We’ve spent the last week with the Apple Vision Pro and we have thoughts! This week, Senior Writer Sam Rutherford and Podcast Producer Ben Ellman join Devindra to chat about his Vision Pro review, as well as their first impressions of the headset. It’s far from a slam dunk, but it’s also one of the most fascinating devices we’ve ever seen. We dive into Apple’s impressive 3D Immersive Videos, the elegant simplicity of the Vision Pro’s eye tracking and hand gestures, and the trouble with wearing such a heavy headset.
Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!
Topics
Devindra’s Apple Vision Pro review – 0:49
Microsoft’s gaming division is expected to announce former exclusive games going multiplatform – 51:06
Maliciously edited video of President Biden is allowed to stay by Facebook’s oversight board – 54:30
Add Taylor Swift to the list of celebrities who don’t want their jets tracked – 57:35
The Apple Vision Pro has made my eyes work harder than ever before. It's not just because I have ultra-sharp, incredibly bright micro-OLED screens right on my face: The Vision Pro relies on eye tracking for navigating visionOS, its new "spatial computing" operating system. If you want to launch an app, visit a link or do just about anything that would typically require a mouse or a touchscreen input, your eyes have to look directly at them.
It's magical, almost telepathic. The Vision Pro's eye tracking makes it feel like you're discovering the power of the Force, a sensation that's buoyed by the intuitive hand gestures used to interact with whatever your eyes are focused on. But by relying so much on your gaze, the Vision Pro can quickly become exhausting when you run into issues, like trying to hit a tiny button on YouTube's visually overstuffed website. The eye strain is real.
That's pretty much the Vision Pro experience in a nutshell. Wonder and frustration. A peek into the future that's limited by the hardware that exists today — even if that hardware is among the best we've ever seen.
Before you ask, no, you probably shouldn't even think about buying the Apple Vision Pro. It's purely meant for developers, wealthy Apple fanatics who won't think twice about jumping on a $3,500 curiosity, and, of course, clout-chasing influencers. But you also shouldn’t dismiss it entirely. This is just the beginning of Apple's spatial computing journey. Like the iPod and iPhone before it, the Vision Pro has the potential to fundamentally reshape the way we live with technology.
That future is likely years away, assuming Apple manages to deliver a cheaper and lighter headset. But it's fascinating to see the company set off an entirely new direction of computing, without knowing exactly where it's headed.
What is the Apple Vision Pro?
Despite Apple’s refusal to say the words virtual reality, or even the letters V and R in that order, the Vision Pro is a virtual reality headset. What makes it unique from almost every other VR headset we've seen over the past decade (save for the Meta Quest Pro and Quest 3), is that the Vision Pro delivers a video feed of the real world to its micro-OLED screens. It's a far diminished view of reality — colors are muted, dark scenes look fuzzy and objects warp as you move around — but it's the best attempt we've seen at augmented reality (AR) from a VR headset.
The Vision Pro isn't a purely AR gadget like Microsoft's HoloLens and Magic Leap's headsets, both of which display digital overlays atop transparent lenses. Those devices deliver far more realistic AR experiences, since they don't have to recreate the real world via cameras. But they can never achieve the sense of immersion you feel from a VR headset, where your entire field of view can be taken over by digital environments. (The Magic Leap 2's dimming displays are one attempt to address that.)
In an ideal world, Apple wouldn't have to do the work of capturing reality through cameras and feeding it onto a headset display. VR aficionados call this "passthrough," but it’s just a brute force method for mimicking augmented reality. It's far easier to make the world digital, rather than dealing with complex new display technology to paint the real world with virtual objects.
The Vision Pro with its Dual Loop band.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
In typical Apple fashion, the Vision Pro looks far more handsome than any VR headset I've seen. That mostly comes down to materials: Whereas the competition is almost entirely made of plastic cases, Apple's device is built out of smooth glass, polished metal and designer fabrics. Bulbous glass protects the cameras, sensors and "Eyesight" display (which shows off virtual reconstructions of your eyes) up front. A curvy metal body, which resembles the Apple Watch and previous iPhone models, leads to a soft fabric eye cushion.
The Vision Pro ships with a flexible single band headstrap, which looks like a long lost Lululemon accessory, and there's an optional dual loop band that adds a top strap for additional security. While I loved how luxurious the single loop band felt (especially the additional cushioning behind my head), it grew uncomfortable over longer sessions trying to keep the 1.3-pound headset on my face. I stuck with the dual loop band — which is conspicuously absent from Apple's press images — to spread that weight out more evenly.
And then there's the external battery, which almost single-handedly kills Apple's ultra-polished aesthetic. It looks like a typical USB battery pack (albeit with a nicer metal finish than most), and it attaches to the Vision Pro via a five-foot cable. It's very existence seems like everything Apple is against — even the Meta Quest line has a seamlessly integrated battery. While I dreaded having to juggle a cable around, I'll admit it wasn't too annoying while I was sitting down. But this isn't the sort of compromise I'd expect from a $3,500 device.
The Vision Pro's hardware
Given the amount of technology stuffed into the Vision Pro, though, it may be understandable why Apple didn't want to shove in a heavy battery. The headset features an M2 chip with an eight-core CPU, 10-CORE GPU and a 16-core Neural Engine for AI processing. There's also 16GB of RAM onboard, along with Apple's R1 chip for processing all of the cameras and sensors needed to capture a feed of the real world. Those include a LiDAR scanner, TrueDepth 3D camera, six world tracking cameras, two high-resolution main cameras, four internal eye-tracking cameras, a flicker sensor, ambient light sensor and four inertial measurement units to track how your head and body is moving in 3D space. Whew.
Perhaps most controversially, the Vision Pro ships with a mere 256GB of storage. That's awfully low for a $3,500 device, especially since Apple is positioning it as a full-fledged computer, which means you'll be installing plenty of apps and games. And while you'll likely be streaming video to it most of the time, such a low amount of storage doesn't leave much room for offline media (there's no SD card expansion either, typical for a mobile Apple product). If you're buying the Vision Pro, we'd recommend the $3,699 512GB model for a bit more breathing room, or you can top it out with 1TB of storage for $3,899.
Apple might have played it safe with the Vision Pro's battery and storage to make room for its display, which is one of the most glorious screens to ever befall my eyes. It's a Micro-OLED panel (a technology that's so new, I've only seen it on one other shipping product: the BigScreen Beyond) sporting 23 million pixels, or nearly three times the resolution of a single 4K screen.
After trying almost every major VR headset since the Oculus Rift DK2 prototype, and testing a wide variety of increasingly large gaming monitors, the Vision Pro's screen is a revelation. It's wonderfully sharp and crisp, making text easy to read (which wasn't always possible on early VR headsets), and packing enough pixels to scale 4K movies to theater-sized screens. The Vision Pro supports refresh rates up to 100hz, which makes scrolling through websites feel silky smooth, and it can play movies in multiples for 24fps and 30fps for judder-free playback. (That's the slight stuttering you see on TVs during action scenes and camera pans.)
