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All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes. Distracting yourself while you work out requires music, but carrying around your phone can leave your hands full and your pockets […]
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
Meta’s most budget friendly mixed-reality headset lives up to the hype. Last month, Meta introduced the Quest 3S headset — a smaller, lighter and more affordable version of the Meta Quest 3 with a few, internal and external upgrades.
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For starters, Meta Quest 3S retails for $299 — $200 cheaper than its predecessor. It’s also lighter and more comfortable than Meta Quest 3, and updated with new features such as dynamic spatial audio and increased resolution for Passthrough (which lets you mix your reality with VR).
Meta Quest 3S allows users to stream movies and more on a cinema-sized, VR screen, plus access games such as Beat Saber, Alo Moves XR, Just Dance VR, Wordle and Metro Awakenings along with streaming apps like Prime Video, Peacock, Netflix, Amazon Music, Twitch, YouTube, Xbox Cloud Gaming (available in BETA).
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Meta Quest 3S 128GB — Get Batman: Arkham Shadow and a 3-Month Trial of Meta Quest+ Included — All-in-One Headset
The holidays are around the corner, and Meta’s latest VR headset is certainly giftworthy. With Meta Quest 3S users can explore Horizon Worlds’ Music Valley where music fans get a front-row seat to VR performances from Sabrina Carpenter, BLACKPINK, Doja Cat and other recording stars.
One of my main gripes with Meta Quest 3? The headset. It’s heavy and uncomfortable, but the Quest 3S offers a slight improvement on the weight issue along with other, notable upgrades such as adjustable Frensel lenses, a spacer for users who wear glasses and a rebuilt Meta Horizon OS interface with added support for social media apps such as Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Quest 3S is incredibly user friendly, especially if you’re already familiar with the Meta portal. Even if you’re unfamiliar, the device will walk you through steps to set things up.
The new 3S features Travel Mode, so you can use it on an airplane (Meta plans to expand it to be used on trains and other modes of travel) and hand tracking, which allows you to use your hands instead of the controllers.
The standard Quest 3S features 128GB of storage, but you can upgrade to the 256GB device for $399.99. Meta Quest 3S is available at major retailers such as Amazon, Target, Walmart, Best Buy and Meta.com.
Get a complimentary copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow and three months of Meta Quest+ with the purchase of an all-new Meta Quest 3 and Quest 3S through April 2025.
All products and services featured are independently chosen by editors. However, Billboard may receive a commission on orders placed through its retail links, and the retailer may receive certain auditable data for accounting purposes.
On Tuesday (Oct. 29), Apple unveiled a faster, more compact Mac mini designed for music production, video editing, writing and other creative tasks in addition to daily projects.
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Measuring at just 5 x 5 inches, Apple’s redesigned Mac mini offers 1.8 times faster CPU performance and two times faster GPU performance than the M1 chip, 16GB of memory, 10-core CPU, 10-core GPU and connection ports on the front and back. The new Mac mini also connects to iPhone and offers mirroring abilities through macOS Sequoia.
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Apple’s first “carbon neutral Mac with an over 80 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions across its materials,” retails for $599 and will be released on Nov. 8. (Eligible teachers and students can save $100 off the new Mac mini at Apple.) Need more power? The M4 Pro ($1,399) features up to 14-core CPU and up to 20-core GPU.
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Apple 2024 Mac Mini Desktop Computer with M4 chip; 10‑core CPU and 10‑core GPU, 16GB Unified Memory, 256GB SSD Storage
By comparison, M4 Mac mini outpaces Intel Core i7 delivering better graphics, faster gaming performance (in World of Warcraft: The War Within) and faster audio effects in Logic Pro (nearly three times as fast as Mac Mini with M1).
Compared to the M1 chip, the new Mac mini transcribes up to two times faster when using AI speech-to-text in MacWhisper. Other tasks with M4 such as spreadsheet calculations are up to 1.7 times faster in Microsoft Excel.
“The new Mac mini delivers gigantic performance in an unbelievably small design thanks to the power efficiency of Apple silicon and an innovative new thermal architecture,” said John Ternus, Apple’s senior vice president of hardware engineering. “Combined with the performance of M4 and the new M4 Pro chip, enhanced connectivity on both the front and back, and the arrival of Apple Intelligence, Mac mini is more capable and versatile than ever, and there is nothing else like it.”
The new Mac Mini is available for pre-order online at Amazon and Apple.com.
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