Ask HN: Is anyone working at least 4 hours daily on an Apple Vision Pro?

Yes. I spend maybe half of the year (on average) away from home, traveling with my MacBook. I bought the Vision Pro to use as a portable display, and I’ve been extremely happy with it. I work in it about 8 hours per day whenever I’m away from my home office setup, and quite often even when I’m at home.

Having an enormous virtual screen is not the only benefit, I also feel that the immersion helps my focus. It’s easier to get into the zone than ever before. I remember someone describing the Vision Pro as the equivalent of noise-canceling headphones for the eyes, which is spot on. I suppose I am lucky that I don’t have any problems with the weight of the comfort, except on hot days.

I’ve been an Apple enthusiast since the 1980s, but I can’t even remember the last time I was as excited about an Apple product as I am about the Vision Pro. I hope it will survive, come down in price, and launch in more countries.

I don't own Apple Vision Pro, but I tested them two times already and I'm amazed by the technology. I honestly think it's the future. We're probably WAY too early yet, and the Vision Pro might fail badly, but it is indeed the future.

I did a special test session in Japan for "productivity" (the guys at the Apple Store were very friendly and agreed to let me install VSCode and Ghostty on the testing laptop. I cloned an open source repository and spent ~20 minutes just coding.

It was FANTASTIC. The Apple Store was full and I could still "black out" the noise and completely immersed myself in the experience.

I'm seriously considering buying a pair now, but I'm just concerned about the under-investment in the sector.

Regardless, I honestly think it's the future, maybe in 10/20 years, but it'll be the norm.

I think of the AVP like Steve Jobs once described: headphones for video [0]

I use it a few hours a day, a few times a week exclusively as a virtual display for my macbook.

Being able to put a huge virtual monitor anywhere is the killer feature and I don't tend to use it for anything else. It's indispensable on flights where laptop lids can't even fully open.

Apple got the interactions just about perfect for AR window management, etc.

Of course the main drawbacks are the weight, size, and overall embarrassment from having a giant face computer strapped to your head.

I don't find it very comfortable for more than a couple hours at time, at least with the solo knit band + the belkin head strap. I'd like to get a dual knit band at some point.

But when this sort of hardware gets miniaturized I think many people will prefer it to hunching over a laptop screen. Just like headphones, wearing glasses while typing at a black screen could signal "Do not disturb, I'm working here"

[0] Steve Jobs on Virtual Reality (D3, 2005) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQECSInWVPY

I'll work for 4+ hours straight in my Vision Pro when I'm on a plane or train, but when I'm in a less cramped place I'd rather just use a normal screen

Are you guys doing 4 hours straight?

A relative is an ophtalmologist and she told me that when working on a screen we should at least follow the basic 20rule of pausing every 20minutes to look and focus 20feet away for at least 20 seconds to avoid having dry eyes and eye strain. Even on a regular screen I am usually so focused in my task I don't do that unless I am interrupted by someone and/or set an alarm. I imagine it would be even more difficult with a Vision Pro as you'd have to unstrap the thing from your head.

I am spending about three hours a day using my AVP. Not getting headaches or anything like that. I don’t have a suitable MacBook or Mac mini so no virtual display. For development work, I use webterm (webified ghostty) via Safari to connect to servers. Then it is emacs all the way. It’s a real treat and I can use it anywhere.

I do 4 hours a day minimum. Typically the first part of my day where I tend to have no meetings and can wear it uninterrupted. I’m sure I can get the virtual persona working in Meet and Zoom but I don’t want to creep anyone out.

I’m in Ultrawide at 4k via a MBP or a Mac Mini. Wireless keyboard and wireless mouse. Typically multiple Ghostty windows open, an IDE, and a web browser with a bunch of tabs.

If I have a podcast, YouTube or music playing in the background I do so via the AVP directly via the native app.

Though I like virtual environments I don’t use them much. The amazing pass through (I have a Quest 3 and it’s not even remotely comparable) allows me to feel like I’m still IRL and be aware of my surroundings. And to see and interact with my wife who’s also remote if she happens to pass by. This need to touch grass is the same reason I typically don’t wear AirPods while in them. You can really get sucked in with virtual environments and AirPods on.