The Vision Pro also supports HDR, which produces brighter highlights in photos and videos, as well as more nuanced black levels. Dark scenes look particularly spooky, since the Micro-OLED display can achieve pure black, unlike headsets with LCD panels. When I first enabled Apple's immersive environment on the Moon, I spent a while just staring off into the darkness of space, with only the rocky lunar surface and the distant Sun keeping me company.
The Vision Pro without its face cushion.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
I'd like to say I flipped on some classical music as I contemplated the meaning of existence, but in truth I just started playing "OK Computer" for the millionth time and wallowed in nostalgic angst and my fears of where technology is taking us. The Vision Pro, for better or worse, is the ideal device for escaping the troubles of the world. (I realized after a few minutes that I was basically recreating the infamous Watchmen scene with Doctor Manhattan sitting alone on the desolate surface of Mars, eager to leave humanity behind. Perhaps I need a vacation.)
The headset's built-in Spatial Audio speakers are good enough for unplanned bouts of nostalgia, YouTube binge sessions and general computing. They're far better than typical laptop speakers, with enough depth and nuance to capture Thom Yorke's ennui. There's not much low-end though, so you'll have to stick with headphones if you want to enjoy thumping bass for music and movies. (At the moment, the Vision Pro supports Apple's AirPods and wireless Beats headphones, and I haven't had luck connecting it to any other wireless cans, like Sony's excellent MDR-1000XM5.) The Spatial Audio speakers are also open, so anyone nearby will get an earful of whatever you're hearing.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Listening to music on the Vision Pro sounds like having an actual speaker in your room, and true to its name, audio also follows apps around your virtual space. Apple earned a patent for audio ray tracing, and it's clear after just a few minutes that the company has thought deeply about how sound works throughout VisionOS. (We sure have come a long way from highly compressed iTunes music and tinny white earbuds.) The Vision Pro also features a six-mic array to capture your voice while shouting at Siri, dictating text and hopping on video chats.
Setting up the Vision Pro
Getting started with the Apple Vision Pro wasn't very different from my hands-on experience last year. Once pre-orders were available, I briefly scanned my face on the Apple Store app (which determines the size of your light seal cushion and headband) and selected the 512GB storage option. That's pretty much it for choices, unless you're adding accessories like the $200 travel case.
Since the Vision Pro doesn't support glasses, I also had to plug in my eye prescription to configure the $149 Zeiss lenses (which snap onto the headset magnetically). My prescription expired, it turns out, which led to a mad scramble for a quick eye exam. Thankfully, it was easy to upload a new prescription via the Apple Store app — you're not forced to visit another retailer for custom lenses like the Quest 3.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Once my Vision Pro arrived on launch day, I tore open the package and was surprised to find it stuffed with accessories. In addition to the headset, battery and Solo Knit Band, you also get a soft cover, an additional Light Seal Cushion (which may be thicker or thinner than the one installed on your headset), and a Dual-Loop band for additional security. There's also a USB-C charger, 1.5 meter USB-C cable, and a polishing cloth (which definitely came in handy.)
The first time I put on the Vision Pro my wife looked at me with an expression somewhere between bewilderment and disgust. She's been forced to live through my VR adventures over the past decade, but this was clearly not another plastic helmet meant for a gamer cave. The Vision Pro looks sleek and stylish, but it's still undeniably dorky once you put it on, like an over-engineered attempt at Robocop cosplay.
Apple has gotten its onboarding experiences down to a science at this point. Once I had the Vision Pro on, I stared ahead to create an Optic ID, biometric authentication based on your iris, as well as a six-digit security pin. Next up I had to create a Persona, a creepy digital reconstruction of my face that shows in Facetime calls and powers the digital eyes on the front Facetime screen. Building your Persona involves taking off the headset, following its instructions to look in every direction, and then forcing a closed mouth smile, an open-mouthed smile and a view of your eyes closed.
Apple
I probably should have warned my wife about this whole process — she practically screamed when she saw my digital eyes peering out at her. Perhaps the world isn't ready for us to see our loved ones rebuilt as soulless digital avatars.
Hello, Spatial Computing
With the busy work done, I was confronted with a common site: A home screen. But this one was floating above a pile of toys in my family room, not confined to a screen like my iPhone or iPad. The first time I tried the Vision Pro, I was sitting in a boring Apple meeting room that was hastily constructed to show off the headset. But now I was home and I was looking at the VisionOS's interface hovering right where my kids play. It felt like using an iPhone for the first time. I knew computing would never be the same.
As my eyes darted around familiar app icons, like Safari, TV and Photos, they each came to life, ready for me to launch them by touching my thumb and index finger together. I had been thinking for weeks about the first thing I would do with the Vision Pro, and it ended up being a perfect inaugural moment for Apple's spatial computing vision.
I opened Photos, headed to a recent Spatial Video from a trip to Zoo Atlanta, and my eyes welled up a bit with tears. My wife and kids were sitting on a small train ride, eager to make a loop around the zoo, and I was rewatching (practically reliving) that moment in 3D. It's as if it was caught in amber. Sure, the resolution and frame rate could be better (iPhone 15 Pro Spatial Videos are only captured in 1080p at 30fps), but it's still astonishing how immersive it feels.
I was also surprised at how well the Vision Pro handles panoramic photos: Hit a button and you can make them large enough to fill your walls. While there's no true sense of depth, the mere act of seeing a high-resolution, ultra-wide picture blown up to an enormous size is enough to help you relive memories. I found myself revisiting tons of photos on the Vision Pro, simply because they look great on its Micro-OLED screen. Apple may have created the world's best nostalgia machine.
It could just be that I was enamored with seeing my photos in a new light — the Vision Pro even made the mundane act of web browsing seem exciting, since Safari windows can easily scale to towering heights. You can scroll through pages by pinching your fingers together and moving them horizontally or vertically, like the world's nerdiest orchestra conductor.
Within five minutes of testing the Vision Pro, I already felt like a spatial computing expert. That's a testament to how intuitive the entire interface is, from the finger gestures for selection and scrolling, to the eye tracking used to navigate the interface. The only major knock I have against visionOS is its virtual keyboard, which is really only suited to slow, two-fingered hunting and pecking. Alternatively, you can also use Siri to plug in text or tackle basic tasks, like launching an app or rebooting the headset.
That, by the way, is something I've ended up doing a few times a day to deal with a variety of bugs. Sometimes apps don't respond when I click on them from the home screen. Sometimes windows disappear entirely and I can't do anything with the Vision Pro, except beg Siri to help me out.
As impressive as the headset is, it's clear that it's also reaching the public without extensive testing, as if early adopters are paying $3,500 to be beta testers. That's not exactly new for Apple — the original iPhone and Macintosh were both expensive and lacked crucial features — but it makes it hard to stomach the company's aggressive marketing campaign. The more I use the Vision Pro, the more obvious it becomes that it’s a developer kit. That's a reality Apple seems unable to accept, as if everything it touches needs to be a must-have product.
