
           | cross section of insanely good visuals but really bad motion
           | blur. Generally a little motion blur is OK, but the better
           | your visuals get, the worse and more apparent motion blur can
           | be.
           | 
           | Personally I found AVP to be most draining if I'm moving my
           | head around a lot and experiencing this motion blur. If I'm
           | just looking at the screen in front of me, I get fatigued
           | less
        
         | chenxi9649 wrote:
         | When I don't wear contacts for a while(just normal glasses),
         | wearing them throughout the day also makes me a bit "tired".
         | Even though the "resolution" is basically the same. But after
         | wearing them consecutively for a few days, it becomes like the
         | same as glasses.
         | 
         | I wonder if there's something similar here going on. Since we
         | rely so heavily on vision for everything(Especially balance).
         | Any difference to our normal perception will cause "exhaustion"
         | of sorts. But maybe wearing it continuously for days can cause
         | our body to adapt to it?(Which, obviously is impossible for
         | AVPs)
        
           | g-b-r wrote:
           | That might have to do with the eye "enlarging" a little to
           | make space for the lenses, or maybe more likely with you
           | learning to "lubricate" the lenses with tearing
           | 
           | (pure conjecture, I last used lenses fifteen twenty years
           | ago)
        
         | LegitShady wrote:
         | I think its a PWM issue.
        
           | rrdharan wrote:
           | Since I didn't know the acronym.. "Pulse Width Modulation":
           | 
           | https://appleinsider.com/inside/apple-vision-pro/tips/why-
           | ap...
        
         | cpufry wrote:
         | sounds like absolute fucking hellscape jesus christ
        
         | g-b-r wrote:
         | I haven't tried them, but I imagine that despite the high
         | resolution, text that is badly aligned (and probably constantly
         | imperceptibly wobbling) strains the eyes.
         | 
         | The software should probably force text to be aligned on whole
         | real pixels, even if that detracts a little from the realism.
         | 
         | And the best would probably be to keep virtual screens
         | completely fixed until you move by a certain, largish degree
         | (as an option).
         | 
         | Then again, maybe this has nothing to do with the straining.
        
           | mlindner wrote:
           | > The software should probably force text to be aligned on
           | whole real pixels, even if that detracts a little from the
           | realism.
           | 
           | I think that'd be difficult given that pixels are effectively
           | "non-rectangular" given the warping from the lenses.
        
             | g-b-r wrote:
             | Well they might be non-rectangular, but text aligned on
             | their borders should still be sharper than misaligned text,
             | no?
        
               | astrange wrote:
               | High DPI monitor text effectively can't be misaligned,
               | especially since Apple's text rendering always dilated
               | characters instead of trying to fit them onto pixel
               | grids.
        
           | crooked-v wrote:
           | > aligned on whole real pixels
           | 
           | Remember that you're working with two screens, not one, and
           | they have to have coordinated projections that will also
           | depend on the user's IPD.
        
             | fnordpiglet wrote:
             | Interpupillary distance fwiw
             | 
             | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pupillary_distance
        
             | g-b-r wrote:
             | Well ok, but is it a problem to have the text aligned on
             | both screens, if the user is fine with some "stuttering"
             | when moving or with keeping the virtual screen fixed?
        
               | crooked-v wrote:
               | It's a problem because a given piece of text isn't going
               | to match the same pixel boundaries on both screens.
        
           | curiouscavalier wrote:
           | That's an interesting point. You potentially also have
           | alignment issues with the window being placed spatially,
           | i.e., rendering text that is not perpendicular to the plane
           | of the screens. When moving my head in the AVP I'm moving the
           | screens, unlike when I move my head to look at a different
           | part of a monitor.
        
             | g-b-r wrote:
             | Yeah with slanted screens it might well be best to not
             | align anything, at least beyond certain angles
        
           | saagarjha wrote:
           | Windows aren't perpendicular to your view, though. They shear
           | because of perspective.
        
             | g-b-r wrote:
             | Yes I was mostly considering exactly perpendicular windows;
             | it _might_ be beneficial to let go of some realism and
             | perspective to work more comfortably
        
           | thwarted wrote:
           | I've watched a few reviews where the claim is "multiple 4k
           | monitors", and even on Apple's site it says "More pixels than
           | a 4K TV. For each eye.". But any virtual monitor is going to
           | be scaled down, and with "spatial computing" being the
           | desired interaction, it's not going to be projected at a
           | fixed point on the embedded screens. Sure, when you have a 4k
           | monitor across the room, it's smaller because it's further
           | away, but the full resolution is there (reality is much
           | higher fidelity than "retina display" ever was and even the
           | Vision Pro is). When a virtual display is projected into a
           | space further away, it's going to take up fewer pixels and be
           | down-sampled. It's kind of annoying that the term "4k" is
           | being used to refer to "physical space the display takes up"
           | or "size reported to the operating system" rather than the
           | physical pixel density.
        
           | dagmx wrote:
           | Text in natively rendered apps is perspective corrected
           | before rendering and incredibly sharp as a result. It's been
           | mentioned in a few interviews in passing.
           | 
           | Text in streamed displays from a Mac may suffer from pixel
           | misalignment.
        
           | kllrnohj wrote:
           | While the resolution is high, the PPD is very low (pixels per
           | degree of vision). It's lower density than a classic monitor,
           | and nowhere close to a modern high density 4k or retina
           | display.
           | 
           | Also your eyes can't really focus the same, anything within
           | about 12 ft causes you to struggle to focus leading to eye
           | strain. This is an unfortunate reality of the lenses
        
         | leetharris wrote:
         | Same. I returned it the other night because I finally just gave
         | up on trying to make it comfortable. My body was just rejecting
         | it. I could make it 20-30 minutes.
         | 
         | It's a bunch of factors. Heavy, lots of pressure on a few
         | specific points, the dangling cable to a slippery battery which
         | I had to leave plugged in all day, the grainy passthrough...
         | But most of all it's just too heavy. And connection would
         | sometimes get janky between Mac and Vision Pro.
         | 
         | I've got high hopes for generation 2 and 3 but it needs time to
         | cook.
        
         | frontman1988 wrote:
         | Who knows what will be the long term consequences of using
         | these devices on the eye. Better to be wary
        
           | astrange wrote:
           | There shouldn't be any as long as you're not a child.
           | Children need to spend a lot of time outside to avoid
           | developing myopia.
        
         | dclowd9901 wrote:
         | VR headsets' resolution are still a couple orders of magnitude
         | away from being indecipherable from normal vision, and that
         | doesn't even include motion.
        
         | dawnerd wrote:
         | I couldn't stand the constant glare when looking at code.
         | Everything just felt hazy combined with the awful pass through
         | was a downgrade. Was more productive at first since I could
         | block the world out. Didn't last.
        
         | WesolyKubeczek wrote:
         | When you move your head around in Vision Pro, do the windows
         | stay where you put them, or do they follow your head? If they
         | stay where put, is this perfect, or do they jig a little bit?
        
           | willemlaurentz wrote:
           | They really seem to be glued to the real world, not moving
           | when I move.
        
         | JeremyNT wrote:
         | Eye stain has been a huge issue for me with earlier VR goggles.
         | 
         | Some people seem to be suggesting the higher quality of the
         | Vision Pro overcomes this, but I'm starting to really wonder.
         | Would even more resolution actually solve it? Or maybe there's
         | really no way around the discomfort for some of us.
        
       | gumby wrote:
       | I am thinking of upgrading my work station and I suppose this is
       | cheaper than three 5K TB monitors. But is it really as good?
        
         | djsavvy wrote:
         | If that's the alternative you're considering, get the monitors.
         | If you're like me and have been dying to be a bit less tethered
         | to one location for a while, or you want to get a lot out of a
         | little space, this device has finally crossed the threshold of
         | usability (and being a joy to use). But if your baseline is
         | three 5K monitors in one spot, you're gonna be disappointed.
        
         | joshstrange wrote:
         | It doesn't beat 3 2K monitors let alone 5K. I know, I have 3
         | 2Ks and the Apple Vision Pro didn't come close to competing. It
         | will one day and I can't wait but I returned mine for now.
        
         | jgalentine007 wrote:
         | LG 24" 4k monitors are like $350 - might be worth a try. I have
         | two with my M3 Pro and they look fantastic - sharp text, good
         | color and viewing angles.
        
           | wilsonnb3 wrote:
           | I have a pair of those, they are great. Wish they were a bit
           | brighter but can't complain for the price.
        
         | zone411 wrote:
         | Get a 43'' center monitor with two LG DualUP 16:18 ratio
         | monitors on the sides. Cheaper and much much better than Vision
         | Pro. You will need a large desk though.
        
           | metaphor wrote:
           | > _Get a 43 '' center monitor with two LG DualUP 16:18 ratio
           | monitors on the sides._
           | 
           | Sounds nice for the office, but find myself conflicted with
           | the notional operating value prop of continuously juicing
           | north of 200W less graphics compute (?!) just putting idle
           | pixels on screen on a home workstation that seldom gets
           | shutdown.
           | 
           | Curious if you've realized meaningful productivity gains
           | since switching to that setup, and what graphics card(s) are
           | you using to drive them?
        
       | LeoPanthera wrote:
       | My biggest problem is that it is sometimes difficult to read the
       | keys on my keyboard. I really wish that it could do object
       | recognition on my keyboard and re-render the keycaps. This would
       | be especially useful in "environments", which make the keyboard
       | disappear entirely.
        
         | notso411 wrote:
         | That is a really good idea
        
           | modeless wrote:
           | Such a great idea that Meta implemented it for Quest already.
           | https://www.meta.com/help/quest/articles/headsets-and-
           | access...
        
         | Zelphyr wrote:
         | This. I'm a touch-typist but I still find myself fumbling
         | around trying to find where to put my hands when I first start
         | typing while in an environment. I don't do that when I can see
         | my keyboard in my peripheral vision though, so I think the
         | keyboard object recognition would help.
        
         | adr1an wrote:
         | I thought oculus already had that!
        
         | joshstrange wrote:
         | I was surprised Apple didn't have this. My Meta Quest 2 had a
         | super crappy version I tried for all of 2 minutes. The AVP
         | passthrough and rendering content behind your hand (cut out?)
         | both leave some to be desired. The little indicator that floats
         | over your keyboard is cool, touch bar coming back from the
         | grave. But I felt like I couldn't dial in the environment past
         | the point where I could still see my keyboard/hands because of
         | the "keyboard disappearing" issue.
        
           | larrysalibra wrote:
           | I found setting the environment immersion to around 50% lets
           | me see enough of my keyboard so I'm not groping around for
           | it.
           | 
           | I'd also like to see app re-render your iPhone, Apple Watch
           | and ipad screens which are pretty blurry in pass through.
           | Also some sort of workaround for Face ID on iPhone when
           | you're wearing Vision Pro. Seems like things Apple is
           | uniquely positioned to do.
        
             | joshstrange wrote:
             | > I'd also like to see app re-render your iPhone, Apple
             | Watch and ipad screens which are pretty blurry in pass
             | through.
             | 
             | Totally agree, I just made the same comment elsewhere in
             | this thread. And yes, if I've authenticated with IrisID or
             | whatever it's called then when I raise my phone do the same
             | thing that allows my mac to unlock from my watch. Throw a
             | little notification in the headset (some sound/animation)
             | so if it's not me picking up the phone then it alerts me
             | that someone else is and/or force me to do the IrisID to
             | unlock the phone. After years of FaceID I just expect it to
             | work 99% of the time and it was annoying to enter in my
             | code to use my phone, felt very anti-Apple. A very Apple
             | thing was the Universal Control when using Mac Virtual
             | Display which lets you control/type in other AVP apps, that
             | felt like magic.
        
         | newZWhoDis wrote:
         | It doesn't need to do that, just be sufficiently high
         | resolution.
        
           | LeoPanthera wrote:
           | Well fine, but the resolution isn't high enough, so it does
           | need to do that.
        
         | swader999 wrote:
         | This is really just an opportunity for you to up your typing
         | game. Black out your letters a few at a time until the keyboard
         | is blank.
        
           | LeoPanthera wrote:
           | I can touch type just fine, it's finding the home row to put
           | my fingers in the start positions that is the problem.
           | Blacking out my keyboard wouldn't accomplish anything.
        
             | TillE wrote:
             | Pretty much every keyboard out there has little bumps on
             | the F and J keys for exactly this purpose.
        
