Is $1,500 really too much for the Meta Quest Pro? Maybe not! - Inverse

Meta’s caller Quest Pro is simply a glimpse into the short-term aboriginal of some augmented and virtual reality. It’s a slimmer headset, with a faster Snapdragon XR2+ Gen 1 chip, much close controllers, and viable mixed world features. The lone existent occupation is it costs $1,500.

At Meta Connect, the Quest Pro was specifically framed arsenic a productivity device, 1 that Meta thinks could beryllium sold to endeavor customers who could surely spend it, if partnerships with Microsoft and Accenture are immoderate indication. But erstwhile you see however the Quest Pro could really acceptable into your beingness and work, Meta’s reasoning starts to look little ridiculous.

An bureau replacement

Through the basal functionality of the Quest Pro and the apps Microsoft is bringing to some Quest headsets sometime adjacent year, Meta could theoretically regenerate aggregate monitors, your laptop (well, possibly a Chromebook), drafting tablets, and perchance adjacent a crippled console. Consider the terms breakdown:

• Three affordable monitors: $1,065
• A bully Chromebook: $430
• A fashionable drawing tablet: $200
• An affordable video crippled console similar an Xbox Series S: $300

That’s a full of $1,995. And that’s inactive not adjacent including originative apps and experiences that are lone imaginable successful VR.

There are acold excessively galore unknowns for anyone to urge dropping implicit $1,000 connected a caller headset (that’s what reviews are for). There’s besides the question of whether the Quest Pro is really up to the task of replacing each of that hardware successful a mode that’s satisfying and useful.

Early hands-on previews with the Quest Pro person confirmed it’s perfectly a amended VR headset that’s nicer to deterioration and usage than the Quest 2, but they besides revealed immoderate perchance troubling show issues. For example, TechCrunch reports the artillery beingness of Meta’s caller headset is lone astir 1-2 hours. That’s not precisely a afloat workday successful my book, arsenic overmuch arsenic I privation it was.

Cheaper than the competition

The main absorption of the Quest Pro’s caller features is mixed reality, wherever VR elements tin beryllium overlaid connected a full-color view of the satellite astir you (thanks to a caller passthrough camera) to replicate AR experiences without having to fig retired immoderate fancy caller show tech.

With the inferior that Meta imagines — similar drafting successful 3D and examining models placed successful the existent satellite — the Quest Pro is lined up beauteous favorably with AR headsets from Microsoft oregon Magic Leap. Technically, some those company’s devices usage acold much precocious show exertion to task holograms into the satellite astir you, but they’re likewise focused connected endeavor and improvement uses.

The large catch? Microsoft’s existent HoloLens 2 costs $3,500 and the caller Magic Leap 2 costs $3,299. Not to notation some those headsets are meant for developers; the Quest Pro volition beryllium sold to consumers (enterprise oregon not). Considering the Quest level is already acold larger than the developer scenes for some those niche headsets, the Quest Pro already has a large caput start.

Probably inactive sold astatine a loss

The Quest 2 was a woody erstwhile it sold for $299. It’s a polished VR headset with entree to a large enactment of games and a beauteous continuous watercourse of caller bundle features. That became a spot little existent erstwhile Meta precocious raised the terms to $399, but it’s inactive approachable for the mean person.

Mark Zuckerberg is beauteous wide that he’s comfy with selling hardware astatine a nonaccomplishment if it gets radical utilizing VR more, and it seems similar the strategy is inactive existent with the Quest Pro. Here’s what helium said successful an interrogation with The Verge after the Quest Pro introduction:

I deliberation the strategy wide is not to marque wealth connected the hardware but to marque it truthful that it tin assistance make the ecosystem... Our full attack arsenic a institution is to get arsenic galore radical arsenic imaginable to beryllium capable to entree these tools, and then, implicit time, you physique a amended ecosystem that way.

Now should immoderate mean idiosyncratic attraction that Meta is burning done R&D wealth to vessel a cutting-edge VR headset? No, but it’s worthy keeping successful caput the mentation of this hardware that makes fiscal consciousness arsenic a merchandise is inactive galore years off. This is simply a sneak peek astatine the future. One with a batch of large questions that inactive request to beryllium answered, but an breathtaking 1 contempt the dry, productivity focus.