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A computer I can’t use around my wife

Posted by Matt Birchler
— 2 min read

Listen, everyone lives different lives so I can’t speak to anyone else’s specific situation, but the biggest hurdle I currently have with using the Vision Pro is that I can’t use it while I’m around my wife. I can hang out with her and use an iPhone, and iPad, or even a MacBook without a problem, but the headset…no way.

Say what you will about people being addicted to their screens, but when I’m browsing my phone on the couch and see something funny, I can show my wife and she can enjoy it as well. If I’m working on something, she can look over at my screen and see what I’m doing. When I’m in the headset though, I’m alone in there: she has no idea what I’m doing and I have no way to show her something fun if I stumble across it. And if we’re watching TV on the couch, even if we’re on our phones we’re together enjoying the same show. Outside of the isolation of wearing a headset while chilling, I certainly don’t want to watch a physical TV through the Vision Pro’s pass-through cameras.

And here’s my issue: I spend a lot of time with her! She’s great!

On weekdays I wake up and eat breakfast over YouTube on the living room TV. Eating and drinking in a headset sucks, so no thank you.

Then I work for 8-9 hours on my work computer, which is not possible in a headset.

By the time I’m done with my work day, my wife is back from her work and we make dinner and hang out.

Where does the Vision Pro fit in there? So far the answer has been upsettingly few spots. Movies on weekend mornings are still super compelling, but I’m finding myself most often than not forcing myself to do something in the headset rather than finding it organically be the computer I reach for to get something done.

I am thinking about this prediction I made back in December:

I guess I’m a skeptic as well, as I think at this time next year, the most common uses for people with a Vision Pro will be using their Mac on a giant virtual display and watching movies on a giant virtual display.

Almost a month into owning the Vision Pro, I’m a bit worried this “skeptic’s take” was actually optimistic, and this is going to be just a movie-watching device for me this year, and a lot of that comes down to this being a computer I simply don’t want to use when anyone else is around.