               | LeoPanthera wrote:
               | I know. I understand. But you still have to grope around
               | for a couple of seconds to find them.
               | 
               | It's not impossible, it's just annoying.
        
       | qup wrote:
       | When this is available in a smaller form-factor, I'll have one
       | for certain.
       | 
       | It would be nice if they could take input as well, to display
       | inside a screen somewhere (HDMI or whatever).
       | 
       | I feel pretty confident we're going to have this available as
       | sunglasses before I'm dead, which is pretty cool.
        
       | dbish wrote:
       | I recently had a kid and lost my office :), I've been struggling
       | to have a set space for work when he's asleep, but would
       | absolutely love it if I could just put on a headset. Is it
       | workable for that?
       | 
       | I used to try to code in the quest3 but the resolution felt like
       | I might as well be coding on my phone. I'll go buy one today if
       | this would be an office replacement for me.
        
         | djsavvy wrote:
         | from experience -- yes, absolutely. It's not as good as a
         | dedicated, already-optimized work space, but it comes pretty
         | darn close.
         | 
         | I have a great workspace well-tailored for me with a massive
         | desk, ultrawide monitor, nice speakers, etc., but I still pop
         | into my vision pro and screen mirror my laptop to get work
         | done. If I'm having trouble focusing, the environments and
         | white noise generation are really helpful. I've also noticed
         | that it really boosts my productivity when I would otherwise be
         | disturbed by a cluttered environment.
        
           | dbish wrote:
           | Wow, alright, strong endorsement. I might have to pick one up
           | afterall. Thanks!
        
             | joshstrange wrote:
             | Go get a demo at an Apple Store. They won't show you Mac
             | Virtual Display and the clarity of the AVP/iPad apps is
             | good, pictures/experiences are breathtaking. MVD is not
             | that clear, full stop. Also, try to resize an app with text
             | down to the size you would use for a window on your
             | computer. You can't. I constantly found myself wishing to
             | make apps smaller but you can't and so you get limited
             | quickly on what you can fit in front of you/in your field
             | of vision. I even wish there was a way to switch to the
             | iPhone app instead then so I could see more. I wonder if
             | part of that limitation is that the text won't be as
             | legible if it's smaller.
             | 
             | One day it will get there, today is not that day. That
             | said, you should go try it at an Apple Store, it's free to
             | do.
        
               | dbish wrote:
               | Fair enough. I'll check it out.
        
         | newshorts wrote:
         | I have literally the exact same problem.
         | 
         | Now I can sit on my couch in a much more comfortable and
         | ergonomic? position with 4k screen size virtual display.
         | 
         | Plus I can watch movies with the sound on and not wake anyone
         | up.
        
           | dbish wrote:
           | that's awesome. i need to check it out
        
         | anonzzzies wrote:
         | The difference between the quest 3 and your phone is the
         | monitor sizes. I have 4 monitors in immersed and while not high
         | res, this is far more convenient than a phone (and for me than
         | actual monitors; I hate stationary monitors workspaces). But I
         | guess it might depend on what you actually do.
        
       | ctvo wrote:
       | Completely different from my reality; the selective blurring when
       | connected to a laptop hurts my eyes and forces me to refocus them
       | constantly. The limited field of vision stops where I can place
       | my windows and displays without moving my head. The resolution
       | noticeably worse (as expected) than my 2 year old 5K monitor.
        
       | likebike wrote:
       | Use a straw to drink the coffee. ;)
        
         | dgunay wrote:
         | My imagination ran a bit wild and I thought of a sort of
         | "respirator" one could wear for enhanced immersion, featuring
         | artificial odors. Maybe even a small straw to sip your
         | preferred beverage from, like one of those water pouches hikers
         | carry.
        
       | aussieguy1234 wrote:
       | Not a bad desktop background you have there
        
       | helloericsf wrote:
       | Intriguing idea! How long can you sustain coding with Vision Pro?
       | BTW, you must have excellent eyesight and a strong neck. :D
        
       | joshstrange wrote:
       | I'm so glad that some people are able to use it in this way and
       | I'm jealous. I found the code too blurry [0] and I disliked being
       | limited to 1 blurry screen with 3 clear monitors available to me.
       | I ended up returning mine but I can't wait till I can work inside
       | one of those without feeling limited. It's easy to imagine a
       | future where the AVP beats my monitors and I can't wait.
       | 
       | [0] https://joshstrange.com/2024/02/04/apple-vision-pro-
       | writing-...
        
       | munk-a wrote:
       | This feels like one of those activities that's so drastically
       | different that there may be serious health concerns about it.
       | Wearing a VR headset to play a few hours of games a week still
       | lets your eyes mostly exist in a natural light setting. When
       | you're wearing a VR display the light is right up against your
       | eyes with no possibility for them to look away to relax. When
       | we're normally working we can glance out at a horizon (hopefully
       | - sometimes you don't have a window) or at least let your eyes
       | wander off to the ceiling and defocus. It seems like giving your
       | eyes a chance to relax (i.e. having narrow glasses where part of
       | your view field is out of focus) can be beneficial at delaying
       | the onset of Myopia. The idea of wearing one of these for eight
       | hours a day feels much worse than even staring at a phone in your
       | hand when it comes to eye health.
        
         | larrysalibra wrote:
         | I wonder what it will do to our skin after long time use. I get
         | red goggle rings around my eyes. Is it going to crest more
         | wrinkles?
         | 
         | One improvement vs phones is there's no more bending the neck
         | down to look at something in your hands.
         | 
         | Interesting times!
        
           | crooked-v wrote:
           | That's entirely a consequence of the made-for-marketing
           | headstrap instead of the headset itself. Check out companies
           | like BOBOVR that make more ergonomic headstraps (not for AVP
           | yet, but they've hinted at working on it).
        
       | AceJohnny2 wrote:
       | This is my goal and hope, but I'll temper OP's points with how
       | things stand today.
       | 
       | Background: I got my AVP on Monday 5th (having gotten up before
       | dawn to place my order when it first became available). I am a
       | programmer with a multi-screen setup to maximize my usable
       | workspace, which consists of editor, terminal, and browser
       | windows. My hope is for the AVP to replace a set of fixed
       | screens, and have in effect infinite screen space.
       | 
       | The AVP has worse Angular Resolution than a monitor, at average
       | 34 Pixels-Per-Degree (PPD) vs a monitor's 64 PPD (more details in
       | iFixit's writeup [1]).
       | 
       | This is an inevitable consequence of placing a screen so close to
       | your eyes. The AVP's exceptional screen technology mitigates this
       | (and for me completely eliminates the "screen door" effect that
       | plagued earlier VR sets), but it can't beat Physics.
       | 
       | So for one thing, you cannot have the legible text density of,
       | say, 2 27" monitors an arm's length away. In other words, the
       | equivalent amount of text will take _more space_ in your vision
       | on the AVP.
       | 
       | This is understandable. But where the AVP really has a problem,
       | but I really hope they improve, is window management.
       | 
       | Someone quipped that, from an app/window management perspective,
       | the AVP is like sticking an iPad on your face, and I agree.
       | 
       | As someone who's used to moving and resizing windows around with
       | Tiling window managers on Linux and SizeUp or Moom on macOS, the
       | window management of the AVP is _really awkward_. Say you put
       | your editor large front-and-center, but now want to switch to a
       | terminal, or resize the editor to put a reference on the side?
       | The hand control may feel magical, but you 're going to be doing
       | a lot of it to move and resize your windows.
       | 
       | But these are software UX problems, and I'm gambling on Apple
       | fixing them over time.
       | 
       | [1] https://www.ifixit.com/News/90409/vision-pro-teardown-
       | part-2...
        
         | AceJohnny2 wrote:
         | OPfftopic: the text preview bar following your wireless mac
         | keyboard around is the standout _AR_ feature for me. If that
         | sounds unimpressive, I agree; I have yet to experience truly
         | impressive _A_ R on the AVP. But it's still early, so I'm
         | hopeful.
        
         | wilsonnb3 wrote:
         | its been 14 years on the iPad and even longer on MacOS and
         | neither of them have good window management, I really don't
         | think Apple will come up with a good solution on the vision pro
        
           | AceJohnny2 wrote:
           | _sigh_ thanks for the reality check.
        
           | nilkn wrote:
           | MacOS has had features like expose and Mission Control for
           | many years. Even something like that would be a big step
           | forward for window management in visionOS.
        
         | dagmx wrote:
         | Regarding window management, what it really needs is
         | (ironically) an iPad feature called Stage Manager.
         | 
         | It feels so perfect for this use but it's a shame it doesn't
         | exist
        
           | ninkendo wrote:
           | I wonder if using something like stage manager on Vision Pro
           | would cause a lot of people to get motion sickness... I can
           | imagine large windows flying around in virtual space three or
           | 4 feet from you is going to cause a lot of disorientation for
           | many people.
        
             | dagmx wrote:
             | Currently, when you recenter your view, things just fade
             | out and then fade back into their new position rather than
             | fly over.
             | 
             | I would expect any window management system to be the same
             | when auto tiling
        
       | robg wrote:
       | I like the comparison: _like a good pair of earphones for your
       | eyes._ That's a nice succinct summary and gets to when and how
       | the device operates best - when detaching from your surroundings
       | helps you in some way. That marginal value every day isn't for me
       | but I can see how it could be for many, especially as the price
       | drops over time.
        
       | zyklonix wrote:
       | Any idea how the author was able to have multiple desktop
       | screens? What app is he using for this? I thought it only allowed
       | you to mirror one screen per Mac and from my experience it is
       | quite laggy.
        
         | jlund-molfese wrote:
         | Looks like iPad apps!
         | 
         | You can tell by the icon floating at the top right of the
         | windows, which appears for "compatible apps" aka iPad apps.
        
         | willemlaurentz wrote:
         | I use the iPad Blink Shell app, it can have multiple windows
         | and renders using the VisionOS UI, making it sharper than
         | mirroring a Mac's display.
         | 
         | It helps that I have optimised a great part of my workflow due
         | to me liking tablets.
         | 
         | Like others have said, AVP is like strapping an iPad on your
         | head - I happen to like my iPad, too.
        
           | drcode wrote:
           | Does the "multiple window" support of Blink work seamlessly
           | on the helmet?
        
           | zyklonix wrote:
           | That's great! It even supports VS Code. How did you manage to
           | use the mouse? My AVP refuses to pair with a bluetooth mouse.
        
             | zyklonix wrote:
             | It only supports the Apple Magic Trackpad:
             | https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT213998
        
         | rkangel wrote:
         | Yes you can only mirror one screen from a Mac, but he's using
         | the AVP as the computing device itself.
         | 
         | So it's not multiple desktop screens it's multiple windows from
         | locally running apps.
        
         | anonzzzies wrote:
         | This is the problem(with Apple); this device, like iOS devices,
         | is fenced off, so you cannot run vscode etc if you don't
         | connect a MacBook. For this device it's actually worse than an
         | iPad to disallow that: it's 4x as expensive as a MacBook Air
         | here but I cannot run most apps I want on it while that would
         | make me buy one today. I don't want another iPad (which I
         | bought because it's nice and small and great battery, but if I
         | cannot code on it normally, what's the point).
        
           | charcircuit wrote:
           | >is fenced off, so you cannot run vscode
           | 
           | No, the only reason you can't run vscode is that no one has
           | put in the effort to port it. It's a problem of financial
           | incentives and not a problem of "fences."
        
             | anonzzzies wrote:
             | So visionOS is more open than iOS? That would be good. I
             | read it was similar.
             | 
             | Edit: so it is indeed similar/same; cannot run normal
             | desktop software even though desktop cpu.
        
               | charcircuit wrote:
               | iOS could get vscode too
               | 
               | Edit: Desktop software can be ported to other operating
               | systems. Just because an operating system can't run a
               | different, desktop operating system's software that
               | doesn't mean it can't run desktop software. The CPU is
               | used in iPads too. It is used between 3 different form
               | factors.
        
               | anonzzzies wrote:
               | Only the 'shell'; not all the rest that make it
               | practical. There are a lot of blog posts (a yearly one
               | here) of people trying to code on iPads; they all end
               | badly because Apple allows nothing. It's fenched off.
               | Nothing to do with lack of incentive to port Xcode; there
               | are plenty of code apps on iPad, they just cannot run
               | real envs (docker, anything other than toy interpreters
               | etc) without rooting.
        
