Everyone’s heard the buzz about virtual reality this year, but one of the major blocks to adopting VR is simply the expense – and that’s an issue both HP and HTC want to address with a new PC bundle which is (relatively) affordable being priced at $1,499 (around £1,220, AU$1,980).
So, as was previously rumored, what you’re getting is a VR-ready PC – the HP Envy 750-415VHR to be precise – along with a full HTC Vive system (with the headset, two wireless controllers, base stations and all the other accessories).
The asking price for this lot should be $1,699 (around £1,385, AU$2,240), so you’re saving yourself a couple of hundred bucks with the bundle.
The PC itself has a brushed metal finish for a premium look, and it’s powered by an Intel Core i5-6400 processor backed up with 8GB of system RAM. The graphics card is a Radeon RX 480, and for storage you get a 128GB SSD paired with a 1TB hard disk.
There’s an optical drive in the form of a DVD writer, plus a wired keyboard and mouse are thrown into the bargain.
Extra goodies
You’d expect some VR-related extras, and you get them in the form of a USB stick that contains all the hardware setup instructions and software you’ll need to get everything going with a minimum of fuss.
Plus buyers get virtual reality freebies in the form of ‘theBlu: Encounter’ and ‘The Lab’ (by Valve) along with the free software that currently ships with the Vive: Zombie Training Simulator, The Gallery – Episode 1: Call of the Starseed, and Tilt Brush.
A launch date hasn’t been confirmed yet, but we should see the bundle arrive soon enough, at least in the US – and HP is planning to make more Vive-toting PC bundles down the line.
- Or if you can't wait, you can build an affordable VR-ready gaming PC
