Are you gonna be buying a Steam machine?
I'm lucky enough to have disposable income, I could afford to buy one without it hurting. That said, idk just off principle it feels like an insane ask. Especially considering its not doing anything a PC can't do (as far as I know). For those not in the know, the cheapest edition will be about 1,000 USD and the most pricy will be around 1,500. To my knowledge, consoles themselves aren't profitable historically. So, do you think even at this price point Valve is taking a hit? Do you think if this sells well it will drastically increase the cost of other consoles (completely independent of the external factor being hardware shortage due to AI). General steam machine discussion post as well, just dont be a dickhead to anyone.
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No the hardware is not good for the price.
It's weaker than the ps5.
I already built my own loungeroom PC 18 months ago with a used rx580, amd 5600X, and 32gb RAM. This was just before the RAM crisis, so 32gb DDR4 was relatively cheap. I run Bazzite on it, and get a very SteamOS-like experience. Whole thing cost me less than half what they are asking for a Steam Machine.
I have no need for one. The PC I currently have vastly out-perforns it.
I had been hoping to use it to stream to the steam frame when that releases, but looking at the performance I don't think it'll be able to run any games that are even slightly heavy in vr. No uevr mods, but i suppose it can probably run most dedicated vr games as they are pretty light.
Still, that's a big compromise to eat considering the price.
nah. its not better than my PC.
Yes. It’s too expensive for sure, but it is exactly what I want. I have no interest in doing any manual work to get a functioning Non-Windows gaming PC into my living room. I just want plug and play and that’s what Valve offers.
Machine? No.
Frame? Yes.
Would I like it to be cheaper. Of course. Are gaming consoles cheaper of course.
But I cant name 1 system or PC, which can waken when a Bluetooth Controller connects to it, and can play every game I own from the last 15 years, and every console game from the last 25 years.
Even Nintendo nickels and dimes you for this privilege, and with a one time purchase I can just remove my consoles and just use a Steam Machine, sign me up.
Not even PlayStation 5 can do what the steam machine does out of the box.
My PS4 wakes up when the bluetooth controller connects to it.
Your PS4 can’t play PS3 games, the Steam Machine can, nor can it play N64 and GameCube titles.
Homebrew can eventually fix the later, but the ps4 doesn’t have enough power for the former.
I'm not suggesting it can do those things. You said no known system or console can wake on a Bluetooth connection, I said PS4 can. I don't have a PS5, but it probably does too.
Most consoles made since 2005 can wake from sleep on by turning on a controller.
But PCs cannot since it wasn’t a feature added to them.
However a PC can play older games, not just going back 20 years, but with emulation can play games as far back as games from the 70s.
A PS4/5 can’t do that since unless the developer needs to add support for it, or made a rerelease with their older games. So your PS4 isn’t play Super Mario Sunshine or even Brothers. Let alone the thousands of games which are classified as abandonware.
Which is what makes the steam deck alluring even at its inflated price point.
Probably not.
Even if it does rugs and upholstery both, they just don't get that dirty, normally. Almost all light stains I can get out with a careful application of soap & water and judicious toweling. Plus there's always rentals if needed.
I don’t know if mine is actually steam but having a machine feels like it’s been a good investment as a pet owner. Our dog is very good about going outside to potty but she does throw up from time to time and she will always try to find the limited amount of carpet we have in our house (I think it’s the closest thing to grass in her mind). Maybe it would be cheaper still to go rent a machine, but the convenience of being able to use it right away also has to be considered.
Oof yah, a pet situation could change everything, stat.
idk we have one of those small handheld ones you can get at Walmart for like $20 for getting out wrinkles and getting odors out of things like heavy coats that you can't clean otherwise. it's also great for reshaping things that wouldn't otherwise survive an iron like vinyl game maps that come in a tube or my old stethoscope from school that had been coiled up in storage.
Sold!
Yes. I have many PCs and laptops around the house already but I simply want it as a luxury item and to support the idea of open game consoles.
No
Hell no, I can still play all the games I want with my own computer from 2010, lol.
No one on Lemmy is going to be looking for an entry-level device, we're all boomers with custom rigs already.
PC gamers already have PCs, and console gamers don't want to spend $1000 on a console-PC. That seems to be the general vibe. It's not looking great.
The Steam Deck came in at a competetive price, and a handheld form factor, those two things made it a success.
