Unless you prefer a solution similar to Samsung's Gear VR, it's obvious that the biggest limitation in today's virtual reality devices is the presence of cables. Until wireless technology manages to solve issues like speed, bandwidth, and latency, the options seem to be two: keep an 'umbilical cord' with the computer, or carry it on your back. That's exactly the idea behind Zotac's new VR Backpack.
The Cable Problem in VR
Despite announcements like Intel's with its ten-core processor, the specialized press agrees that the true stars of Computex 2016 (which finished last Saturday) were graphics cards and virtual reality. Nvidia and AMD had a lot of activity in the convention halls, but the truth is that everyone wants to jump on the VR train, and through a brand new generation of products they seek to attack its most important limits. One of them is the dependency on cables. Whether it's the HTC Vive or the Oculus Rift, the point is that there are one or more cables going from the headset to the computer, and every second the user tries not to get caught in a web. It's said that in some cases the simplest solutions are the best, and the industry's first answer to the cable dilemma was none other than placing computers in a backpack.
Zotac's VR Backpack
That brings us to Zotac VR Backpack, a backpack system based on an Intel Core i7 4600 processor and an Nvidia GTX 980 graphics card, enough to meet the technical demands of the main VR headsets. Other companies, like Gigabyte, HP, and MSI, also presented alternatives that follow the 'backpack format'. In Gigabyte's case, it's a harness compatible with laptops, and MSI preferred a solid external casing, but Zotac's solution is more practical, as it allows almost all cables to be hidden inside the backpack. Miniaturizing hardware isn't a problem for Zotac, which has been selling reduced components and Mini ITX motherboards for years, but even so, its integrated LiPo batteries can only power the system and the headset for a maximum of two hours.
On the positive side, the backpack doesn't reach five kilograms in weight, and being a prototype, we are sure that Zotac will manage to reduce that number even further. The Zotac VR Backpack may not be the most elegant vision of backpacks turned into computers, however, it's the most effective so far, and its battery lasts half an hour longer than the rest. Comparisons with 'Ghostbusters' keep appearing on the web, but for some reason I can't help thinking about that guy from 'Serial Experiments Lain' who went all 'connected' down the street...
