After much anticipation, Meta’s newest VR headset, the Quest Pro is finally here. Up until last month the Quest Pro was the subject of speculation and excitement under its codename, Project Cambria. Now that the headset is available to consumers, the reviews have started to roll in. The consensus so far is that it is certainly an impressive piece of hardware, which is to be expected given its exuberant price tag ($1,500, nearly three times the price of the Quest 2). The name and price tag are clues to Meta’s target audience for the device: enterprise professionals. While the average consumer will certainly enjoy the Quest Pro’s upgrades and features, its price tag may disqualify it for all but the most diehard tech fans and those seeking to radically modify their professional workflow. Besides the price, most critiques are levelled at the headset’s battery life, 90hz refresh rate, and the light-reducing attachment not being included. Still, the Quest Pro may point the way to the future of work efficiency and collaboration– once the Metaverse and other software catches up, that is. Here’s a sample of what people are saying:
Meta Quest Pro review: A next-gen headset for the VR faithful (S. Rutherford)
Of course the real magic happens when hardware meets software, and at least out of the gate, the Quest Pro offers some pretty impressive performance. The headset’s optics are sharp while eliminating nearly any hint of the screen door effect. Text is also very legible and I had no trouble writing part of this review in VR. Next, when my colleague Cherlynn Low visited my virtual office in Horizon Workrooms, I think the combination of Quest Pro’s eye and facial tracking to deliver more lifelike expressions on my avatar might have been convincing enough to get her to spend more time in VR. And on my end, support for spatial audio makes working in VR feel less like floating in a simulation and more like actually working in an office with someone else. So even though Cherlynn was sick that day, we were able to collaborate without me risking catching what she had, and it felt kind of heartwarming in a weird, nerdy way. (MORE @ ENGADGET)
Meta Quest Pro review: For those with more money than sense (Kyle Orland)
Right now, I’m writing this review on a VR “screen” that looks like it runs about 80 inches diagonally and sits about five feet in front of me. Being in VR also allows me to place two other equally large virtual screens to the sides in my virtual workspace, something that wouldn’t usually be possible while sitting on my couch writing on a laptop. Everything on those screens looks incredibly crisp from edge to edge, and the wireless desktop streaming only adds a few dozen extra milliseconds of latency over other VR usage (though the whole thing stutters a bit when doing fast scrolling or playing bandwidth-intensive videos). The fact that I’ve been working like this for hours without any apparent eyestrain is a testament to the clarity of the Quest Pro’s display (though there is some manageable forehead strain, as mentioned above). (MORE @ ARS TECHNICA)
Hands on: Meta Quest Pro review (Hamish Hector)
The Meta Quest Pro is an impressive piece of hardware to say the least – it really does feel like an all-new device compared to the Quest 2, rather than an Oculus Quest 3-style upgrade. But while it feels much comfier, and is clearly more powerful than that headset, the shift in focus from virtual reality towards mixed reality may mean this device isn’t quite the product some users were hoping for. In addition, its battery life and other (more minor) downgrades compared to the Oculus Quest 2’s capabilities are a little short of inexcusable when you consider that this headset costs roughly four times as much as the older hardware. (MORE @ TECHRADAR)
Meta Quest Pro review: The Oculus Quest grew up (and got a job) (Nicholas Sutrich)
Working on the headset is surprisingly good, too. I had a lot of high hopes that this would finally be the virtual replacement for my giant 43-inch monitor/TV in my office when I’m not sitting there and, so far, it feels superb to work in this environment. The text is super clear and easy to read — even if I can tell I’m still staring at a display panel that doesn’t achieve “retina” level of pixel density — and there’s no obvious fringing or chromatic aberration happening with white text on dark backgrounds. I did see this happening from time to time but it simply meant that I needed to adjust the headset a little bit higher on my head, as the edges of the lenses do fringe white text a bit. (MORE @ ANDROIDCENTRAL)
The Quest Pro is available now, starting at $1,499.
See also: Virtual production for Pro AV
