Oculus Mac will arrive "if they ever release a good computer"

by Mark Tyson on 4 March 2016, 10:31

Tags: Facebook, Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

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While more and more companies appear to be jumping on the VR and AR bandwagons it looks like Apple will be left out in the cold – unless it has some top-secret iVR device, or new graphically potent Mac computer tucked away.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey was rather blunt in his response to a question about whether we will ever see Oculus Rift devices used with Apple Mac computers. ShackNews fielded that question, to which Lucky snappily replied "That is up to Apple. If they ever release a good computer, we will do it."

On face value that sounds a bit like 'trash talk'. So luckily, erm… Luckey clarified his response with a fuller, more detailed and reasoned follow up "It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn’t prioritize high-end GPUs," he explained. Luckey lamented "You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top of the line AMD FirePro D700, and it still doesn’t match our recommended specs." However things haven't always been like this in the world of Apple computers and "if they prioritize higher-end GPUs like they used to for a while back in the day, we'd love to support Mac. But right now, there's just not a single machine out there that supports it," Luckey clarified.

The latest chitter-chatter regarding Apple plans and prototypes for VR devices suggests it is working on a headset to rival the HTC Vive Pre, PlayStation VR and Oculus Rift, according to MacWorld. Entering the VR market is described in the same report as "a party Apple can't afford to miss." However the trio of rival devices mentioned aren't standalone and all require a computer/console with graphical grunt to push the stereo high resolution VR pixels. It would seem, at this time, that the Oculus founder's problem with Apple Mac computers is also Cupertino's problem.

Apple looks set to host a sizeable unveiling event on 21st March with new Apple Watch bands, the iPhone 6c and iPad Air 3. It will be interesting to see if there is any VR news from the company at that time.



HEXUS Forums :: 19 Comments

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nowadays APPLE has an issue of making user up-gradable MAC's. Maybe the next version of MacPRO will have a beefy Pascal or Polaris GPU.
Oh that headline has to sting a bit if you've spent £1000+ on a Mac recently!
Let me guess “VR isn't at all important” 6 months later “So, we decided to totally invent VR in the best way possible with some low tier tech that's been around ages”.
Tee Hee
Excellent. Totally blunt and totally true.

The main issue here is that there
isn't really a great deal of benefit to apple in supporting this market. The same reason they don't have top if the range gaming GPUs available is the same reason drivers aren't necessary. Apple users are not really gamers and most gamers are far too volatile and demanding for the business model apple has.

Perhaps if VR becomes more than gaming it will change.