Apple's comments on future Mac Pro hint at possible virtual reality support in macOS
Apple famously does not sell a Mac powerful enough to support Oculus Rift virtual reality, but that could change with a new Mac Pro update scheduled to arrive at some point next year.
In preannouncing the next Mac Pro, set to arrive no sooner than 2018, Apple software chief Craig Federighi was asked about what types of customers would require a more powerful graphics processor in a revamped desktop. In comments to TechCrunch, Federighi cited VR as an application where the current cylindrical Mac Pro is not meeting some professional user needs.
Specifically, Federighi said that VR is a type of "heavy 3D graphics" application where more powerful GPUs are needed than the current Mac Pro design can accommodate.
Apple's devices favor portability over power, which is why popular VR platforms like Facebook's Oculus Rift simply do not work on the Mac. Without necessary hardware to drive smooth VR experiences, companies see little benefit in developing the accompanying software for macOS.
Executives at Oculus have repeatedly said they have no intention to bring support for their headset to macOS anytime soon.
However, it's possible that attitude could change if a new Mac Pro with adequate horsepower and sales drives interest. Another potential platform that could support macOS is the HTC Vive, a device developed in partnership with Valve, whose Steam storefront and Steam Controller are available for macOS.
While a new Mac Pro could provide the horsepower necessary for advanced VR applications, it's unlikely that Apple itself would invest in such technology for a niche market. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has praised virtual reality, but also said he believes there is more interest in augmented reality --an interest expected to bear fruit later this year with facial recognition capabilities in a rumored "iPhone 8."
In preannouncing the next Mac Pro, set to arrive no sooner than 2018, Apple software chief Craig Federighi was asked about what types of customers would require a more powerful graphics processor in a revamped desktop. In comments to TechCrunch, Federighi cited VR as an application where the current cylindrical Mac Pro is not meeting some professional user needs.
Specifically, Federighi said that VR is a type of "heavy 3D graphics" application where more powerful GPUs are needed than the current Mac Pro design can accommodate.
Apple's devices favor portability over power, which is why popular VR platforms like Facebook's Oculus Rift simply do not work on the Mac. Without necessary hardware to drive smooth VR experiences, companies see little benefit in developing the accompanying software for macOS.
Executives at Oculus have repeatedly said they have no intention to bring support for their headset to macOS anytime soon.
However, it's possible that attitude could change if a new Mac Pro with adequate horsepower and sales drives interest. Another potential platform that could support macOS is the HTC Vive, a device developed in partnership with Valve, whose Steam storefront and Steam Controller are available for macOS.
While a new Mac Pro could provide the horsepower necessary for advanced VR applications, it's unlikely that Apple itself would invest in such technology for a niche market. Apple Chief Executive Tim Cook has praised virtual reality, but also said he believes there is more interest in augmented reality --an interest expected to bear fruit later this year with facial recognition capabilities in a rumored "iPhone 8."
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EDIT: I wanted to add is the issue with smartphones and even PS VR is the so called "screen door effect." With Samsung Gear for example, the problem is the screen resolution of smart phones. What's happening is the way VR is created, it's splitting images into two. By doing that, you are getting half the PPI resolution. For phone VR, you really need a 4K screen, but that might not even be enough. Plus, phones obviously don't have enough processing power either.
VR does not need a card optimized for EXACT rendering, (as you might need for engineering, architecture and scientific applications). What VR really needs is a card that will push as many frames as possible, with reasonable render accuracy.
They're two different setups and for a slew of reasons the cards that push frames always favor PCs. Apple has always designed the OS to take advantage of specific cards and not a range of cards and it's always been slim pickings. The problem was exacerbated when they went with the cylinder form factor putting even more restrictions on your options.
its kind of the Achilles heal of Apple. I say that knowing 97% + of the time it goes unnoticed and that's why Apple makes those decisions and continues to be successful. Most of their customers don't care because they don't have a need.
In some ways it's kind of a nice gesture to reach out to pros who have such needs. They're an important part of the market, both in mindshare and developement. For some "hobbyist features" are important to development.
Let's hope they don't blow like they did with the last major update. They really thought and tried very hard to convince everyone the cylinder was amazing and it was far from it. If they're going to bother to reach out to the 3% of their users who need such a machine, I hope they realize that we need expansion, we need options, we need flexibility. We are not the 97% who "just want our devices to work". That's the crowd the cylinder was designed for and that is not us. I would think they were fully capable of designing a nice possibly modular system (-s).
The "pro iMac" might be nice especially if Apple were to developed an TB3 expansion chassis that didn't suck. It would be a really nice match for the MBP and the macpro cylinder. They really just need to fill the gap. Put less strain on the "tower" if you call it that and have a nice quiet little box for insane people like myself who need that sort of expansion. It would really open up the possibilities of the whole lineup.
You could theoretically expand whatever computer you want. You could even use it to share resources between devices.
And in the end, the thing that sits in your desk can still be the elegant, small, lightweight appliance that we all honestly prefer and the power can reside under the desk or in a closet.
Whatever way they go we need access to standard industry interfaces. It would be nice to drop an nvidia 1080 in the whole line for example, but Apple is nowhere near that.
Trolls, people who complain about things they don't even have.
Think about it. Vr and ar are graphic intensive. Apple is being its GPU chip design inhouse. Apple is working toward designing more efficient GPUs that they can then build into there A series chips for better battery performance. Apple will be tackling VR and AR within the next couple years