We're in the middle of the first Apple Vision Pro holiday season (I know, we're all eager to wish you good morning) and there's a fantastic update in the form of VisionOS 2.2. And no, it is not the arrival of Apple Intelligence.
The first new addition to be unveiled in June 2024 at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference was a major update to the Mac virtual display experience: new screen sizes, including a gigantic ultra-wide curved monitor view. It's always been a popular feature of the $3,500 Spatial Computer, the fact that you can stream your Mac's screen, as long as it's an M-series unit, directly to your Vision Pro with almost no noticeable lag.
Whether you're stuck in the middle seat of a plane, longing for a bigger screen, or simply working from home and wanting a larger monitor that can expand to what seems like infinity, Mac Virtual Display on Vision Pro simply got the job done. made. Still, this was a classic digitized flat monitor; It did not have an enveloping effect.
Although that is now solved. In a demo where I was able to play Lies of Pi streamed from a 16-inch MacBook Pro with M4 Pro and do some daily tasks in macOS Sequoia from a Mac mini with M2 or a 14-inch MacBook Pro with M3, it was a lightbulb moment. .
Wide or Ultrawide feels like a new dimension for Vision Pro
In the demo, I sat in a fairly comfortable chair, selected Mac Virtual Display by simply looking at a 16-inch MacBook Pro in Space Black, and then was greeted by a submenu instead of simply turning on the screen. Now you can choose from three sizes: standard, wide or ultra wide.
Standard is, as you might suspect, the standard experience we've had since day one on the Apple Vision Pro with two key differences: it's now at 5K resolution and slightly curved to make it more natural to use.
Wide is great at 21:9, but Ultrawide speeds it up to ultra-high speed at 32:9, which is the equivalent of two screens side by side, like what Apple says is 5K resolution.
It looks undeniably sharp and really feels like it envelops you. Like any window within VisionOS, you can stretch it by looking at the bottom corner and simply pulling with your thumb and forefinger pressed together. I especially liked this, and unlike a conventional curved monitor, perhaps one on TechRadar's list of the best gaming monitors, you're not limited to the size you select based on the monitor you can buy.
I was able to resize the monitor to a large curved screen that filled the room when I wanted to be in on the Lies of P action, but I could also scale it down to see other people in the space or even dim the lights late in the evening. Moon. It's especially immersive for gaming, and I like that the Mac's audio can pass through the spatially enabled speakers on the Vision Pro or AirPods Pro.
It also makes the Vision Pro even better at expanding the power of your Mac, whether it's a Mac mini, MacBook Air, or MacBook Pro. Many, if not all, M-powered Macs can handle these AAA game titles and dozens of titles. from Apple Arcade, but there's also something to be said about working with Vision Pro and just using your Mac. In fact, I wrote this article on the ultra-wide screen.
Of course, you should be comfortable using a headset and invest in the Vision Pro for $3,500 (starting). We've been wondering about a possible great app or experience for Vision Pro.
My colleague Lance Ulanoff wrote about a year of Apple's Spatial Computer earlier this year. Still, this type of Mac experience is truly spectacular. Rumors of a possible collaboration with Sony PlayStation for more compatible controller types make the prospect of future games you can play on a Mac in UltraWide on the Vision Pro quite exciting.
It was a long road for visionOS 2.0 to be fully released, and visionOS 2.2 finally offers a better view of the standard Mac virtual screen and two new sizes; It makes the experience even better.