When everything is working smoothly, though, it's easy to buy into Apple's dream of a spatial computing future. Painting your world with virtual windows takes just a few seconds and it never gets old. During my testing, I typically had an enormous web browser opened in front of me, a YouTube window floating above my couch on the right, the App Store hovering above where my cats sleep on on the left, and a small Facetime window floating around to field calls from family.
Apple
In my kitchen, I set up floating timers for a few dishes and a Freeform window on my fridge for jotting down notes. Everything stayed in place when I moved between rooms, though everything would disappear if I had to reset or unplug the headset. We'll have to come up with a term that's more expansive than multitasking, being inside the Vision Pro feels like megatasking. Maybe we should just call it living? (Do we call reading a newspaper with a TV on in the background multitasking?)
Immersive experiences (just don't call it VR)
In addition to showing you a view of the real world, you can also rotate the Vision Pro's Digital Crown to gradually immerse you into one of Apple's Environments, digital recreation of locations like Mt Hood, Yosemite and the aforementioned lunar surface. These locations are all gorgeously rendered, and they also have adjustable sound effects to help sell the illusion of being there. While they feel like baby steps into the world of VR, they're also a sign that Apple actually understands essential elements of immersion: Depth, scale and fidelity.
You can only walk around three feet of an Environment before the Vision Pro breaks you out of it, but like its virtual windows, the immersive space persists in a specific location. If you visit the Moon in your living room, then head to the kitchen and grab a drink, you'll find yourself right back on the Moon when you return to your seat.
Apple's boldest attempt at delivering full immersion in the Vision Pro is Encounter Dinosaurs, the same demo I previewed last year (and also the one that caused Engadget's Cherlynn Low to freak out when a butterfly landed on her finger). It turns a wall of your home into a portal into a prehistoric world, where you'll see a few small dinosaurs running around, followed by larger dinos that break out of the portal and appear to enter your home. The dinosaurs all look incredibly sharp and believable, and they even react a bit to your hands if you move close.
Apple
While my kids couldn't see Encounter Dinosaurs in the Vision Pro themselves, I mirrored the headset's view to the Apple TV and they were amazed to see enormous beasts invading their playroom. I hope this isn't a one-off demo for Apple.
Apple's new Immersive Videos — 180-degree 3D content shot in 8K with Spatial Audio — are similarly ambitious. They're all about placing you in a specific location with incredible fidelity and life-like depth, from watching a highliner walking atop a thin cable 3,000 feet above a Norwegian cliffside in Adventure, to a fly-on-the-wall jam session in Alicia Keys: Rehearsal Room.
I've seen plenty of VR video in my time, and Apple's format by far delivers the greatest sense of "presence," the idea that you're physically transported to a virtual scene. I also didn't miss having full 360-degree video, a format that allows for a great amount of viewer freedom, but also makes it difficult to focus on key moments.
Adventure opens with an ultra high-resolution close-up of free solo highliner Faith Dickey, something that would have been less effective in 360-degree video. You can see every pore on her face, the brilliant color of her eyes and every strand of hair as if she was standing right in front of you. It's a jarring shot, but an effective one at conveying what's possible with Immersive Video.
Apple
It also helps to ground the scope of her highlining feats, which look absolutely stunning. It's thrilling enough to see Dickey walk across a thin rope over an impossibly high cliffside, but it also feels more meaningful because she was just looking right at you, almost within reach.
A personal cinema (and the return of 3D video)
Like many VR headsets, the Vision Pro excels at being a cinema for one. But it's more compelling than the likes of the Quest 3 and Vive by giving you a ton of flexibility around how you can enjoy shows and movies. Any video can be expanded to a cinema-sized screen, and no matter how large you scale it, everything looks sharp and clear. (Remember, you've got more pixels than a 4K TV jammed right up against each of your eyeballs.)
The Vision Pro ended up being a wonderful way to revisit some of my favorite recent films, like Dune and Mad Max: Fury Road. Most surprising of all? You can actually watch Avatar: The Way of Water the way James Cameron intended: In 4K 3D with high refresh rates and immersive spatial sound. Now that TVs and projectors aren't regularly offering 3D, I figured I would never be able to see that film in its full glory again. But the Vision Pro looked even better than in the theater, since I didn't have any clunky 3D glasses darkening the screen.
While you can watch videos floating in the real world, you can also view them in virtual theaters via the Apple TV app, or in the Avengers headquarters on Disney+. That's an easy way to replicate the titanic scale of theater screens, and you also have the ability to choose your seating location. (I usually opt for the front row, though I also love the perspective from the front balcony view.)
Among the early Vision Pro entertainment apps, which includes Max, Prime Video, Crunchyroll and major sports leagues, I was most surprised to see an app from IMAX. It's hard to capture the feeling of being in front of a giant IMAX screen at home, even if you're sitting in front of a projector screen. But the Vision Pro managed to replicate the experience of watching A Beautiful Planet in a full-sized IMAX theater. The sense of depth and scale was so convincing, at times I felt like I could fall into the screen. It's thrilling and overpowering, the way IMAX was meant to be.
As great as it was watching movies on the Vision Pro, though, the headset's speakers can't compete with a decent home theater setup or a Dolby Atmos soundbar. I found myself throwing on AirPod Pros just to get a decent bit of bass in Mad Max: Fury Road and Dune. (Watching those films on the Vision Pro was also the first time I wished I had a pair of AirPods Max around for more dynamic sound. This was clearly Apple's plan.)
A Mac superpower
While it's a capable computer in its own right, the Vision Pro's most compelling use case for me is its ability to take a modern Mac, even a 13-inch MacBook Air, and transform its screen into an enormous virtual window. All it takes is a glance at your Mac's monitor, a tap of the "Connect" button and boom, you've got a Mac in Spatial Computing.
Many aspects of the Vision Pro feel magical, for lack of a better word. But I'm genuinely dumbfounded by how well the Mac integration works. Connectivity is seamless, your Mac screen looks sharp, and there's very little latency when it comes to typing or mousing around. And to make the experience even more compelling, your keyboard and mouse/trackpad also work on native Vision Pro apps. (It just works, seriously.)
Again, while you can technically use virtual desktops on other VR headsets, they don't look nearly as sharp, latency can be messy depending on your network, and you're typically trapped within the confines of virtual space. On the Vision Pro, I could be working on a 100-inch virtual Mac window in my kitchen, while also keeping an eye on my kids. It's empowering and effortless, the way all great technology should be.
Sure, I'd love to see more native apps on the Vision Pro, as well as a deeper exploration of immersive content. But if Apple just sold a headset that virtualized your Mac's screen for $1,000 this well, I'd imagine creative professionals and power users would be all over it. The Vision Pro can both enhance your existing workflow and give you super-powered multitasking capabilities when you're away from your main workspace.
The film director Jon Chu recently revealed he was able to edit his upcoming Wicked film in real-time on an enormous screen using the Vision Pro, after being stuck at home due to flooding in LA. For many professionals, the headset could unlock entirely new ways to work.