             | makeitdouble wrote:
             | "fences" is definitely not the best analogy. "spikes and
             | minefields" would be more appropriate as Apple has explicit
             | rules against apps that compile and run code, third party
             | extensions would also probably be prohibited, and the
             | terminal would have little use.
             | 
             | At the end of the day what's possible under the current
             | rules aren't that different from just running it in Safari,
             | so why bother ?
        
             | worksonmine wrote:
             | Port it? What's different with the hardware on this device
             | that requires ports of existing software? Is it a
             | completely new CPU with new architecture?
        
       | somishere wrote:
       | > Yet, it is fake, as I am sitting on our top floor, a barely
       | furnished room full of items belonging to a family house with two
       | young kids
       | 
       | Define dystopia.
        
         | hombre_fatal wrote:
         | Meh, it's not like everyone has been working from the beach or
         | lakeside up until now. I'd wager it's less dystopian than your
         | current setup staring at the wall of your home or office, maybe
         | with a window to a view of nothing in an office you're forced
         | to drive to.
        
           | somishere wrote:
           | "I guess that depends on what your definition of the word is
           | is" ;)
        
         | garbagewoman wrote:
         | noun An imaginary place or state in which the condition of life
         | is extremely bad, as from deprivation, oppression, or terror
        
           | somishere wrote:
           | Sure! Thank you. There's a few good definitions out there,
           | some more absolute than others, but none of which quite
           | capture the generally subjective nature of it. Personally
           | tend to align more towards the "corrupted utopia", esp. where
           | acceptance is controversial or blurred ... think the matrix
           | or fahrenheit 451.
           | 
           | But the scene I pictured when I read that line, rightly or
           | wrongly, was straight out of pearl jam's do the evolution.
           | It's evolution baby.
        
         | tpmoney wrote:
         | I can't think of any version of dystopia that would be defined
         | by "working your comfortable office job from your multi-story
         | family home while experimenting with a multi thousand dollar
         | piece of high tech equipment which can provide virtual
         | experiences the likes of which was mere science fiction just
         | two decades earlier purchased with your own money the month it
         | was released to the public" Certainly no more dystopic than the
         | very idea of remote work in general.
        
           | somishere wrote:
           | think we're probably each focusing on different tropes of the
           | genre here
        
         | Apocryphon wrote:
         | Still less dystopian than forcing people to commute for an hour
         | to sit in noisy open offices to teleconference with other
         | people not at the office. Dystopian status quos breed dystopian
         | solutions, sadly.
        
       | helsinki wrote:
       | What app are you using to write code? How do you get a terminal
       | without using a MacBook?
        
         | shmoogy wrote:
         | Blink or vs code server - same as on ipad
        
           | willemlaurentz wrote:
           | It's Blink, connected to a remote machine over mosh inside a
           | tmux shell (and vim).
        
       | swader999 wrote:
       | I'd rather work from a real mountaintop on a crappy laptop.
       | Actually, no. I'll work at work and leave it all behind on the
       | mountain.
        
         | ngneer wrote:
         | Exactly!
        
         | anonzzzies wrote:
         | How about work and live on a mountain and forget about this
         | idea of 'at work'?
        
       | mrcwinn wrote:
       | It's not a perfect product by any means. The question is, has
       | Apple backed itself into any corners? Can the battery life or
       | field of view be improved? The resolution? The weight? I think in
       | all cases, Apple has a technical path forward.
       | 
       | Despite its imperfections, wow is it fantastic. I'm writing now
       | from a Mac virtual display (which, yes, is a bit blurry). But how
       | could I return this thing? It's the most impressive product
       | Apple's ever made and it's genuinely useful. It's not an
       | expensive novelty by any means. What an achievement.
        
         | RockRobotRock wrote:
         | The virtual display is impressive, for sure.
         | 
         | But, I think you should consider a pair of AR glasses from
         | xreal or rokid. They cost a fraction of the price, have less
         | latency, and you don't need to worry about battery life.
         | 
         | They're also much much more portable. I think using AVP
         | primarily as an external display is a huge huge waste.
        
         | dangus wrote:
         | Funnily enough, your Mac laptop in the real world has better
         | pixels per degree of vision. If you just take the headset off
         | it's more clear.
         | 
         | The Vision Pro wants to be a VR headset that throws away the
         | existing VR ecosystem. No VR controllers, no beat saber, no
         | Oculus Link, no PC VR.
         | 
         | At the same time, it wants to be a productivity machine that
         | can't compile its own code and has the same software
         | limitations as iPadOS.
         | 
         | Mobile airplane computer? It fits in a backpack worse than a
         | regular laptop and gets 1/10 the battery life. You could buy an
         | economy plus subscription from United Airlines for 7 years for
         | the same price and just use your laptop on the plane.
         | 
         | I agree that Apple has paths forward to fix all of this, but I
         | disagree that they will go down those paths. I see Apple
         | products like the iPad stagnating because Apple refuses to take
         | them beyond a constrained vision. Apple will never let you
         | install applications outside of their walled garden and they'll
         | never let you compile code on the Vision Pro.
         | 
         | That's fine for an entertainment device like a $500 Quest 3 but
         | a $3,500 "spatial computer?"
        
       | timetraveller26 wrote:
       | People spending 3.5K to code is peak capitalism.
       | 
       | Yes, I am exaggerating a little bit, but frankly coding like this
       | is kinda silly, you don't need this headset to fancy manipulate
       | text presentation when the really important thing, the
       | abstractions, are in your brain.
        
         | dagmx wrote:
         | People have been spending high amounts of money to code for as
         | long as computers have been a thing.
         | 
         | Tons of people buy high spec laptops, or high spec desktops
         | with high spec monitors and high spec keyboards just to code.
         | 
         | Turns out people pay for an experience that suits them.
        
         | jillesvangurp wrote:
         | I've spent that much on laptops before. I don't think it's
         | excessive to spend that on a device that you use every day to
         | earn a large income.
        
         | willemlaurentz wrote:
         | Sure it is, you don't need it to do today's work.
         | 
         | Yet, I find it very interesting to explore what tomorrow's work
         | could look like given this approach to 'spatial computing'.
         | 
         | Because tech will eventually become cheaper and better, perhaps
         | reaching a level that is won't costs more than any other piece
         | of gear.
        
       | bookstore-romeo wrote:
       | I find the comparison to "headphones" for your eyes really
       | interesting because it might provide a long-term view as to the
       | Vision Pro's place on the computer market. Desktop speakers and
       | Hi-Fi home stereo equipment are obviously still a thing today,
       | and, in a few generation (and with the advent of more
       | competition), the case of bigger desktops (and possibly
       | laptops/tablets) might be analogous to today's headphone-
       | loudspeaker duality.
        
         | elicash wrote:
         | I don't know if it's intentional, but it's a reference to a
         | Steve Jobs quote from 2005:
         | 
         | "Headphones are a miraculous thing. You put on a pair of
         | headphones and you get the same experience you get with a great
         | pair of speakers, right? There's no such thing as headphones
         | for video. There's not something I can carry with me, that I
         | can put on and it gives me the same experience I get when I'm
         | watching my 50-inch plasma display at home. Until someone
         | invents that, you're gonna have these opposing constraints."
         | 
         | Walt Mossberg then mentions goggles, and Jobs says "but they're
         | lousy!" (And Walt adds, "you never get a date if you wear
         | them.")
        
           | vonjuice wrote:
           | Man, declare that headphones are the same experience as a
           | great pair of speakers, he really was mainly a salesman
        
       | stevage wrote:
       | I'll be interested to hear whether he's still using it like this
       | in 3 months.
        
         | willemlaurentz wrote:
         | I'm, too and will surely follow up on my post.
        
       | cpufry wrote:
       | sigh i read that as "coming in vision pro"
        
       | ngokevin wrote:
       | When reading about headset experiences, I'd de-weigh any insights
       | that are within 3 months of the first headset purchase. The first
       | few dozen sessions are novel, you get a kick (and social media
       | views) about sharing how completely your life has changed to fit
       | the headset.
       | 
       | More often than not, it's collecting dust on the shelf within a
       | few months. Sort of like an expensive blender you were so excited
       | to get, you imagined making super fruit smoothies every morning.
       | Let's see how AVP fares in this regard.
        
         | DiscourseFan wrote:
         | Yeah, I really like the Macbook and the iPhone, but basically
         | everything else apple produces is pretty shit these days, even
         | the airpods are just alright (I mean, the audio quality,
         | design, and form factor are amazing, but they are super buggy
         | and there are better wireless earbuds for the price).
         | 
         | It would be a great shame if a secure, well designed, easy to
         | use computer loaded with a custom-built, well supported unix-
         | like distro gets trashed because the company that makes it is
         | always trying to "innovate." I don't know if there's much left
         | to innovate in the computer world, there is only so much you
         | can do with ones and zeros. It would be better if they just
         | focused on what works, reliable and secure consumer
         | electronics, instead of trying to be what they were under Steve
         | Jobs.
         | 
         | Jobs is dead, he will never come back, and Apple will never be
         | Apple under Jobs again. They should just try to be like the IBM
         | of their space...just there, doing what they do best. An
         | institution, a monolith, but not a "disruptor," as if there are
         | any of those left.
        
           | LeafItAlone wrote:
           | > there are better wireless earbuds for the price
           | 
           | Not that I've found. Maybe on individual features, but not as
           | a whole product.
        
             | p5a0u9l wrote:
             | Same here. Bose ear buds noise canceling and bass are
             | incredible. No comparison to the air pods. But god are they
             | big and ugly.
        
               | Intermernet wrote:
               | I just did a 10 hour flight from Tokyo to Sydney and I
               | wore my Bose QC2 buds for the whole flight. I watched
               | some pre downloaded YouTube videos, and then fell asleep
               | for about 6 hours of actually restful sleep. I cannot
               | express how amazing the noise cancellation is on those
               | things. I was in a 787, seat 29A, window seat, just
               | behind the wing and I could barely hear the sound of the
               | plane. I'm never flying without them again.
        
               | lovegrenoble wrote:
               | Can you drop a link to your model of Bose please?
        
             | DiscourseFan wrote:
             | To be fair, when I bought them it was only because I
             | thought they looked cool and I already had other apple
             | devices I knew they would work with; I was willing to pay
             | the premium for the brand, it was a spur of the moment kind
             | of thing and I never factored in competitor value. The
             | funny thing about the Vision Pro was that as soon as I saw
             | it I thought it, and anyone who used it, was really dumb,
             | and I didn't want to be caught dead wearing it--not so for
             | the airpods.
        
               | expensive_news wrote:
               | This is likely because you bought a pair of AirPods when
               | they were already very popular and everyone thought they
               | were stylish.
               | 
               | I bought my first pair of AirPods very close to their
               | initial release and everyone looked at me like I was an
               | idiot for wearing such an ugly and expensive device that
               | couldn't really do anything better than a $20 pair of
               | earbuds. Do you remember everyone making fun of them at
               | the announcement? It wasn't until around 2 years later
               | that AirPods were widely worn and accepted.
               | 
               | I'm not sure Vision Pro will go through the same adoption
               | curve, but I am not confident that it won't happen by
               | late v2 or v3.
        
               | DiscourseFan wrote:
               | If V2/3 doesn't make you look like an idiot and actually
               | works _for_ work _and_ leisure, then perhaps, but its
               | hard to develop an VR /AR headset that would do that,
               | since it inherently cuts you off from the social world in
               | which the esteem of the product would be evaluated.
               | 
               | What do we think of people who sit around with a VR
               | headset on all day? We think, usually, that they are
               | anti-social, that they are afraid of going outside, that
               | they want to trap themselves in a world that generates
               | and serves their fantasies. How does a company which
               | makes so much of their money off of people associating
               | their products with high social status break into a
               | market that appears to be solely for those who stand on
               | the other end of the continuum?
               | 
               | The rational is contradictory: technology (according to
               | the Silicon Valley playbook) profits by transforming the
               | world into a place of further alienated and isolated
               | individuals whose entire lives are shaped by and for tech
               | companies which only exist to exploit them; and yet, such
               | a world, in its total form, could never appear, since
               | people _could not_ work and live in that world _unless_
               | they participated in it collectively, at some level.
               | Phenomenologically, we can 't view this move as anything
               | more than an extreme error of judgement, a move from a
               | post-jobs apple that doesn't seem to understand the magic
               | of great design, the element of the sublime that
               | technology can create--but it would always have to be
               | this way, since the philosophy would never overcome the
               | profit-motive.
               | 
               | Its why I said that computers can only go so far. We're
               | at the end of the rope of the transformational power of
               | technology, and everybody knows it. The world will not
               | change on the whim of the market, the market will just
               | constrict and eventually kill us all.
        
