Meta has dipped its toe into the premium end of virtual reality with the new Quest Pro headset. It takes what they did so well with the Quest 2 and amplifies it a lot of Combine VR with MR (Mixed Reality) to make it a headset that you can use every day not only for fun but also to get work done.
Of course you can expect the price to be on par, the Meta Quest Pro is £1,500 in the UK and $1,500 in the US, which is more than triple the price of the Quest 2, which will only set you back £400/$400. That in itself will filter out a lot of potential buyers, but if you’re willing to spend the money, is it worth the upgrade?
The short answer is: it depends on what you intend to do with it. The good thing about the Meta Quest Pro is that it’s so versatile and can be used for more than just a game or two, while the Quest 2 is pretty much all about gaming.
The Quest Pro headset’s design immediately alludes to this – instead of the full box shape that completely covers your eyes, it’s more goggle-style with a gap at the bottom that keeps you grounded in the real world.
Additionally, new outward-facing cameras deliver high-resolution mixed reality passthrough, meaning you can combine the virtual and physical worlds in the most effective and realistic way we’ve seen yet. Spatial audio also makes sounds appear more lifelike, as if they’re coming from specific directions in relation to you, whether it’s people’s voices or footsteps.
(Image credit: Meta)
Additionally, you can socialize in a much more natural way within the metaverse thanks to face and eye tracking that mimics your real-world non-verbal communication with those around you. So if you shrug and roll your eyes, your avatar will shrug and roll your eyes too. Something you didn’t get at all with the Quest 2 headset.
Plus, all-new controllers offer haptic feedback that mimics what it feels like to touch or hold objects, as well as 360-degree tracking, giving you far more freedom of movement than before – ultimately doing everything you do with your hands do much more precisely.
All of these features combine to make the Meta Quest Pro the best VR headset for work and play.
In Horizon Workrooms in particular, you can take advantage of how good it can be for productivity. You can visit other people in meeting rooms, breakout rooms, or lecture halls and feel like you’re actually in the same room as them. You can also create your own office where three monitors are displayed in front of you and you can even have real world items there so you can see your keyboard or water bottle on your actual desk. In addition, this new technology allows you to creatively design the space around you or view objects in 3D. None of this will feel quite as realistic with Quest 2.
However, it is not just about MR. Visually, the quality of the Quest Pro is better thanks to new pancake lenses with increased pixel density, local dimming and Quantum Dot technology. But even if you plan to stick with gaming and don’t want to use the productivity features, the Quest 2’s fully immersive nature is good enough and not worth spending that much extra money on.
You might feel like you’re missing out on the latest self-tracking controllers by sticking with the cheaper model. In that case, you can actually buy a pair of these to use with the Quest 2, which costs £300/$300 a pair, which is still a lot cheaper than buying the latest headset.
