© Lightspring / Shutterstock.com
The Oculus Quest Pro is the new kid on the block for VR headsets, and it has the reputation of a well-known VR company backing it. This company is called Meta, but it was previously known as the social media giant, Facebook.
As you might have already guessed, the Oculus Quest Pro and the Meta Quest Pro are two ways to describe the exact same product. What you know as “Oculus” was a VR tech company acquired by Facebook back in 2014.
The company originally started as a Kickstarter campaign that resulted in the Rift, Oculus’ first VR headset. It made a big splash in the still-growing market for virtual reality tech.
Oculus was purchased for $2 billion, which might have seemed like a lot at the time. But Meta/Facebook has now captured 90% of the entire market for VR headsets– definitely worth the $2 billion investment!
After releasing and selling a couple more popular headsets, including the Oculus Quest 1 and 2, the Oculus brand was dissolved and replaced with “Meta” in a company-wide rebranding move from Facebook. The change was first announced in November 2021 and was really set into motion in early 2022.
So now that you know the Oculus Quest Pro and the Meta Quest Pro are one and the same, let’s take a peek at the details of this new VR headset.
Oculus Quest Pro vs. Meta Quest Pro: Side-by-Side Comparison
| Oculus Quest Pro | Meta Quest Pro | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Meta (formerly Facebook) | Meta (formerly Facebook) |
| What is it? | Standalone VR headset | Standalone VR headset |
| Who is it made for? | Professionals or high-budget VR users | Professionals or high-budget VR users |
| Price | $1,500 | $1,500 |
Meta Quest Pro: Specs and Features
- Mixed reality feature lets you interact with the physical world.
- Meta Avatars feature translates your actual facial expressions to VR in real time.
- World class ergonomics guarantee the best fit
- Access to the Oculus Store
The Meta Quest Pro is the most recent in a long line of innovative and consumer-ready VR headsets. But unlike most other consumer headsets, this one is geared for professional use.
That means the focus is away from high-tech graphics and is more towards comfort and long battery life. The Quest Pro also sports solid processing power, storage, and memory. But none of that is to say the Quest Pro has bad graphics!
Each of its lenses has a resolution of 1800 × 1920p, which isn’t an upgrade from predecessors like the Meta Quest 2. A better resolution would have helped with comfort while using the device. Meta opted to instead focus on the non-visual features of the Pro headset.
The Quest Pro uses a Snapdragon XR2+ processor. It can boast 12 GB of RAM as well as a 256 GB SSD for storage, meaning it really will work for professional use. Meta has called the Quest Pro a “laptop for your face” and those metrics prove that they’re willing to back that up.
For a pricey, premium headset, everyone expects top-of-the-line comfort and usability from the Quest Pro. Meta hasn’t always delivered, with their cheap (but popular) Quest 2 being equipped with a flimsy head strap. That head strap was often replaced by buyers since it caused discomfort.
So far, the Quest Pro’s completely unique design hasn’t received the same backlash. It also has a 5000 mAh battery, which combined with the extra comfort, will allow for a longer use time.
Overall, the Meta Quest Pro is a solid VR headset if you can stomach the price – and so long as you want a headset for things other than gaming.
Meta Quest Pro: 5 Must-Know Facts
- Rather than being a “Quest 3”, the Meta Quest Pro is a separate VR headset line from Meta.
- The Quest Pro is designed for professional use and has specs and a high price tag to match.
- The Meta Quest Pro is a standalone VR headset, meaning there are no cords or cables that tie you down.
- The resolution of the Quest Pro isn’t better than previous Meta headsets and certainly isn’t better than other premium headsets like the Valve Index.
- The Quest Pro is part of Meta’s move toward the metaverse since it encompasses professional VR usage and not just gaming.
Meta Quest Pro: Why the Rebrand Matters
The main reason Facebook rebranded to Meta, taking away the Oculus brand with it, is because it wants to leave its past behind and focus on its future.
Facebook has been a controversial platform and company in the past few years. Users and businesses alike have expressed concerns over privacy, the emphasis on paid content, and the hive-mind mentality that it can promote.
Not only did Facebook want to abandon all of the negative publicity it was facing, but it also wanted a new purpose. Facebook felt like the future of the internet a decade ago. Now, the metaverse feels like the future of our society – or at least, that’s what Meta is betting on.
The name Meta comes directly from the concept of the Metaverse, a digital world where companies and civilians can coexist in virtual reality. There are already early attempts at making the metaverse come to fruition. Meta is, unsurprisingly, spearheading this movement.
After the rebrand, Meta has pushed concepts like Workrooms – virtual meeting rooms, like Zoom but with VR. The Meta Quest Pro is the first of Meta’s VR headsets marketed explicitly to professionals. As such, it’s a key player in Meta’s ultimate goal of the metaverse.
For better or for worse, Meta (AKA Oculus, AKA Facebook) will be at the forefront of metaverse technology for a long time to come.
Up Next…
Interested in more Oculus-related articles? Click on the links below:
- The 5 Top Rated Oculus Quest 2 Games (So Far) This Year: What are the best games for Oculus Quest 2 that will enable you to experience another reality? Find out right here.
- The Oculus Quest Pro vs. The Oculus Quest 2: What does the former come with that the latter does not, in terms of features, memory, processing power, and cost? Take a look to decide whether you should swap your Oculus Quest 2 for the Quest Pro.
- The Quest Pro VR Headset: Release Date, and Everything Else We Know: Transmission of facial expressions onto your avatar’s, passthrough technology for interaction with in game objects. Find out what more there is to the new Quest headset.
- Mixed reality feature lets you interact with the physical world.
- Meta Avatars feature translates your actual facial expressions to VR in real time.
- World class ergonomics guarantee the best fit
- Access to the Oculus Store
