Oculus Will Get Mac Support If Apple 'Ever Releases A Good Computer'

Technically he said that apple hasn't put very good gpus that meet their spec out even with their high end builds.
Considering Macs have the same hardware as Pcs now a days, i was expecting to hear something completely misinformed, but the answer was good.
 
He said the same thing a few months ago actually...
 
In a way its almost a shame because Apple users are used to shelling out absurd amounts of money. Maybe they could make an Apple add on that will be external that will handle the computing power for Mac users and they would pay big bucks for it.
 
SlayVus said:
That iMac has an AMD R9 Mobile 290. Which doesn't get any where close to the recommended specifications for either VR headset.
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AH I see now.

A mobile 290 would essentially be JUST enough to run the 5K screen... isn't that the same chip as the 7790?
 
Hypergreatthing said:
Technically he said that apple hasn't put very good gpus that meet their spec out even with their high end builds.
Considering Macs have the same hardware as Pcs now a days, i was expecting to hear something completely misinformed, but the answer was good.
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Instead we just got a headline that's misinformed :)
 
So basically it sounds like Apple is not sold on VR yet. Apple never has cutting edge hardware, they wait til bugs and user experience is ironed out before implementing and charging high margins for it.
 
Quix said:
Not a chance, Apple doesn't care about gamers anyone who looks for value in their product.
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Would have been simple with the older Mac Pro design. I took a 2009 Mac Pro, flashed the firmware to a 2010, upgraded the Xeons to dual 6 cores, bumped up the RAM to 32GB and installed a GTX 680. Ran games like a dream. It would easily take a 970 or better. The new garbage can Mac? You get what you order it with. I'm sure any upgrades would cost more than buying a gaming PC.
 
VIC-20 said:
The new garbage can Mac? You get what you order it with. I'm sure any upgrades would cost more than buying a gaming PC.
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They could just as easily respond to criticism by rolling a new SKU with top-end AMD/Nvidia GPUs and a 6700K. The GPUs would have to be custom, but that's not that hard, especially with AMD's HBM setup having memory traces already figured out.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
They could just as easily respond to criticism by rolling a new SKU with top-end AMD/Nvidia GPUs and a 6700K. The GPUs would have to be custom, but that's not that hard, especially with AMD's HBM setup having memory traces already figured out.
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Of course. But desktop/console gaming just isn't anything on Apple's plate. After around 6 years on Steam OS X share in gaming went no where. Apple is certainly interested in VR but way too early for them to jump into it. I think that's going to be a problem for Apple. They've had so much success for so long with so little failure that they're just risk adverse to the point of not worrying about money but the PR hit. Everything Apple does just has to be 100% super awesome. Because. Not even Apple can do that. And the thing is Apple has had plenty of failures, but millennials have never been there.
 
I really don't see VR being that big. It's cool, sure, but it's out of reach for the vast majority of gamers. $600 for the device, plus you need a very high end gaming pc. This isn't a $600 investment, it's a thousands and thousands of dollars investment to get into VR. You can get a solid gaming PC for under $1000.
 
elite.mafia said:
I really don't see VR being that big. It's cool, sure, but it's out of reach for the vast majority of gamers. $600 for the device, plus you need a very high end gaming pc. This isn't a $600 investment, it's a thousands and thousands of dollars investment to get into VR. You can get a solid gaming PC for under $1000.
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It's got to get cheaper no doubt.
 
elite.mafia said:
I really don't see VR being that big. It's cool, sure, but it's out of reach for the vast majority of gamers. $600 for the device, plus you need a very high end gaming pc. This isn't a $600 investment, it's a thousands and thousands of dollars investment to get into VR. You can get a solid gaming PC for under $1000.
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As he said, they are already sold out of current stock so it is already selling well. Lots of people spend $600 or more on video cards so I don't see the price being that much of an issue. It won't get mass adoption but it will do well.
 
Apple has never understood gamers and is a terrible platform for it. They are content to use a GPU with just enough power to render the display and support at best a crappy iOS port of a game.
I read that Steve Jobs was pissed that so many developers were making games for the iPhone. I would have loved to see his face when a fart app was the #1 download for a while.
Back to Mac, they have something up their sleeves with either VR or AR. Tim Cook mentioned something recently about how cool the platform is. My guess is it will be some type of Air Play device that works with the new iPhone 7/iPad Pro/maybe new Apple TV. It will also cost $599 or higher.
 
elite.mafia said:
I really don't see VR being that big. It's cool, sure, but it's out of reach for the vast majority of gamers. $600 for the device, plus you need a very high end gaming pc. This isn't a $600 investment, it's a thousands and thousands of dollars investment to get into VR. You can get a solid gaming PC for under $1000.
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While I agree the price is too high atm, VR has one thing that many other tech trends (like 3Dtv) did not. VR is tied to mobile tech, and mobile tech is improving faster than any other tech, all because people upgrade phones so often. The price will go down, and the tech will go up. It’s a win win for everyone.
 