             | saiya-jin wrote:
             | Then you didn't care to look for them. Sennheiser, B&W and
             | other traditional companies have buds that sound light
             | years better than greatest tech Apple can currently
             | produce, and do cost more correspondingly.
             | 
             | On top of things like much longer lasting battery, much
             | better support for advanced HD bluetooth codecs (I can plug
             | them into anything like some cheap TVs anywhere). But to me
             | overall sound quality is still #1 reason to invest into
             | premium quality.
             | 
             | Of course then somebody from A team comes with 'but they
             | integrates greatly with my iphone' argument, which is
             | probably true but not that relevant to above. My Senns
             | integrate effortlessly with my Samsung phone/tv/laptops
             | too, thats kind of baseline in 2024.
        
           | andoando wrote:
           | Why does anyone like wireless headphones? 3 different pieces
           | to track, have to constantly be on charge, and pricey at
           | that. I ended up finally buying some iems
        
             | bowsamic wrote:
             | A lot of younger people never take them out
        
             | mdhen wrote:
             | and Letshuoer S12 Pro's absolutely blow everything else
             | away in that space and they only cost about $100. Best
             | value in ear phones, easy.
        
             | crimsontech wrote:
             | If I'm on a call on my computer I can get up and make
             | coffee without leaving the call. If my phone rings I don't
             | need to switch headphones, they switch devices
             | automatically.
             | 
             | I have high quality headphones and IEMs, the headphones I
             | use if I'm _really_ listening to music, maybe a couple of
             | times a week. The IEMs have been in drawer for months
             | without use. The wireless headphones I use every day all
             | day. It's convenience.
        
             | Hippocrates wrote:
             | That's wildly different from my experience. Never lost the
             | pieces or had to "track" them and the charge lasts for
             | longer than I can comfortably listen to something without a
             | short break.
             | 
             | Being tethered to a phone or computer with a wire that
             | pulls, catches, and makes rubbing noise through your ears
             | is truly an awful relic of the past.
        
             | gWPVhyxPHqvk wrote:
             | As a train commuter, wireless headphones are a massive
             | improvement over wired for my semi-daily commute. I used to
             | have the headphone wires constantly getting caught on my
             | bag, other people's jackets, getting twisted and knotted in
             | my bag, etc.
        
           | ActorNightly wrote:
           | >. It would be better if they just focused on what works,
           | reliable and secure consumer electronics, instead of trying
           | to be what they were under Steve Jobs.
           | 
           | Man, the amount of history rewriting that happens in tech
           | world is actually insane.
           | 
           | Louis Rossman literally made his career out of showcasing how
           | shit apple laptops have been through the years. The evidence
           | is all there. I dunno if people are just willfully ignorant
           | or are actually just lying.
        
         | karim79 wrote:
         | > More often than not, it's collecting dust on the shelf within
         | a few months.
         | 
         | I can't speak for the Apple Vision Pro, I'd love to try one, to
         | be honest. But I can agree with your comment.
         | 
         | Such has been my experience with the two headsets I own - the
         | Meta Quest 2, which I think is really great and serves many
         | purposes, and the PSVR 2 headset, which is phenomenal for
         | gaming, but pretty much useless for anything else.
         | 
         | Both headsets have had a short-lived "wow" factor to them,
         | without a doubt, but sadly, the novelty tends to wear off
         | within weeks. I haven't used my Quest 2 since early 2023 (I
         | think) and the PSVR 2's last use was for a game called Pavlov,
         | which is simply mind-blowing, despite which, I think the hassle
         | of headsets is problematic. For real gaming I go back to couch
         | gaming with the Xbox or PS5, and for computer things I use
         | computers.
         | 
         | Funny thing is, I keep meaning to do more with the PSVR 2 but
         | now it's actually so dusty that it puts me off, it needs a full
         | cleaning at this stage :).
         | 
         | Edit: Meta Quest -> Meta Quest 2
        
           | nox101 wrote:
           | For me, VR comes down to content. Because the market is too
           | small, there is none. There's few high end titles. HL:Alyx,
           | Horizon: Call of the Mountain? Sometimes you get a port but
           | then it wasn't originally designed for VR and it usually
           | shows.
           | 
           | There's zero on the Quest 2/3 because it's a mobile device
           | and it's not up to it and at least in my experience the link
           | is not up to it either.
           | 
           | I'm not saying there are not some good experiences there.
           | Several rhythm games are fun, a couple of games designed for
           | low-power mobile devices. But the fully immersive high
           | quality graphics games are so few an far between. If there
           | were more I'd keep playing.
        
         | roland35 wrote:
         | I still love making smoothies, it just turned out that they are
         | way too many calories :(
        
         | dijit wrote:
         | I love this comment, I think you're completely right.
         | 
         | What I love _most_ about this comment is how it caused me to
         | reflect on what I use daily and get some amount of joy from.
         | 
         | When it comes to Apple products in particular I use an Apple
         | Studio display at home, I use it for 10hours per day, every
         | day, and honestly I have no complaints, it's probably one of
         | the best bits of technology I use daily.
         | 
         | However, it's completely unsexy and has (at least on paper)
         | extremely stiff competition. Not only that it was maligned by
         | the tech media upon release.
         | 
         | Yet, it just subtlely benefits my life because the speakers are
         | excellent, the webcam is servicable (the novelty of the fact it
         | tracks you never truly wears off) and the size/pixel density is
         | great.
         | 
         | It's weird that I'm waxing poetic like this about such a boring
         | device, but that's kinda my point, your comment made me reflect
         | about all the little tech around me that I use every day that
         | just sort of shifted into the background. Quietly doing its job
         | excellently.
        
           | filmgirlcw wrote:
           | Yeah, I agree. I rolled my eyes when I bought the Studio
           | Display because of the price (I got the VESA option so I also
           | had to factor in $200 for an Ergotron LX just so I could use
           | it the way I'd want) and I'm annoyed by its lack of power
           | button, its garbage web camera, and the really that it has no
           | better picture quality than the v2 LG UltraFine 5K it was
           | replacing, despite costing $300 more, but if it broke
           | tomorrow I'd buy another one without a second thought (also
           | the VESA option -- also just say no to the Nano Texture
           | option). In fact, I might even get a second one this year
           | because I have 3 Macs (2 M-series laptops and a 2020 5K iMac)
           | and it would be nice to have one dedicated to the laptops
           | instead of having to swap the cable for the TB4 dock.
           | 
           | Until/unless Apple does fractional scaling in a way that
           | doesn't really need pixel doubling to work, I will insist on
           | a 5K display for a 27" monitor and the ASD really is the best
           | game in town.
        
             | theyinwhy wrote:
             | So what's the benefit of the ASD if it has no better
             | picture quality than the LG?
        
               | dagmx wrote:
               | Slightly brighter, much better build quality, much better
               | audio and much better camera.
               | 
               | But at the same time, I see the LG is down to $999 (I
               | suspect it'll be discontinued soon if it isn't already)
               | and it's debatable that the studio display is $600
               | better. It's definitely $300 better though.
               | 
               | That said, it is increasingly more difficult to buy the
               | LG. So it's become less of a choice.
        
               | sensanaty wrote:
               | It's always crazy reading those kinda comments. He keeps
               | maligning the product that he had to pay a premium for,
               | comparing it to equivalent products that are _cheaper_
               | and perform the same, yet he 's _still_ going to make his
               | next purchase another, by his own admission, overpriced
               | Apple product.
               | 
               | It's mind blowing, I don't wanna reach for the low-
               | hanging quips here but it really is like an Apple iCult
               | type of vibe
        
               | jb1991 wrote:
               | Why "he"?
        
               | talldatethrow wrote:
               | My friend sold boats for over 10 years. He said women
               | love going on boats, but he never saw a woman buy a boat
               | in his life.
               | 
               | Women love apple products, but if you look at who is
               | splurging on multiple high end apple computers with
               | multiple monitors it's gotta be 95% male.
        
               | jb1991 wrote:
               | But I was noticing that the username was "filmgirl".
        
               | adastra22 wrote:
               | Because "he" is grammatically correct when the gender is
               | unknown.
        
               | theyinwhy wrote:
               | Well The Times They Are A-Changin'
        
               | jb1991 wrote:
               | But I was noticing that the username was "filmgirl".
        
               | adastra22 wrote:
               | Fair enough!
        
               | growt wrote:
               | Is it really? Also when the username contains ,,girl" it
               | may give a hint.
        
               | adastra22 wrote:
               | https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gender_neutrality_in_lang
               | uag....
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | singular they is preferred on Reddit but not here,
               | learned hard way
        
               | Aerbil313 wrote:
               | You forget Apple is selling trust as well as technology.
               | I have far more trust in an Apple product than an LG one.
        
               | Zanfa wrote:
               | Reading the comment, the impression I got was that while
               | the image quality is similar between LG 5K & ASD, overall
               | ASD is still worth the small premium.
               | 
               | The 27" 5K Studio Display is in a weird category, where
               | they actually have zero competitors. On paper, there's
               | the LG Ultrafine, but I have yet to see one available for
               | purchase in EU (I've seen "in stock", but not actually
               | available), not to even mention seeing one in person. So
               | basically you don't really have a choice.
        
               | EduardoBautista wrote:
               | The Apple Studio Display looks nicer. I would prefer that
               | items that I own in my apartment look nice. Aluminum
               | looks and feels nicer than plastic. Yes, I will pay a
               | premium for that.
        
               | durumu wrote:
               | Here is the model here:
               | 
               | - Apple's software (particularly macOS) is extremely high
               | quality. Best game in town.
               | 
               | - Their hardware is also high quality, but it is often
               | overpriced.
               | 
               | - You must use their hardware to get the best experience
               | using their software.
               | 
               | - Therefore, people might end up buying, say, the Apple
               | XR display or AirPods Max even though they are overpriced
               | compared to other monitors/headphones, because it gives
               | you a better experience using macOS.
               | 
               | I am a pretty huge Apple fan but I think this is pretty
               | unfortunate, not gonna lie -- it kills me a little that
               | macOS doesn't look sharp on my 4K monitor. But it isn't
               | an iCult, it's just that the cheaper thing doesn't work
               | as well with macOS.
        
               | tanelpoder wrote:
               | I don't have an ASD, but back in 2020 I bought the LG
               | UltraFine 5K from Apple's website together with a laptop
               | and the LG monitor's colors all had a yellowish hue to
               | them. Some Internet searches and possibly their support
               | forums claimed that this is normal, it's just how the
               | monitor works, or something like that (yes I did try
               | various color temperature and config settings - all
               | yellow).
               | 
               | Luckily this "wasn't my first monitor", so I quickly
               | returned it and went back to Dell that's always been OK
               | enough so I don't ever have to pay attention to which
               | monitor or display setting I'm using.
        
               | kklimonda wrote:
               | You can't drive two LG 5k screens with a single cable,
               | due to it lacking DSC support.
        
             | shaunkoh wrote:
             | Why no nano-texture?
        
               | crimsontech wrote:
               | It causes fringing around letters and stops things
               | looking as sharp, which sort of defeats the point of
               | having a 5k display for a lot of people.
        
             | charrondev wrote:
             | I guess most people just like their UI elements much
             | smaller than me, I work all day on a 42" 4k display running
             | 1080p@2x 120hz and I wouldn't want to shrink the UI
             | elements any further. I sit ~4 feet from the display.
             | 
             | My husband uses an iMac (27" 5k display running @2x) and I
             | struggle to do anything at that resolution.
        
             | _alex_ wrote:
             | Why say no to the the nano texture? Looking at a studio
             | display these days and trying to understand the option
        
           | nunez wrote:
           | Interesting. I have a Studio Display and it just feels like a
           | huge compromise.
           | 
           | There are only two 5K displays on the market that can render
           | macOS at Retina resolution on a 27" panel: this one and the
           | LG Ultrafine, which isn't that much cheaper. My last monitor
           | was a 27" LG QD-OLED 144Hz 4K display. I LOVED that display,
           | but text wasn't sharp because of the Retina resolution
           | problem.
           | 
           | I also have a semi-professional webcam setup and external
           | speakers, so those being built-in does nothing for me.
           | 
           | I just want macOS to support variable scaling like Windows
           | has for, what, 15 years at least?
        
