One week with the Valve Index: A VR game-changer with a few question marks

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  The Valve Index and its incredibly reflective front plastic plate in my Seattle apartment. [credit:
  Sam Machkovech ]

My introduction to the Index, Valve’s first-ever top-to-bottom PC virtual reality system, was a whirlwind of numbers and demos. Valve’s three-hour hands-on event in April came with a considerable blast of specs, claims, and pre-release software, but while those ranged from puzzling to impressive, none of them stayed with me like one off-hand comment from the day.

During an informal Valve Q&A after my tests, I talked about how impressed I’d already been by the Oculus Quest’s “good enough” performance as a wireless, standalone VR headset. How would the pricier, wired, more demanding Valve Index fit into that kind of marketplace, I asked?

“I don’t use VR for 30 minutes a day,” one Valve engineer said in response. “I use VR hours a day. What’s good enough for 20 minutes, 30 minutes, is dramatically different than one hour, two hours.”