The $3,500 Apple Vision Pro, as one would possibly anticipate, has many options that beat the Meta Quest 3.
It has micro-OLED, high-resolution 4K shows, superior hand monitoring (the Quest 3’s hand monitoring may be unreliable), helps eye monitoring, options refined, high-end supplies (metal-and-glass chassis vs. plastic), and extra.
Nevertheless, the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional’s dominion over the Quest 3 is not a complete sweep. Surprisingly, there are features of the Quest 3 that truly bests the Apple headset.
1. Higher weight distribution
Journalists and influencers who tested the Apple Vision Pro have gushed over its hand-and-eye monitoring capabilities, however the most typical important suggestions I’ve seen is that the Apple headset is just too rattling heavy.
Credit score: Apple
In keeping with The Verge, the Imaginative and prescient Professional weighs about 1.4 kilos, give or take. The Quest 3, then again, weighs about 1.1 kilos. In my eyes, it is not simply the burden delta that makes the Quest 3 appear lighter than the Imaginative and prescient Professional — the Meta headset doubtless has higher weight distribution.
CNET remarked that the Imaginative and prescient Professional feels a bit too “prime heavy.” Apple doubtless packed many of the parts to the entrance of the head-mounted show. So regardless that a 1.4-pound headset ought to really feel gentle, customers will sense discomfort on account of poor weight distribution.
Credit score: Apple
As a Meta Quest 3 proprietor, I can attest it feels snug and light-weight. Nevertheless, its supplies, in comparison with the Imaginative and prescient Professional, are far cheaper, from its flimsy, easy-to-soil nylon and polyester straps to its plastic chassis.
2. Entry to Steam video games
The Quest line is, after all, extra established than the nascent Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional. As such, there is a huge portfolio of mixed-reality and VR video games for the Quest 3.
Credit score: Meta
Apple announced that Imaginative and prescient Professional customers could have entry to 250 Apple Arcade video games, together with NBA 2K24 Arcade Version, Sonic Dream Crew, and extra. Nevertheless, as DigitalTrends identified, enjoying these video games could really feel extra like a big-screen expertise versus feeling such as you’re immersed inside an unlimited digital world.
Credit score: Apple
You will additionally discover low-intensity video games like Demeo (a D&D-inspired tabletop AR sport), Tremendous Fruit Ninja, and Simply Hoops (basketball sport) in Imaginative and prescient Professional.
Tremendous Fruit Ninja
Credit score: Apple
Nonetheless, this does not come near what the Meta Quest affords. Not solely are you able to faucet into the Quest Retailer for video games, however when you have a extremely lengthy USB-C cable like this one, and a VR-ready gaming laptop, you may dive into Steam’s broad number of AR/VR video games, too.
It is also value noting that Apple is not advertising Imaginative and prescient Professional as a gaming headset. It’s, as an alternative, a spatial laptop that’s designed to facilitate productiveness, on a regular basis duties, and visible leisure. As such, in case you’re hoping that the high-res shows and reported top-of-the-line monitoring will translate right into a futuristic, cutting-edge gaming expertise, you could find yourself feeling disillusioned.
Credit score: Apple
Nevertheless, in case you settle for Imaginative and prescient Professional for what it’s — an immersive extension of the Apple ecosystem — it’s best to like it.
3. Completely wi-fi
The Imaginative and prescient Professional does not essentially tether you to an outlet. However it does include a battery pack that tech YouTuber MKBHD remarked is a little heavier than expected. You’ll be able to cost the battery pack, and as soon as it is juiced up, join it to the Imaginative and prescient Professional to offer it about 2 to 2.5 hours of battery runtime on a single cost.
Credit score: Meta
Nevertheless, I might argue that the exterior battery pack, connected to the Imaginative and prescient Professional by way of a proprietary connector, thwarts us from calling the Imaginative and prescient Professional a real wi-fi headset.
The Quest 3, then again, is completely wi-fi.
Credit score: Meta
When you cost the headset itself, you are good to go. In my expertise, it shares an analogous battery life because the Imaginative and prescient Professional: 2 to 2.5 hours.
4. It has native YouTube, Netflix apps
In case you missed it, the Apple Vision Pro does not have native YouTube and Netflix apps.
It is a bummer as a result of these apps on the Quest 3 are in-friggin’-credible. Much like the Imaginative and prescient Professional, you may “pin” your YouTube or Netflix window wherever in your digital surroundings.
Credit score: Apple
It is value noting, although, which you can nonetheless watch YouTube and Netflix on the Imaginative and prescient Professional by way of a browser.
5. Value
Yeah, I do know. That is an apparent one, but it surely’s nonetheless value declaring. The Imaginative and prescient Professional has a beginning value of $3,499. That’s almost $4,000 — excess of what most of us pay in hire.
The Apple tax on this headset is a tough tablet to swallow.
In the meantime, the Quest 3 begins at simply $499. That being mentioned, in case you’re on the lookout for an immersive gaming expertise, seize the Quest 3. Nevertheless, if you would like a glitzy leisure system that delivers multi-dimensional entry to all issues Apple, Imaginative and prescient Professional is your finest wager.
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