HTC is now throwing open the pre-order doors for its upcoming next-generation “Vive Pro” virtual reality headset for the PC. Ahead of our review, we did an unboxing video of the Vive Pro you can check out above, showing the packing and the unit out of the box.
The device will ship on April 5, 2018, but you can reserve your headset now at HTC and Amazon for $799. Everyone who purchases a Vive Pro before June 3, 2018 will receive a six-month subscription to Viveport, a $40 value.
If spending $799 on a virtual headset is a bit too steep for your wallet, HTC has reduced the cost of the previous Vive headset to $499. That’s still $100 more than the Oculus Rift, but based on our testing with the two headsets, you have a better experience with the slightly more expensive HTC Vive. The company’s Vive Pro should take those experiences to the next level.
To get you caught up, here are the difference between the first-generation Vive and its successor now available to pre-order:
Lighthouse laser tracking
Interpupillary distance
Gyroscope
Proximity
Acceleration
Lighthouse laser tracking
Interpupillary distance
Gyroscope
Proximity
Acceleration
Integrated microphones
3.5mm audio jack
Integrated microphones
Removable Hi-Res Audio headphones
1x USB-A 2.0
1x HDMI
1x Power
Bluetooth
1x USB-C 3.1 Gen1
1x DisplayPort 1.2
1x Power
Bluetooth
Current owners of the HTC Vive may feel somewhat frustrated given they just dumped $799 into the headset when it hit the market in 2017, but there is good news. HTC says the Vive Pro headset will be sold stand-alone, as well, and will work with existing Vive Tracker and Vive Controller hardware. What the company didn’t say, though, is how much the Vive Pro headset will cost alone, or when it’ll be available outside the bundle
The difference between the Vive and Vive Pro might be a game changer for VR enthusiasts. In our hands-on with the Pro unit at CES 2018 in January, moving from Vive to Vive Pro was similar to moving from a traditional SD television set to an HDTV. The visuals are “crisp and clear” although the Pro model still doesn’t expand your field of view, limiting the experience to 110 degrees. The human eye has a natural field of view of over 210 degrees.
Right now, there are no known minimum and recommended system specifications outside what you need to run the original Vive headset. Still, it will require a better machine to reach its maximum capabilities.
Speech-to-text apps have flooded the App Store, making it easier than ever to type on our Macs with just our voice. I have previously covered one such app called TypeWhisper. However, there has been a dearth of good text-to-speech models, and most of the good ones are locked behind a subscription.
Ollama, an open-source app that lets you run local AI models on your computer, wants to change that. It works on macOS, Windows, and Linux, and your prompts are never stored or used for training.
Did you think hitting delete on your AI chatbot conversation actually makes it disappear? Georgia Tech researchers just proved that's not entirely true. They have built a forensic tool called ORISA that can dig deleted conversations from your phone and even rebuild them into a working chatbot session you can keep talking to.
How can ORISA bring deleted AI conversations back?
Touchscreen laptops have been around for years. You can get them in all sizes and shapes. Just not from Apple. For years, the Cupertino giant has treated the idea of a touchscreen MacBook the way I treat a meeting that could have been an email: with open contempt. However, Wednesday looks like the day the company could finally change its mind.
The latest Apple invite puts the “Pro and Tell” showcase in Los Angeles at 10 a.m. PT (1 p.m. ET) on October 28, 2026. Instead of a regular live-streamed keynote, it is an invitation-only, hands-on event for a handful of press and creators (similar to what the company did for the MacBook Neo earlier this year).