Last month Microsoft announced its initiative to bring a range of affordable VR devices to Windows 10. There's going to be a whole bunch of headsets created in conjunction with a number of VR manufacturers, including Acer, ASUS, Dell, HP and Lenovo. In theory this means offering VR experiences for all. Widespread adoption is going to hinge on how demanding the experience is, however. Here's the official minimum specs for Windows 10 VR so you can see just what is required.
Windows 10 VR Minimum System Requirements
- OS: Windows 10 64-bitÂ
- CPU:Â Intel Mobile Core i5-7200U Dual Core 2.5 GHz
- RAM: 8Â GB System Memory
- GPU: Intel Integrated HD Graphics 620
- DX: DirectX 12
- HDD:Â 100 GB SSD
- HDMI: HDMI 1.4 with 2880×1440 @ 60 Hz or HDMI 2.0 or DP 1.3+ with 2880×1440 @ 90 Hz
- USB:Â USB 3.0 Type-A or USB 3.1 Type-C Port with DisplayPort Alternate Mode
Compared to the competition, these are unbelievably low system requirements. This is really scraping the bottom of the barrel when it comes to hardware, aside from the 8GB system memory. Windows 10 VR apparently only requires a 2.5 GHz dual core mobile processor, hinting that Microsoft is aiming at laptop users for its VR push, rather than high-end gamers.
On the graphics side of things the Intel HD Graphics 620 really is as low as it can possible go. It does give us a strong indicator that Microsoft's aim with VR isn't necessarily for gamers, but rather for apps and experiences. Each individual game on the Windows Store is going to have its own set of system requirements potentially above and beyond these specs.
You can begin looking out for the first Windows 10 VR headsets during the first half of 2017.
With extremely low specs like this, is this the moment you've been waiting for to experience VR? Or do you think true VR deserves to be a high-end experience? Let us know what you think!