             | mrbuttons454 wrote:
             | macOS does support more than one "virtual" resolution,
             | which I'd consider variable scaling. It's admittedly less
             | granular than Windows, but it works well enough for me. I
             | have a 27" Acer Predator 4k120 display on my shop Mac, with
             | the virtual resolution set to 2560x1440.
        
               | isametry wrote:
               | There's only two scaling factors macOS can display at: 1x
               | or 2x.
               | 
               | Anything in-between is rendering at a larger resolution
               | and scaling it back down for the display, resulting in a
               | non-pixel-perfect image.
               | 
               | Your shop Mac is rendering the UI at 5120 x 2880, then
               | squishing that down for the Acer display. Which, apart
               | from being more graphically demanding, ends up blurry and
               | aliased.
               | 
               | What Windows does is actually just changing the pixel
               | dimensions of the UI elements (in steps of 10% I think?),
               | which Apple has never done.
        
             | brtkdotse wrote:
             | > I just want macOS to support variable scaling like
             | Windows has for, what, 15 years at least?
             | 
             | I've tried to adopt MacBooks twice over the last three
             | years and both times this has been the dealbreaker for me.
             | I was flabbergasted that MacOS didn't have better support
             | for it.
        
             | densh wrote:
             | BetterDisplay lets you set fractional resolutions for any
             | displays on Mac. While this seems like a compromise, it
             | lets you scale the ui to you preferred size independently
             | of the native resolution. I use my 5k display at 85% which
             | is a bit easier on my eyes than native 100%.
        
               | monsieurbanana wrote:
               | I've tried a few apps including better display to find a
               | better resolution for my portable 16 inch monitor. It
               | does allow you to set the resolution you want, but it's a
               | bit blurry.
               | 
               | No way to really fix it, it's just another Mac
               | shortcoming. Using resolution to scale the UI is not a
               | compromise, it's a mediocre workaround.
        
               | alsetmusic wrote:
               | I'd call that a shortcoming of all hardware that isn't
               | retina resolution, but I know how that sounds to anyone
               | who isn't bought into the ecosystem.
               | 
               | To be clear, I criticize the hell out of the company on
               | things that I think are truly bad. Their app store
               | policies are a disaster. I get that gamers want
               | framerates over resolution. I'm not a gamer and want the
               | other thing.
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | It's a shortcoming of the software. Apple could claim
               | it's a third-party issue if they didn't support arbitrary
               | external monitors, but they do. As such it's entirely
               | reasonable to expect a fallback solution for third-party
               | displays that Just Works.
               | 
               | For my money, Windows is a _terrible_ operating system
               | but it embarrasses Mac and Linux thoroughly in this
               | regard.
        
             | mholm wrote:
             | There are no longer just two 5k 27" displays. Per a thread
             | on macrumors[1], the display panels that make up these
             | displays are now available from the factories, so some
             | chinese manufacturers have begun making monitors at much
             | lower prices ($400, if you can get an RV100).
             | 
             | [1]: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/the-complete-
             | list-of-27...
        
             | Inviz wrote:
             | Dells 6k is quite alright at reasonable price. Has some
             | quirks though
        
               | nasmorn wrote:
               | I love it. It is exactly the right size to have two
               | windows side by side. 27" used to work but nowadays half
               | a 27 is no longer enough for many web applications
        
             | layer8 wrote:
             | > There are only two 5K displays on the market that can
             | render macOS at Retina resolution on a 27" panel: this one
             | and the LG Ultrafine
             | 
             | There's also the Samsung S9 now.
        
           | Aeolun wrote:
           | I just have a bog standard cheapest 4K display, and I have
           | more or less the same experience.
        
           | dgellow wrote:
           | Every few years I buy Dell QHD displays 24'' second hands on
           | local ads websites, I have 4 of them (not all installed at
           | the same place), for an average of ~150EUR per display. They
           | are definitely not sexy but work perfectly as monitors and
           | hubs.
        
             | afpx wrote:
             | Why do you replace them every few years?
        
         | LoganDark wrote:
         | With ADHD, it doesn't even take 3 months. Give me one day and
         | I'll never touch something again. Hell, some of the things I
         | buy, I don't even use a first time, because having stuff
         | doesn't actually help with motivation
        
         | babyshake wrote:
         | There will be an inflection point with devices like Vision Pro,
         | where you'd rather do things you do right now with a laptop,
         | tablet or TV in the Vision Pro instead of with those other
         | devices. Then the other devices will be the ones gathering
         | dust.
         | 
         | The hard part is being able to know when that inflection point
         | comes. But I think there's a very good chance that 10 years
         | from now, it's already behind us.
        
           | Turskarama wrote:
           | Here's my prediction for this: you need to have input with
           | the same fidelity and ease of use as a mouse and keyboard.
           | The mouse input analogy is probably pretty close with eye
           | tracking, but text input? I can't even imagine what it will
           | look like to make that work as nicely as real touch typing.
        
             | tiagod wrote:
             | You can use a macbook keyboard and trackpad seamlessly with
             | the headset
        
             | WanderPanda wrote:
             | It will probably look like a keyboard. Keyboards are so
             | lindy at this point they didn't even adjust the layout
             | (from that path-dependent mess we are dealing with), let
             | alone the form factor
        
             | nilkn wrote:
             | I got an acrylic tray [0] that holds a keyboard and
             | trackpad and can comfortably sit on my lap to use with the
             | Vision Pro. It's truly marvelous and makes the VP feel like
             | an actual laptop replacement, with the only real problem
             | being that visionOS has too much iPadOS heritage and not
             | enough MacOS.
             | 
             | [0] https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CCS71K6P?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2o
             | v_dt_...
        
               | Turskarama wrote:
               | Sure, but one of the big upsides of vr is the ability to
               | move around a space. If you're just sitting at a desk (or
               | on a couch) anyway then you might as well just have a
               | couple of huge monitors. In the case of the vision pro it
               | would even be cheaper to use several large monitors
               | instead.
        
               | nilkn wrote:
               | The ability to move around while I'm actively wearing it
               | is not particularly compelling or relevant to me. I
               | didn't get it for room-scale VR games, and I tend to take
               | it off when I get up anyway. I find it really amazing
               | that I can set up a huge workspace on-the-fly pretty much
               | wherever I want, including the couch. I have a very slick
               | dedicated home office I could be in right now but I
               | actually enjoy using the VP from the living room more for
               | anything other than serious 9-5 work for my employer.
        
           | lolinder wrote:
           | There _might_ be an inflection point like what you describe.
           | It 's also entirely possible that this is an evolutionary
           | dead end like the voice interfaces that were the Next Big
           | Thing a few years ago.
           | 
           | We've grown so accustomed to viewing technology as a steady
           | progression of improvements that it _seems_ natural that the
           | thing that Apple is pushing today will be universal in 10
           | years, but there 's no guarantee of that, and there are
           | reasons to be skeptical that we'll look back at this as the
           | next big leap.
           | 
           | For myself, I'm keeping my eye out for technology that is
           | _less_ intrusive into the rest of my life, not more
           | immersive.
        
             | eloisius wrote:
             | My thoughts exactly. There are almost no things I do on a
             | daily basis where I want to go through a cognitively
             | expensive process of changing modes into an immersive
             | experience. Even getting my laptop out and opening it and
             | logging in feels like too much for a lot of things, and I'm
             | glad that I can use my phone to tap out a short email while
             | half paying attention to my lunch, commuting, etc
             | sometimes.
             | 
             | Maybe when they can shoot photons directly into my cornea
             | without an intrusive set of goggles that take me out of the
             | real world.
        
               | skydhash wrote:
               | I keep hoping for an expanse experience. Where computing
               | is truly connected (standards and fast wireless
               | transfers). Apple ecosystem is moving towards this but
               | they are so closed it feels more like autobus than
               | bicycle for the mind. Linux is still not an option on the
               | phone form factor. And the hardware are still very
               | opaque.
        
           | steve1977 wrote:
           | _if_ putting on the Vision Pro is as fast and seamless as
           | grabbing a tablet or opening up your laptop I guess.
        
             | bryanrasmussen wrote:
             | when it's a pair of sunglasses with the Facial Studio Code
             | already opened to your project, in other words.
        
               | 8n4vidtmkvmk wrote:
               | Too bad "Visual" is already taken.. maybe Vision Studio
               | Code.
        
           | dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
           | Having something strapped to your face, that you have to put
           | on and take off, is never going to be a substitute for
           | working in open space unhindered.
        
             | 8n4vidtmkvmk wrote:
             | Why's that? They can get the weight down to barely more
             | than glasses, and with good pass through video and battery
             | improvements... You'll be pretty unencumbered. Certainly
             | not more encumbered than being glued to your laptop on a
             | desk.
        
               | dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
               | Well it's hard to debate fantasy products given the
               | circularity: "if they create a product that avoids all
               | these problems, then it won't be a problem!".
               | 
               | I've not used a laptop (or computer) at a desk for
               | decades, I prefer lying down, which works really well.
               | 
               | I do wish there was something between a laptop and a
               | phone though. Interfaces need to improve or innovate, but
               | I don't think VR headsets are the answer. I haven't even
               | touched on the nausea.
        
               | 8n4vidtmkvmk wrote:
               | I don't think it's a circular argument. Bigscreen VR is
               | already 127 grams. This is doable in the next decade I
               | think. The question is if there's a better form factor
               | than something you wear on your face.
        
               | lolinder wrote:
               | Bigscreen VR appears to be an accessory that relies on an
               | external device for compute and head tracking and power.
               | As far as I can see it's basically just a tiny OLED
               | display you strap to your face.
               | 
               | With AVP, Apple is taking a bet that the accessory nature
               | of previous attempts is why this product category failed
               | and so they're trying to embed the compute and make it
               | wireless.
               | 
               | Unfortunately for utopian visions of VR goggles, we're
               | running up against the limit on how small computers can
               | be, so the idea of a standalone headset as light as
               | Bigscreen VR is essentially science fiction at this
               | point. Not to say it won't happen, but if that's what
               | it'll take for this product category to take off then
               | your optimism is misplaced.
        
               | dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
               | Fair enough, but form factor is indeed the issue, even
               | light devices have to seal off your face, and the inner
               | ear issues surely have a lot to do with that isolation.
               | 
               | Perhaps something along the lines of zapping the back of
               | the eyeballs with lasers is the answer.
        
               | oldgradstudent wrote:
               | > Why's that? They can get the weight down to barely more
               | than glasses
               | 
               | Even after 36 years of wearing glasses (current ones
               | weight barely 20 gram), they still bother me, and I
               | fiddle with them constantly.
        
           | tw04 wrote:
           | There will be an inflection point where you'll want all of
           | your media to be 3D. Things you watch today in 2D you'll want
           | in 3D and then your old 2D television will seem like a relic
           | of the past. The entire industry is onboard, the shift is
           | inevitable.
        
             | eptcyka wrote:
             | The production costs of creating 3D content that is
             | actually making use of the extra dimension will be cost
             | prohibitive for lots of types of content where 2d is used
             | today. I really wouldn't care much for lots of YouTube
             | content I watch being provided in 3d, half of it I already
             | just listen to. As an example, look at how much more detail
             | needs to be added to a room in a VR game versus a standard
             | 3D game - since you have more freedom to poke around and
             | look at things from more angles, stick your head in things,
             | the expected level of detail is much higher. Just adding VR
             | to existing games can make for a good experience, but VR
             | native content will be more expensive to produce.
        
             | makeitdouble wrote:
             | That would be reasonable if there past inflections similar
             | to that were we wanted all our media to move to the higher
             | "dimension".
             | 
             | For instance we've seen the arrival of movies and tv, books
             | became moving visual content, games expanded from boards to
             | immersive experiences etc. But the lower dimension media
             | never disappeared nor significantly got irrelevant. We're
             | effectively reading more words per day than any of the
             | previous generation, podcasts are booming, web comics etc.
             | are thriving.
             | 
             | TV and movies were just an addition to the media landscape,
             | I see AR and VR in the same light.
        