You're missing an entire market segment of gadget nerds. I have no practical need for steam machine but I'm still getting it because it's fun, it's beautiful and it supports ideals I'm interested in. 1,000 usd is nothing for a luxury gadget.
Yeah but no way that market is big enough for valve to keep building steam machines.
Let's wait and see but I think it very well might be big enough.
It's a PC. Why wouldn't it do anything a PC can't do.
That being said, it does have the connections to wake the machine and your TV by acticating a connected Steam Controller
I assume you could just install a windows partition and it could be your family PC if you wanted. Or you could just use linux.
Honestly, there is no reason the family PC should be windows. Windows has become an entirely inferior product for everything except some specialist software which you can not run through wine. But for that just use a windows VM
I'm glad it exists because it's a much better alternative to consoles, but no, there's no point in buying that instead of a PC unless you have money to throw around on cool hardware
Yeah I'd agree.
I am, yes.
I’ve been building custom PCs for myself and my family/friends for the better part of 2 decades now. I know I can get a better deal on used parts to run a more powerful machine. But you know what means? I play tech support for my friends and family.
I’m buying this for myself but installing it where most people I know come walking through. Setting it up as a show piece to get people to ask about Linux and to ask about the PC. If this thing holds up as well as my Steam Deck with support, updates, and stability? I’ll go halves with all my gamer friends and relatives just to get them on a machine I won’t be called about because windows decided to release another borked update…
Obviously I have the exposable income to support this and am extremely lucky. I fully get why people are upset and think it’s a rip off tho.
If I didn’t already have a gaming PC and a Steam Deck, maybe.
This is the boat I'm in.
I put a reservation down to help a friend get one. But I'm holding out for that Frame..
Same here... I already have a "steam machine". I have a gaming PC connected to my TV via sunshine/moonlight (previously steam link). Heck you could even go HDMI cable, but I wanted to keep my PC in my office so I can use it as a work computer as well. If I didn't build my own gaming PC a few years ago I'd strongly consider it, though.
No. I still have an AM4 PC that does everything I've asked it to do. While I applaud Valves contribution to the industry... it ain't fucking worth that. The real win is SteamOS pushing through and getting desktop OS support for all users.
Wasn't planning on it even before the price announcement, since it still would have been more economical to just upgrade my existing rig even if the SM was $750.
But now I'm not sure if I'll be able to get a Steam Frame if they are also expensive as fuck.
No. Lol.
Nope.
I'll be using Boosteroid.
Nope. Getting an Anbernic and Steam Deck opened the way to easy playing of older games, and I’ve been having a great time.
Recently I bought a mini PC with AMD 760M iGPU, just to get something modern, cheap and good enough in case prices get even worse.
Been playing Return To Castle Wolfenstein, The Settlers II remake, ballisticng, Fallout 4… quite a few other cheap and/or old games.
If triple A games are going to cost that much to play moving forwards I’m just not going to play them 👍
Probably not, but I do have a Steam Deck and might buy a Steam Frame.
The cost is definitely a factor, but also, I've been building computers since the 90s and even my laptop can run everything I play already: I don't have much need for another computer right now, even if Valve made it. If I did really need a computer, I'd probably just build a better one for cheaper and slap Bazzite or Cachy on it.
If the price goes down, I might reconsider: I do like supporting companies that do right by their customers and Valve is one of the very few that still seem to make that effort.
Tbh I'm in the same-ish boat, but, given the unknown economic situation in 6 months, I'm saving my disposable income. If everything chugs along, that $1500 unit might be up to $1800; if we hit the operational floor on oil, that $1500 would be better spent elsewhere. I'd rather spend another $300 come Christmas than starve; the steam machine will still be there if bigger problems don't arise.
I don’t have any solid gaming console or PC at the moment.
I have an Xbox Series S, a Nintendo Switch, and a Steam Deck.
I have been wanting to build or buy a decent PC for years, but money has always been tight.
All this to say… maybe? It seems to be on par with the prices of prebuilts. My job uses a third party system to give us bonuses and we can use them to get digital giftcards.
I am trying to convince them to add Steam giftcards to it. If I can get that it means I’ll definitely eventually be able to get a Steam Machine. But also I’m hoping that the price decreases over time, as unlikely as that may be.
