Macbook Pro Mid 2012

[Ahmedovz]

Hello guys, i want to buy Oculus DK2, but i want to know, does DK2 works with my computer?
I have Macbook Pro Mid 2012:

2,3 GHz Intel Core i7
8 GB 1600 MHz DDR3
NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M 1024 mb

Thanks so much for your answers, really want to buy DK2, but don't know about compatibility.

[soylentcola]

Depends what you plan on doing/when you plan on doing it. As of now the current SDK is not out for OSX or Linux but it will eventually be released for those OSes. That said, that hardware is pretty standard so if you have a copy of Windows 7 or 8 you can set up a dual boot with BootCamp and boot into Windows to work with the DK2 right now.

As far as hardware, that isn't terribly bad but the GPU may have some trouble keeping up with more demanding content. Those mobile versions of GPUs are less capable than the desktop versions of the same model number so you will have a hard time running some of the current software/demos where people are still having issues on top end graphics cards. Still, if you just want to start testing and developing software and can deal with some framerate issues for the time being, it should technically run stuff. You just won't be playing Elite Dangerous at anything approaching decent framerates just yet. Word is still out on how much SDK updates will improve performance across the board so it may get better or it may stay sub-par.

The main downside to using a laptop is that you can't just drop in a better GPU (your main bottleneck at the moment). Still, if it's what you have to work with and you want to get started on some software development, it should function until you decide if it's worth putting together a dedicated desktop or getting a new laptop. With the demand for dev kits being so high, there's a good chance that any hardware you ordered now would not arrive until the OSX SDK is released and general improvements have been made to the software.

It really just comes down to how much you want to start developing software or getting an early peek at the stuff others are putting out.

[Anonymous]

The short answer is: no.

The CPU is fine, so is the RAM, but the video card is much too weak for the DK2. I don't wanna come across as insulting, but laptops, especially Macbooks (For price reasons, and maybe compability) are a bad choice for VR right now.

If you want to have a VR capable rig, at least for the time being, I would recommend buying or building a gaming desktop based on the specs that we have listed all over the forum in threads like this.

[dolomite]

"jngdwe" wrote:

If you want to have a VR capable rig, at least for the time being, I would recommend buying or building a gaming desktop based on the specs that we have listed all over the forum in threads like this.

Totally disagrees on this. Just take a look at this thread here to get a better idea of what laptop specs other users are using here.

For example, my current setup from nearly 3 year old Asus laptop (Intel Core i7 2630QM, 12GB DDR3 RAM, 64GB SSD, 750HD, NVidia GTX 560M 2GB) already is capable of running nearly all the of the demos at max settings without any lag on the DK2.

Matter of fact, the latest MacBook Pro release (2.6GHz i5, 8GB RAM, Intel Iris Graphics) is still very capable of running VR with reasonable experience at lower settings.

[bnolan]

I have a 650m and it played all demos on medium settings. It couldn't handle the new UE4 elemental demo, but that's a pretty crazy demo.

[Anonymous]

"dolomite" wrote:

"jngdwe" wrote:

If you want to have a VR capable rig, at least for the time being, I would recommend buying or building a gaming desktop based on the specs that we have listed all over the forum in threads like this.

Totally disagrees on this. Just take a look at this thread here to get a better idea of what laptop specs other users are using here.

For example, my current setup from nearly 3 year old Asus laptop (Intel Core i7 2630QM, 12GB DDR3 RAM, 64GB SSD, 750HD, NVidia GTX 560M 2GB) already is capable of running nearly all the of the demos at max settings without any lag on the DK2.

Matter of fact, the latest MacBook Pro release (2.6GHz i5, 8GB RAM, Intel Iris Graphics) is still very capable of running VR with reasonable experience at lower settings.

The 560M can maybe handle some demos, but I'm willing to bet you can't get consistent 75fps in TF2 or HL2 when they get DK2 support. I'm sorry, but it's entirely misleading to claim that a 560M can handle VR just because you can run a few small demos.

As for Iris, no it is not strong enough, that is a fact. It is still only a low end integrated solution that is in no way intended for gaming. If anyone has some benchmarks proving otherwise the VR capability of the Iris chips, please post them. 75 FPS solid at a rendered resolution well above 1080P is not happening on an integrated chip.

[checksum]

What about MacBook Pro late 2013 retina with an nvidia GT750M ...
As soon I receive my dk2 I will give back some timing.

[CubicleNinjas]

I have a 2011 macbook pro and a 2014 macbook pro, both pretty maxed in terms of RAM and processor speed.

The 2011 gives very sub-par performance on most demos. The framerate is likely at 30fps on average with low quality settings. It is playable, but that is like saying touch screens are playable for platformers: it will make you angry and sad. Best to avoid this level.

The 2014 actually performs very well. It can get 75fps on many demos, but about 40% are way below.

It sounds like you may be able to play on a 2012, but the experience will be rocky. Best bet is to build a desktop, gaming focused PC to use as your VR rig. I gave in and did this a few weeks back to ensure a quality experience and use the macbooks as demo machines.

[Ahmedovz]

Thanks for answers guys!

[simonx314]

I can confirm that Intel Iris is good enough to play Half-Life 2 at 75fps on the very lowest graphics settings. I just played through the game on my 13" MacBook Pro, SSD/i7/16GB, running SteamVR in native Windows 7. I used the "net_graph 1" console command to turn on the fps counter in Half-Life.

Most times I checked, the fps counter was steady at 75fps. When more enemies were present, I noticed the FPS would drop to 56fps. I would guess that during some intense scenes the fps dropped even lower, but I did not have a chance look at the fps counter when I was engrossed in the intense action scenes. Regardless, I never noticed any jerkiness at all, so the fps could not have dropped much below 50, if at all. The frame rate and head tracking was very smooth and immersive. If you have Intel Iris, you will be able to thouroughly enjoy Half-Life 2. Half-Life: Source runs great too. I have not tried the Half-Life 2 Episodes yet.

Intel Iris also does a pretty good job with the Sightline: The Chair. On the lowest video settings, it is a smooth and immersive demo, and the graphics look fine with lush vegetation and fog effects. I would guess that the framerate is at least 30, probably more like 40 or even 50? I have no idea really. Head tracking is smooth enough and never jerky.

Sublevel Zero runs butter smooth, not suprising since that game has super simple graphics.

To elaborate on the Half-Life 2 graphics settings, every single settings was on the lowest/simplest choice, except anisotropic filtering was on because the other filtering settings did not run better. Anti-aliasing was completely off, reflections were simple. If I bumped up any setting then fps would drop from 75fps to 50, 40 or 30. I was worried I was missing out on high quality visuals with the textures all set to low, but when I set them to high the game didn't really look any better, and the head tracking was jerky, so the game was much more immersive on the lowest settings.