           | pompino wrote:
           | I think we're socially primed for it right now - at-least
           | here in the US. Unlike other cultures where you're living
           | with a large family or extended family or your parents, etc,
           | life in the US is getting to be more and more solitary (IRL,
           | people are still forming social connections online) for young
           | people. That makes it very easy to adopt this type of tech.
           | In other cultures wearing it around the house will just make
           | you look like a weirdo.
        
         | mvkel wrote:
         | Couldn't agree more.
         | 
         | I bought an AVP on day one to be used -exclusively- as a
         | monitor extender for coding.
         | 
         | It's untenable.
         | 
         | The only way I could avoid significant neck/back pain from the
         | weight was to sit in a reclining chair. That wouldn't be a bad
         | coding setup, but my eye strain was pretty significant, too.
         | 
         | I ended up returning mine.
         | 
         | This is a necessary 1.0 to build out the app ecosystem, etc.
         | but it's absolutely not ready for full-time use.
        
           | dkjaudyeqooe wrote:
           | > The only way I could avoid significant neck/back pain from
           | the weight was to sit in a reclining chair
           | 
           | Lying on a bed would also do the trick.
        
             | nomel wrote:
             | I've had some great coding sessions on my ceiling, with my
             | quest 3.
        
               | glinkot wrote:
               | Interesting! What software did you use for that? And how
               | did you set your keyboard up?
        
             | jazzyjackson wrote:
             | doing some pushups also helps
        
           | jliptzin wrote:
           | I almost returned mine for that exact reason until I used it
           | in bed before going to sleep. I have never fallen asleep
           | faster. I know it sounds really strange that a computer
           | strapped to my face helps me sleep but I guess something
           | about the whole immersive environment really helps. I also
           | don't feel the pressure on my head when I'm lying down.
        
             | soneca wrote:
             | Are you able to stay completely still with your face
             | pointing up while sleeping the whole night??
             | 
             | It hurts (and wake me up) in just a few minutes if I happen
             | to fall sleep with my regular glasses on.
        
             | smoldesu wrote:
             | They sell those without the computer at a considerable
             | discount: https://www.amazon.com/Manta-Sleep-Mask-
             | Adjustable-Deepest-P...
        
               | tempaccount420 wrote:
               | You're very smug but it's obviously not the same
               | experience.
        
               | smoldesu wrote:
               | Will you notice the difference when you're asleep?
        
           | cubefox wrote:
           | The irony here is that the unusual weight of the headset was
           | completely avoidable. The headset has a heavy aluminium
           | frame, which is a terrible idea that serves no practical
           | purpose except of an aesthetic one. No other headset does
           | this. For comparison, the Quest 3 is significantly lighter
           | despite including a battery.
        
             | justinclift wrote:
             | Isn't aluminium better for longevity/reliability?
        
               | cubefox wrote:
               | Only if resistance to significant mechanical stress is
               | required. Which isn't at all necessary for VR headsets,
               | as others use plastic and have no mechanical issues with
               | it.
        
               | Fluorescence wrote:
               | My father has some plastic camping dinnerware that has
               | been heavily used since the 60's. It's been wildly abused
               | around the world, up mountains, on beaches, by
               | generations of family, kids and bitey babies.
               | 
               | It's not even scratched. I have no idea what it's made
               | out of but it's super impressive. I try not to think
               | about because of whatever the biosafety standards were
               | back then... but the lack of visible damage gives me hope
               | not much of it has been ingested at least.
        
               | darkerside wrote:
               | Seems a poor compromise for a 1.0 product that will
               | certainly be obsolete in the next 5 years
        
               | JeremyNT wrote:
               | Maybe... for the stuff that is actually made of aluminum.
               | 
               | But I have a plastic VR headset and I'm pretty sure an
               | impact bad enough to damage the plastic care is also bad
               | enough to damage the electronics, which are going to be
               | way more costly to repair.
               | 
               | I'd take a plastic headset personally assuming it was
               | lighter. Anything to save weight in this product
               | category.
        
             | jazzyjackson wrote:
             | aluminum is not an especially heavy material
        
               | cubefox wrote:
               | It is, compared to plastic that is usually used in
               | headsets.
        
             | audunw wrote:
             | Aluminium is a better thermal conductor than plastic? Might
             | help move some of the heat away from the face and take some
             | of the thermal load off the fans?
             | 
             | A lot of Apples decision seems to make more sense when
             | considering how incredibly powerful (and thus hot) it is.
             | The external battery pack (which is a 3 cell 13V pack btw)
             | is definitely a consequence of that, they supposedly have
             | some of the power electronics in there which helps move a
             | bit of the heat generating stuff away from the face.
             | 
             | Imagine if you wanted to make a powerful headset without a
             | fan. How would you even do that in plastic? You'd
             | definitely want to transport the heat out to the perimeter
             | or front, and plastic would just not be the most suitable
             | for that.
             | 
             | So maybe that's the path they're looking towards? They
             | might eventually be able to get rid of the fan with better
             | chip technology, without compromising on compute, but then
             | they need some metal to shed the heat from.
             | 
             | Perhaps the development they're doing with titanium on
             | iPhone is also a step in that direction. Letting them use
             | metal without as much of a weight penalty.
        
           | whoopsie wrote:
           | Sounds like a fit issue. I code all day. Recliner, couch,
           | standing. Mac link at 5k emulation. Apple assigned me 21w,
           | but I found it unusable. 36w put weight on outer cheekbones
           | and was finally wearable. Removing the light seal and using
           | some pads as spacers is how I use it now. Larger FOV. A bit
           | weight and less cantilever
        
         | anonzzzies wrote:
         | I ditched my laptop for the xreal well over two years ago. I
         | will never go back. This looks a 1000 times better but too
         | expensive for now.
        
           | layer8 wrote:
           | It's better in terms of visuals, but worse in terms of
           | weight, bulkiness, and your faces/eyes being enclosed.
        
         | imadj wrote:
         | > collecting dust on the shelf within a few months
         | 
         | Not even that, apparently many customers are already returning
         | them[1]. Most of the hype, as usual, is tech reviewers who want
         | to stay relevant.
         | 
         | Early adopters will naturally chase any and every opportunity
         | to make use of them, but in the coming months as novelty wears
         | off, more issues arise, you get the (The ecosystem is just not
         | ready yet)(tm) and most will be listed on the secondhand
         | market.
         | 
         | [1]: https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/14/24072792/apple-vision-
         | pro...
        
         | beloch wrote:
         | It shouldn't be surprising that an AR workstation isn't as good
         | as the real thing. If you're at home or at work, the AVP is
         | going to sit on the shelf while you sit at your workstation.
         | While an AR set can, in theory, surround you with code, you can
         | only really focus on one window at a time. Old-fashioned
         | monitors have had a long time to get good at providing that
         | experience.
         | 
         | Still, it would be pretty darned cool to be able to take
         | something even _half_ as good on the road in a package that
         | will easily fit in a backpack!
         | 
         | I am entirely done with Apple and will not be buying any more
         | of their products, but I look forward to the competition that
         | AVP will foster.
        
           | jimmySixDOF wrote:
           | > Old-fashioned monitors have had a long time to get good at
           | providing that experience.
           | 
           | That's part of the problem framing the AVP as a system for 2D
           | floating screens. 2D screens are good at what they do. 360
           | degree 3D with Six Degrees of Freedom is a completely
           | different surface area and we are still at the Horseless
           | Carriage stage of development of that affordance space. There
           | are a few experiments in what's possible [1] but, for the
           | most part, if all you throw at these devices is a floating
           | screen then the novelty wears off and we have the
           | conversations we are having in this thread instead of
           | thinking about what more is possible.
           | 
           | [1] VR Immersive IDE: https://primitive.io/
        
             | Fluorescence wrote:
             | The problem is it's not a horseless carriage... it's more
             | like a hang-glider or something.
             | 
             | For the some niche things, fantastic, it's unique. Feeling
             | inside a 3d scene, two handed manipulations of 3d
             | objects... it's the hang-glider jumping off a mountain
             | which no horse can do. If you currently render something in
             | 3d on a monitor, VR might help and some new things like
             | training for physical tasks might be cool too.
             | 
             | The hang-glider just isn't useful for commuters getting
             | from A to B which in this case, is office work. It's text,
             | it's numbers, it's organisation, it's communication.
             | Throwing things around in 3d is just a gimmick that will
             | likely slow you down. Moving your head or waving your hands
             | around are not better ergonomically than a good monitor,
             | keyboard and seating. Using a keystroke to flip the
             | app/tabs in your field of view is more comfortable than
             | turning to look at your wall.
             | 
             | > VR Immersive IDE
             | 
             | This is like every 3d scifi UX you could see in compsci
             | department since the 90s. I get it, everyone wants to
             | create that cool looking scene from Prometheus but sadly
             | no-one wants 4 lines of code exploded into a huge visual
             | call-graph with dozens of nodes, interconnections
             | everywhere and translucent text. VR won't change that. No-
             | one really wants to drive around a city to find their files
             | in a Gibson either.
             | 
             | For VR, you don't want to look at text that's far away, you
             | don't want to look at text at weird angles... so what is a
             | 3d environment adding? The ideal is to bring perfectly
             | sized legible text at a comfortable focal distance into
             | your gaze, that's what an automobile will need to do.
        
           | csydas wrote:
           | i took a different opinion after the article -- i was of the
           | same opinion before it but the article gave me some ideas i'd
           | actually like.
           | 
           | i'm very much so a bit easily distractable and i do tend to
           | wander and move locations while i work at home. i actually
           | has thought the vision pro was tethered completely and 100%
           | dependent on another apple device but i guess not entirely?
           | that would be appealing for me to have very light work space
           | that moves with me for similarly light work (chats, emails,
           | etc)
           | 
           | looks a bit too goofy for me for public use but i'm just shy)
           | but the article did help me see a vision for using the vision
           | pro. better than apples ads
        
           | Aerbil313 wrote:
           | > I am entirely done with Apple and will not be buying any
           | more of their products, but I look forward to the competition
           | that AVP will foster.
           | 
           | What is your reason? I am genuinely curious. I used to think
           | that using open devices (Linux, GrapheneOS) gives me the
           | convenience of being able to do everything I want. But over
           | time I came to realize that Apple optimizes their devices for
           | one happy path they envision, and if you don't stray off that
           | happy path (e.g. on iPhone you cannot sideload, can't have
           | background jobs), the convenience can be even greater than
           | the possibilities an open design offers (native terminal,
           | root access in Android). It is a local maxima. Thus I own an
           | iPhone. On the computer side I own a PC, but that's because
           | Linux isn't yet fully supported on Macs. What is your
           | reasoning?
        
         | fullspectrumdev wrote:
         | The way I see it, by the time AVP is available in Europe, there
         | will probably be sufficient data from US users to give me an
         | idea as to if it's worthwhile.
         | 
         | So far hearing vastly mixed reviews about its "balance" on the
         | users head - when I wear night vision goggles or similar
         | devices I have to use a counter mass at the back of the helmet
         | to make it comfortable. It seems the AVP doesn't have such a
         | balancing weight?
        
           | LoveMortuus wrote:
           | I was thinking that it might be possible to mount the battery
           | to the back of the headset, like you see on various other
           | headsets, which might counterbalance it. But because so many
           | keep talking about how heavy the headset already is, I think
           | this might introduce new issues, especially if you turn your
           | head quickly.
        
         | ActorNightly wrote:
         | Also, de-weigh anything Apple branded significantly.
         | 
         | You can easily code on Quest 3 if you really wanted to do
         | AR/VR, and could do it on Quest Pro as well a year ago. While
         | its true that Vision does offer better resolution, lets not
         | pretend that people who are trying the Vision Pro have
         | significant experience with AR/VR headsets, chasing the ability
         | to work anywhere. Its brand fanboyishness at its core: "Apple
         | made therefore its good and usefull".
        
         | brcmthrowaway wrote:
         | Speaking of Blender, does anyone know some good tutorials?
        
         | dgellow wrote:
         | It's also a first generation device, often a good idea to just
         | wait a bit, if it is such a revolutionary tool you won't miss
         | much by skipping the first version (other than feeling cool
         | that you were in the first users).
        
         | keyle wrote:
         | Oy sounds like you wrote the fate of my DK2.
        