This is an “eventual” purchase and not an immediate one, in my eyes at least.
For now, I have plenty of games I can run well on my Steam Deck, since I hardly played my Xbox. 8 basically skipped out on gaming from 2016-2025 really.
The Steam Machine would really just be something I’d remote play from the Deck from to either conserve battery life or run more demanding games, like BG3 or E33. Basically anything with unreal haha.
I suspect the price will decrease over time, but it might take several years with current supply chain problems caused by AI.
That’s okay. I’ve been an unintentional member of the patient gamers club for years now.
FYI, physical Steam gift cards are out of production and will not be restocked. It was announced a week or two ago. Not sure if your work does physical or virtual cards
They’re all digital gift cards from what I’ve seen. I do appreciate the warning though!
Nope. Way too expensive.
I really like the idea of being able to sit in front of my TV and play Steam games on it as if they were Playstation games. I think I'd play them a lot more than I currently do, since I wouldn't need to go to my home office and sit where I spend most of my day already.
I have a pretty powerful PC for work purposes (image and video editing mainly) so it can handle most games fine (maybe not the absolute top end ones, I'm not sure) but I'm not going to move that into the living room.
So the Steam Machine feels like a great idea...
But I can't help but feel that there'll be issues with it - underpowered maybe, or lacking in features. Plus the rising cost is a pain.
Will wait to see how it turns out for early adopters. But I hope it's a success, I really do.
I’m the same way. I have a PC but I don’t want to game at the desk anymore, and I have a deck but not everything feels right on the small screen. I was going to get the steam machine, but the price came in higher than expected, and I would also need to get a controller… I will wait and see how the release goes. But there’s some fomo, because the deck has been out of stock for a while (I couldn’t upgrade to oled)
I was pretty set on buying one regardless when it was announced and still plan to. I knew the price was going up but with the delay I had time to save more. I like the compactness of it and it would be great next to my Mac Mini M1 on my TV shelf. I also want to reward the adoption of Linux as a gaming platform, and buying Valve hardware is the best way right now to vote with your wallet that Linux is the future of gaming. I bought multiple Steam Decks and I bought both the 2015 and 2026 Steam Controllers. I want the Machine.
Also, it has RGB! I need to get one to add it to OpenRGB.
The question is whether I'll get it with or without a second controller, and I think that comes down to whichever queue I get selected for in the random drawing.
Yep. I'm downsizing and will be selling my gaming rig in favour of something small and less power hungry. Yes, the cube is more expensive than what I'd like but I'll be making a huge profit from my pre-2025 era PC anyway so I can afford it. It does what I want it to and there may even be opportunity to upgrade individual components down the line anyway since it is effectively just a mini-pc.
CPU and GPU are soldered to the board. Only effective upgrade are system memory and storage. Think of it as a nuc or laptop board.
Why? I already have a PC, and if I didn't and were in the market for one I have a small one bedroom apartment, which is enough space to not have to budget every square inch. That means paying hundreds of monies more for a PC that's less powerful just because it's also a bit more compact would be a poor decision.
Not at current spec and price. I don't think it's worth what I would get. It's also already sold out except the 512 w/ steam controller version for my region so I couldn't even if I wanted to for the larger spec versions.
I'll just slowly continue to upgrade my PC as money allows.
Its not sold out. They have not sold any yet. Its a raffle to see if you can even buy one but you have to sign up before tomorrow. Here is the page description.
"Join the list any time before June 25th at 10 a.m. PT. On that date, the list will be closed and randomized, and you will receive an email with your results shortly after."
I was looking at the home page which just said 'sold out' under each one except the 512 w/ steam controller. This morning, they're all just listed as 'sold out'. No mention of a lottery anywhere there. It's not surprising, though, given so many things are lotteries here. Still, if that many people entered, I would expect it to functionally behave the same as being sold out since the lottery winners will presumably snap them all up.
It's not just the price, it's the hardware. They could have gone for a slightly more powerful gpu, even in their thermal emvelope, and it'd xonfpunding they didn't. This way it gets beaten by a PS5, on both price and performance.
Doesn't mean I'd buy a PS5, but does mean there's many better options, even if you want small and quiet.
The PS5 is subsidized to get you into the ecosystem. Valve let's you play anything you like on the Steam Machine, so no incentive for them to sell at a loss.
