[makeitdouble]

The goal is probably not to absolutely manage cooling but to focus on the audio experience and try to keep noise below some threshold.

I think that's an interesting idea, even if not everyone might be happy with the tradeoff (comes down to how much you care about noise vs getting throttled), especially for a vr device.

[jfoster]

It seems a mis-prioritization of the kind that makes me dislike Apple products.

To avoid the imperfection of a bit of fan noise, throttle the entire experience. Great.

[freehorse]

It is a machine you literally have on your head. I have not tried it, but I can believe that it requires some different UX considerations than normal computers. I would definitely not like to hear fan noise vibrating through my head.

[Guillaume86]

Wait till you experience visual stutter in VR then...

[klausa]

There's a reason why the Vision Pro has separate chip that handles the real-time passthrough from cameras (and bunch of other sensor-fusion stuff, AIUI).

[makeitdouble]

Wouldn't it still thermal throttle as the whole device gets hot, separate chip or not ?

I understand the threshold for heating up should be lower than with integrated chips, but we're talking about fan speeds, about when that threshold is still reached and cooling is needed.

[andybak]

In the old days, the device settings would allow the user to tune the trade-off to their own preferences. But current user design orthodoxy is that "settings are bad" to an extreme (I actually agree with the weaker formulation "too many settings are bad"... for some value of "many")

[cdchn]

Being purely subjective if the user is less likely to notice the throttling than they are the fan noise, then it seems like the right call.

[andybak]

That really depends on what the effects of the throttling are. Stronger foveation or other rendering quality drops? Probably OK. Frame rate dropping below 75? Not in VR, never...

[Guillaume86]

Good take, crazy to get downvoted for it, people get so defensive about their precious brands...

[jfoster]

That's true. If they're doing a clever balance then it seems good.

[bitwize]

Fine, their products are not made for you.

But they're a trillion dollar company because of their relentless focus on the end-user experience which you happen to dislike, but which most people love.

[makeitdouble]

NVidia passed them in valuation, what does that say about NVidia's end-user experience ?

Profits or valuation can't be a measure of whether a company is doing right to their users or their UX quality.

[bitwize]

UX isn't NVIDIA's business model. It is Apple's, and they've found there's shittons of money to be made giving a shit about UX, especially when virtually no one else will.

[makeitdouble]

Apple's current position is cemented by ARM chip performance.

I maintain, bringing market cap to explain whether a company is good at or cares about UX is just irrelevant.