My original Vision Pro Persona.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
The Persona problem
There's no way to spin it: Apple's digital Personas look awful. Cold, dead, inhuman — take your pick. Apple is clearly aware of this though, as the Personas already look dramatically better in the visionOS 1.1 developer beta, with more detail and better support for people with facial hair. My initial Persona looked tragically sad, with a misshapen skull and messy hair. The visionOS 1.1 version looks noticeably better, mostly because my skull no longer looks like a wax figure melting in the sun. I think it may still be aging me up a bit, but maybe that’s just wishful thinking.
Thankfully you don't have to view your Persona too often, but it'll pop up for anyone you FaceTime or call over Zoom or Microsoft Teams. During a few FaceTime chats with non-Vision Pro users (including Engadget Senior Editor Pranav Dixit), their initial reaction was usually laughter and confusion. But the longer we chatted, the more normal it seemed (though nobody ever forgot they were talking to my digital doppelganger). It's less awkward when talking to another Vision Pro user, at that point you're just sharing the shame.
For all of the Persona's faults, though, I'm still amazed that Apple is able to create a semi-accurate avatar in just a few seconds. That’s something Meta demoed But the company clearly has plenty of work ahead before it escapes the uncanny valley.
Super Fruit Ninja on the Vision Pro.
Apple
A weak gaming start
Another sign that the Vision Pro isn't fully cooked is its anemic gaming lineup at launch. What the Golf and Super Fruit Ninja are both available on Apple Arcade, but they're basically the same games we've been playing on other devices, except now they've got a bit of spatial flair. Synth Riders is the closest Vision Pro has to Beat Saber, but it's not nearly as dynamic and I genuinely hate most of the music.
There are a few standalone titles like Black Box ($20), which deploys a variety of puzzles around your space, and Wisp ($20), a game that seems to involve a virtual desk ornament and an AI companion. But even those aren't as immersive or exciting as the VR titles we've been playing for a decade (like Superhot and Space Pirate Trainer). Partially, it's due to the Vision Pro platform being young, but Apple has also limited developers by not releasing a VR gaming controller.
I didn't miss having to find and charge a pair of joysticks just to use the Vision Pro, but I did miss the precision and feedback of the Quest 3's controllers when I was actually ready to play some games. Apple could eventually allow third-party VR controllers to work on the Vision Pro, but that also passes on the responsibility of hardware development to other companies. If Apple really wants developers to take games seriously, it'll need to step up and design its own VR controller solution.
You can, at least, pair a PlayStation or Xbox controller to the Vision Pro for supported games, like Sonic Dream Team and TMNT Splintered Fate. Those controllers also come in handy for streaming titles from the cloud and gaming PCs. The iPad Steam Link app works just fine on the Vision Pro, and you can also easily access Xbox cloud streaming and NVIDIA's GeForce Now via the Nexus app.
Given Microsoft's cloud streaming deal with Meta and Apple's new rules for game streaming apps, I wouldn't be surprised if we see an official Vision Pro solution from Microsoft eventually. (You can also use the official Xbox app to stream games from an Xbox console in your home.)
What the Vision Pro gets wrong
It's easy to sound overly positive about the Vision Pro while discussing the sheer beauty of its screens, and the wonder of seeing Apple step into a bold new era of computing. So here's some cold water:
At 1.3 pounds, it was too heavy to wear for more than an hour at a time, even with the Dual Loop band. (I recall that Apple also had a version of the Solo Knit band with a makeshift top strap during my original demo. It'd be interesting to see that make a comeback, Apple!)
Even during short sessions, it requires a significant amount of eye movement, and you're looking directly at very bright screens. This isn't something you'd want to use as you're trying to wind down before bed.
The front EyeSight display isn't nearly bright enough, and it's certainly far from what Apple's promo pictures show. You really have to lean in close to see them, which defeats the purpose of having them.
It would be nice to see more battery life. The Vision Pro currently gets between two and two and a half hours on a charge, but somehow I've been cursed to see the low battery warning almost every time I get into a good creative flow.
While Apple has announced that there are 600 apps available for the Vision Pro, they're not all worthwhile (and some, like Lowes' Style Studio, are surprisingly buggy).
The Vision Pro isn't great when you’re moving a lot. All those videos you see of people walking down the street while wearing it are mostly made for social media clout. Its cameras are good, but your eyes are far better.
Its cameras can't capture fine detail very well. Cooking with the Vision Pro is a non-starter, since it's tough to see how much seasoning you're applying, and the battery cord could easily get wet, cut or burned.
Its $3,500 cost is tough to swallow, full stop. (We've already established this thing isn't meant for regular users, but it's wild that it costs about the same as a MacBook Pro, iPhone Pro and iPad Pro combined.)
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
A fascinating start, an uncertain future
This may be the longest review I've ever written, because I really can't stop thinking about the Vision Pro. What does it mean for computing? What does it mean for Apple? Are we even ready for people to be wearing these things in public? And do I need to reassess it once Apple squashes bugs, adds new features and courts more developers?
The Vision Pro is a flawed product, but it's certainly not empty. It's as if Apple has compiled everything it's learned from building the Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch and AirPods into a single device, all in a bid to avoid the Innovator's Dilemma. It would be easy for the company to coast by slowly iterating its current products, making minor tweaks to appease investors and slight hardware hops to excite an already devoted fanbase. True vision takes risk, and I can't help but admire that.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-vision-pro-review-beta-testing-the-future-201430272.html?src=rss
For the discerning gamer who didn't rush out to grab NVIDIA's RTX 40-series GPUs over the last few years, the company's new Super cards are genuinely compelling. They all deliver far more power than before — so much so that the $599 RTX 4070 Super is actually a decent 4K gaming card. But the $999 RTX 4080 Super is also a solid deal for power-hungry gamers, since it's $200 less than the original 4080. Between those two cards, NVIDIA now has desirable upgrade options for mid-range and high-end gamers.
But what of the new RTX 4070 Ti? It's stuck right between its two siblings, with no clear audience. After all, if you're ready to spend $799 on a video card, stretching a bit more for the 4080 Super might make more sense for the additional power. Otherwise, you might as well just get the 4070 Super, overclock it a bit, and spend the extra $200 on another SSD or more RAM. It's a conundrum entirely of NVIDIA's making, one that might have been solved by giving the 4070 Ti Super a slight $50 discount. (And it's even more confusing when some cards, like the ASUS model we reviewed, are priced above MSRP.)
Just like the 4070 Super, the 4070 Ti Super and 4080 Super feature more CUDA cores than the original models, as well as slightly higher clock speeds. The 4070 Ti Super packs in 8,448 CUDA cores compared to 7,680 on the 4070 Ti, while the 4080 Super has 10,240 CUDA cores instead of 9,728. The 4070 Ti Super also has 4GB more VRAM, bringing it up to 16GB of GDD6X memory, while the 4080 Super sticks with 16GB. (NVIDIA likely doesn't want to edge much closer to the beastly RTX 4090, which is now selling for hundreds more than its original $1,599 launch price.)