         | spookie wrote:
         | For me, my Valve Index has completely changed how I do 3D
         | modelling, I suppose this would do the same for many people.
         | 
         | We programmers are quite the outsiders, and sometimes its hard
         | for us to understand how others see computers.
         | 
         | It's better to be patient before jumping to conclusions, this
         | goes for first impressions or what we think it's gonna happen.
        
           | rxyz wrote:
           | Most programmers are anything but outsiders. It's not a niche
           | profession anymore
        
             | dartos wrote:
             | Being a programmer necessarily changes how you approach and
             | interact with computers.
             | 
             | After a while (and not a long one) you develop a serious
             | usability bias since you can intuit what a program is doing
             | and how best to interact with it.
             | 
             | The longer you work in software, the harder it is to
             | accurately imagine how a non programmer uses a computer.
             | 
             | That's why the classic "only users could cause this error"
             | jokes exist.
        
               | sfn42 wrote:
               | The way i see it, that's just a huge advantage.
               | 
               | My partner works as a medical research assistant. They
               | had filled data into a huge spreadsheet in a software I
               | think was called IBM SSES or something along those lines.
               | Basically an excel spreadsheet, with hundreds of columns
               | and tens of thousands of rows.
               | 
               | One of the analyses they wanted to run wasn't working
               | correctly so she was tasked with filling in 0s in place
               | of empty cells. She was expecting to spend 2-3 weeks
               | doing this. She mentioned it to me, I've never seen this
               | software before in my life but it took me 15 minutes to
               | figure out how to do three weeks of manual work
               | instantly. Just googled it and followed some
               | instructions.
               | 
               | Being able to understand software is a useful skill. We
               | should find ways to bring the average person up to speed,
               | help them understand what computers can do so they too
               | can see a task like that and be like "there's no way the
               | software doesn't have an easier way to do that" instead
               | of wasting time doing pointless busywork.
        
           | lolinder wrote:
           | You're pointing to a task that is basically the platonic
           | ideal of a work task that would benefit from VR and then
           | saying that _programmers_ are the ones who are unusual?
           | 
           | The vast majority of normal people's compute tasks for work
           | could be done on an iPad with a keyboard. The vast majority
           | of their compute tasks for play just require a smartphone. 3D
           | modeling is already a huge exception to the norm in that it
           | needs serious compute power and in that people already often
           | use specialized equipment for it, and to top it off it's a
           | task that is _actually_ hampered by using a 2D projection on
           | a flat screen.
           | 
           | Most tasks are more like coding than they are like 3D
           | modeling.
        
         | al_borland wrote:
         | This has been my reply to most people asking me if I'm going to
         | buy a Vision Pro. It seems like after a week or two I'm going
         | to want to do something, and a TV, laptop, or phone is good
         | enough... I won't want to go through the ceremony of putting on
         | the headset and entering that environment to do some basic
         | stuff, especially not if there is a remote chance I'll be
         | multitasking with stuff in the real world.
         | 
         | That said, I tried one on at the Apple Store the other day and
         | the immersive stuff was really cool and I'd like to see more of
         | it. But I think it makes sense to wait for the amount of
         | content to increase and the price to come down.
        
           | masto wrote:
           | To be honest, I'm kind of at that point. At first I was using
           | it every day because it was new and I was curious, then I was
           | using it every day because I wanted to give it a good try,
           | then I was still using it but increasingly thinking "can I
           | find any way in which this is better than just using a
           | computer/iPad?". As of this morning, I'm writing this comment
           | on my laptop, because going into the other room and strapping
           | on googles feels like a chore, not a desirable activity.
           | 
           | I don't regret the purchase; I did not expect it to change my
           | life, and I've actually had my skepticism about spatial
           | computing turned around. I hope there is a future where we
           | can do the same things in a less physically cumbersome way.
        
         | bsdpufferfish wrote:
         | This comment does not address anything in the article or say
         | anything of substance.
         | 
         | Everything is more exciting when it's novel. That's part of the
         | fun of consumer electronics, games, movies, etc.
        
         | easylogin wrote:
         | I'd generally agree, but it definitely depends on how the
         | device is being used.
         | 
         | My VR headsets don't see much usage outside of simracing which
         | I'd consider a hobby more than just gaming. So my point is
         | that, "working" might present that same routine which
         | demos/gaming/facehugger yt with low return on novelty.
        
       | ngneer wrote:
       | Interesting perspective, but not enough for me to be sold. I
       | never understood how one can be at work and expect to be enjoying
       | lovely scenery at the same time. Those are mutually exclusive for
       | me, especially when coding or hacking. My mind can only be one
       | place at a time. If only we could set aside the computer and
       | truly be in nature... Oh, wait, we can...
        
       | bharrison wrote:
       | Not for nothing, I'm a fan of my early gen xReal air, though
       | mostly for an on-the-go coding use case.
       | 
       | I link it up to my phone, wire up a 60% keyboard and fire up a
       | VPN/ssh. The Galaxy DeX environment is pretty usable for other
       | apps, and a BT mouse can alleviate the goofiness of the "phone as
       | a touchpad" control scheme.
       | 
       | I've used it with an HDMI/usb-c cable from my desktop and it
       | works just as well, though attempting to switch between virtual
       | and real displays through the glasses is headache-inducing at
       | best.
       | 
       | I'd say you accomplish 60% of the effect of the AVP,
       | conservatively.
        
         | anonzzzies wrote:
         | I don't know how it compares to the avp but as an old guy, the
         | xreal looks like normal sunglasses. Most people just come sit
         | next to me and talk (even though there IS a massive keyboard in
         | front of me) as though I am just having a coffee in the sun. I
         | like it because it is light, small, very long (my phone)
         | battery life. I am afraid I will like avp better though.
        
       | elliottkember wrote:
       | It's summer here in New Zealand, and I have been using my AVP to
       | code outside in the sunshine. There's no monitor glare and I'm
       | not stuck inside. It's great.
        
         | vundercind wrote:
         | Wow, this is the first thing anyone's written about the AVP
         | that's made me go "maybe I _would_ use this kind of device..."
         | 
         | I didn't even think about how nice they'd be to use outside on
         | sunny days, compared with a laptop (or, coupled with one).
        
           | justanotherjoe wrote:
           | yes, but isn't part of what makes being outside nice is some
           | measure of sunlight on your eyes?
        
             | vundercind wrote:
             | Eh, I'm usually in fairly dark sunglasses anyway. Trying to
             | hold the worst of the cataracts off until my 70s if I can.
        
             | maximus-decimus wrote:
             | Personally, it's more the sun on my skin that's pleasant.
        
           | kromem wrote:
           | Of course the irony is that being "outside" is actually
           | watching a live video recording of it from outer cameras on a
           | screen in front of your face.
           | 
           | I'm not necessarily criticizing that - more thinking that
           | we're likely approaching a fidelity threshold where you no
           | longer care it's a screen (I still don't think we're quite
           | there yet and suspect this is just one gen before the device
           | that will survive the few months in VR great filter).
        
             | bowsamic wrote:
             | Okay but sight isn't everything, your body is still outside
        
         | newshorts wrote:
         | Had similar experiences:
         | 
         | Running late, took a webex call from the back of my minivan on
         | my MacBook Pro. Except I had enough screen real estate with the
         | virtual monitor to do work during the boring parts. The best
         | part was going full immersion and hearing the rain falling on a
         | high mountain lake in between people speaking.
         | 
         | I also usually wake up overnight and want to work, but can't
         | because my office is located in the master bedroom. Now I can
         | sit on my couch and not have to hunch over.
         | 
         | Finally, I took my dog to the dog park and worked with no
         | screen glare and big virtual display
         | 
         | Also, watching movies on the moon is pretty cool.
        
         | dwaite wrote:
         | Flip side, that could lead to a really interesting tan line.
        
         | ActorNightly wrote:
         | Anti glare covers for laptop monitors are significantly
         | cheaper.
        
           | cubefox wrote:
           | The main problem with using ordinary monitors outside is that
           | they are never bright enough.
        
         | ahveenew wrote:
         | I second this, really nice to be a webinar participant on a
         | sunny park lawn with a cinema sized zoom window in front of
         | you.
        
       | sircastor wrote:
       | I rented a Quest 2 a couple of years ago to try out programming
       | in it. I'd read a post someone made about his spending 8 hours a
       | day in it.
       | 
       | For me it wasn't quite enough. The fresnel lenses make "God rays"
       | at the edges and the text was readable, but not pleasant to read.
       | 
       | I'm planning sometime to try the Quest 3. The Vision Pro seems
       | like it might be the best option because it's purpose built for
       | that. Also I'm a Mac user and imagine the experience to be whole.
        
         | buffington wrote:
         | I have the Quest 2 and the text isn't legible enough for me to
         | write code for any length of time.
         | 
         | I work with someone who has said "if the Quest 2 was a 0 on the
         | usability scale, the Quest 3 is an easy 8 - it's that much
         | better." I've not tried it myself, but I don't think my
         | coworker is exaggerating.
        
           | kevinmershon wrote:
           | I have worked for hours in Immersed in both the quest 2 and
           | 3. The 3 is considerably more comfortable on the head and
           | eyes. I constantly had to take the quest 2 off for a breather
        
           | antman123 wrote:
           | your coworker isn't "wrong" but that scale is off. If Quest 2
           | is a 0, Quest Pro is a 4.5, Quest 3 is a 6 and the AVP is an
           | 8.
           | 
           | (edited) I still could not program for 2 hours comfortably on
           | Quest 3. I can do that on the AVP
        
           | KronisLV wrote:
           | > I have the Quest 2 and the text isn't legible enough for me
           | to write code for any length of time.
           | 
           | The comment above about "god rays" is correct in my
           | experience, as well as the lenses being blurry towards the
           | edges due to how they're made.
           | 
           | However, I realized that I need prescription lenses for VR,
           | because while I have -0.75 in one eye, that's still enough to
           | throw the overall experience off a lot (and the glasses that
           | I have are too wide for the headset).
           | 
           | Aside from that, what helped me immensely is the Immersed
           | app: https://immersed.com/ where the actual environment is
           | rendered on the Quest, whereas the actual monitors are
           | streamed over from the PC which helps immensely with how
           | legible things are. SteamVR and the Oculus Link apps are both
           | trash in comparison, there's aliasing, shimmering, or
           | everything ends up being way too blurry. I tried using the
           | Horizon Workrooms app, but it wouldn't work because I have 4
           | monitors and it only supports up to 3. There's also the
           | Virtual Desktop app which might be good, but I didn't feel
           | like paying for it at the moment.
           | 
           | So yeah, Quest 2 starts out at a disadvantage compared to
           | other options (aside from cost, I guess), but there are
           | factors that can absolutely ruin it, such as using the wrong
           | method of displaying things. Also Quest 2 is just a little
           | bit on the heavy side, or at least feels that way after
           | prolonged usage, with the default face interface, even with a
           | custom head strap.
        
         | aksss wrote:
         | Yeah, I'd love someone to chime in about Q3. AVP and
         | whassisname's video got me thinking more about it.
        
         | anonzzzies wrote:
         | I have done about a year of coding on the quest 2 fulltime
         | daily in Immersed and it was fine; now I skipped to the xreal
         | which I like better. I don't have a Vision Pro or quest 3 yet
         | but I like the portability of the xreal so much now...
        
         | hnfong wrote:
         | > I'd read a post someone made about his spending 8 hours a day
         | in it.
         | 
         | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28678041 ?
         | 
         | Might be worth comparing to for those who've tried the AVP.
        
       | killjoywashere wrote:
       | I participated in a couple Vision Pro demos at Apple HQ prior to
       | launch day. One with a security focus, one with a health
       | applications focus. The security profile, btw, is super boring:
       | on the network, it looks like an iPad.
       | 
       | Health applications: pretty cool for education, maybe other
       | things, eventually.
       | 
       | What I think would be compelling, for me, is the ability to use
       | it on travel. To be on a plane and not have to worry about
       | breaking a laptop screen when the person in front of me tips
       | their seat back, not have to worry about someone shoulder surfing
       | me. In yet another boring hotel room? Let's escape!
       | 
       | Now, the problem is that, in many meetings, a laptop is barely
       | acceptable as it is (in some cases, not at _all_ acceptable). So,
       | I still have to bring a laptop. So, my backback is now ...
       | heavier? I 'm already carrying multiple devices required by
       | various security policies.
       | 
       | Is this juice worth the squeeze? I can't bring myself to spend my
       | own money on this. And I helped develop an AR device. I'd be
       | happy to use it if the company bought it. But you're in for
       | almost $5k after applecare, accessories, etc.
        