Guess I'm one of the few happy mac users on this board? Anyhow, I do find it a little ridiculous how under powered and lack of gpu options the mac has, but they are still great machines for work and casual use. Love me my macbook pro, and my wife likes her 27" iMac.

Now currently on my desk I have a 4790k w/ titan-x for gaming, a macbook pro for work, and then an ivybridge server for my nas. I find the mac to be a superior workstation computer for my needs, but I'm mostly work in the linux world and have no need for windows.

I find it's better to have systems custom tailored to specific needs than trying to have a swiss army knife pc. I guess I could run a bunch of VM's to accomplish this on a windows box, but ugh.. no thanks.
 
Once the technology is mature, Apple will "invent VR" and own the market :LOL::LOL:
 
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I wonder what this means for their stance on Linux support. 90% of the time if someone is WIndows based and refuses to support Mac, it usually means that Linux is out of the question as well. However, the typical (often foolish) reasons for this (ie stuck to Win proprietary tools/workflows, don't want to put the work into it etc..) doesn't seem like it would apply here. Oculus and VR as a whole is just starting out for wide adoption, so it behooves them to get every sale possible - they can't afford to turn down willing customers! As others have mentioned, Mac users are used to...how shall we say... not being picky about value and are marketed towards "forward thinking, creative" types; this seems to be a perfect alignment with what Oculus is selling. So maybe, Luckey is serious about his complaint? I'd love to see him prove that by announcing a parity Linux experience as the hardware issue doesn't apply to Linux, certainly. This would be a nice step, especially considering the thing that initially turned me off to the Oculus aside from the Facebook buy-in: removal of Linux (and Mac) support from the dev kit years ago.

I'm pretty wary of Oculus over all between the Facebook ownership and the increasingly proprietary attitude they've taken in the past years, from the aforementioned removal of Linux/Mac from the devkit, to the focus on "curated and exclusive" experiences and the Oculus store etc. If they are willing to give Mac users the cold shoulder, that's a lot of people that will see their VR interest met by OpenVR / SteamVR and the VIVE instead; I can't be too upset over that if it leads to a better, more open VR platform becomes the de facto standard instead of a more restricted one.
 
rezerekted said:
As he said, they are already sold out of current stock so it is already selling well. Lots of people spend $600 or more on video cards so I don't see the price being that much of an issue. It won't get mass adoption but it will do well.
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Except you use that video card every moment your computer is on. A VR headset is more like spending $600 on a high end racing wheel, that you use only use for a couple of games.
 
Xaeos said:
I'm pretty wary of Oculus over all between the Facebook ownership and the increasingly proprietary attitude they've taken in the past years, from the aforementioned removal of Linux/Mac from the devkit, to the focus on "curated and exclusive" experiences and the Oculus store etc. If they are willing to give Mac users the cold shoulder, that's a lot of people that will see their VR interest met by OpenVR / SteamVR and the VIVE instead; I can't be too upset over that if it leads to a better, more open VR platform becomes the de facto standard instead of a more restricted one.
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Yeah, I don't blame you. The whole facebook thing COULD be awful, but they are also about connecting people (granted to track their lives and use it for advertising) and making a more social online world. THAT sounds like the future of VR to me, and I don't see steam working on anything remotely larger than a friends list. They could be and just keeping it quiet but I know that facebook is def working on a social game/app/launcher. I think most of this exclusive stuff is just going to last a year or two. Oculus won't have enough support to keep everything on their store, they will do what other companies have done by providing extra features if you use their app to buy the game, quicker access to DLC etc. Also really hoping that OSVR takes off, its the most consumer priced friendly headset out that looks promising. It just has to climb a large wall before its consumer ready.
 
Dawill said:
Guess I'm one of the few happy mac users on this board? Anyhow, I do find it a little ridiculous how under powered and lack of gpu options the mac has, but they are still great machines for work and casual use. Love me my macbook pro, and my wife likes her 27" iMac.

Now currently on my desk I have a 4790k w/ titan-x for gaming, a macbook pro for work, and then an ivybridge server for my nas. I find the mac to be a superior workstation computer for my needs, but I'm mostly work in the linux world and have no need for windows.

I find it's better to have systems custom tailored to specific needs than trying to have a swiss army knife pc. I guess I could run a bunch of VM's to accomplish this on a windows box, but ugh.. no thanks.
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I use a Macbook and Macbook Pro for work - Mac's are great business machines. No doubt. If Apple wants to ever get into the game market (which I really doubt they care about (hell, do they even understand it)), they need to add real GPU support.
 