I imagine they went for the less powerful GPU because hardware prices are insane across the board right now and Valve has no negotiating power with the manufacturers, as they said.
I don't want them to subsidise it, the current price doesn't really matter to me. It's just that for their niche, the hardware isn't quite where it'd need to be.
That's the thing I don't get - compared to current flash prices, the cost of tooling and designing a custom pcb, going for a 20% more powerful gpu shouldn't have been a crazy blocker.
Unlikely. Was going to get one to replace my old pc but I gave up waiting back in April when a local pc shop had a sale. I'm glad I bought then because the prices have just keep going up since.
maybe, to replace my ageing Minisforum mini computer
i had thought of the Framework Desktop but was waiting to see what the Steam Machine brought to the table.
Nah, my PC is still good. Will be buying Half-Life 3 though if they release that.
Eventually, when the gen 2 comes out, I intend to pick up a used gen 1 to replace my Raspberry Pi 5. It's one of the very few general-purpose computers that has HDMI CEC support natively, and with KDE Plasma Bigscreen it should be a monster of a set top box.
No. I already own a PC.
Not for $1500 CAD I’m not.
No. With that price, extra no.
But in the current economy I'm not really buying anything else either.
I don't really have a use case, but I would have considered picking one up anyways sometime down the line if it was a good deal. It's unfortunate that it's not. I was really hoping that Valve would try to subsidize it a little to at least make the cost not as painful, but I understand that it was never an expectation for them to do so.
I think it'll sell anyways, since there are people who don't want to worry about the technical challenges of building their own computer, and also don't want to spend time looking into and vetting pre-built brands. They just want a pre-built from a brand that they already know and trust. And I think the Steam Machine would fill that niche. It's a niche of a niche of a niche, but I suspect there would be enough people like that to still sell a decent number of Steam Machines.
As for the prices of other consoles? Steam Machine is such a low volume product that other consoles would not feel a thing no matter how successful it sells
Nah, I have a Steam Deck for travel and I don't really feel like I need anything else. Also, I couldn't really afford one anyhow.
No. I already have a good gaming pc. I wanted one for living room gaming but not for that price.
No, just build a PC recently right before price going shit.
But also if i wanted to, i can't, or i'll be paying scalper + dropshipper price.
Maybe in a year or so. My Deck still works fine, not in a rush to replace it. The Frame on the other hand, probably a day one purchase.
I was going to save up for a 600 bucks version but I ended up buying a 200 bucks second hand gaming PC six months ago which will have to do.
After it was announced I was considering it, to replace an old (non-gaming) PC that I still need to use occasionally. But honestly, even if the price was half what it is, I don't think it would really serve much point in my hands.
The Steam Frame is what I'm really interested in, if I have the cash to splurge on it when it finally releases I'll probably nab it.
Probably not.
No, as that would be stupid of them. Why would they subsidize a normal PC? This would lead to people buying them with the purpose of deliberately not using steam.
Excluding the whole AI bs: it should not but it probably will as any way to raise the prices is welcome to Microslop, Sony and Nintendo.
They're already telegraphing that the current Xbox business model has to change. I'm guessing that means unsubsidized consoles.
I wish I could, but that price is way too high for me to justify it. If the price ever comes down I would be happy to see about getting one. I think at that price point it's only really accessible to enthusiasts with a lot of disposable income. There were a lot of more casual gamers that were interested in the machine before the price. They were able to get a deck at a $300-400 mark and they were interested to see what the Steam Machine would be offered at. But I am certain at this price that none of those people are going to get one. I'm sure the price is due to AI fucking everyone and not because Valve just wants to squeeze out money. But I think the result of this is that it's not going to be the widespread go-to option for a lot of gamers. It definitely hurt it's chances with a ton of potential customers.
I can't find full-time work for over a year. I can't afford Chinese takeout. I want one, but it's far outside my price range.
Probably, if I can. My PC is a prebuilt one from four years ago, it's really showing its age. I'm not sure if another pre built would be better, but the steam machine has tremendously better stats than my current system.
I know I could probably build a PC and get better value, but I hate assembling the bastards so much its worth having someone else do it for me.
And I don't know how much of a better deal it might be these days.
I'm 50/50 as of today and have another day or two to decide before the wait list closes. The 2TB version with controller is the only one I would want, and it is 50% more than I wanted to spend.
