The Oculus Rift’s price and system requirements have been officially confirmed. For better or worse, price and requirements are now known, and gaining entry to first-generation virtual reality will be very expensive, often requiring a full platform replacement. But a question hangs over Apple systems. Will there be a headset compatible with Apple? The response from CEO Palmer Luckey leaves no doubt: The interest exists, assuming Apple releases “a good computer.”.
The Price of Entry
Beyond press conferences and public apologies, Oculus VR CEO Palmer Luckey has always been known for a blunt style when discussing the Rift's hardware requirements. The Rift costs $599 / €699, but through its official page the company also offers special deals on ASUS, Dell, and Alienware PCs with the headset, bringing the total cost to about $1,600–$2,000. On the other side, the latest generation of consoles was essentially out of the game before it started. Back in 2013, Luckey called them “too limited”, though PS4 owners still keep hope with the PlayStation VR project. Now it's Apple's turn. Cupertino's presence in the market across the pond is considerable, but will there be a Rift compatible with those systems?
Apple's Graphics Problem
Luckey's response in an interview with Shacknews is that it depends on Apple. Oculus VR has interest in bringing the Rift to Macs, as long as there is “a good computer” in their product line. The available configurations among iMacs and Mac Pro are not up to the mark. The weak point comes down to the graphics chips chosen by Cupertino. All iMacs are disqualified due to Intel video, and on the Mac Pro side, you can upgrade processor and memory, but the maximum video option in those towers is two Radeon FirePro D700 cards. For comparison, a single FirePro D700 delivers half the performance of a GeForce GTX 980 Ti.
According to Luckey, not even a Mac Pro configured at a cost of $6,000 reaches the recommended specifications of the Oculus Rift, but that could change if Apple decides to prioritize high-performance GPUs once again. As expected, some Apple fans want the Oculus CEO's head, but no matter how uncomfortable his phrasing, he's not wrong. Apple has good reasons to limit the power of its graphics chips (TDP, power consumption, space, design), but a Mac Pro is too high an entry point for virtual reality on Apple. Perhaps with the advance of Thunderbolt 3 and external graphics cards, we'll see a different story...
