leave theHomePodorthe latest version of iOS . The grownup news out of WWDC was related to something that Apple , and most consumers , do n’t really like about : Virtual Reality . In between Kaby Lake refreshes and Siri voice demos , Tim Cook harbinger a blanket range of software system and hardware change that will lastly work VR to macOS , and that ’s moderately damn surprising because Tim Cook himself is on disk as yield incisively zero shits about VR .
“ VR , I think , has some interesting applications , but I do n’t recollect it ’s a broad - based technology , ” Tim Cooktold newsperson during an Apple earnings calllast October . At the time Cook was talking up AR , a engineering that Apple embraced Monday withthe announcement of the ARKit .
So what ’s prompt Tim and company ’s sudden change of spunk ? Because VR was smear all over the Monday tonic , name not just in the announcements of SteamVR compatibility in macOS ( this means the HTC Vive will forge on a Mac ) or a “ External Graphics Developer Kit ” ( a new box made by Sonnet that uses Thunderbolt 3 to hike a computer artwork capableness ) , but also in the announcement ofupdated iMacsand thenew iMac Pro .
That gorgeous new iMac Pro. (All images: Alex Cranz/Gizmodo)
A plenty of it might be about wooing back the creative professionals Apple has ignored in favor of iPhone users . Apple first acknowledged that its family relationship with that community was a trouble back in March when itheld a cautiously cultivated press eventjust so it could predict a new MacPro was come … eventually .
But Apple ’s competitors are n’t going to wait for whatever hyper - engineered screen background the Cupertino - base company has cook . Last year , Microsoft swoop in with the launch of the Surface Studio . Thebig , gorgeous workstationwas so impressive , the even allegiant Apple devotee were interested . It was n’t particularly brawny , but it was conciliatory , able to be used in a variety of positions , and the Dial — a small peripheral that could be used onscreen or off to quickly adjust app configurations — gave pro a whole novel way of interact with the program they last in .
https://gizmodo.com/microsofts-surface-studio-is-coming-to-replace-the-desk-1788202849
All of Apple ’s fresh intersection feel like a room to restrict Microsoft ’s inroads . Where Microsoft focused on invention with the Surface Studio , Apple ’s list on force with the iMac Pro , pack an up to 18 - core Xeon central processor and next - generation AMD Vega GPU into a desktop as thin as a mess of pancakes .
And , as noted before , the ship’s company is also leaning on VR , and all the powerful machine that can tackle it . That was very patent after the tonic , when pressing were show into a non-white elbow room full of demo . While many clamored for a glance at a non - functioning HomePod , the bulk of the demo room was give over to the cooler tech Apple announced .
“ This is for master , ” an Apple rep tell me , just before he slipped an HTC Vive headset over my middle and put me side - to - font with all seven feet of Darth Vader . It was nearly monovular to the Vader demonstration we all ensure on stage during the keynote . The function , according to the rep , was to show off how swimmingly VR could act upon onmacOS High Sierraand with current Apple hardware , like the 5 K iMac . “ They can develop on an iMac , ” he said , refer the class of developers who want a machine that can crunch the magnanimous Book of Numbers that come with 3D interpretation like that launch in the Star Wars demo .
Besides the long row of current multiplication iMacs ready to show off VR demos , there was another long table of MacBook Pros lashed to outside GPU boxes . The box were there to show off the unexampled “ external graphics ” dev kit Appleannounced during the keynote , but consort to Apple reps , any outside GPU that link up via Thunderbolt 3 should , theoretically , work in Apple ’s macOS ecosystem .
international GPUs are n’t new . Both Alienware and Razer have been push their boxes ( the Graphics Amplifier and Core severally ) on gamers . For those party the outside GPU is a great compromise . you could have a super light laptop computer with great barrage life when you ’re on the move , and a computer as powerful as a desktop when you get home . Perfect not just for the VR fans and gamers Apple nod at , but for creative professionals who need the extra GPU oomph for 3D render .
Perhaps Apple ’s sudden sake in VR has nothing to do with courting professionals . Maybe it really is about the masochist gamers who want to game on a platform rarely support by TV game developers . But , at least from what we ’ve seen so far , that does n’t seem to be the suit . alternatively , it seems that Apple ’s focusing on VR because it is well aware of the fact that it ca n’t keep ignoring the pro users that aid bolster up Apple ’s cachet as a cool ship’s company in the first stead .
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