No eye strain issues. Have had 20/20 my entire life and a year in still 20/20. We’ll see. It does get a little sweaty/heavy. I have the Apple double knit and the CM Global or whatever it’s called.

I do have a decent office monitor setup with a 43” OLED and LG Dual-ups. I don’t use it much since getting the AVP as I like moving around the house.

I'm also curious. I bought the cheap alternative: XReal One Pro and… it is kind of as expected. It is a cheap alternative. Don't expect to use it for coding for several hours a day, in spite of what people keep saying. The optics are not up to it: there are imperfections in the lenses resulting in blurry areas of the screen, very visible as you move your head around.

They are great for watching video, make for a fantastic travel accessory, and one can use them for coding in a pinch, but I honestly couldn't find a good reason to, when I have a perfectly good MacBook Pro screen right in front of me.

I would definitely pay more for glasses that would allow me to have a better virtual computer display. Perhaps not $3500, but $2000? The main reason why I didn't even consider Apple Vision Pro is because of its humongous size, weight and complexity — I don't want another computer with another (locked down) OS requiring updates and maintenance. I want things that do not require anything of me. This is why XReal glasses are so nice: they are just a display. No battery, no OS, no maintenance.

EDIT: Just to clarify, I am very happy with the Xreal One Pro purchase. They provide excellent value. They are light, they are small, I can toss them in a bag to have a private display whenever I need. They are fantastic for travel and overall provide a great value. I would highly recommend them. Just don't expect them to be a better screen than your laptop screen for coding.

I'm not, but is it yet possible to use the Vision Pro as a window manager for macOS? I'd totally get one if it were possible to lay out ordinary macOS windows in space rather than being confined to the simulation of a single rectangular screen.

I use it a few times a week for about that long, almost exclusively as a virtual display for my MacBook. I bought it mostly because I travel for work, and when I'm stuck in a hotel and want to work I wanted something similar to my big screens at home. It's also nice to be able to kick back and watch big screen movies or TV on travel too. Long usage is fine for me - with the inserts I have my computer glasses prescription so things look good.

I bought the device 5 days ago! So far I like it. There are a few flaws (the most annoying being the glare visible when showing high contrast things, e.g. a movie on a dark background, and the text not being crisp for coding). I see myself working 4h+ a day on it though, yes, but it’s early to tell.

I hope they can figure out a cheaper and less bulky option. It's pretty cool to unlock the ability to have a screen and apps popping up in the real space without the constraint of a screen.

I would not pay all that money to have something on that is that bulky and get annoying after a couple of hours

I'm curious if anyone is using the competing Samsung Galaxy XR headset with similar display resolution as a monitor replacement also.

So I was, for about a month. But I had to give it up due to, mainly, compatibility with MAM requirements for work and app quality. It’s so infuriating to me how good this hardware is yet how equally underinvested it is.

I do enjoy it when I’m in a work type that is well supported.

I would love deeper integration with macOS beyond just screen sharing too. Or alternatively a broader selection of native equivalent apps.

There also seems to be an odd standoff between Apple and the streaming apps, eg no native YouTube, Netflix, Spotify, etc. Not that it impacts work, but it impacts consumer adoption.

I’m very curious how this new era of Apple will respond…

As most of us I started using it but gradually stopped. It shoes signs of discontinuation I have seen also ?

I far prefer my Viture XR glasses to the vision pro. Pretty sure this was also the case in 2024 :)

I use them just for playing Doom.

Is Apple Vision Pro still alive, or is it on life support?

Yes! But not very often

AI is soaking up all kinds of capital, even money that used to go into VR.

[flagged]

Next thread’s the winner, for sure.

Edit: Being serious…the big players have all began taking AR seriously verrry recently.

Now they need to release hardware.

I already don’t own an AVP and look forward to also not buying the next gen they come out with.

If it wasn’t hampered by iOS and could run more than just the app store then maybe.