Brad Bourque/Digital TrendsOne major takeaway from CES this year is that VR is a big deal and will, for the time being, constitute a luxury not only because it’s new and unique, but also in terms of price. The Oculus Rift, for instance, is going to cost $600, and that’s not completely without warrant. While the main culprits for this pricing are the two high-fidelity OLED displays built into the headset, another obvious factor is the pair of audio headphones integrated into the Rift.
In a Reddit AMA posted last week, Oculus founder Palmer Luckey addressed the headphones, citing why he believes they should be included:
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“The overhead of managing a SKU without headphones would cost more than the savings of removing headphones. The integrated audio hardware is better than most cans out there, even expensive ones – the Rift has a built in low-noise DAC and amp, and our audio SDK is tuned around that hardware. Good audio does not cost much to build, especially when it is piggybacking on existing materials and distribution (ala the Rift). Give it a chance!”
Essentially, Luckey wanted to include an audio headset on at least one Oculus Rift model and adding a more affordable headphone-less option would cost too much money for Oculus. Fortunately, Luckey says, the onboard headphones compare “favorably” to entry-level professional studio headphones like the ATH-M50x from Audio-Technica. He goes on to compare the Oculus Rift’s audio setup to the ATH-AD700x in that it consists of “open-back drivers with pretty accurate response and a great soundstage.”
Furthermore, some of you may be disappointed to find out that the Oculus Rift may not even be compatible with the headphones you already have. That’s because, although there’s a DAC+amp built into the device, Luckey claims that “without a little hardware hackery,” the integrated DAC+amp won’t be usable with third-party headphones you might already have in your possession. In fact, you’re probably “better pairing off with an external DAC,” he continues.
Despite the inconvenience this poses, it’s at least reassuring that the company founder is so confident that consumers won’t be disappointed with the Oculus Rift’s built-in headphones, and based on my own experiences with them, it’s not hard to see why.
The HP Victus gaming PC with RTX 3060 has a $550 discount
Gamers don't need to spend more than $1,000 if they want to buy a new gaming PC because there are affordable options like the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop. From its original price of $1,400, you can get it for just $850 as HP has applied a $550 discount on this machine. However, you shouldn't delay your purchase because there's no assurance that the gaming PC will still be 39% off tomorrow. If you want to make sure that you get it for less than $1,000, you're going to have to complete the transaction for it within the day.
Why you should buy the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop
You shouldn't expect the HP Victus 15L gaming desktop to match the performance of the top-of-the-line models of the best gaming PCs, but it's surprisingly powerful for its cost. Inside it are the 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processor and the Nvidia GeForce RTX 3060 graphics card, with 16GB of RAM that our guide on how much RAM do you need says is the best place to start for gaming. It's enough to play today's best PC games without any issues, and it may even be capable of running the upcoming PC games of the next few years if you're willing to dial down the settings for the more demanding titles.
This 17-inch HP laptop is on sale for just $300 — but hurry!
If you want to buy a laptop with a relatively large screen, the good news is that you don't have to break the bank with your purchase because you can get the HP Laptop 17t for a very affordable $300. It's on sale from HP with a $200 discount on its original price of $500, but there's no telling how much time is remaining before this offer expires. We don't think it will stay available for long because laptop deals like this almost always get sold out quickly, so complete the transaction as soon as possible to make sure that you don't miss out on the savings.
Why you should buy the HP Laptop 17t
With the 17.3-inch display of the HP Laptop 17t, you'll have a lot of screen real estate to work on your projects and watch streaming shows. It's pretty affordable for a laptop with this large screen, which offers HD+ resolution for sharp details and vibrant colors. However, despite its big display, the HP Laptop 17t maintains portability because it's only 0.78 of an inch thick, which makes it easy to slide into your bag when you're on the go, and it won't be too heavy to carry around because it only weighs about 4.6 pounds.
Despite being among the best processors you can buy, some high-end Intel CPUs have faced a wave of instability over the past few months. Intel is investigating the problem, but the company and its motherboard partners have already worked toward some temporary fixes to improve stability on high-end Intel CPUs -- even if it comes at a performance cost.
Before getting into the fixes, keep in mind that they are temporary. Intel will release a statement on the instability soon, likely with more direct guidance on what affected users should do. In addition, the scope of the problem isn't clear -- if you're not experiencing issues, you shouldn't have anything to worry about.
Who's affected