Given the RAM bump, I expected the RTX 4070 Ti Super to be far faster than the 4070 Ti, but it ended up scoring only 742 points higher in the 3DMark TimeSpy Extreme benchmark. It fares better on games, scoring 15fps higher in both Halo Infinite (104fps)and Cyberpunk2077 (93fps)while playing in 4K with maxed out graphics and ray tracing settings. The 4080 Super's results were similarly muted: It hit 289 more points than the 4080 in TimeSpy Extreme, and it was 10fps higher in Cyberpunk (103fps) while playing in 4K with ray tracing.
Content creators will also appreciate the additional horsepower. The 4070 Ti Super scored 87,707 points in the Luxmark HDR benchmark and 7,424 points in Blender's test, compared to 75,997 and 7,247 on the 4070 Ti super. The 4080 Super hit 99,515 points in Luxmark HDR compared to 94,832 points from before.
These are the results you'd expect by simply throwing more CUDA cores into these cards, so I'm not exactly disappointed. But after benchmarking both GPUs and comparing their results to the 4070 Super, I'm more underwhelmed by the 4070 Ti Super. I can understand NVIDIA not wanting to make it much faster, but it seriously needs to be cheaper than the original 4070 Ti. Otherwise, like I said, the 4070 Super is far more compelling, and I wouldn't be surprised if cheaper 4070 Ti cards pop up.
We reviewed the ASUS TUF Gaming 4070 Ti Super (which is currently selling for $850), as well as NVIDIA's Founders Edition 4080 Super. The ASUS GPU sports three fans and a typical heatsink design, whereas NVIDIA's card once again uses its unique (and very effective) vapor chamber cooling setup. Both cards hovered around 75 Celsius under load, but the ASUS GPU was noticeably louder thanks to those three large fans. I could still hear the 4080 Super spin up under pressure, but it wasn't nearly as loud.
If you can’t tell by now, the biggest selling point of the 4080 Super is that it's $200 less than the original. Not only is it a better deal on its own, but its lower price should (hopefully) help to reduce the cost of older 4080 cards eventually too. And if you’re not ready to shell out $999 for a video card, then the $599 4070 Super is no slouch either.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/nvidia-rtx-4070-ti-super-and-4080-super-review-183034039.html?src=rss
Samsung’s Galaxy S24 phones are all about AI, but how do they compare against Google’s AI tech? This week, Cherlynn and Devindra discuss what works and doesn’t about Samsung’s ambitious new smartphones, and why it may be a good thing for the Korean giant to directly compete with Google. Also, Senior Editor Karissa Bell joins to discuss the social media CEO Senate hearing, which, unsurprisingly, doesn’t really amount to much.
Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!
Topics
Samsung Galaxy S24 and S24 Ultra reviews: AI with mixed results – 0:47
Senate gathers social media CEOs over online child safety – 15:15
Graphic images of Taylor Swift on X prompts U.S. bill to let people sue over sexual deepfakes – 28:11
Universal Music Group pulls songs from TikTok during talks on a new music rights deal – 33:05
Delaware court denies Elon Musk’s “unfathomable” Tesla payday – 38:31
Neuralink claims to have implanted its first chip in a human test subject – 40:32
Google reveals new text-to-image generative AI tool, ImageFX – 41:46
Microsoft posted another blowout earnings report for Q2 of the 2024 fiscal year, with revenues of $62 billion (up 18 percent from last year) and profits of $21.9 billion (a 33 increase). But really, the most interesting thing about this quarter is that we finally get to see how the $68.7 billion Activision Blizzard acquisition affects the $3 trillion company. While Microsoft isn't breaking out specific numbers, it says that its overall gaming revenue increased by 49 percent, 44 points of which came from the "net impact" of the Activision deal.
Microsoft's More Personal Computing division, which includes Xbox, Surface and Windows, was up 19 percent ($16.9 billion) since last year. The company says the Activision deal accounted for 15 points of that increase. It's a huge change for a division that's been severely impacted by dwindling PC sales (which affects Windows licenses and Surfaces) and struggling Xbox consoles. PC device revenues were down 9 percent for the quarter, while Xbox hardware sales were up 3 percent.
Xbox content and services revenue is also up 61 percent since last year, 55 points of which comes from Activision. It'll be interesting to see if Microsoft can actually leverage that acquisition to help Xbox sales, or at the very least, spur on more interest in Game Pass subscriptions. (Unfortunately, we don't have any updates on how that service is doing.)
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsofts-gaming-revenue-is-up-49-percent-in-q2-mostly-thanks-to-the-activision-deal-222502444.html?src=rss
With a healthy dose of heart and whimsy, the Sundance documentary Seeking Mavis Beacon follows two young Black women who are devoted to finding the original model for Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing. If you touched a computer during the '80s or '90s, there's a good chance that Mavis helped you get comfortable with a keyboard. Or at the very least, you might remember her from the program's original 1987 cover: a smiling, elegant Black woman dressed in a cream-colored outfit. She embodied style and professional poise — it was as if you could be just as capable as her if you bought that program.
It's no spoiler to say that "Mavis Beacon" didn't really exist – she was a marketing idea crafted by a group of white dudes from Silicon Valley. But the program's cover star was real: Her name was Renee L'Esperance, a Haitian model who was discovered while working at Saks Fifth Avenue in Los Angeles. After her image helped make Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing a success, she retreated from the spotlight, reportedly heading back to retire in the Caribbean.
Seeking Mavis Beacon
The documentary's director and writer, Jazmin Jones, as well as her collaborator, Olivia McKayla Ross, start with those basic details and set out to find L'Esperance like a pair of digital detectives. From a home base in a rundown Bay Area office – surrounded by tech ephemera, a variety of art pieces and images of influential black women – they lay out L'Esperance's reported timeline, follow leads and even host a spiritual ceremony to try and connect with the model.
I won't say if the pair actually end up finding L'Esperance because it's the journey that makes Seeking Mavis Beacon such a joy to watch. Jones and Ross both grew up with the typing program and felt a kinship toward the character of Mavis Beacon. It was the first program to prominently feature a Black woman on the cover (a move that reportedly caused some suppliers to cut their orders), so it made the technology world seem like somewhere young Black women could actually fit in. Beacon's digital hands also appear on-screen, as if she's gently guiding your fingers to the correct letters and positioning.
To help uncover more details about the whereabouts of Mavis Beacon, Jones and Ross set up a hotline and website for anyone to submit clues. Some of those calls are featured in the film, and they make it clear that her digital presence inspired many people. The film opens with references to Beacon throughout culture, including one of my favorite bits from Abbott Elementary, where Quinta Brunson's over-achieving teacher is far too excited to spot the typing icon in a school crowd. I was reminded of my own childhood experience with Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing, spending free periods at school and idle time at home trying to get my typing speed up. By middle school, typing felt as natural as breathing. And yes, I would also have freaked out if I saw the real Beacon in person.
