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Steam Machine launches today

store.steampowered.com

131–140 of 1001 posts

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#131

This is a weird thing to call out, when there's so much else to talk about (price, specs, etc) buuuuuut- Check out the gameplay video partway down the page, where the two people are on the couch playing Cuphead. Right under "Your Steam library in more places." It's just... a real clip of real people playing a real game and reacting in a real way. It's funny. I know it's stupid to call out, but how many exaggerated ve…

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what

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#132

Surprised that they have 4 USB-A and only 1 USB-C. With their power profile, Steam Machine should be powerable by a single USB-C cable on extended power range which should reduce the need for the power supply altogether and greatly simplify mechanical as well as thermal design, although the power electronic design would be more complex as a result. I would also be expecting Wifi 7 support as well as unified memory co…

Why is it surprising? This is essentially a pre-built PC in a small form factor and most PC peripherals are USB-A.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#133
post #83

For reference, a PlayStation 5 is $600-650 for the base models (lower performance than Steam Machine) and $900 for the Pro model (likely higher performance). I know this is a PC and thus an open platform, but for most buyers in living room gaming, that's the competition. I don't think this will reach mass market success, but I'm not sure that was the goal. Who are they selling to? Note: I ask as someone with a Steamd…

I'm sure they were originally hoping for mass-market success, but given the RAM drought and ensuing pricing, I'm guessing the best possible outcome at this point would be to break roughly even and learn, so that they can put out a more competitive revision if and when prices ever return to Earth. With Windows becoming increasingly hostile, I do think there's room for a hardware/software integrated "just works" offeri…

Mass market success doesn't mean overnight success.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#135
back in 2019, I was thinking of getting an MBA and as part of the exploration, shadowed an MBA class at University of Washington for a day. It was so fun. One of the things they were discussing in the class that day was a case study of Valve, specifically around the Steam Machine. The team's consensus was that Valve was carefully arranging money in a barrel, lovingly soaking it in high octane gasoline, and was about to light a match.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#136

I know they will sell, but at this price point I don't understand who is supposed to be the target for this. Either you want a gaming computer, and you'll get a much better one that can be upgraded in the future for the same price, or you want a console, and you'll never pay a grand for it. 4 years old hardware and poor connectivity.

I thought about it, but don't think I'll push the button. I have a falcon nw gaming rig in my living room right now running windows / steam big picture and an NVIDIA 3060Ti -- and it's .. fine, but long in the tooth. I wouldn't mind a more console-ish hardware experience for steam gaming, and compared to a new falcon box, this thing is cheap. I experimented with just running SteamOS on the falcon hardware a few years ago, but it was a little fussy, and I wanted to also use the system for local inference, and, and, and.

All that said, I don't think this is a good value. I'm presuming if I did a little work SteamOS 3 would be workable for me, and I have significantly more RAM, and possibly a better GPU? Not exactly sure where the GPU falls out, but I definitely believe I could buy a better GPU for less than the new box.

If it gets preferred shipment for the controller, you could buy it and sell the box and keep the controller. :) I think my controller ship date is estimated in 2027 right now.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#137
post #104

It's interesting how so many are complaining about price and how it's dead etc. Yet it will still be out of stock for a long time.

The repeated insistence that a company can only possibly be successful if it reaches every human being on earth is killing the world.

A company that spins up a division, builds a product, sells 100k of them, and winds down is a success

Keep in mind this entire venture from Valve is also about ensuring they can't be made a vassal of Microsoft.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#138

For reference, a PlayStation 5 is $600-650 for the base models (lower performance than Steam Machine) and $900 for the Pro model (likely higher performance). I know this is a PC and thus an open platform, but for most buyers in living room gaming, that's the competition. I don't think this will reach mass market success, but I'm not sure that was the goal. Who are they selling to? Note: I ask as someone with a Steamd…

At best it'll take over Steam hardware survey as the standard spec of PC gaming.

I can't see anyone other than enthusiasts buying it over a normal console or Windows laptop.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"killed" is a bit of a stretch. High prices on all gear is here to stay. This is the new normal. Unless that simply means that nobody buys consoles/pc's. But you cant compare the price point with what it used to cost and imagine that its overpriced now and that people will seek alternatives. There aren't any cheaper alternatives.

There is no guarantee that these prices are here to stay...

You really think the manufacturers or retailers will lower the prices now that people are used to the new normal? How often do you see that happen?
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