Can you work from Apple Vision Pro?
It seems like everybody wants to work from Vision Pro: windows all around them, totally immersed in work, getting a lot done with a headset on. Is it the future of work? I honestly don’t know, so let’s walk through the pros and cons.
Surrounded by work
At first glance, yes, it looks like the future. You can have giant or small windows, near or far, stacked, wherever you turn. I had a spreadsheet, notes, a podcast, Microsoft Teams and files open. I could even stand up, stretch, and brainstorm in my living room with the MindNode app.
Typing on the virtual keyboard isn’t great (sometimes you first have to find where the keyboard went), so you’ll want an external keyboard and trackpad. A mouse doesn’t work.
Bringing your Mac
Connect your Mac and you get its display inside Vision Pro, as big as you want. Full Safari on the Mac has more features than visionOS Safari. The view looks pretty good at any size, scrolling stays fluid, and it’s all pretty seamless. Turn on an immersive environment, with its background sounds, and you’re fully in your own world.
Without a Mac
If you want to take just Vision Pro to a coffee shop and work, what can you do? Messaging apps like Teams, Zoom and Webex work fine. You get basic access to iCloud Drive files, notes, the brainstorming app, a calendar, a spreadsheet, and Microsoft Word. That’s about it. On my iPad I can use Citrix and log in to servers, but those apps aren’t on Vision Pro, at least not yet. So for real work beyond video and Safari, you need your Mac, and sometimes it won’t connect, so you’re troubleshooting while you’re out.
What works with the Mac
- Video editing in Final Cut Pro works pretty well, with just a slight lag and a giant view of your output. Audio comes from the Mac, not Vision Pro, so you’ll probably want AirPods, but then you won’t hear Vision Pro’s audio.
- Photo editing is good too; the controls are big and easy to see. I edited this video’s thumbnail photo in Vision Pro.
Reading text
Your job probably involves lots of reading and writing. Some web pages, like The Verge, look really good. But text on the Mac display, in a document or spreadsheet, is fuzzy and not sharp, while text in native visionOS apps is clear and very legible. You can shrink the window and bring it closer, but it’s still not great, and it causes eye fatigue when I read documents or write scripts for this channel.
Ergonomics
Being surrounded means turning your head, even your whole body, to see everything. That’s not very ergonomic, and there’s a pound and a half on your face, which can’t be good for your neck over hours. I can wear it a couple of hours without much issue, but I’m never not aware of it.
The better option
It may be the future of work, but I don’t see it today. The native apps aren’t there, an iPad may be better just because of its apps, and using your Mac through Vision Pro isn’t the best experience for most work beyond video editing.
The better solution is more ergonomic, doesn’t make you turn your body for each window, doesn’t strap a brick to your face, and has sharp text: a desktop or laptop at a desk with a real display.
CalDigit sponsored this video, with its TS4 Thunderbolt dock.
Vision Pro is super awesome, with novel ideas about getting work done, but you can’t get nearly as much done as at a desk today. It’ll take a lot of iteration before I can actually work from it.
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