While the documentary doesn't seem out of place at Sundance, which is known for innovative projects, it also sometimes feels like a piece of experimental media meant for YouTube or an art show filled with impossibly cool twenty-somethings. (At one point, Ross attends a farewell ceremony for one of her friends' dead laptops, which was hosted in an art space filled with people dressed in white. That's the sort of hip weirdness that will either turn you off of this film, or endear you to it more.)
Jones shows us screen recordings of her own desktop, where she may be watching a TikTok alongside her notes. Instead of a full-screen video chat with another person, sometimes we just see a FaceTime window (and occasionally that reflects Jones' own image looking at the screen). Finding Mavis Beacon tells its story in a way that digital natives will find natural, without locking itself exclusively into screens like the film Searching.
As is true for many first features, the film could use some narrative tightening. Jones and Ross's investigation stalls at several points, and we're often just left adrift as they ponder their next steps. The pair also occasionally appear too close to the story, or at least, that's how it seems when we see Jones tearing up while pleading to meet with L'Esperance.
But I'd argue that's also part of the charm of Seeking Mavis Beacon. Jones and Ross aren't some true crime podcast hosts looking to create content out of controversy. They're young women who found comfort in one of the few faces in tech that looked like them. With this film, Jones and Ross could be similarly inspirational for a new generation of underrepresented techies.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/seeking-mavis-beacon-review-sundance-documentary-140049830.html?src=rss
A woman has a text chat with her long-dead lover. A family gets to hear a deceased elder speak again. A mother gets another chance to say goodbye to her child, who died suddenly, via a digital facsimile. This isn't a preview of the next season of Black Mirror — these are all true stories from the Sundance documentary Eternal You, a fascinating and frightening dive into tech companies using AI to digitally resurrect the dead.
It's yet another way modern AI, which includes large language models like ChatGPT and similar bespoke solutions, has the potential to transform society. And as Eternal You shows, the AI afterlife industry is already having a profound effect on its early users.
The film opens on a woman having a late night text chat with a friend: "I can't believe I'm trying this, how are you?" she asks, as if she's using the internet for the first time. "I'm okay. I'm working, I'm living. I'm... scared," her friend replies. When she asks why, they reply, "I'm not used to being dead."
Beetz Brothers Film Production
It turns out the woman, Christi Angel, is using the AI service Project December to chat with a simulation of her first love, who died many years ago. Angel is clearly intrigued by the technology, but as a devout Christian, she's also a bit spooked out by the prospect of raising the dead. The AI system eventually gives her some reasons to be concerned: Cameroun reveals that he's not in heaven, as she assumes. He's in hell.
"You're not in hell," she writes back. "I am in hell," the AI chatbot insists. The digital Cameroun says he's in a "dark and lonely" place, his only companions are "mostly addicts." The chatbot goes on to say he's currently haunting a treatment center and later suggests "I'll haunt you." That was enough to scare Angel and question why she was using this service in the first place.
While Angel was aware she was talking to a digital recreation of Cameroun, which was based on the information she provided to Project December, she interacted with the chatbot as if she was actually chatting with him on another plane of existence. That's a situation that many users of AI resurrection services will likely encounter: Rationality can easily overwhelm your emotional response while "speaking" with a dead loved one, even if the conversation is just occurring over text.
In the film, MIT sociologist Sherry Turkle suggests that our current understanding of how AI affects people is similar to our relationship with social media over a decade ago. That makes it a good time to ask questions about the human values and purposes it's serving, she says. If we had a clearer understanding of social media early on, maybe we could have pushed Facebook and Twitter to confront misinformation and online abuse more seriously. (Perhaps the 2016 election would have looked very different if we were aware of how other countries could weaponize social media.)
Beetz Brothers Film Production
Eternal You also introduces us to Joshua Barbeau, a freelance writer who became a bit of an online celebrity in 2021 when The San Francisco Chronicle reported on his Project December chatbot: a digital version of his ex-fiancee Jessica. At first, he used Project December to chat with pre-built bots, but he eventually realized he could use the underlying technology (GPT-3, at the time) to create one with Jessica's personality. Their conversations look natural and clearly comfort Barbeau. But we're still left wondering if chatting with a facsimile of his dead fiancee is actually helping Barbeau to process his grief. It could just as easily be seen as a crutch that he feels compelled to pay for.
It's also easy to be cynical about these tools, given what we see from their creators in the film. We meet Jason Rohrer, the founder and Project December and a former indie game designer, who comes across as a typical techno-libertarian.
"I believe in personal responsibility," he says, after also saying that he's not exactly in control of the AI models behind Project December, and right before we see him nearly crash a drone into his co-founders face. "I believe that consenting adults can use that technology however they want and they're responsible for the results of whatever they're doing. It's not my job as the creator of the technology to prevent the technology from being released, because I'm afraid of what somebody might do with it."
But, as MIT's Turkle points out, reanimating the dead via AI introduces moral questions that engineers like Rohrer likely aren't considering. "You're dealing with something much more profound in the human spirit," she says. "Once something is constituted enough that you can project onto it, this life force. It's our desire to animate the world, which is human, which is part of our beauty. But we have to worry about it, we have to keep it in check. Because I think it's leading us down a dangerous path."
Beetz Brothers Film Production
Another service, Hereafter.ai, lets users record stories to create a digital avatar of themselves, which family members can talk to now or after they die. One woman was eager to hear her father's voice again, but when she presented the avatar to her family the reaction was mixed. Younger folks seemed intrigue, but the older generation didn't want any part of it. "I fear that sometimes we can go too far with technology," her father's sister said. "I would just love to remember him as a person who was wonderful. I don't want my brother to appear to me. I'm satisfied knowing he's at peace, he's happy, and he's enjoying the other brothers, his mother and father."
YOV, an AI company that also focuses on personal avatars, or "Versonas," wants people to have seamless communication with their dead relatives across multiple channels. But, like all of these other digital afterlife companies, it runs into the same moral dilemmas. Is it ethical to digitally resurrect someone, especially if they didn't agree to it? Is the illusion of speaking to the dead more helpful or harmful for those left behind?
The most troubling sequence in Eternal You focuses on a South Korean mother, Jang Ji-sun, who lost her young child and remains wracked with guilt about not being able to say goodbye. She ended up being the central subject in a VR documentary, Meeting You, which was broadcast in South Korea in early 2020. She went far beyond a mere text chat: Jang donned a VR headset and confronted a startlingly realistic model of her child in virtual reality. The encounter was clearly moving for Jang, and the documentary received plenty of media attention at the time.
"There's a line between the world of the living and the world of the dead," said Kim Jong-woo, the producer behind Meeting You. "By line, I mean the fact that the dead can't come back to life. But people saw the experience as crossing that line. After all, I created an experience in which the beloved seemed to have returned. Have I made some huge mistake? Have I broken the principle of humankind? I don't know... maybe to some extent."
