Hardware Is Meta/Oculus Quest 2 worth it?

[DiscostewSM]

To note, I run a Lenovo Legion 7i laptop (i7-11800H, 32GB RAM, RTX 3080m), in case there was a question about my setup.

If a Quest 2 is worth it, would it be better to go with a new one, or a renewed one? Amazon has renewed 128GB/256GB headsets for $50 less than new, plus they include a 1-year satisfaction guarantee. That means that if before the year is over, if I'm not satisfied with it for whatever reason, I can return it for a refund. For a few more hours of this posting, the "Prime Day" deal for a new headset comes with a $25 gift card. If I were to get one, what accessories would be good to get for it?

My only recent VR experience was through one of those View-Master viewers my brother got me some years ago, where I'd put my phone into it and operate it by orienting the viewer and pressing a button that pushes on the screen. A nice little gift, but nothing special, especially now that I've upgraded my phone to something bigger that it can't even use that viewer anymore (nor do I care to use another like it if I could). I know that the PSVR2 was announced, but whether that would have PC support is unknown. Even then, the likelihood of it having a wireless option seems slim, and that makes me less inclined to wait for that.

Of course the main problem with Quest 2 is the Facebook/Meta requirement. The former was what kept me away, but they've instead changed to Meta, which while not as bad afaik, it is still going to pull something.

 

[FAST6191]

"The former was what kept me away, but they've instead changed to Meta, which while not as bad afaik, it is still going to pull something."

Don't fall for it -- it is all the same people running it, with the same ideas on how the world works, same incentives as far as sharing/grabbing data... Companies with bad PR change names to fool the gullible or occasionally dodge some form of taxes but nothing ever changes in the underlying company. Depending upon your particular sense of distaste and investment in it* you could also make a throwaway account for it.

*if they are going to be all "banned for not being a real person" if you make a dummy account and said dummy account you had $500 worth of games on and that might be a thing, if instead nothing is associated and you just have to fire up another burner email and some fake info then could be a different matter entirely. Personally I consider it a deplorable form of DRM and avoid it all entirely as a result (there is a no technical reason to have your VR goggles be DRM like this other than wanting to do vendor lock in) but that is me.

Anyway what games do you want to play with it? That is the bigger question for most and while it is one of the bigger offerings there are still various others that also have compelling code** which might not be available on this. Some also like such things for watching films on (relatively speaking it is like having your own personal cinema after all).

**not sure what that might be that is not a boring tech demo or 4 hours of fun and after that something to show to visitors/party guests at this point but it could happen.

You might also have to consider what goes if you wear glasses as some things here can be tricky, though I imagine you would have mentioned that.

 

[Dr_Faustus]

@FAST6191 Pretty much hit the nail on the head for FB/Meta shit. The whole point of the push for the name change in the first place was so that Zuckerfuck could distance himself and his company ambitions away from the stigma that Facebook now has among the younger generations and those who already avoids their services like the plague. Its a Fresh coat of paint to cover over the fact that its still the very same company and mentality working behind the scenes. They just hope with enough time and push they will be able to convince people that "Meta is totally not the same as Facebook, guys!" Which does have some truth to their insidious design it won't be as successful as they are hoping it will be.

Now is the typical time I will go ahead and post a Knowledgehub video of reference that will be a fun watch. (I just can't help but post one of these whenever a relevant topic surfaces!)

Another thing to note is the fact that the VR gear is finally splitting itself away from needing a Facebook account to use them. WHICH IS GREAT! However they still will need a Meta account for them, which in itself you have to ask "what is the real difference if the information they take from you is all being sent to the same people at the end of the day?" A very good question to ask, as most tend to not acknowledge this even when people who use Instagram still hate facebook despite clearly using a facebook owned product. They are hoping you will not notice its still all going to the same people and systems at the end of the day, no matter the difference in name or branding.

Another thing to also ask is what is your intent with VR? Are you planning on playing VR games on the headset via the Meta marketplace/installed on the headset. Or are you planning on running PC VR/Steam VR games? Because if the latter that laptop unfortunately will not do much to help you get the best experience out of that even with those specs. Gaming laptops are severely underpowered compared to their PC equivalents no matter how much time has passed. Those specs on your laptop might compare to specs from a high powered desktop from 5 or so years ago in terms of raw power.