I'm a new Quest owner (tested the original Rift model however) and I think this is a really neat product! I was surprised to see that it came in a smaller box than what I remembered of the first Rift and I was reasonably pleased with its performance then. However, knowing about the Link Beta features - I decided that it was time to consider a purchase of a Quest. I really didn't care about the mobility features, but that is a bonus for the rest of the family. Thinking back on the Rift, I was impressed by the intro home space one was taken to where you could interact with the radio (i.e. background ambiance) and enjoy the view along an infinity pool. I also enjoyed the Google Earth VR experience and I also sampled several other video providers (such as Amaze) and even dabbled in Minecraft.
Now on to the Quest experience, I knew using the Link was a Beta feature and that my AMD Vega powered Intel Hades Canyon NUC should theoretically run as well as it did before (barring no development issues). I knew about the Link cable requirements and shortages, then carefully examined my choices to arrive by the holiday. I ended up purchasing a nicely braided 10ft USB A-C 3.1 cable which permits the Link Beta to function. I was impressed with the Quest itself on start up, home room looked fairly similar to what I remember of the Rift. But as soon as I enabled the Link Beta, I was taken to a poorly rendered room that was worse than those in the Rift/Rift S Oculus game library. For instance, the Minecraft virtual room has more clarity than the default Quest Link virtual room. I opened Amaze from years back (I could only launch this on my PC oddly) and it too had a more well polished and rendered home room. The default Quest Link virtual room appears jittery at times and this doesn't seem like something Oculus would put forward into production.
Frankly, I'm not sure what to expect of the Link feature (on known supported hardware). I've read reviews about game performance, however I stepped into the virtual home room and it's appearance to what I see in the Quest and even what I remember of the original Rift, does not compare. I noticed a few posts on performance tied to v12 drivers or something, however I've not used any and as a new Quest owner, I'd like to hear some feedback from other Quest users who have tried the Link on both Nvidia and AMD platforms. What was your first experience like?