         | bongodongobob wrote:
         | Where do you work where laptops at meetings aren't acceptable?
         | Not seeing laptops is an extremely reliable red flag for me.
        
           | whateveracct wrote:
           | why exactly?
        
             | Supermancho wrote:
             | If a meeting is simplistic enough not to need planning and
             | action items, you don't need a meeting. Make a conference
             | call.
             | 
             | If action items are simplistic enough that you don't need
             | to consider calendars for the future, don't need the
             | ability to _show_ the status of existing concerning items,
             | and any reliable information is conveyed via paper, you 've
             | got multiple problems.
             | 
             | Mostly you have a culture problem, to put it simply.
        
               | resonious wrote:
               | I'd probably make the opposite argument. If I'm messing
               | with my computer during a meeting then the meeting
               | probably didn't require me to be physically present. At
               | that point it could've been either remote or async
               | facilitated by software.
               | 
               | This is unless I'm running the meeting and my laptop is
               | plugged into the big screen.
        
               | whateveracct wrote:
               | multitasking is a myth. you can't futz with a computer
               | and pay attention.
        
               | nurumaik wrote:
               | Singletasking is a myth. I can't keep attention without
               | any background task. If not computer, I will doodle on
               | paper or fidget
        
               | data-ottawa wrote:
               | Doodling at least appears to help with memory recall.
               | 
               | Anecdotally I've always found that when I see a doodle
               | made during a meeting or lecture I get a much more vivid
               | recollection of the actual content.
               | 
               | https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/09022621003
               | 9.h....
        
               | numpad0 wrote:
               | For people with autofocus, not hyperfocusing and slamming
               | desk is harder than trying to focus.
        
               | Supermancho wrote:
               | It depends on what you mean by multitasking and the
               | expectations. People multitask from birth.
        
           | yokoprime wrote:
           | People not taking notes is a huge red flag at least, but
           | handwritten notes are fine so laptop is not a must
        
         | makeitdouble wrote:
         | Sounds like a Xreal pro would get you 90% of the way there ?
         | 
         | At 49ppd it's on par with AVP if the goal is just to mirror a
         | laptop display.
        
       | parallaxapps wrote:
       | Love to see this! We're the developers of Inspect Browser [0],
       | the browser with dev tools you see in the screenshots. Our goal
       | is to make tools to help web developers work on iPads, iPhones,
       | and now Vision Pro- thrilled to see it in action!
       | 
       | Glad to answer any questions.
       | 
       | [0] https://apps.apple.com/us/app/inspect-browser/id1203594958
        
       | d--b wrote:
       | I just had an idea.
       | 
       | I was somewhat intrigued by why people would recreate the same
       | kind of setup in AR with monitor screens. Ok you get more of
       | them, but at some point more screens is just distracting.
       | 
       | What if instead this was the occasion for a true AR experience.
       | Like instead of popping up a monitor, you can open a textbook. As
       | in a physical text book sitting on your desk, each page would be
       | covered in qr codes or whatever uniquely identifying that page.
       | Then the vision pro could fill in the page with a computer
       | generated UI: buttons, text inputs and so on.
       | 
       | And then you could spread all these pages around your desk and
       | actually touch them, and carry them around. Imagine your code
       | being on a sheet of paper instead of in one window.
       | 
       | Imagine your trello board being actual postit notes stuck on your
       | wall that you can unstick and edit.
       | 
       | Imagine your wall full of papers, each of them showing some
       | monitoring aspect of your system.
       | 
       | Like all your browser tabs are displayed on the wall.
       | 
       | Jesus I am excited
        
         | billconan wrote:
         | the problem is, virtual screens can float in the air. A
         | physical piece of paper can't.
        
         | ugh123 wrote:
         | I wouldn't want to deal with losing papers, ripping them, etc.
         | why not have the AR create them for you? Seems like you want
         | some extra realism surrounding your screen space. So have a
         | life-like book where individual pages (easy to turn hopefully)
         | are different browser tabs.
        
           | d--b wrote:
           | Replacing a paper would be just like opening a new browser
           | tab.
           | 
           | A virtual book can't give you the same level of interaction
           | as a physical one. Virtual interaction are clunky at best.
        
         | karim79 wrote:
         | Sounds like something you can have or enjoy in real life, and
         | without having an expensive 600-650g weight on your head. (I do
         | like the idea of virtual postits, mind you).
        
           | d--b wrote:
           | What do you mean I can have this in real life? I am talking
           | about having a bunch of paper sheets, each being its own
           | small screen.
        
         | vedran wrote:
         | Sounds almost like https://dynamicland.org/ or
         | https://folk.computer/.
        
         | precompute wrote:
         | It would be much easier to define a virtual keyboard that helps
         | you switch layouts.
        
       | yieldcrv wrote:
       | Is the meta offering really so good, just poorly advertised?
        
       | karim79 wrote:
       | Let's face it, the AVP is absolutely necessary for any dev who is
       | truly serious about creating quality apps for the AVP.
       | 
       | Those apps might not take off just now, but in a generation or
       | five, the pioneering app creators might be laughing at the rest
       | of us. Or at least until Apple decides to take down their apps
       | due to sudden ToC changes. Just think of the plethora of reasons
       | AVP apps could be taken down for 'failing to comply with safety
       | standards' and the like.
        
       | dcchambers wrote:
       | I only did the 30 minute demo in the Apple store, but I found the
       | brief minutes of looking at text in safari to be pretty bad with
       | regards to eye strain.
       | 
       | Watching videos was fine because I felt I could just let my eyes
       | relax, but trying to focus on text was anything but fun.
       | 
       | I have contacts and am not convinced that the fit/focus I had was
       | correct, but it was not a good first impression from a
       | "productivity device" perspective.
       | 
       | Apple is going to have a problem with how finicky VR headsets
       | are.
        
       | elif wrote:
       | Unless all these returns make it super affordable on the
       | secondhand market, it seems like waiting for meta quest 4 pro
       | next year might be the play.
       | 
       | For the vision pro price you can afford one for home and another
       | for the office.
        
       | mrcwinn wrote:
       | Another thing that fascinates me about the Vision Pro: its looks.
       | It's at once futuristic - 3D knits, curved glass encased by
       | aluminum - and yet also reminds me of something out of the 80s.
       | Actually, it looks to me like a Mac. Aspects like the solo band's
       | dial, maybe. Or maybe it's something you'd see in Back to the
       | Future Part 2. Post modern yet nostalgic. I can't quite wrap my
       | head around it, no pun intended.
        
         | seydor wrote:
         | For people looking for an elegant device with excellent
         | passthrough to wear on the street, i suggest this
         | https://www.dior.com/en_gr/fashion/products/00X0056HOGOG_C11...
        
       | ETH_start wrote:
       | As a first take: this is incredible, magical. Even if subtle
       | problems make this iteration impractical for sustained use, it is
       | clearly a bellwether for things to come.
        
       | baby wrote:
       | I tried it and it hurt my face like hell in 10min. It's uber
       | heavy. I had a Quest 1 and would use it for hours without any
       | issues.
        
       | paganel wrote:
       | He has a little daughter around and he's staying with that
       | concoction around his face, so that said kid won't be able to see
       | her dad's eyes but instead she'll get to see that electronic
       | thingie. Very bleak.
        
         | willemlaurentz wrote:
         | Fair point, I am certainly not using Vision Pro all day while I
         | am with my kid - but the point I tried to make is that the
         | rooms can contain items (e.g. toys, etc) that I haven't placed
         | there... the warning of Vision Pro gives for me bumping into
         | stuff is nice.
        
       | 8n4vidtmkvmk wrote:
       | It sounds like it might be pretty hard to exceed 3.3K PPI and yet
       | it's not nearly enough. Would it be possible to pull the headset
       | a little further off the face and just counter balance it to get
       | better PPD?
        
       | dclowd9901 wrote:
       | Is that Mirror Lake then?
        
       | tomcam wrote:
       | I wonder if it might be a godsend for people who can't work in
       | open office plans
        
         | densh wrote:
         | I sense some irony in spending extra time on commute only to
         | put a headset that hides all the surroundings of the open
         | office from you and immerses you in a virtual environment.
        
       | BossingAround wrote:
       | Off topic, but when you click a photo in this blog, that's a
       | proper nightmare. There's no way to get back to the article, and
       | the back button exits the whole page.
       | 
       | Talk about bad UX.
        
         | willemlaurentz wrote:
         | Thanks for the feedback, I'll fix it!
        
       | evang7 wrote:
       | This is just not going to work. Whatever the experience may be,
       | in this universe, it is not good for the eyes to be focused at a
       | screen a few cm away for hours on end.
        
         | ianlevesque wrote:
         | The focal distance is more like six feet on most headsets.
         | That's further than my physical monitors are.
        
       | DerCommodore wrote:
       | Not sure this my device, with such gigantic windows
        
       | yokoprime wrote:
       | Coding with super heavy ski-goggles? No thanks... there's a
       | reason i take off my goggles when not skiing
        
       | machiaweliczny wrote:
       | I thinking about using it for coding 2h at my balcony to get some
       | sun exposure. When using macbook I am annoyed due to reflections.
       | Does anyone know how pass through works in sunlight?
        
       | silisili wrote:
       | > You can choose to let the real outer world in or filter it out,
       | 
       | Yeah I do that by putting my monitor near a window, and using my
       | special ability to move my ocular organs to decide what I get to
       | see. It saves me 3k dollars and having to wear some awkward
       | device on my head.
        
       | justinclift wrote:
       | Hopefully Asahi Linux will run it on before too long. :)
        
       | fho wrote:
       | One thing that immediately jumps out to me is that he had to
       | increase font size a lot compared to what you'd use on a normal
       | screen.
       | 
       | I wager the guess that this is due to the "low" resolution that
       | HMDs have. The last HMD I used was a HTC Vive Pro and there I
       | could still see individual pixels. I have "high resolution eyes"
       | (150-160% vision), but still I would assume that the resolution
       | is still too low to render sharp text at a distance.
        
         | kllrnohj wrote:
         | https://www.ifixit.com/News/90409/vision-pro-teardown-part-2...
         | 
         | There's some math there. The ppi equivalent is rather low
         | despite the rather high resolution and ridiculous density of
         | the displays themselves, after blowing it up to 100 degrees of
         | FOV it ends up being much lower "density" than anything else
         | you're used to looking at
        
       | dzink wrote:
       | What software do you use for development on the AVP? Do you
       | connect it to your computer or use apps alone (terminal, ide,
       | etc)?
        
       | gdubs wrote:
       | I've been working a lot in Apple Vision Pro, using Xcode and also
       | spatial visionOS windows for various things like messaging,
       | browsing, etc.
       | 
       | Personally, with my ZEISS inserts for my prescription, the text
       | is incredibly sharp. I often will forget it's a virtual display
       | in front of me, and not my actual monitor. This seems to vary for
       | people, but since I didn't have my ZEISS prescription on day one,
       | and I got to experience the before and after - I REALLY wonder
       | how many people have worse eyesight than they realize, or are
       | thinking that using the thing without their glasses is not making
       | a difference. It absolutely makes a huge difference.
       | 
       | In terms of comfort, it took a little while since I didn't go to
       | the Apple Store, but it finally 'clicked' and I have a feel for
       | how to wear it comfortably. Also, it's less forgiving of bad
       | posture. So, you need to allow yourself time to experiment with
       | how to wear it because it's worth it. It feels comfortable to me
       | now - I spent hours in it yesterday.
        
       | WesolyKubeczek wrote:
       | My freaking god.
       | 
       | If the weather is good, I can take my gear + NReal Air places and
       | not just into the dusty attic.
       | 
       | True, in good weather it also means mosquitoes and gnats, but you
       | can repel them.
       | 
       | Real experiences for freakin' .1x the price, and it works in
       | Linux too.
        
       | diamondfist25 wrote:
       | Once pornhub releases its immersive exp, sales will go thru the
       | roof
        
       | whoopsie wrote:
       | Don't get it. So many reviewers have the tiniest of ide windows
       | up, like on a 11" laptop. When I code in Vision Pro, I can set 5k
       | resolution to the Mac link since my studio is hooked to a studio
       | display. I'll get over 100 readable lines, similar to a vertical
       | 4k monitor.
        
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