But, the form factor and being ready to go out of the box is extremely enticing. The games I would play on it are the ones in my backlog that I don't get to as they are more fun on a TV than a PC but switching screens is annoying. The way I see it is the steam machine is buying a console that can play all of the games I already have, which is far better deal than a console that I would need to buy games for.
It wouldn't be a great way to spend money today, but it wouldn't be a strain so I might end up flipping a coin tomorrow to decide.
Simply cannot justify that price.
I would if it was $499
Consoles never made sense to me. I need to upgrade my GPU soon I guess, my GTX 1660S wants to get replaced at one point. However I am enjoying rising Linux compatibility, last 2 years have been great. So go guys buy Valve hardware ;)
Not really, I don't have money for a separate gaming console, and if I had, I'd probably still invest in my work machine. I want mass adoption for it become a reference in optimization for Linux systems but I myself can't chip in - I think that contradiction is shared by many.
No, but i really want one. Maybe in a few years if this insane computer pricing chills out a little or if I get a lot of money somehow.
Got a reservation but haven't fully committed yet. I guess I have…er…reservations about it?
No, but I was never the target audience and I wouldn't have bought one regardless of price. I'm currently using a laptop and if I ever want a stationary gaming machine again I'll just build one myself, I don't care for a console-like experience either so even SteamOS isn't a selling point for me.
Nope. Pretty sure that they're at least breaking even on the hardware. It's a PC, they can't be sure of future game sales. You could use alternative stores, pirate everything, or not use it for gaming at all.
Nah. If it became cheaper or I found one on Ebay for a much lower price one day then maybe. The price it is at now is just too much and you may as well just build a very decent mid range gaming PC for that amount.
I sure hope it does not increase the cost of future consoles. Many will be locked out of the gaming market altogether if that happens because a lot are living on the edge as it is already from paycheck to paycheck.
Maybe if a major component in my PC dies, but for now I'm happy to see how it goes.
I play all my games on Steam and the console like experience sounds like it's up my alley but I prefer having a desktop and streaming over WiFi. If I were to upgrade anything in my setup it'd be a graphics card, not an entire machine.
I'm not really part of the target audience. I already have a laptop that's slightly more powerful and I could hook it up to my TV if that was a thing I wanted to do. I don't need a separate gaming PC for my living room.
Nah, my existing PC is good enough. But I'm very likely to get the Steam Frames once they're out. And I'll probably be playing around with SteamOS on my own machine, just because apparently it's compatible
No. The most intensive game I play is Skyrim. Someday though I might take an used SFF pre-built (like the thinkcentre), plop a low profile GPU into it, and play some slightly heavier games lile Dark Souls 3
Yes, it's a pretty well built gaming system. I could use a replacement and it's not that expensive compared to systems I've built in the past.
When you frame it like that it isn't really that bad. The first PC I built back in 2014 was around 1500, including peripherals so around 1100-1200 alone. But Its so much more useful than a individual console. I've been comparing it to an Xbox not an actual PC.
Exactly
When the ps6 costs over $1000 this will be positioned well.
Right now it might be ahead of its time but that’s not out of character for valve. It’s easier to react to market conditions if you already have a product than it is to spin one up in a hurry.
I think they expect early adopters at this stage, it will get them early feedback and drives some platform revenue.
The problem is that the Ps6 is likely to have higher specs if it's at a similar price point. I've heard that this box has similar specs to the Ps5 so it's unlikely that Ps6 will have similar specs to this
It's a point of pride to build my own PCs, including Linux boxes.
I was lucky enough to out together a nice PC just before the AI thing made the prices explode, plus I've been a PC gamer all my life (except for the PS1 I had as a kid), so I won't buy the Machine.
That said, I had high hopes it'd be a success, more so given how well the Controller has sold, and that it'd be the things that brought Linux to lots of people who would never consider it otherwise.
Unfortunately, I fear the price will damped things quite a bit.
I really want a powerful miniPC to replace my Rokus and also play 80% of my library. But $1100 for the 512gb without a controller is a hard pill to swallow. I can get an equivalent laptop for about the same price or less, and it's still portable.
Microcenter $1200
I reserved a 512gb and a 2tb, but I may hold out for the Frame. I fell like Valve should rethink the strategy, because there are a lot of console gamers that would break into the market if the price is right, $1,100 is too high. Especially since it still won't be able to play games with anti-cheat, so most of the competitive games aren't even an option.
