Live data from Hacker News

Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

boilingsteam.com

61–70 of 106 posts

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#61
post #3

One interesting point I've seen online is that the steam machine is more of a budget Mac than a pc. As valve controls the whole stack including the OS which creates a very streamlined experience that just works. Maybe its what will make Linux more mainstream!

Linux has gone mainstream a long time ago - from dvd players to android phones. It just hasn’t succceeded on old preexisting markets ( personal computers ) but has taken large parts of most of the newly created ones ( servers , mobile devices , embedded devices etc )

Linux kernel is an implementation detail on Android, not exposed to userspace.

Consumers don't care what kernel runs on their electronics.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#62
post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is a little nitpicky. Clearly they are talking about mainstream for the average home computer user as a daily driver OS. Even with the steam deck it’s barely touching 5%. It’s still obscure and mysterious to the vast majority of the population in a way windows and macOS aren’t.

I've been a techie my whole life, and for me, the mysterious OS is macOS. I haven't used it since high school (late 90s), which is when I picked up linux at home. I was never able to afford mac products as a young person, and now that I can, I wouldn't part with linux.

I really don’t feel like I need to explain how this is not what I’m talking about.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#63
post #43
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya, the article doesn't specifically use the word demand but in the final section Is It Good? says "The estimated 12k to 15k weekly sales volume reflects the fact that this is not a mainstream home run." this implies that the 12k-15k is a demand number but we can't reach that conclusion with this data.

it also says: > On top of that, Valve may be constrained in the number of units they can actually ship, so there may be downward pressure on a higher demand. We don’t know for sure.

Given that the waitlist still exists, I think we can be pretty sure.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#64
post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I feel like this is a little nitpicky. Clearly they are talking about mainstream for the average home computer user as a daily driver OS. Even with the steam deck it’s barely touching 5%. It’s still obscure and mysterious to the vast majority of the population in a way windows and macOS aren’t.

The percentage of computers involved running Windows when you Google, Netflix, Amazon, Bank, Email on your Windows laptop is less then 50%.

As I said to the other person, I really don’t feel like I need to explain how this is not what we are talking about.

Go ask 100 random people to name 1 Linux distro.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#65

This is why I would never make it in business. I just don't see the consumer case for buying a Steam Machine. They're too expensive for the console niche they're intended to occupy.

The selling point, for me, is that it's a console in both form factor (not a PC tower, smaller than small PC cases) and easy of use (you plug it in, you play games, no shopping around for parts), yet because it's a PC you have control over it (load non-Steam games, use the desktop to do whatever, install a different OS even).

Clearly not for everyone, but for someone like me who wants a more powerful box than the Steam Deck or Switch under a TV, yet hates the locked-down nature of the traditional console makers (which are just slowly getting worse, viz. Sony's announcement to kill physical media and the control it brings owners).

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's an Nvidia branch of Bazzite, and it works great. I'm even surprisingly able to play Star Citizen, which is notoriously finicky.

Can you explain what the point of Bazzite is? I don't really understand what it adds over installing Lutris onto whatever distro you would otherwise have used

It’s just an opinionated, gaming-centric build of Fedora Silverblue/Kinoite. It ships with everything preconfigured for typical gamers that just want a low barrier to entry and low maintenance burden. It’s extremely plug-and-play.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#67

This is why I would never make it in business. I just don't see the consumer case for buying a Steam Machine. They're too expensive for the console niche they're intended to occupy.

Consoles are quite expensive too these days. I think if not for the whole AI hypetrain and subsequent chip shortage, price for Steam Machine would have been more friendly.

They've said as much.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#68
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The sad thing is, they're not. A lot of people have not been paying attention to PC costs. This is what they cost now. I've seen a few "make your own" builds online. If you use new parts, you might save 80$, and you generally don't get the form factor, efficiency, integrated Steam Controller puck, or visual appearance with those builds, plus, you know, you're building then yourself which should be counted for at leas…

> integrated Steam Controller puck This is part of the controller, not the Machine. Unless you mean software integration, then it's on SteamOS and the Steam client, both of which can run on custom hardware.

No, it's part of the Machine. Direct quote from the Steam Machine page:

"Steam Controller's wireless adapter is built right into Steam Machine for direct pairing. "

It has dedicated hardware for pairing with Steam Controllers without needing a puck adapter plugged into a USB port.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#69
post #63
post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it also says: > On top of that, Valve may be constrained in the number of units they can actually ship, so there may be downward pressure on a higher demand. We don’t know for sure.

Given that the waitlist still exists, I think we can be pretty sure.

Yes, but it does not tell you if the demand is 3x what the supply is right now or simply slightly above supply.

Re: Steam Machine: Between 12k and 15k Units Sold per week

#70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Linux has gone mainstream a long time ago - from dvd players to android phones. It just hasn’t succceeded on old preexisting markets ( personal computers ) but has taken large parts of most of the newly created ones ( servers , mobile devices , embedded devices etc )

Yes - but this will be the year of Linux on the desktop.

one of the more interesting things about the harnesses and agents is that they solve a lot of the ops issues in both linux and windows desktops.

A prompt with - "disable telemetry, disable useless services and memory hogging ones, disable auto restart" makes windows quite bearable.

Post reply on HN