Michael Burkhardt writing for 9to5Mac: Meta Quest 3S review: Apple would never make this

The reason why I say Apple would never make it is for one reason, and one reason only: it’s too low quality.

Michael goes on to note the lower quality build of the Quest 3S, which admittedly is lower quality than the Vision Pro, although as he notes, is also 1/11th the price. He comments at one point about how the plastic feels cheaper than the aluminum on the Vision Pro, and I would agree with him, although there is a reason I don’t see it as much of a downside as he does:

On a more positive note, it is quite comfortable. I don’t really notice the weight on my head, unlike Apple Vision Pro.

I haven’t used a 3S, but I have the Quest 3 and it absolutely feels much lighter on my head because of the simple fact it…wait for it…significantly lighter! I’ve said on several occasions that as a physical object, I’m blown away by the Vision Pro’s construction. That said, plastic does come with some benefits as well in terms of comfort.

Quest 3S is no spatial computer though. I could not recommend this, nor the higher resolution Quest 3, for anything that isn’t gaming. It simply isn’t good enough for it.

I agree with him on this point, the Quest line is simply not good for productivity tasks. He laments the cancellation of the Quest Pro as being a better contender there, but I’d say the problem is more to do with software than hardware. The lower resolution displays are an issue, of course, but the bigger problem is that there simply isn’t software to use on the device to get almost anyone’s work done well.

Then again, the Vision Pro has most of the apps that should work for me, but even then I do precisely zero work in the headset, so even though I have both headsets, I “spatially compute” equally in both.

Let’s wrap up with something positive about both headsets. I’m currently playing the new Batman: Arkham Shadow on the Quest 3 and it’s a stunning experience. It’s not quite to the level of Half Life Alyx, but it’s an absolute delight and a true killer app for the platform. For the Vision Pro, I continue to watch things on it every weekend, and it does quite a nice job of letting me watch things on my own.