With a real monitor, a 4K screen on your desk covers maybe 45 degrees of your horizontal field of view. And it's pixel perfect.

In VR, that 4K needs to cover over 100 degrees FOV. And any 'virtual monitor' content is being resampled and filtered, inevitably blurring/softening things.

I suspect that we're going to need a lot more than 4K resolution before you can comfortably work with small text (e.g. coding, web browsing) in VR.

> Apple Vision Pro features ultra-high-resolution displays that deliver more pixels than a 4K TV for each eye.

That is likely some clever wording, but according to the announcement, a non-pessimistic interpretation does seem like each eye is getting more than 4K.

If we'd be getting 5K, they'd say 5K. So it's between 4 and 5. Not that great.

If "all" this thing does is replace a 4K monitor for existing MacOS stuff, I would consider saving up to buy one.

It would be nice to work in various locations with the equivalent of a big 4K screen.

I am unfortunately one of those people who really cannot work on a laptop screen, I need lots of real estate. (And laptops are ergonomically bad even if you don't mind the small screen)

I actually currently have 3 4K monitor + keyboard workstations in various rooms in my house. (Office, living room, garage) because I like to work in various places depending on the weather, who else is home, etc.

Same. I use 4x 4k monitors and I’m not really interested in learning new ways to work on less real estate.

If the Apple Vision Pro could replace my 4 monitors, I’d be delighted

Curious what is your go to 4k monitor?

Maybe a little. If the existing monitor could also use your entire visual field for workspace and easily be used anywhere.

I travel often and I’m looking forward to always having the ability to have a large high resolution display to work on. Also seems cool for entertainment. It’s returnable like anything else.

Yeah, like maybe instead of a desk with huge screens, you could just strap on the vision pro and work on that.

Maybe the biggest difference is that you can place virtual screens and windows arbitrarily as needed, rather than being restricted to parts of your desk where a stand or VESA mount can fit.

So one could for example have the benefits of multiple screens while lounging or in the middle of a flight. Even at a desk, window/screen placement would be more flexible than otherwise possible.

Because a monitor only displays what's on it. A vision headset can show you different content depending on where you're looking.

It's kind of like comparing a monitor that's locked to a single app with a monitor that has multiple spaces you can switch between. They both have the same resolution, but one of them can display much more stuff.

Any chance you could share a snap of your setup ideally with windows distributed around as you prefer? I’m always interested in other peoples’ approach in this area.

I’m a laptop only person. I never understood how a single monitor would be better. But quantity has a quality all its own and 4 monitors seems like it could enable novel approaches.

I think it may have something to do with less strain on your eyes when focusing on distant screen than one up close. I have Quest 2, I really enjoy watching flat 2d videos on it. Even with screen-door effect, sometimes, I prefer to watch shows on it.

I'm largely an ignoramus about how eyeballs function. But this sounds... suspicious. When a screen is inches away from your eyeball, isn't your eye focusing on that? I'd expect a VR headset to cause more eye strain than almost any alternative. Am I misunderstanding something?

My understanding of it is that the eye-strain that people tend to get isn't from your eyes focusing on the glass, but rather due to the Vergence-Accommodation Conflict (VAC)[0]. Essentially, there's a mismatch between the vergence (a movement of both eyes in opposite directions simultaneously for a binocular-style effect), and the accommodation of the eye (the way your eyes change focus based on distance).

When those two things aren't in alignment, you can get a feeling of eye-strain. The way the lenses bend the light make it so the focal length that you're focusing on is further than the screen in front of you, so that isn't what is causing the eye strain.

Mind you, this is just my layman's understanding of the subject, so definitely take it with a grain of salt.

[0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vergence-accommodation_conflic...

Focal depth is fixed to ~1.3m (for quest 3, don’t think we know the value for AVP yet).[1]

So you’re not focusing on the glass, but on the image at that virtual depth.

The strain comes from looking at things rendered further or closer than 1.3m.

1 - https://x.com/id_aa_carmack/status/1371485209603022853

This occurred to me. I think I might actually just shell out for a nice monitor instead. The reviews are going to have to be pretty unbelievably positive for me to actually get a vision pro.