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Steam Machine launches today

store.steampowered.com

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Re: Steam Machine launches today

#591

Post by iLoveOncall »

sanskritical wrote: post #296
iLoveOncall wrote: post #10

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 want a simple UNIX workstation that "just works". Apple broke this promise to me with Tahoe, where horrific design decisions compounded the bugs on essential peripherals (Tahoe began spinning up and down my external raid array to sleep constantly, for no reason, making extremely loud noises as the drives repeatedly if it's idle, forcing me to constantly touch files in a while loop over dozens of partitions -- also…

I'm sorry but a Steam Machine is a horrendous choice for a workstation, and so is SteamOS.

I really can't think of a single use-case where the Steam Machine is the right choice actually, unless your one and only wish is to make a donation to Gabe.

You can have the same performances in the same form factor with the same OS (but more upgradability) for less, or you can improve on any of those points for the same price.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#592

Post by raffael_de »

d3Xt3r wrote: post #541
raffael_de wrote: post #229

What is the appeal of Steam Machine as a dedicated gaming device? Isn't it going to be old in a few years and then you have to get rid of it because upgrading components isn't a viable option? Isn't that quite the opposite of anything that deserves to be associated with them term "hacker"?

I doubt anyone's associating the Steam Machine with the term "hacker". The "hacker" type crowd already game on Linux, they're not the target audience here. This is for the normies, for people who want to play PC games with a console-like experience, without any hassles of manual setup and tweaking that the hacker crowd normally are into.

fyi: this very web site is called ... hacker news.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#593

Post by sylens »

gymbeaux wrote: post #409

Circa 2013 you could get a Steam Machine (made by Alienware/Dell) - the Alienware Alpha - for something like $300. Granted they were clearing them out at that time, but $300 was a no-brainer when consoles cost about the same and had significantly weaker hardware. Now we're expected to pay almost 2x the cost of a current-gen console for what is probably near-identical console performance? Doesn't make sense. I appreci…

The 2013 Steam Machine is as different from this device as it could possibly be. Proton didn't exist back then and Steam Input was still in (relative) infancy.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#594

Post by Aeolun »

The Japan situation is so fucking weird. Why can I only buy Steam hardware from a website that someone seems to have set up on a weekend, and where half the inventory is out of stock…?

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#596

Post by tripleee »

jitl wrote: post #509
sudobash1 wrote: post #103

I am pleased to see hardware not being locked down as a selling point: > Yes, Steam Machine is optimized for gaming, but it's still your PC. Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer? It feels very commonsense that you should be able to run whatever you want on the computer that you have purchased, but it is surprisingly uncommon.

and it makes Steam Deck the best console ever made. i picked up Darksiders 3 a few weeks ago to play on my deck. at some point i realized i was pretty underleveled but i didn’t wanna grind. so, opened chatgpt in desktop mode and uploaded my save, asked it to write me a script to set my souls/xp/money to whatever number. it analyzed the save and spat out a bash/python script. after a chmod +x it worked flawlessly. don…

The steam deck is way too under-powered to be "the best console". Best handheld, maybe, if you really value portability.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#597

Post by 0x457 »

legitster wrote: post #233
pseudosavant wrote: post #72

I know the price for PC parts is terrible these days, but $1049 for a 6-core 16GB RAM, with a 512GB SSD, and no controller, is a terrible value. For reference, the PS5 Pro has more than twice the number GPU CUs, an 8-core CPU, a 2TB SSD, a controller, and costs $899.

Different value props. The target audience for this already has an extensive Steam catalogue. To buy a PS5 Pro is going to require re-buying all of your games for it. Also, you can build a decent PC for $1049, but getting it into a decent form/noise factor is going to ratchet that price up. Add in the proprietary CEC stuff that Valve has done for it and it's not as terrible as it seems.

> To buy a PS5 Pro is going to require re-buying all of your games for it.

No? You can plan all your PS4 (and regular PS5) games. Plus some PS3 and PS One (IIRC) other games.

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#599

Post by powersurge360 »

caconym_ wrote: post #527
radium3d wrote: post #46

I imagine Valve Software wanted to release the Steam Machine for $549-$699. The great RAM hoarding of 2025-2026 killed this product on arrival sadly.

> killed this product on arrival sadly. Rather odd to talk about an as yet unreleased product failing in the past tense.

You may be unfamiliar with the colloquialism. This one is exclusively for unreleased products.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dead_on_arrival#:~:text=In%20a...

Re: Steam Machine launches today

#600

Post by nxc18 »

godshatter wrote: post #498
jhack wrote: post #319

The pricing is all out of sorts. Close to $500 more expensive than a PS5 for worse performance. I understand this is a PC and you can do other things with it, but if you're buying a gaming device to play games this is a horrible value.

If you have hundreds of Steam games you bought through sales events, then that changes the calculus a bit.

Does it? Do people actually play those games? I thought people just liked buying them and never playing the vast majority of them.
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