Eternal You paints a haunting portrait of an industry that's already revving up to capitalize on grief-stricken people. That's not exactly new; psychics and people claiming to speak to the dead have been around for our entire civilization. But through AI, we now have the ability to reanimate those lost souls. While that might be helpful for some, we're clearly not ready for a world where AI resurrection is commonplace.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/sundance-documentary-eternal-you-shows-how-ai-companies-are-resurrecting-the-dead-153025316.html?src=rss
Apple’s Mac just turned 40 years old! This week, Devindra chats with Deputy Editor Nathan Ingraham about his Mac retrospective. We focus on how much has changed since Apple’s disastrous 2016 lineup, why the Apple Silicon chips feel so revolutionary, and look back at our earliest Mac experiences. Also, we review the Framework Laptop 16, a wonderfully modular miracle of a laptop, but one that we wish had more graphics power for gaming. (But hey, at least you can replace the GPU eventually!).
Listen below or subscribe on your podcast app of choice. If you've got suggestions or topics you'd like covered on the show, be sure to email us or drop a note in the comments! And be sure to check out our other podcast, Engadget News!
Topics
Framework Laptop 16 review: Amazingly modular, but not so great at gaming – 1:17
The Mac turns 40 – 19:27
More tech layoffs at Blizzard/Activision, Riot, eBay and others – 49:58
Apple’s Car concept is allegedly still alive – 52:44
Apple overhauls App Store rules in response to European Union regulation – 58:25
Apple's app platform is finally opening up a bit. Today, the company said that it will allow developers to utilize new in-app experiences, including streaming games, accessing mini-apps, and talking with chatbots. That means devs can create a single app that houses an easily accessible catalog of their streaming titles. Perhaps we'll finally see a usable Game Pass app from Microsoft (or even its long-awaited mobile game store).
The new in-app experiences, which also includes things like mini-games and plug-ins, will also get new discovery opportunities. Apple isn't being clear about what that means, but it could involve new sections of the App Store pointing to specific features. It wouldn't be too surprising to see a collection of apps feature chatbots, for example. Apple also says the new built-in experiences will be able to use its in-app purchase system for the first time (like easily buying a subscription to a specific mini-game or chatbot).
"The changes Apple is announcing reflect feedback from Apple’s developer community and is consistent with the App Store’s mission to provide a trusted place for users to find apps they love and developers everywhere with new capabilities to grow their businesses," the company said in a blog post. "Apps that host this content are responsible for ensuring all the software included in their app meets Apple’s high standards for user experience and safety."
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apple-lets-apps-feature-streaming-games-chatbots-and-other-built-in-experiences-180016453.html?src=rss
If you’re a PC hardware geek who’s been dreaming of a laptop that you can upgrade far beyond the life cycle of a typical machine, Framework's modular notebooks must seem like a miracle. The American company has a straightforward pitch: What if your laptop could be nearly as customizable as a desktop, with the ability to swap components out for repairs and upgrades? What if we could put an end to disposable hardware? We were intrigued by Framework's original 13-inch notebook and its Chromebook variant, despite some rough edges and a basic design. Now, with the Framework Laptop 16, the company is targeting the most demanding and (arguably) hardest group of PC users to please: Gamers.
Framework has already proved it can build compelling modular laptops, but can the Laptop 16 cram in powerful graphics, a fast display and other components to keep up with the likes of Alienware, Razer and ASUS? Sort of, it turns out — and there are plenty of other tradeoffs for living the modular laptop dream. Hardware quirks abound, battery life is mediocre and it still looks like a totally generic machine. But how many other notebooks could let you completely upgrade your CPU or GPU in a few years? Who else offers a customizable keyboard setup? In those respects, the Framework 16 stands alone.
You'll also have to pay dearly for its unique features. The Framework Laptop 16 starts at $1,399 for its DIY Edition, which includes a Ryzen 7 7840HS chip, but RAM, storage and an OS will cost extra. (You could also bring your own hardware, if you happen to have all those components lying around). The pre-built "Performance" model goes for $1,699 with the same Ryzen chip, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage and Windows 11 Home. The highest-end "Overkill" edition starts at $2,099 with a Ryzen 9 7940HS, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. Oh, and if you want the dedicated Radeon RX 7700S GPU, that's an additional $400 for every model.
I just wanted you to have those numbers in mind as we dive into what the Laptop 16 gets right, because for true PC tinkerers, those high prices could be worth it. The device's singular personality was clear the instant I opened it: I saw a machine with a fairly typical display, the usual wrist rest area with a touchpad, and a big gaping hole where the keyboard was supposed to be. I've come across hundreds (probably thousands) of laptops in my time, this was one of the rare times where I felt genuinely surprised. Underneath the metal Mid Plate where the keyboard was supposed to be, I could see the internals of the Framework 16 peeking through, just tempting me to get my hands dirty (and my knuckles inevitably scraped up).
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
After opening the two side locks on the wrist rest, I slid the two side spacers off. Then, ever so carefully, I pulled back on the touchpad to detach it from the case. That's when I learned that I didn't have to be too gentle with the Laptop 16. All of the components are built for removal. With the lower panels gone, I had full access to the metal barrier protecting the rest of the machine’s internals.
At that point, I realized it paid to read Framework's online documentation, as things quickly got more complicated. It stated that I needed to remove the cable with the number one next to it, and then unscrew 16 screws spread through the Mid Plate. Thankfully, the screws are held in place, so I didn’t have to worry about losing them as I would during a desktop build.
Then, I was treated to a wondrous sight: A laptop with a completely open mainboard, featuring components I could easily reach without much effort. There's a large battery at the bottom, a wireless networking card at the top left, SSD slots in the middle and two RAM slots off to the side. QR codes are nestled alongside the parts, which direct you to online help documentation. The last time I saw so many easily reachable components was on the failed Alienware Area 51M, another dreamy modular laptop, but that was quietly killed after a few years. (Dell was sued by Area 51M customers who felt misled about its upgradability, though that ultimately didn't amount to much.)
And yes, I know other large gaming laptops like the Razer Blade 16 also let you easily access their RAM and SSDs. But those machines don't have the modular ambitions of the Framework Laptop 16. I could see the Ryzen 7840HS module within reach, and also easily swap out my review unit's Radeon RX 7700S graphics. That GPU, by the way, is completely optional. You can order the Laptop 16 with a slimmer expansion bay instead, which helps to cool the Ryzen chip's Radeon 780M graphics. Or you could have both modules and swap them out as needed. Simply having the option to do so is revolutionary.
The Radeon 7700S GPU is contained within a module that sticks out from the rear of the Laptop 16. A more powerful video card could potentially stick out further, while a more efficient one could end up being smaller. The key is that the choice could be entirely yours (I'm hedging a bit here, because Framework and AMD still haven't committed to the availability of future GPU upgrades). The GPU module also makes a big difference when it comes to weight: The Laptop 16 clocks in at 5.3 pounds with the graphics card attached, whereas it’s just 4.6 pounds with the standard expansion bay.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Looking at the Framework Laptop 16 splayed out on my workbench, all I could see was possibility. The possibility of doubling my RAM in a couple of years to run local AI models, upgrading the CPU for a major power upgrade, and replacing the battery on my own after far too many charge cycles. Framework is selling a dream of hope. I had my doubts when the company launched, especially after seeing how badly Dell botched the Area 51M. (Fun fact: Frank Azor, the Alienware co-founder who spearheaded that machine's launch, is now AMD's chief gaming architect.)
