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Comment by acdha | Hacker News Reader

This is a guess from last summer, wouldn’t we want to hear from people who’ve actually tried it? The reviews I’ve seen directly contradict his assertions, and I know which of those is more believable.

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I have an AVP and a 16" MacBook Pro. I can't see any reason I would want to use the AVP for its display over the laptop itself.

Firstly, I need the laptop's trackpad and keyboard to use the computer. So it has to be positioned where it normally would be. That makes it difficult to place the screen in the space in a reasonable location.

The screen real estate is slightly larger inside the AVP, but the downside is it looks worse compared to retina resolution. It’s definitely usable though. And the latency is fine even for playing a video game.

I get eye strain after using it for 1.5 to 2 hours or so. (I don't wear glasses or contacts.)

I've never been much of a multi-monitor person. And the idea of surrounding myself with shitty iPad apps is even less attractive. There's no way you're getting much work done besides email or Slack with native Vision or iPad apps.

Frankly, I don't see any use cases for this device. I don't get why I would want to decorate my house with iPad apps. Manipulating the windows and stuff feels very cool, but the pinch gesture is uncomfortable after a while, eyetracking is precise but a bit fiddly, and there's just nothing better about that interaction model than a trackpad. A trackpad seems less likely to trigger RSI than the look and pinch.

AR games are kind of neat, but manipulation is indirect and difficult.

Watching a movie is lower resolution than watching on a nice TV. If I'm not in front of the TV I'd rather watch on my laptop.

I just think the laptop form factor is undefeated. I don't get what this is supposed to add – especially if you ALSO need a laptop to do most real work since visionOS has no apps and will probably stay locked down to prevent anything useful like a terminal or Git or dev tools.

A friend got one too and they could not get a facial interface that fit his face properly, and eyetracking kept drifting for him, making it frustrating.

In-store demo is very impressive and its very cool. I am just positive I'll never use it for anything other than demoing it to someone else. Planning on returning it.

> Firstly, I need the laptop's trackpad and keyboard to use the computer. So it has to be positioned where it normally would be. That makes it difficult to place the screen in the space in a reasonable location.

I, personally, use the dedicated magic keyboard+trackpad with my macbook, because it is connected to an external monitor for about 90% of its usage. And you can use those with AVP too.

I have tried the magic+keyboard and trackpad with the AVP. If you connect them directly to the AVP then you can use them for lots of stuff, which works fine. But of course you have to use iPad apps. I just tried connecting the laptop and it seems like the keyboard and mouse don't forward through the screen share to the computer. Or I set it up wrong? So I guess I'd have to pair them with the computer directly? But that would be fiddly and I couldn't control visionOS with them.

But still, if I was sitting in front of an external monitor with my computer I would just use that instead of the AVP.

For me the main value add over a laptop is ergonomics in some situations. If at a desk or table a portable laptop stand can also address this, but that won’t work in an airplane or while lounging, both of which are situations where craning one’s neck down to see the screen is fatiguing.

That alone probably isn’t worth the cost for most but I could see people buying future cheaper versions for this purpose.

For me I have no real issue using the MacBook Pro 16" on a plane, in bed, on a couch, at a desk, etc. Much more ergonomic than AVP for every use case I've tried. (Laying in bed is especially bad with AVP). I’m sure some people will prefer it though.

I can do the same machine (MBP 16”) for about 30m on a plane or couch before my neck/shoulders start bugging me (not severely, but enough to notice and act as early warning for further problems). Can go for longer sitting up in bed but have to shift between legs flat and legs folded supporting laptop frequently.

AVP on the other hand feels more like sitting at my desk with 27” monitor centered just below eye level which is easier to keep up. I have to use the cross-strap though, the solo knit band isn’t great for long term usage.

I couldn’t get the top strap thing to work well for some reason.

Thanks - that’s way more interesting than the original blog post.

Take it from an older software engineer. Eye strain is one of those things that creeps on you and suddenly realize it's affecting you in ways you never thought possible.

The display is good enough to use for a monitor replacement. It's not the same quality as my 4k or 5k monitors, but it's good enough to use, which is different than the Quest 2.

iFixIt Vision Pro Teardown Part 2 [1], do confirm his guess was right. In fact they mentioned this article in their PPI/PPD analysis.

[1] https://www.ifixit.com/News/90409/vision-pro-teardown-part-2...?

They confirm the published numbers for resolution but his claim that it’s “ridiculous” is a subjective judgement. I count the people saying the opposite after using one as more persuasive but it’s very much an area where people have different opinions so mostly I would be skeptical of absolute assertions. I know people who say it’s impossible to work without a second monitor, or high DPI, etc. but they clearly don’t speak for all or even most users.

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