The Meta Quest Pro could be the new best VR headset, but it costs $1500 - PC Gamer

If you disregard the price, the conscionable announced Meta Quest Pro (opens successful caller tab) mightiness beryllium the caller best VR headset. It's the long-teased high-end mentation of the Meta Quest 2 aimed astatine professionals: Meta is promoting it with visions of headset-wearing creatives gathering successful VR and bathing successful mixed-reality schematics. Personally, I'd conscionable play games connected the thing. The lone occupation is that it's $1,500.

That's not excessively costly compared to Microsoft's HoloLens, which is besides aimed astatine businesses and starts astatine $3,500, but it's a batch much costly than astir VR gaming systems. The $999 Valve Index is already pricey.

The Quest Pro definite looks sleek, though. It uses what Meta calls "patented pancake lens" technology—I emotion a straightforward name—which the institution says results successful a 40% thinner "optical stack" than the Quest 2. It's not rather the VR glasses we mightiness anticipation the tech yet arrives at, but overmuch person than astir headsets. At the aforesaid time, the images produced by the Quest Pro are expected to beryllium importantly improved: The 1832x1920 per-eye solution and 90Hz refresh complaint are the aforesaid arsenic the Quest 2, but Meta promises higher contrast, a sharper image, and 1.3 times the colour range.

The Quest headsets are all-in-one devices, truthful they don't person to beryllium hooked up to a PC unless you're trying to play a graphically demanding crippled similar Half-Life Alyx. Even astatine PC Gamer, we person to admit that wireless VR is ideal, adjacent if the headsets aren't precise powerful; the Quest 2 contains 6 GB RAM and a Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2 CPU and GPU to tally games similar SuperHot VR and Beat Saber. The upgraded Quest Pro uses 12 GB RAM and a caller Snapdragon XR2 Plus platform, which Meta says provides "50% much power." I don't expect to tally Half-Life Alyx connected the thing, but I'm funny to spot what it tin do.

The Quest Pro besides features a amended presumption of your existent surroundings for mixed world (four times the solution compared to the Quest 2, positive color), facial look tracking ("smiles, eye-brow raises, winks and all"), and caller self-tracking Touch Pro Controllers (meaning you tin enactment them down your backmost without the headset losing way of them). The controllers volition beryllium available separately (opens successful caller tab) aboriginal this twelvemonth for $300, if you privation to usage them with a Quest 2.

If it each works arsenic advertised—our friends astatine Tom's Guide were impressed (opens successful caller tab) with their demo—it sounds similar a large headset, but apt excessively costly to urge for gaming. Aside from its all-in-oneness, terms is 1 of the main reasons we've recommended the Quest 2. Compared to the $800 HTC Vive Pro 2 oregon Valve's $999 Index, which uses wires and outer sensors, the Quest 2 has evidently been the much practical, affordable choice, and that remained existent adjacent aft Meta accrued the prices of some Quest 2 models by $100. The 128GB Quest 2 is presently $399 and the 256GB exemplary is $499.

There are a mates of different downsides. The artillery beingness is shorter than the Quest 2's: conscionable 1 to 2 hours, says Tom's Guide, though you tin usage it portion it's plugged in. The Quest Pro besides lets peripheral airy successful truthful that you tin spot wherever you're going, a diagnostic which reflects its bureau productivity orientation. "Partial airy blocker" attachments are included, but "full airy blocker" attachments volition beryllium sold separately aboriginal this year.

At $1,500, the Quest Pro whitethorn win oregon neglect depending connected whether architects and engineers really find it utile to bent retired successful bare lofts projecting diagrams into the abstraction betwixt them. It was built to service the imaginativeness down Facebook's "metaverse" rebrand, and I fishy the lone gamers who'll beryllium buying them are those who already spend thousands of dollars connected customized F1 contention car simulation rigs a astir apt a fewer Star Citizen players. For everyone else, a $1,500 gaming PC would beryllium a batch much breathtaking than an enterprise-grade VR headset, fixed that the Meta Quest 2 volition supply a beauteous akin acquisition if you're going to hook it up to your PC to play Half-Life Alyx anyway.

The Quest Pro is available to pre-order (opens successful caller tab) now, and Meta says they'll commencement shipping aboriginal this month. There's much info in