by Is the Vive XR Elite worth it? We take a look
Updated: January 24, 2023 1:34 PM
Since its announcement at CES 2023, the VR community has been wondering: is the Vive XR Elite worth it? Well, now that we know quite a bit about the specs, features, and pricing of the Vive XR Elite, let’s see if it will be worth the purchase.#
HTC Vive XR Elite VR headset
chipset
Qualcomm Snapdragon XR2
Screen resolution
1920 x 1920 per eye
Battery life
Not reported, comes with a hot-swappable 26.6Wh battery
While last year was a relatively slow year for VR, 2023 until the announcement of the Meta Quest Pro started very strong, with rumors of the Meta Quest 3 subsequently confirmed by Zuckerberg himself when speaking to Stratachery.
Then, of course, HTC exploded out of the gate at CES, unveiling their new convertible, standalone VR headset, the Vive XR Elite. This immediately made headlines as it was very competitively priced and landed between the Quest Pro and the Quest 2. Despite undercutting the Quest Pro, it’s still pretty expensive at $1099 for a pre-order, so, is the Vive XR Elite worth it? Let’s take a look.
Is the Vive XR Elite worth it? Specifications and Features
Taking a look at the specifications of the Vive XR Elite, we can see that it looks very strong, especially when compared to the aging Meta Quest 2.
The SoC may be the less snappy version of the Snapdragon XR 2 that the Quest Pro has, but that platform benefits greatly from upgrades to the surrounding hardware, so the performance difference between them remains to be seen
One of the bigger deals we see when it comes to specs is the RAM, with 12GBit certainly looks like it’s going to be a multitasking monster.
Moving on to more unique features, the Vive XR Elite becomes modular, with HTC itself describing it as “convertible.” From what we can gather, HTC plans to use this feature to transform the Vive XR Elite into a more portable, manageable machine.
This means you can choose to completely remove the external battery, making the XR Elite look like a pair of very squat sunglasses. However, it’s unclear at this point how much this will affect performance.
Conversely, you can connect the headset to a PC to increase power, forgoing portability in favor of performance. Again, it’s unclear how much performance will be gained this way, with the capabilities of the PC in question playing a major role, I doubt it.
Should you buy the Vive XR Elite? Final verdict
We end this page in a confused position. We have no doubt that the Vive XR Elite will be a total powerhouse of a VR headset. However, we always feel a bit unfair when we recommend people buy something that is not available.
However, the Vive XR Elite looks like it will be a very competitive option against the Meta Quest Pro as the specs are nearly identical while the price is around $400 down.
