Strap a VR rig to your back with HP's Omen X VR PC Pack concept
This prototype backpack puts a full PC on your back for untethered Oculus or Vive action.
- Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
One of the big issues with the the current generation of virtual-reality headsets is that the wearer needs to be tethered to a big, bulky desktop computer. Sure, the cables that come with the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift are long, but getting tangled up in a cable or having it tug on the back of your head is an easy way to kill immersion.
Truly wireless VR headsets are still a long way off (unless you want to use a phone-based system such as the Gear VR), so HP is working on a novel solution that works with today's hardware.
The HP Omen X VR PC Pack is a full-powered gaming desktop, reconfigured as a wearable backpack. The VR headset is still tethered to the computer, but in this case, the computer is strapped to your back, so it moves with you. Like HP's Omen desktop, this is primarily designed for use with the HTC Vive, but the Oculus Rift should work just as well.
For power, HP says the current prototype uses a battery belt pack that contains two batteries and connects to the backpack via a cable. The batteries are hot-swappable, so you'll be able to keep the system going while swapping in one of the batteries for a fresh one. The current estimated play time on a full charge is about one hour.
But don't get your credit cards warmed up just yet. This VR-ready backpack is just in the concept stage right now, and while HP says it plans to sell a similar device at some point in the future, it may or may not look or work like this in its final form, and it almost certainly won't be called the Omen X VR PC Pack.
However, HP says it plans on demoing the latest working version sometime in the next month, so an untethered VR experience may be closer than you think.