Microsoft HoloLens is about to make a lot more sense to Consumers in December

Let’s be honest, how many remember Microsoft mentioning HoloLens or VR after the unveiling of Microsoft Surface Studio? If your answer is “Holo-what?” You might have missed an important piece of information that might influence your Christmas shopping list.

In your defense, Microsoft has merely mentioned plans of its brand new line of affordable VR headsets for Windows 10, without actually showing much, beyond a few fleeting renderings, but make no mistake: these products are very real, and they are coming.

The new headsets will start at the very attractive price point of $299, to compete with more expensive brands, like Oculus VT, HTC Vive, and the upcoming Razer VR headset, which is now still an experimental product with some pretty amazing specs.

Much like Oculus VR, the new headsets will feature inside and outside tracking, which means that the devices will be able to track the position and movement of both the wearer, as well as surrounding objects relative to the environment.

With that said, the first batch of devices will be fully VR, unlike HoloLens. This means that the new headsets won’t make use of Windows 10 Holographics to project virtual objects into the wearer’s field of view, but rather work with immersive VR applications instead.

Microsoft has reiterated on several occasions that Windows Holographics will be an important part of Windows 10, which explains why the company has been encouraging developers to build similar hardware and support Windows 10. If Microsoft is successful in proving that VR is a viable and meaningful experience to users and partners, the tech giant has everything to gain. Design software, educational and scientific applications, as well as (and especially) the gaming industry, will become very profitable markets for Microsoft, who is already banking on the possibility that Windows 10 will be the only operating system built specifically for these applications.

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