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If you have walked into a conference room with a MacBook Air in the last five years, you know the struggle. You look for the cable, realize it does not fit your laptop because it’s HDMI, hunt for a USB-C dongle, find one that is broken or doesn’t do the handshake right, and eventually just join the Zoom call from your laptop screen. Owl Labs has been a staple in small conference rooms for a while with their 360-degree cameras. I really saw them take off during COVID and remote work. They look unique, but they solved the camera angle problem of getting everyone on the screen. Recently, they announced the Meeting Owl 5 Pro. While the camera specs are improved, the real upgrade story for Mac users is the connectivity that this new model brings.
About Apple @ Work: Bradley Chambers managed an enterprise IT network from 2009 to 2021. Through his experience deploying and managing firewalls, switches, a mobile device management system, enterprise grade Wi-Fi, 1000s of Macs, and 1000s of iPads, Bradley will highlight ways in which Apple IT managers deploy Apple devices, build networks to support them, train users, stories from the trenches of IT management, and ways Apple could improve its products for IT departments.
What’s new in Meeting Owl 5 Pro?
If you have used previous Owl Labs cameras, you know the usual drill: they were great 360-degree webcams that sat in the middle of the table that made it much easier for everyone to be on a call. They became really popular for schools when some kids were still at home. The Meeting Owl 5 Pro is trying to be something more. It wants to be the only device on the table.
The headline feature on this unit is the integrated docking station. In the past, you needed a camera, a speakerphone, and a separate way to get your Mac’s screen onto the TV (usually an HDMI dongle or an AirPlay connection to an Apple TV). The Owl 5 Pro combines all of that into a single USB-C connection. You plug one cable into your MacBook, and it handles the camera, the audio, and the video output to the room’s display. It even passes through wired Ethernet as well.
Beyond the “one cable to rule them all” approach, Owl Labs is clearly targeting the enterprise admin with this release:
- MDEP-Ready Architecture: It is built to support the Microsoft Device Ecosystem Platform. For larger Microsoft environments, this is a much welcome upgrade from a management POV.
- Wired Daisy-Chaining: If you have a large boardroom or conference that needs two Owl cameras, you can now connect them via Ethernet rather than relying on a wireless pairing. As someone whose rule is “if it’s stationary, hardwire it,” this is a great option. It reduces the need for IT to constantly pair them.
- Kensington Lock Slot: It sounds minor, but this is a critical step for physical security. These are the kind of devices that can easily “wander off” from a conference room. As the price of these units gets up there, this is even more important.
Camera specs and audio
While the streamlined connectivity is the headline for IT admins, the camera itself is a significant improvement as well. The Meeting Owl 5 Pro includes a 4K Ultra HD camera.
Version 5 also uses an updated Owl Intelligence System (OIS) to handle the speaker tracking. If you haven’t used an Owl in a few years, this is the “magic” part where it follows who is speaking. Again, it’s incredible for hybrid environments. The camera sits in the center of the table and automatically pans and zooms to frame whoever is talking.
On the audio and mic side, it has an 18-foot pickup radius via eight beamforming microphones so it should feel more like the microphone is in front of someone rather than in the center of the room.
Wrap up
The Meeting Owl 5 Pro is available for pre-order now for $2,599. That is a serious price jump from the earlier, consumer-friendly models. It is clearly aimed at IT departments that want to equip 50 rooms at once rather than a small team buying one for an offsite. I love the new features they’ve added. I am constantly considering IT toil as part of the cost of new solutions.
The most expensive part of a hybrid meeting isn’t the $2,600 camera, but it’s the ten minutes while six people watch the presenter struggle to get the HDMI audio to work. If this device actually delivers on the promise of a “single-cable” experience that works every time someone needs to use it, it’ll be worth it. Hardware costs pale in comparison to ongoing technical support challenges.
If you have budget for Q1 and a conference room that is frustrating for Mac users, the Meeting Owl 5 Pro might be the friction-remover you have been looking for. I hope to get a review unit after it’s launched to test out all the new features.
You can pre-order it from Owl Labs.
Apple @ Work is exclusively brought to you by Mosyle, the only Apple Unified Platform. Mosyle is the only solution that integrates in a single professional-grade platform all the solutions necessary to seamlessly and automatically deploy, manage & protect Apple devices at work. Over 45,000 organizations trust Mosyle to make millions of Apple devices work-ready with no effort and at an affordable cost. Request your EXTENDED TRIAL today and understand why Mosyle is everything you need to work with Apple.
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