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Steam Machine

store.steampowered.com

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Re: Steam Machine

#831

Post by fullstop »

graynk wrote: post #699
thadt wrote: post #29

Pretty much the only reason I boot to Windows anymore is to play games with my kids and family. The direction of this thing is dangerously close to being all I'd care about from a desktop computer. If Valve pivoted into making a well-supported laptop with good hardware that ran Linux and played games...

I believe you're looking for https://system76.com/

I have a System76 laptop, and I bought it because they supported Linux and because I could buy replacement parts if I needed them.

The battery swelled, so I contacted them and they don't sell the battery anymore. I tried ordering one from, literally, half a dozen places online and was refunded each time because it simply does not exist.

Re: Steam Machine

#832

Post by saghm »

BlueTemplar wrote: post #827
saghm wrote: post #823

My theory for a bit now has been that Valve is playing the long game in trying to make SteamOS a mainstay gaming platform as an alternative to Windows, and that the hardware products are essentially a way of breaking into that market. Even a few years ago, the idea of a custom Linux distro based on Arch Linux with both a built-in full desktop mode and a lower-powered gaming mode that you could switch between on a han…

Didn't Gabe Newell basically confirm 13 years ago already that they were aiming for that ? https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18996377

I'd love to be confident that the company's strategy is sound enough to keep the same long-term goals from that far back, but I don't think I'm sure enough to make strong assumptions about what the overall motivations of products launched in 2025 are from his comments in 2012. I do think that it's a plausible explanation, but there's plenty of room for humility in attempting to interpret whether intent has changed in the light of over a decade of new circumstances that may or may not have been expected.

Re: Steam Machine

#833

Post by BlueTemplar »

DiskoHexyl wrote: post #769

SteamOS has way more appeal to gamers in 2025 than it could have had in, say, 2004. On the surface the lack of popular multiplayer titles that require a kernel-level anti-cheat is a heavy downside, but gaming is extremely fragmented these days. In 2004 everyone, save for the casual players, at least tried DOOM3 and Half-Life 2. In 2025 Fortnight has an all-time peak of 12M players, but at the same time there are many…

Your comparisons are a mess.

"Casual player" is very poorly defined.

You are comparing concurrent players with unique players (IIRC half a billion for Fortnite ?)

"Many millions" hardly means anything when you use it to cover 3 orders of magnitude.

And so on and so forth...

Re: Steam Machine

#834

Post by rockostrich »

thadt wrote: post #29

Pretty much the only reason I boot to Windows anymore is to play games with my kids and family. The direction of this thing is dangerously close to being all I'd care about from a desktop computer. If Valve pivoted into making a well-supported laptop with good hardware that ran Linux and played games...

> If Valve pivoted into making a well-supported laptop with good hardware that ran Linux and played games...

The Steam Deck is kind of close to this although the screen isn't the best. I think the closest you can get to this right now is adding a graphics card module on a Framework laptop.

Re: Steam Machine

#835

Post by gorfian_robot »

echoing others here in that I want Steam Lap(top).

I am old and never into controller/couch gaming after the Atari era. I prefer either keyboard/mouse or gameboy for those nintendo exclusives.

I also travel a lot and a console or desktop PC just doesn't make sense in my life.

Maybe soon!

Re: Steam Machine

#836

Post by Powdering7082 »

lazyfanatic42 wrote: post #775
Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe wrote: post #621

> Install your own apps, or even another operating system. Who are we to tell you how to use your computer? I'm so happy to read this

Valve respects its customers. It is so insane that this isn't a norm; what a world we would be in if all companies did so.

Except that you don't own the things you buy on steam

Re: Steam Machine

#837

Post by colordrops »

akimbostrawman wrote: post #640
serf wrote: post #634

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I'm so happy to read this it rings hollow from a company whose entire bedrock for existence is DRM procedures. does Steam still disallow accounts from playing more than one independently owned game at a time without special procedures?

Steam DRM is weak, non intrusive and optional so complain to the devs for enabling it. I rather take steam DRM than securerom or denuvo.

That has nothing to do with launching more than one steam game at once not being allowed.

Re: Steam Machine

#838

Post by 0xWTF »

USB2-A ... what? Why? It's almost 2026. Apple hasn't shipped USB-A since 2017. But ok, apparently there's a bunch of PC folks still rocking USB-A. Cool, love that for them. But why not make them all USB3-A?

Re: Steam Machine

#839

Post by nwsm »

SmallDeadGuy wrote: post #804
surajrmal wrote: post #782

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was a heavy gamer in 2004 and never played HL2 or DOOM3. I know many such people. I think games like Mario party, smash, and Mario kart were far more ubiquitous.

That just sounds like all you had access to was a Nintendo console, not necessarily due to your own choice. I missed out on all the early zelda, metroid, and mario home console games because we were a playstation family until the wii.

Saying “everyone” played those two titles is still incorrect. Personally I think the landscape was more fragmented then.

Re: Steam Machine

#840

Post by yencabulator »

spaceman_2020 wrote: post #779
thadt wrote: post #29

Pretty much the only reason I boot to Windows anymore is to play games with my kids and family. The direction of this thing is dangerously close to being all I'd care about from a desktop computer. If Valve pivoted into making a well-supported laptop with good hardware that ran Linux and played games...

Only reason I even had a windows machine too. I got rid of it because I realized after a long tiring day sitting upright, I really did not find sitting even more upright and playing games relaxing. I wanted to plop down on the couch and do it. And it was a gigantic tower that was taking up too much space in my office If I could have a machine like this instead, I'd happily buy it instead. Windows has zero use for me…

Playing PC games with a controller, lounging back in a good recliner, is much more relaxing. Many games work great like that, and Steam tells you how well any particular game works with a controller.
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