Oculus founder says no Mac support coming until Apple builds 'good' system with better graphics

Oculus is waiting on Apple to release a "good" Mac with a faster video card before it considers supporting the Rift VR headset on OS X, according to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey.

"If they ever release a good computer, we will do it," Luckey said to Shacknews at a Microsoft Xbox press event.

"It just boils down to the fact that Apple doesn't prioritize high-end GPUs," he explained. "You can buy a $6,000 Mac Pro with the top of the line AMD FirePro D700, and it still doesn't match our recommended specs. So if they prioritize higher-end GPUs like they used to for a while back in the day, we'd love to support Mac. But right now, there's just not a single machine out there that supports it."

The Rift, shipping March 28, already pushes the performance boundaries of mid- to high-level Windows PCs, requiring at least an Intel Core i5-4590 processor, and an Nvidia GTX 970 or AMD R9 290 card for graphics. Computer bundles with the headset included start at $1,499.

The GTX 970 and R9 290 are full-sized graphics cards, whereas most Macs — even top-end iMacs — use weaker mobile processors in the interests of saving space, cost, and/or power consumption.

Oculus officially "paused" work on Mac support last May. In January Luckey made similarly pessimistic comments about the Mac, saying that support is "on the roadmap post-decent Apple hardware release, whenever that is."

110 Comments

bdkennedy1002 540 comments · 12 Years

About 8 years ago

Apple builds their computers to serve a particular purpose. Most people don't need all of that power, and the few that do, Apple isn't going to waste money on. Besides, rumors are Apple is working on their own VR, so I could care less what that douche bag thinks.

mazda 3s 1598 comments · 16 Years

bdkennedy said:

Apple builds their computers to serve a particular purpose. Most people don't need all of that power, and the few that do, Apple isn't going to waste money on. Besides, rumors are Apple is working on their own VR, so I could care less what that douche bag thinks.

He's a douchebag for pointing out the obvious? He was asked by the interviewer why he doesn't support Macs and he replied that Apple doesn't place an emphasis on powerful GPUs that the Rift obviously needs.

What exactly did he say that is inaccurate? Granted, I watched the entire 7-minute interview.

redraider11 186 comments · 9 Years

Not sure why Oculus needs such high end graphics cards to work. Sony has VR that will utilize the PS4.

suddenly newton 13819 comments · 14 Years

Apple isn't trying to be the planet Jupiter in orbit around a tiny moon called Oculus.

nasserae 3166 comments · 16 Years

Oculus is definitely interesting tech but I don't see it going mainstream. The only people who will buy it are techies and some gamers and you really cannot make these two groups happy no matter what. So I will not hold my breath for such hardware from Apple.