But now that Framework has several products under its belt, and it's managed to deliver a truly replaceable mobile GPU where others have failed, I find myself rooting for this little hardware company that's daring to do something different. (Okay, sure, it also raised $27 million in VC funding, but hardware is a difficult and expensive thing to get right!)
Even if you're not eager to get new components in a few years, the Framework Laptop 16's modularity also allows you to easily customize it for your needs. As I reassembled the machine, a process that took around three minutes, I wanted to make my setup look different from a typical laptop. So I slapped the RGB keyboard module on the left side of the Mid Plate (it landed with a genuinely satisfying magnetic thunk) and aligned the trackpad right below it. To the right of the keyboard, I installed a customizable button module (you can also order a standard Numpad, if you'd like), and metal spacers on the right of the trackpad.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
With the top of the machine configured, I also had to figure out which ports I wanted to equip along the sides of the Laptop 16. Framework handles that process brilliantly: The computer has three expansion bays along each side, all of which lead to USB-C connections at the end. The expansion cards are just USB-C dongles connecting to your typical ports, including USB Type A ($9), Type C ($9), a headphone jack ($19) and HDMI ($19). Our review unit came with a handful of cards, so I slapped on two USB-C ports on the left (which also handle charging), USB A on both sides, as well as HDMI and 3.5mm on the right (because the legend will never die).
If I was configuring my own machine, I'd also opt for Ethernet ($39) and MicroSD ($19). The cards sit flush with the Laptop 16 once they're installed, and are very secure once you enable the locks on the bottom of the case. They're so easy to swap out, I wouldn't be surprised if Framework owners end up switching between them on the fly. You can never have too many ports, after all.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
While I appreciated the simple customizability of the ports, charging was a bit annoying. Framework's documentation points out that only certain expansion slots can be used for USB-C charging. There's also a USB-C port on the back of the GPU module, which I was disappointed to learn couldn't actually charge the Laptop 16. The company told me that USB-C port is only meant for accessories and additional displays. Still, it would have been nice to have rear charging support just to hide the cable from view.
Once I had everything locked into place, this ugly duckling of a laptop started to look like a gaming swan. The RGB keyboard jolted to life when I hit power. I had no idea what I was going to do with the programmable keyboard, but I could see it potentially being useful while podcasting (and certainly if I was a game streamer). But I also realized that nothing is permanent about the Laptop 16.
I learned quickly that I wasn't a fan of typing for too long on a left-aligned keyboard, so I yanked everything out and center-aligned the keyboard and trackpad instead. Instead of blank metal spacers around the keyboard, I installed some customizable LED modules, which basically exist to look pretty. That took me just two minutes. The keyboard, by the way, is wonderful to type on, with 1.5mm of key travel and a soft landing that easily dampens my heavy typing. The trackpad is also smooth to the touch and has a responsive click. It's so great that I have to wonder how some Windows laptops still ship with frustrating touchpads — I'm looking at you, ZenBook 14 OLED.
There's so much to love about the Framework Laptop 16, I was genuinely bummed to discover that it was a fairly mediocre gaming machine, at least for its high price. Across multiple games and benchmarks, it fell in line with laptops sporting NVIDIA's RTX 4060 GPU, a card typically found in systems starting around $1,000 (and sometimes less). Framework isn't completely out of line, though, Razer still sells the Blade 16 for $2,500 (down from $2,699). Remember, you're paying for the magic of customizability, not just raw performance.
Our review unit included the Radeon GPU module, the Ryzen 7 chip, 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD, which would all cost at least $2,144 to configure. (That doesn't include the cost of expansion cards or additional input modules.) For that amount of money, I really would have liked to see more than 61fps on average while playing Halo Infinite in 1,440p with Ultra graphics settings. In Cyberpunk, I hit 53fps on average with maxed out graphics and mid-range ray tracing settings. Both games fared better in 1080p — 85fps in Halo and 76fps in Cyberpunk with the same settings — but still, those are numbers I'd typically only put up with in a budget gaming laptop.
As for benchmarks, the Framework Laptop 16 scored 200 points less than the Razer Blade 18 with an RTX 4060 in 3DMark's TimeSpy Extreme. And as usual, the AMD GPU still lagged behind in the Port Royal ray tracing demo. Still, the Laptop 16 held up decently in the broader PCMark 10 benchmark, which tests productivity apps and not just gaming. The Framework machine hit a score of 8,129, putting it alongside some of the fastest machines we saw last year (it even beat out the Blade 18, which was running a beefy Intel i9-13950HX CPU).
While I would have liked to see higher numbers across the board, the Framework Laptop 16's 16-inch screen was at least a joy to behold throughout my testing. It's a standard LED panel with a 165Hz refresh rate, a respectable 500 nits of brightness and 100-percent DCI-P3 color gamut coverage. The display made the neon-soaked world of Cyberpunk pop more than usual, though it certainly didn't have the extra brightness of MiniLED screens or the eye-searing contrast of OLED panels. At the risk of repeating myself, the beauty of this screen is that you can yank it off the laptop in a few minutes and replace it if your kid damages it, or if Framework releases new modules. (Again, big if there.)
The Framework's left speaker.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Personally, I’d also eagerly swap out the Laptop 16’s 3-watt speakers the instant Framework offers upgrades. They’re serviceable, but given what Apple and Dell offer these days, they feel almost insulting. Music sounds far too tinny, and they can barely even convey the faux drama of a typical movie trailer. I’m sure most people would use headphones while gaming, but if you’re the sort of person who relies on your laptop speakers for music, I beg you to consider other options.
I’d also recommend some sort of noise blocking solution that can overpower the Laptop 16’s fans. While I was gaming and benchmarking the system, I could swear it was about to lift off like my DJI drone. The fans are louder than any gaming laptop I’ve encountered over the past few years, but at least they did their job. CPU temps stayed around 80 degrees Celsius under load, while the GPU typically stayed under 70C.
Since it’s a huge gaming laptop, I didn’t expect much batter life from the Framework Laptop 16, and I was right: It lasted for four hours and five minutes in the PCMark 10 “Modern Office” battery benchmark. I saw similar results while writing this review, and as you’d expect, it lasted around two hours playing a demanding game like Halo Infinite.
Photo by Devindra Hardawar/Engadget
Much like the original Framework notebook, the Laptop 16 is meant for a niche group of PC users, those who prioritize customizability and upgradability at all costs. If you’re a gamer trying to get the most frames for your dollar, this isn’t really the machine for you (consider these budget gaming PCs, or wait to see how we feel about the Zephyrus G14 in our review). But if you want a notebook that could last you for the next decade, and don’t mind so-so gaming performance, the Laptop 16 could be the notebook of your dreams.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/framework-laptop-16-review-modular-wonder-mediocre-gaming-laptop-150026910.html?src=rss