Last thought. I'm going to invent a nostril flap for VR goggles. When someone looks up, the flap falls down so we don't have to look up peoples nostrils.
I work in an environment where people that have never tried VR will try it out. It's always the same. They look around and then always up. Fuck. Clean your nose sometimes. Trim the hairs. Gross. I'm sick of seeing this shit.
 
Dawill said:
Guess I'm one of the few happy mac users on this board? Anyhow, I do find it a little ridiculous how under powered and lack of gpu options the mac has, but they are still great machines for work and casual use. Love me my macbook pro, and my wife likes her 27" iMac.

Now currently on my desk I have a 4790k w/ titan-x for gaming, a macbook pro for work, and then an ivybridge server for my nas. I find the mac to be a superior workstation computer for my needs, but I'm mostly work in the linux world and have no need for windows.

I find it's better to have systems custom tailored to specific needs than trying to have a swiss army knife pc. I guess I could run a bunch of VM's to accomplish this on a windows box, but ugh.. no thanks.
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You aren't the only one. I like my macbook. Gaming laptops for the most part are making compromises that kill them as laptops for me. My desktop is a windows box set up for gaming, my laptop is a macbook, because when I went shopping looking for a windows laptop, all the trackpads were WAY to the right, the airpaths were obstructed if you set it down on anything (especially a lap, it was like they had all hired the guy who did the ventilation on the mac cube), the screens were all total shit, and if I compared form factor and weight, windows offerings had for the most part less CPU, not really any more graphics oomph, and only saved me about $400. Oh yeah and the shitty palm rejection under those pads they wedged 60% of under your right palm.

My computing needs are mostly development on linux, office stuff, the various adobe stuff, and games. I prefer gaming with a nice size display to begin with, in balance, the macbook fits my needs pretty well for the other stuff.
 
I thought it was a pretty decent interview actually. He didn't put down Sony or HTC when given the chance, and the apple comment was quickly explained afterwards that it was a matter of not meeting the specs. He also didn't say you should buy a rift, he said you should try it and see if it meets your expectations. If that's how he really feels (even off camera) it certainly improves my opinion of both him and occulus.
 
IdiotInCharge said:
They could just as easily respond to criticism by rolling a new SKU with top-end AMD/Nvidia GPUs and a 6700K. The GPUs would have to be custom, but that's not that hard, especially with AMD's HBM setup having memory traces already figured out.
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Very true, but they would be unaffordable. I would suggest that they go back to their older Mac Pro design, switch it to a mainstream chipset with SLI support (instead of a workstation/server chipset and Xeons), pop in Quad i5 or i7s plus non-ECC DDR4 RAM, ship it with a 980Ti or at least with the PCI-e power cables and call it a day. Affordable Occulus capable Mac. Done.


Dawill said:
Guess I'm one of the few happy mac users on this board? Anyhow, I do find it a little ridiculous how under powered and lack of gpu options the mac has, but they are still great machines for work and casual use. Love me my macbook pro, and my wife likes her 27" iMac.

Now currently on my desk I have a 4790k w/ titan-x for gaming, a macbook pro for work, and then an ivybridge server for my nas. I find the mac to be a superior workstation computer for my needs, but I'm mostly work in the linux world and have no need for windows.

I find it's better to have systems custom tailored to specific needs than trying to have a swiss army knife pc. I guess I could run a bunch of VM's to accomplish this on a windows box, but ugh.. no thanks.
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I use a Macbook Pro and it by far provides the best experience I have tried for the one thing I use it for. Browsing. Safari is stable, smooth, consistent and fast all the time on every website I have tried it on. Everything else I do though (gaming, media and storage management, documentation, communication) is as good or better on other devices. And I unhappy? No, because I got a broken Macbook for free and fixed it. Would I spend $1300-2700 on a computer that does just one thing really well? No.
 
Snowdog said:
Except you use that video card every moment your computer is on. A VR headset is more like spending $600 on a high end racing wheel, that you use only use for a couple of games.
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Actually i'm hoping they get comfortable enough that i'll be able to use them instead of my big monitors and run a big virtual desktop. You can get a taste of it now with current HMDs though the cable and fogging get in the way, but i love multimon for actual work. I suspect AR devices will probably fill that gap better, but $3500 for the hololens or $1k for the Meta 2 are still a bit steep when oculus / vive will bring us most of the way this year. It's not like many of us don't already buy phones/laptops/video cards every couple years anyway (yeah 1st world problems and their 1st world solutions).
 
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