Virtual reality headsets like the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive offer the most visually impressive virtual reality experiences available right now thanks to the powerful PCs running them. But for room-scale VR such as what's offered by the Vive, being tethered to a machine on the floor or a nearby desk can also make things a little cumbersome.
To tackle that issue PC makers have been showing off PC-in-a-backpack systems for a few months. Now, you can actually buy one from MSI, if you can spare a couple grand.
Originally announced back in May, MSI's VR One PC-as-a-backpack just went up for sale on Newegg starting at $1,999 for a 2.7GHz Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU, 256GB SSD, and 16GB of RAM. A beefier configuration is available for an extra $300 featuring a GeForce GTX 1070 while doubling storage to a 512GB SSD.
Both setups sport dual, hot-swappable batteries for a truly untethered VR experience. MSI says the batteries are capable of providing 1.5 hours of gameplay. Other specs include four USB 3.0 ports, a Thunderbolt 3 port, mini DisplayPort and HDMI 2.0 ports, separate headphone and microphone jacks, Killer 1535 Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 connectivity.
The VR One is said to run cool and quiet as it operates at less than 40dBA. While its design is primarily intended for use with VR headsets, it does include an AC adapter to double as a desktop, which MSI says will be more compact than some high performance gaming notebooks while being able to power three external 4K@60Hz monitors.
The PC-in-a-backpack system is up for pre-order now and shipping on November 30.