Highly unlikely, so I'll say no.
The big appeal (for me) would be simplified gaming for the 1 television in my home, but I almost never get that tv to myself. The other big appeal to me would be to buy the mega max pro pro plus pro maxxx xxxl super mega 2TB with controller version and then sell at a higher price (i.e. scalp), but that's a little risky and not really a thing I'd ever really do.
I was only interested in the new controller to begin with, which that release has been botched to hell, so I'm not really likely to get one now. I simply do not want to pay that much AND wait that long to replace the crappy, god-awful, unreliable piece of shit PS4 pro controller of mine. There are a myriad of easier to find and/or cheaper options.
Going back to the Steam Machine itself: I assume it's highly unlikely that Valve is selling this kind of hardware at a loss. Given the current pricing, I'm even more confident in that assumption.
Thousands of people have "done the numbers", and while I'm not an expert on the parts and prices, the general consensus is that you can build something from off the shelf parts much cheaper. On the one hand, the Steam Machine is using some amount of custom parts and obviously using more expensive stuff for the smaller footprint, but on the other hand, they'd also likely be getting some amount of discount on a good portion of the parts/materials that wouldn't necessarily be available to hobbyists putting together a home PC. So, I'm going to say that's a wash.
You'd have to be very clear and very specific about what you mean "sells well" to comment there. I suspect that Valve knows that regardless of whether the price is competitive on a singular "by the specs" or "per performance" metric, there will be a solid number of people who will buy it. As long as they were relatively conservative with their estimates on the size of that crowd and produced fewer units than that, it will sell out. Selling out is certainly one way to define "sells well". This hardware was never going to sell at a magnitude similar to established console brands, so anybody using that as a metric for selling well is, I'll be nice, not being realistic.
Yup
I already have a full n gaming PC, but I also played a bit over the last month and built a Steam Machine for under $400 using an AMD BC-250 crypto mining card. From bc-250.info: A cut-down PlayStation 5 APU with 6 Zen 2 cores and 24 RDNA2 compute units, sharing 16GB of fast GDDR6 memory.
It takes some tweaking and it's not top of the line, but it's a fun project that can play most games. There is also a script that can let you unlock disabled compute units to increase performance assuming they are not damaged.
Im not currently in the market for a couch gaming type of system, as I mainly game in my room where my PC is, and if I want to play on the tv I have an HDMI more than long enough to allow for it.
However if I did want a system for downstairs I'd be more likely to pick up a steam machine over a ps5, even at the current price point
I’ve got a powered USB extension cable running to my basement so I can have my Steam Controller plugged in down there, and use my Xbox with Moonlight to stream my PC over Ethernet to the TV. No need.
I had considered it, but there’s no way at that price point. Also, like I said, no need.
No, i already have a pc and never really liked consoles. Got too comfortable with a keyboard and mouse setup. Yeah those do support keyboard and a mouse setup as well, but might as well get a PC at that point already.
And i do like to build and tinker with my hardware, much more easier on PC than with a console.
nope
I would have, if it was $750. I just can’t justify the price at $300 more. I have an ancient PC that still plays the old games I love and a PS5 for the new games. Not sure there are many PC exclusives that require top of the line hardware to run.
Even if I had the money, my hype for it has kinda died since I bought a used desktop from a pawn shop. Would be nice, but I'm not sure I could justify the price just for a more portable desktop like console thing. It sounds nice, but my Ste am Deck already kinda fills that niche for now.
No, but it's not the issue of the price. I have a capable gaming pc, though it's been a few generations. Still it holds up and I can game what I want in the quality I'm OK with.
But purchasing hardware has gotten so unattractive that I just don't care anymore. Until that shit is fixed I'll stay off that radar. Of course that might be never, but I also have a backlog that would take multiple lives to finish and it's still growing.
Nope both because i don't have that kind of disposable income and my laptop is currently fine with the handful of games i play and I dont need it for anything else heavy.
Nope, but I wasn't planning to buy one even before the price announcement. I have a solid upper-midrange PC that easily outperforms the Steam Machine and I also have it connected to my projector for living room gaming. Aside from having a neat design and formfactor, a low-spec PC with limited ports that I can't really upgrade just isn't appealing to me.
yeah, I am a huge valve fan and love everything they put out. It's the perfect emulator machine for me, I can move everything over from my pc to this
it's a straight downgrade for me, so no way I'd replace it as my daily driver.
