The Ginormous, Virtual Wraparound Mac Screen Is Why You Buy the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro

How overmuch would you walk to spot your Mac surface projected crossed your full surviving room? Well, if wealth is nary object, the latest developer beta for the $3,500 Apple Vision Pro offers the accidental to usage your Mac connected an utterly monolithic ultra-wide monitor. I’ve tried it retired the past 2 days, and it’s apt the astir premium mode of utilizing the old, tried, and tested Mac, truthful agelong arsenic you don’t caput dropping oodles of wealth for the privilege.

The Apple Vision Pro is unsocial successful conscionable however overmuch of a closed ecosystem it is compared to different VR headsets.  When I archetypal tried visionOS 2, I thought the Vision Pro would excel astatine replicating and enhancing the experiences of different Apple products, similar the iPhone oregon Mac. As it turns out, I was besides investigating macOS 15.2 betas connected the latest M4 MacBook Pro 14 and M4 Pro MacBook Pro 16. You’ll request some betas progressive connected your devices to usage the ultra-wide Mac mirroring. Why would you privation to? Well, conscionable look astatine these screenshots and archer maine whether you deliberation that looks chill oregon not.

Funnily enough, my preferred show astatine enactment is simply a 34-inch curved show alternatively than the multi-monitor setups my coworkers enjoy. When I downloaded the visionOS 2.2 developer beta, I knew this would beryllium similar lowering myself into a acquainted yet overly indulgent bath. Even erstwhile Apple promotes 180-degree contented similar the recent Submerged abbreviated flick, the 120-degree Mac mirroring is simply a amended use-case for specified an costly headset.

As you tin spot from the screenshots, the projected Mac surface tin grow up to monolithic proportions, taking up an full country floor-to-ceiling. There are 3 surface modes: “normal,” “wide,” and “ultrawide.” Wide adds a flimsy curve to astir a 21:9 facet ratio, but ultra-wide is ludicrously large. At this size, the 100-degree FOV of the Apple Vision Pro can’t perchance instrumentality successful the full show astatine once. My Mac surface tin person 3 afloat Chrome windows side-by-side, and successful games that enactment ultra-wide, similar Baldur’s Gate III, the mounting volition marque you hide wherever your quality portraits are.

Paired together, my reappraisal transcript of the Pro 16 and Apple Vision Pro outgo $5,000. Using the higher-end Macs with M4 Pro with the 20-core GPU means I tin play games similar Resident Evil 4 astatine the afloat solution without worrying astir framerate drops. That’s inactive an unthinkable magnitude of wealth for this benignant of acquisition (and each portion ignoring each the lingering comfortableness issues with the Vision Pro). It besides won’t enactment with each crippled that runs natively connected macOS. Death Stranding done the App Store doesn’t enactment ultra-wide monitors. At most, it tin get to a wide 21:9 facet ratio.

The afloat visionOS 2 merchandise has added a fewer other features that marque accessing the Mac virtual show easier, similar the palm-away motion to entree the power center. You tin besides look astatine immoderate paired Mac surface and pinch connected “connect” to bring up a larger, movable display. With the visionOS 2.2 developer beta installed, the apical of the model volition fto you prime betwixt 3 options for your surface size.

© Gif: Kyle Barr / Gizmodo

This benignant of diagnostic is already disposable connected Meta Quest headsets done the Virtual Desktop app. That app costs $25, but with a small spot of fiddling, you tin get a akin ultra-wide acquisition with a PC oregon Mac. Apple’s Mac mirroring is acold much streamlined and casual to use, but it takes conscionable arsenic much, if not more, effort to get a Windows instrumentality to link to an AVP.

So the Mac mirroring ultra-wide isn’t a Vision Pro-only feature, though it is champion connected Apple’s ain headset. The 2 pancake optics connected the AVP are immoderate of the champion successful VR close now, and they enactment capable solution that Apple calls its ultra-wide equivalent to “two 4K monitors” side-by-side. It simply looks amended than thing you tin get connected the Quest 3 oregon Quest 3S. Of course, it should. The $300 3S costs astir 12 times little than Apple’s Vision Pro.

The blow-up Mac surface should enactment with immoderate of the latest Apple-brand computers. However, perchance the champion prime of those connected connection is the new Mac mini. With the M4 Pro configuration, it’s a almighty enough device for playing astir of the fewer disposable games connected Mac astatine the larger facet ratio and autochthonal resolution, though you whitethorn person to crook down settings oregon crank immoderate upscaling disposable for a unchangeable framerate.

The Vision Pro is the astir sedentary commercialized headset available. Even Apple CEO Tim Cook precocious told reporters helium chiefly uses it to ticker movies successful bed. That way, it’s 1 of the heaviest, astir costly ways to ticker contented connected a ample screen. The wraparound Mac surface is conscionable the epitome of that. Maybe, 1 day, we tin execute the aforesaid happening without dragging 1.4 pounds of headset from our skulls, positive the attached artillery pack.