Update: Who'd have guessed? The same day that this piece goes live Meta decides to announce that the Oculus Quest 2 is getting more expensive. From August 1, 2022, you'll have to pay $400 / £400 / AU$630 for the 128GB version and $500 / £500 / AU$790 for the 256GB model. The points below still stand though, there's no reason to spend more on the larger one.
Original: If you’ve been tempted to pick up an Oculus Quest 2 VR headset, you’ve likely seen that there are two models to choose between.
They’re almost identical in terms of specs and capabilities, with the only difference being how much internal storage your Oculus Quest 2 headset has. There’s the 128GB version (priced at £299 / $299 / AU$479) and the 256GB one (£399 / $399 / AU$639).
Considering that neither version of the headset comes with any kind of expandable storage, you might think the 256GB version is a must-have for anyone looking to take their VR gaming seriously. But that just isn’t the case.
If you’re dead set on picking up one of the best VR headsets out there then there’s really only one choice: you’ve got to go for the 128GB model.
Bigger isn’t better
If you’re a gamer you’ll know that file sizes for your favorite games can get pretty darn massive. Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War’s Xbox Series X and PS5 versions came in at 136GB and 133GB respectively at launch, and that’s before any future patches and updates.
However, VR games are a whole different proposition, and not even the best Oculus Quest 2 games get anywhere near those file sizes.
Looking at what's on offer at the official Quest Store, you’re going to be playing games with much smaller file sizes: 2.3GB for Walkabout Mini Golf, 774MB for Wands Alliances, and 8.8GB for Resident Evil 4 VR, to name just a few. Resident Evil 4 was actually the largest title we could find in our quick scan of the store's most popular games; most were nearer 1GB or 2GB.
That means that if you opt for the 128GB version, you can comfortably fit 50 amazing games on it and still have room to spare. And, realistically, how often are you actively playing that many titles at once?
And even if you somehow do manage to fill the storage – an unlikely feat, but not impossible if you decide to buy absolutely everything on the Quest’s digital store – it only takes a few minutes to swap games onto your headset. Because the file sizes are tiny it takes barely any time to delete some older experiences you haven’t played in a while, and replace them with all-new options.
So, even if you have the cash to spare, we’d recommend going for the cheaper 128GB Quest 2 headset. That extra $100 / £100 / AU$169 could get you a fair few games, especially during a sale – and what’s the point in dropping loads on a VR headset if you’ve then got nothing to play on it?