I could consider one if the prices go down like below 600$ range, switch up my media center with it maybe. Impossible with the current prices though.
PC gaming is associated with high-end gaming, but Steam has the stats and they're targetting middde-of-the-road systems with the Steambow--a shockingly low standard to PC Master Race types.
No. I'll go for a regular PC at any price point really.
I still favour steam over the competitors due to their work on Proton and Linux in general.
Profitable console, probably not. Consoles are usually loss leaders but 93% of the Steam market is windows. They need to do something about it to not have nightmares about DirectX13 being Microsoft store only and 48 months of antitrust litigation bleeding them dry. They don't have to be successful, just a credible threat to keep Microsoft honest.
Other consoles probably won't change price because of the Steam machines, but may change price for the same reason a Steam machine does.
So serious question....why would anyone who owns a pc already buy this instead of saving up and upgrading their rig instead? Correct me if I'm wrong but your essentially buying a console for over a $1000 just to play some steam games? Sure it will run indie games no problem but you cant enjoy any current day AAA titles at their full potential with out melting this cube that looks like has no airflow. Also unless I'm missing something it has integrated cpu/GPU?
"Some Steam games"... If you look at it from a console gamer's perspective, Steam's back catalog is colossal. I have over 1000 games going back to the Half Life 2 days.
I haven't looked at the specs for the Steam Machines, but I doubt they're worse than a Switch 2 or an Xbox Series S. Modern AAA games already have to account for modest reference platforms. At least these don't have all the bloat of a Windows machine.
I'm not a hardcore gamer at all, not anymore (if I ever was), but my take on this is that I do have a solid PC, and quite a few Steam games, but I rarely play them because the PC is in my home office and I don't want to go there to relax in the evening. Being able to play them on my TV and on my sofa would be great.
I still probably won't get the Steambox, or not yet. But that's the appeal if it, for me, anyway.
I could afford it pretty easily if I needed it but I don't currently need a new PC so no reason to get one right now.
If I was looking for a new PC I would consider it but I kinda like building my own and having a case that comfortably fits anything I may want to put in there. Mini PCs are currently tempting me but that is on the very low spec/price side of things.
Running an RTX2070 right now and it is more than I need, tbh I am almost tempted to just wait until an iGPU is an upgrade, would mean replacing my 7th gen Ryzen too but by that point it will probably be fine.
Either way, if I don't need more performance then perhaps more power efficient is something to go for. Maybe in 2035 I will be gaming on a low-mid spec miniPC. Should be fine to run Factorio, Rimworld, CDDA... Hey, by then it will be retro gaming too, indie games from 2010s. But some of them may well still be getting updates.
Since I build my own computers and already have a living room PC running Linux, I wouldn't have even for $700.
I'm curious how it'll sell. Steam Controller is expensive but has high demand. Possibly the same thing happens even if the Steam Machine makes no sense for (probably?) most people posting here.
Not right now. I would like a Steam Deck for the portability but haven’t been able to get my hands on one so far (less inclined to buy a different option given the Deck’s repeatability/upgradability). Maybe in the future, if prices come down, but it would need to have games that make sense to play on a TV, ideally with friends or family, that I can’t play on something I already own.
No, I won't. If it was cheaper, I'd consider it.
My partner plays games on steam and uses my old gaming PC, running Bazzite and unfortunately with an nvidia GPU. Some games like The Last of Us II has lots of graphical glitches and we have to play around with the steam launch settings a lot.
It'd be awesome to buy a plug-and-play solution as I never know when there are issues with our PC whether it's to do with our specific setup, or the game's linux support in general.
As it stands we'll probably look to get an AMD GPU when we can afford it. Which I think will be in quite a while.
Up until recently I think I would have considered it. Reading court transcripts and seeing Gabe and his underlings lie through their teeth has changed my tune. I want nothing more to do with this monopoly corporation artificially keeping PC games priced high. Fuck Steam.
lol, no.
I want to laugh at the ex-friend now for him thinking the steam machine was going to be affordable and be a feasible option for those looking for - AFFORDABLE - building PC options.
What a moron.