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I don’t need a Steam Machine

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Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#201

Post by philistine »

harvey9 wrote: post #188
pwdisswordfishs wrote: post #171

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The hardware does not compare favorably to a 2024 (current, in other words) Mac Mini. Consider what the Steam Machine requires sacrificing: - fewer USB-C connectors - larger physical footprint - can't buy and take it home today It's hard to do an apples-to-apples comparison between the chips, but where one is better than the other on some dimension, it's offset by some other. They're approximately comparable. Now, wh…

Depends what people are buying a steam machine for and what are the alternatives. Can you use a Mac mini for pretty much the same purpose? Genuine question since I'm not a gamer nor a Mac user.

The Mac Mini does not have the sustained thermal capability of the big 6-inch fan in the Steam Machine. So it'll throttle. The Mac Studio probably has better thermals than what Steam will ship, but it's far more expensive.

The Mac Mini can play many games, but it cannot play most games like this Steam Machine. Developers barely supported the Mac before the ARM switch, and now it's somehow even worse.

Gaming with a Mac is an exercice in zen enlightenment.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#202

Post by zeld4 »

dangus wrote: post #19

I was kind of annoyed at the blog post for being kind of pointless until the last line, which cracked me up. The Steam Machine is surely meant to be somewhere between mainstream and niche. It’s going to be cheap enough to be a pretty good deal for what it is, but I think those who are already PC builders (at least, those who aren’t unusually high-income and will toss money at a novelty) might not jump on it. The devi…

I'm on the fence for SM bc of 8GB GPU RAM, but I just enjoy the tsunami of chinese followups after it, so guess I just have to buy one SM to make the wave work.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#203

Post by porridgeraisin »

RamRodification wrote: post #47
Aeolun wrote: post #2

All of this is true, but Valve is one of the best companies I know and for now, I’ll happily give them money. It’s not about the fact that I’m actually going to use it. It’s about the fact that I want people to keep making things like this. It’s about the fact I want to reward them for not locking it down completely.

I wish I had that kind of money. Making a purchase solely for such reasons is completely out of the question for me. And for most people I'd assume?

There's also another way to interpret that. For me for example, I have the same PC for 5 years now, and before that I had the same one for 10 years. Basically, I run it till I really really can't. I can afford replacements more than once every 10 years, but I don't buy it simply cos it's not necessary. But in this situation if I had a similar fondness for valve, I might go ahead and buy it and cut short my not-for-affordability-reasons wait.

I know a lot of people that behave this way with phone purchases.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#204

Post by porridgeraisin »

cardanome wrote: post #125

My only problem is that the hardware looks downright antiquated compared to the near-silent and power efficient setup offering world leading single-core performance that you get with a Mac Mini. Especially when both run ARM so you have a apple(s) to apples comparison. I still hope they succeed. Steam is the one good monopolists that will probably only go full evil when Gabe dies. My dream would be Steam OS on hardwar…

Steam machine is x86

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#205

Post by philistine »

shantara wrote: post #30
0x073 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then sony produce ps only exclusive s. No pc ports anymore.

Sony’s current tactics is to publish all their releases on PC 6-12 months later. Doing this expands the potential player base and even makes some players to double dip and buy the game twice

If this Steam Machine really takes off and starts impacting Sony's ability to sell Playstation consoles, you bet your ass Sony will stop porting games to PC.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#206

Post by philistine »

dangus wrote: post #25
0x073 wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Then sony produce ps only exclusive s. No pc ports anymore.

I don’t think that’s true. The whole reason they’re producing PC ports is to sell the most profitable part (software) to those who to haven’t been giving them money. Sony makes zero dollars off of the consoles, and while they do enjoy taking their PS Store royalties rather than giving it up to Steam, they also have a huge collection of first party studios that might even be a more important business. And it’s not lik…

How could you believe that Sony would give up 30% of every Call of Duty, Madden, Fortnite sale for the measly PC sales of Slapper-Man 2 and God of Warm?

Every Steam Machine sold that plays Sony's exclusives is a genuine threat to Sony's control over the gaming market. The more I think about it, the more I believe Sony's games coming to PC is over since yesterday's announcement.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#207

Post by AstroBen »

dminik wrote: post #189
cubefox wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You wouldn't like Valve so much if you explicitly saw the 30% Steam tax, I mean fee, declared every time you bought a PC game on Steam. Imagine if Microsoft did that. +30% for every Windows software. Like iOS. Then Steam games would be +60% rather than +30%.

It's not really a tax though. Other platforms offer a lower percentage (Epic: 0% up to 1000000 copies sold and 12% above) and yet the prices on Epic aren't cheaper than on steam. If the final price doesn't change based on the storefront cut, then as a consumer, I don't care.

Doesn't Steam have a price-parity clause in their contracts with developers?

https://www.wolfire.com/blog/2021/05/Regarding-the-Valve-cla...

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#208

Post by eigenspace »

tpoacher wrote: post #178
eigenspace wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's certainly not an existential threat to Playstation, but Xbox certainly has weakened itself enough that yes, this could be another nail in the coffin, given that their plan was to retreat into the Windows ecosystem. The low specs aren't a problem if it's cheap enough, but for every dollar this goes above the retail price of a PS5 will seriously hurt its mass appeal. The problem for Valve is that they can't really…

> If this thing is way cheaper than a regular computer of the same spec, corporations will just buy up Steam Machines by the palette load and use them as office machines or whatever On one hand, this would be a problem. On the other hand, if the Steam Machine doesn't support windows, businesses fleeing from MS Windows en masse because the Steam Machine is cheap would be a VERY interesting turn of events, and I'd be V…

Sorry if I was unclear, but what I was saying was that this would be unsustainable because the only way it'd be possible is if Valve was subsidizing each unit in hopes of recouping their losses on Steam game sales.

If that happened, Valve would get bankrupted by companies buying up subsidized Steam Machines with no intention of playing games on them.

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#209

Post by lp0_on_fire »

mkjs wrote: post #66
mariopt wrote: post #12

Steam Machines can become an existencial crisis for PlayStation and Xbox. A “console” that I can use as a PC? I am in 100%. You’ll get the world biggest game library at a discount, this is why I sold my PlayStation after spending 200 euros and watching it becoming useless. I also suspect a lot of game devs will optimize for steam machine and finally we’ll get a console like experience on PC. Don’t let the “low specs”…

It's not a console you can use as a PC, it's a PC you can use as a PC. If you want a console you can use as a PC, the next Xbox is rumoured to be along those lines. It will run Windows so you can play Steam, GOG etc but will also run the existing Xbox library natively. The 70% figure needs to be taken in context, tons of people have Steam installed on old computers that they use for old games. I currently have it ins…

Is that actually confirmed? That Microsoft is going to allow steam and other third party stores on the new Xbox console?

Re: I don’t need a Steam Machine

#210

Post by rgreekguy »

oliwarner wrote: post #100
dizhn wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you don't need to get an expensive gaming PC your should not get an expensive gaming PC. The steam hardware isn't magic. You can already get equivalent specs for cheap.

You can? What am I looking for? I've tried to hit the $600 mark and in the past few years it's gotten harder and harder. The GPU invariably ruins things. And normal APUs are too asthmatic to really game on.

Good, the Steam Machine won't be 600$ most likely, either.

Also you don't necessarily need a dedicated GPU, unless you go with Intel.

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