The HTC VIVE Pro Should Be Much Nicer For Steam VR Gaming
The HTC VIVE Pro is a big upgrade over the original HTC Vive. The VIVE Pro has dual-OLED displays with a combined resolution of 2880 x 1600, a 78% boost over the current Vive. Also very excitingly are built-in headphones to replace the audio jack and earbuds used by the current Vive. Rounding things out the VIVE Pro is also lighter, features a new headstrap, and other design improvements to make it more comfortable for wearing during long periods of time.
Hardware-wise the HMD improvements sound great and the dual AMOLED displays offering 2880 x 1600 @ 90Hz, 110 degree field-of-vision, USB-C 3.0 / DP 1.2 specs and all sound great. The built-in headphones and comfort improvements are equally exciting to me as they are less than desirable areas with the current HTC Vive after using it for long periods of time.
HTC has not officially confirmed yet whether Linux will be supported with the VIVE Pro, but presumably, considering the HTC Vive is the main Linux VR headset right now and HTC + Valve have a close working relationship. Pricing and availability have yet to be announced.
But I wouldn't line up for an HTC VIVE Pro just yet since SteamVR on Linux is still in frustratingly rough shape as I outlined most recently in December... With the VIVE Pro, the performance requirements will just be even more stiff to worry about delivering good enough Linux performance, even after getting SteamVR simply behaving nicely under Linux.
I'm hopeful in 2018 we'll see better SteamVR Linux support as well as the never-ending GPU driver optimizations that in time could hopefully make the VIVE Pro an interesting option for Linux gamers wanting to get into VR. At the very least, hopefully it will drive HTC Vive prices even lower.
More details on the VIVE Pro via the VIVE blog and the new product page.
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