Is the Surface Laptop Studio 2 not VR capable?

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Is the Surface Laptop Studio 2 not VR capable?

Anonymous

For about 5 hours, I have been trying to connect my VR headset (PSVR 2 with Sony's PSVR 2 to PC adapter) to my laptop, the Surface Laptop Studio 2. I just found out that other users could not connect their Surface Laptop Studio 2 to VR headsets in general (e.g. The Metaquest Pro not working, see Is Surface Laptop Studio 2 VR ready? : r/Surface). This is in spite of having the NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4050 GPU which is way beyond the minimum requirement for VR headsets.

For me: when setting all the relevant applications to run on the dedicated gaming GPU, "Specific GPU 1: NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4050", the VR headset does not display any VR games in full VR. The VR display does however work properly when I set all the applications -- like SteamVR -- to run on the internal GPU [Intel (R) Iris (R) XE]. But of course the internal GPU results in a broken image as it is not a dedicated gaming GPU (in VR it's like 144 pixels). (Task manager additionally shows that the internal GPU is at 99% usage whilst the dedicated gaming GPU is near 0% usage).

I suspect this is because the USB-c that connects to VR might be wired to the internal XE GPU rather than the dedicated NVIDIA GPU? It's strange because I can get the dedicated gaming GPU to work on television displays through the USB-c cable by messing with settings, which possibly suggests actually the USB-c isn't hardwired to the internal XE GPU but rather it might be a VR-specific software issue.

Trying (and failing) to get the dedicated NVIDIA RTX 4050 GPU working with VR I have (1) set all relevant VR applications to run on the dedicated gaming GPU through display options both in Windows 11 and the NVIDIA control panel, (2) updated my NVIDIA GPU drivers and checked for CPU + XE GPU driver updates in Device Manager, (3) reinstalled VR applications multiple times, (4) looked through BIOS for a dedicated GPU switch, (5) updated Windows, (6) set the PhysX processor to the NVIDIA dedicated gaming GPU through the NVIDIA control panel, (7) ran SteamVR in "direct mode" and (8) tried turning off the internal XE GPU through the Device Manager.

Whatever I do, Windows settings says the VR headset is "connected to Iris Intel XE Graphics" in "System, Display, Advanced Display". SteamVR also always says "wrong graphics card" when I try to launch games through the NVIDIA Geforce RTX 4050.

Potential solutions,

I am considering an external GPU or eGPU, can anyone confirm if it is a viable solution for VR? I looked online and most people have problems with it. Some people can get it working with their laptops though... if it would work with the Surface Laptop Studio 2 I am not sure.
Someone also said that the Microsoft Surface dock 2 can force VR to work on the dedicated gaming GPU on the Surface Laptop Studio 2, but I'm not sure if that is the case. If anyone has tried it please let me know.

Some notes in case anyone finds them useful,

I am using a USB-c to 1.4 DisplayPort cable. I don't think this is the issue because the PSVR 2 app does recognise the DisplayPort connection, the VR does successfully display images (but only on the internal XE graphics cards which is the problem), other people also successfully use USB-c to DisplayPort connections with the PSVR 2 (see PSA: The Sony PC Adapter works with Gaming Laptops using the USB-C Port with a Display Port Adapter : r/PSVR2onPC), and other people like me cannot connect the Surface Laptop Studio 2's dedicated GPU to VR headsets generally beyond the PSVR 2 (e.g. Can't use Vive VR with Studio 2 Laptop, Nvidia 4060, 64 Gig and 2TB - Microsoft Community).
VR does work with the dedicated gaming GPU in Steam's "dashboard" mode but there is no full VR (this is similar to someone else who could connect to Oculus' "virtual desktop" mode on the Surface Laptop Studio 2 but again no full VR (Is Surface Laptop Studio 2 VR ready? : r/Surface).

I will probably have this laptop for a long time so if anyone from years in the future has a solution please share, that is if it can't be fixed sooner.

Thank you for reading.

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Answer 1

Hello James! Thank you so much for reaching out, I am Tin, an independent advisor, and I am glad to assist you today with this issue. You're encountering a known limitation with the Surface Laptop Studio 2 (SLS2) when attempting to use VR headsets like the PSVR2. Despite its powerful NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 GPU, the SLS2's hardware design routes external display outputs through the integrated Intel Iris Xe GPU, not the dedicated NVIDIA GPU. This configuration prevents VR applications from utilizing the full capabilities of the RTX 4050, leading to suboptimal performance.

You might want to try the possible workaround to this issue.

External GPU (eGPU): While the SLS2 supports Thunderbolt 4, which is compatible with eGPUs, users have reported mixed experiences. Some have successfully connected eGPUs, but others faced issues like system instability and driver conflicts. Moreover, the cost and complexity of setting up an eGPU may not be justified, especially since the SLS2 already contains a dedicated GPU.
Alternative VR Headsets: Consider using VR headsets that are more compatible with the SLS2's hardware configuration. Some users have had better experiences with headsets like the Oculus Quest 2 when using wireless solutions such as Virtual Desktop, which can leverage the dedicated GPU without relying on the USB-C display output.
Future Hardware Considerations: If VR is a significant priority, you might consider using a different laptop or desktop that allows direct connection of VR headsets to the dedicated GPU. Devices with dedicated DisplayPort outputs linked directly to the discrete GPU are more suitable for VR applications.

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Is the Surface Laptop Studio 2 not VR capable?

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