At the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2016, Dell and Alienware announced Oculus-Ready Rift PC bundles starting with a price tag of $1,600. The companies also shared that it is possible shoppers might receive their Virtual Reaity (VR) headsets sooner if they buy a bundle.
Alienware General Manager Frank Azor told The Verge customers who buy a PC bundle could get their Rifts at the same time as people who pre-ordered the VR headsets. That would be near the end of March or the start of April, according to The Verge.
Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe announced in May 2015 that a PC-Rift setup would cost $1,500, including a $1,000 PC. This caused the ruckus when the company recently announced the Rift's pre-order price of $599.
However, a key point in the announcement was that Oculus-Ready PCs can be pre-ordered in February, with a starting price of $1,499, according to Tom's Hardware. This would result from a slightly discounted PC or Rift.
The best deal for people who want to upgrade their desktop/laptop would be to buy a PC and Oculus bundle, to make the computer VR-ready. Dell and Asus have promised to build Oculus-Ready PCs.
At a CES Dell event, Azor announced Dell's Oculus-Ready computing machines. The bundles will cost $1,600.
That includes the Alienware X51 R3 and the Dell XPS 8900 Special Edition. Both models will include a GTX 970 graphics card.
In addition, the two models have a $1,200 price tag without the Rift headset bundle. That results in a $200 savings.
Oculus founder Palmer Luckey explained that the GTX 970 could provide a quality VR experience, and he uses the graphics card when playing Rift titles in development. It results in the graphics processing unit (GPU) performing well.
Dell has not provided many details about the Rift bundles, including the release dates. However, Azor explained that customers who pre-order a Rift headset in February will get a $200 coupon. That will provide a discount on an Oculus-Ready PC.
Tom's Hardware projects that Oculus will send coupons for other Rift bundles. Then Oculus fans can choose which PC Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) they want.