{"id":46748,"date":"2025-02-14T16:08:24","date_gmt":"2025-02-14T21:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/?p=46748"},"modified":"2025-05-16T14:09:41","modified_gmt":"2025-05-16T18:09:41","slug":"one-year-with-the-vision-pro","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mjtsai.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/14\/one-year-with-the-vision-pro\/","title":{"rendered":"One Year With the Vision Pro"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jason Snell<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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A year on, I can’t in good conscience recommend that anyone buy one. It’s a glimpse of a potential future and a developer kit for potential future Apple platforms, but that’s about it.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Vision Pro is a tremendous video player. […] If there’s a single feature that would actually sell Vision Pros, it would be the creation of some sort of killer immersive video content.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

Beyond video, I’ve found Vision Pro to be an excellent tool for shifting my own personal context. When I’m feeling frustrated or distracted and need to buckle down and get to work, I have frequently put on the Vision Pro, popped in my AirPods Pro, and dialed in an immersive environment (Joshua Tree is my favorite) so I can work with zero distractions.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

And, yes, Mac Virtual Display is a winner. It’s not perfect—the video quality of the Vision Pro display is a little fuzzier than a real Retina Display—but it lets me use my laptop in any context, in any space. Laptops are actually kind of bad for you ergonomically since the keyboard is physically close to the display. In Virtual Display mode, I can float the display higher up, allowing me to view it at a more comfortable angle.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The problem is that I rarely find myself needing to use the Vision Pro. It’s not that I don’t enjoy using it… in fact, every time I put it on, I find myself wanting to give myself additional reasons to keep on using it because it’s so much fun in there! But the impetus to find a safe place to sit, take off my glasses, slip on a VR headset, and jack into cyberspace doesn’t come along that often.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

Vision Pro is easily worth $3500 alone just for watching 2D movies and TV and sports on a virtual high-res enormous screen. If Apple can also<\/em> offer 3D live sports and compelling original 3D content and games, they won’t be able to make them fast enough to keep up with demand at $3500.<\/p>

$3500 is a bargain for what Vision Pro offers.<\/p>

[…]<\/p>

It’s just that me, personally, I’m not the target audience for a $3500 super deluxe movie watching headset.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n

John Gruber<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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Am I predicting that the Vision platform will have as bright and essential a future ahead of it as the Macintosh did in 1984? No. But I suspect it has a bright and essential future ahead of it. The entire concept and paradigm is so new and different that, like the Macintosh 40 years prior, the product had to ship years before a version will be made at a price that appeals to the mass market, and years before there’s all that much to do using it.<\/p>\n

But, as it stands, Vision Pro today offers an incredible experience for watching traditional movies and shows, and a breakthrough experience for watching spatial content. If Bang & Olufsen sold this product in a form that only played movies — no “spatial computing” — it would cost $10,000 and some people would consider it well worth the price. Spatial computing feels fun to me, but not very productive. That could change, and I suspect “fun but not productive” is how I would have described trying to work on a Macintosh in 1984 vs. an Apple II. And Vision Pro’s remarkable (and with VisionOS 2, much improved) Mac Virtual Display feature is a highly-productive environment for work.<\/p>\n

I can’t give Vision Pro an A for 2024, but I foresee A’s in future years.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Mark Gurman<\/a> (tweet<\/a>):<\/p>\n

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Apple Inc. has canceled a project to build advanced augmented reality glasses that would pair with its devices, marking the latest setback in its effort to create a headset that appeals to typical consumers.<\/p>\n

[…]<\/p>\n

The now-canceled product would have looked like normal glasses but include built-in displays and require a connection to a Mac[…]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n

Previously:<\/p>\n