Save $200 On Your Oculus Rift (with a Computer Bundle)

Image credit: Alienware

The Price of Quality VR

A lot of people have been talking about the high price of buying an Oculus Rift. We covered that discussion in some detail here: Consumer Oculus Rift Pre-Orders Start Today. Is $599 A Fair Price?

But regardless of what you think of the price, that’s just the reality of the situation. If you want the cutting edge of virtual reality in 2016, it will cost you $600 for the Rift, and about $1,100 more for a quality gaming computer.

DK2 Wasn’t Cheap or Easy

VRPorn.com went through this process before. We got one of the first DK2’s (Oculus Developer Kit 2) and put together a high-end gaming computer to run it. Everything worked, but it was not exactly easy to set up and maintain. And it was expensive.

It would have been very difficult for your average consumer to deal with such a setup. Obviously, that’s just expected for playing with a prototype. Though we have to note that the DK1 was much more plug and play and user friendly than the DK2, in our experience.

VR Ready Computer Coming Soon

So we were very happy to see that Oculus has teamed up with Dell, Alienware, and ASUS to produce ‘VR Ready’ or ‘Oculus Ready’ computers. This should make setup and maintenance hugely easier for the mainstream consumer. This should also make VR accessible to a larger audience.

Oculus Ready logo. Image via Tom’s Hardware

VR Computer Specs

Here are the specs on 2 of these VR computers from Tom’s Hardware:

VR Computer Specs. Image credit: Tom’s Hardware

Save Money

And to sweeten the deal, the bundles are promised to be cheaper than buying the computer and VR headset separately, perhaps by even $200.

Expect the VR computers to be available with shipment dates coinciding with the first shipments of the Oculus Rift in late March.

Palmer Luckey’s Tweet about the PC Bundles

As per blog post: Rift+PC bundles are starting at $1499. Might be able to build on your own cheaper, but good option for normal people.

— Palmer Luckey (@PalmerLuckey) January 6, 2016

VR Ready Computers by Alienware VR
Image credit: Alienware