New Macs Are Steam VR-Ready; iMac Pro: The Best VR Machine in Existence

VENICE, CA – Tim Case gave Apple’s keynote address at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco this week and there was big news for both fans of virtual reality and developers.

Writing for VRPorn.com, Dr. S turned in a pair of reports that covered the big announcements. First, his “How is Steam VR for Mac Possible?” discusses the benefits of the Macs receiving Valve’s “incredible and expansive virtual reality platform right away.” And that, he says, is good for everyone.

“Steam VR coming to Mac is great news for everyone even if you don’t own a Mac,” he writes. “For those that do not own a Mac, this means that a huge amount virtual reality software suddenly has a much larger market. This is great for developers and consumers alike. A larger market means more revenue, and more revenue means more software will be developed for virtual reality systems. This is great for everyone.”

While the MacBook Pros don’t have dedicated video cards necessary to run Steam VR’s software, they can handle it when they are connected to an external GPU. It’s the same solution many PCs are using, too, since it allows notebooks to continue to shrink.

The title for Dr. S’s other article – “Apple’s VR Beast iMac Pro: Best VR Machine in Existence?” – seemed unlikely a week ago, given how Apple frequently likes to keep consumers and market watchers waiting without comment. But VR is here for the Macs.

“Skeptics believed Apple’s hardware would never be useful as a viable virtual reality platform. These skeptics are going to be laughed at and ridiculed because Apple’s new iMac Pro that works natively with SteamVR is the perfect VR machine,” he writes. “The new iMac Pro will be the most powerful consumer-ready virtual reality computer that you can currently buy.”

The top-end machine runs a buck short of $5k, but Dr. S says it “should be worth it.” It comes with an 8-core Xenon processor with the option for an 18-core model. (Most computers today sport, at best, a 4-core.) It will have the Radeon Vega graphics GPU, which he says is “rumored to be a graphical performer of epic proportions.” Together they will produce 22 teraflops of raw power. Tack on 128GB of ECC memory and, yes, you’ll have the best VR machine in existence.

“How is Steam VR for Mac Possible?”

https://vrporn.com/how-is-steamvr-for-mac-possible/

“Apple’s VR Beast iMac Pro: Best VR Machine in Existence?”

https://vrporn.com/apples-vr-beast-imac-pro-best-vr-machine-in-existence/

Read Hype Magazine’s interview with VRPorn.com’s CEO Daniel Peterson “Will VR Porn Save the Adult Industry?” at http://www.thehypemagazine.com/2017/05/will-vr-porn-save-the-adult-industry/.

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