I don’t understand why the Steam Machine is getting so much hate. The form factor is amazing and a huge part of the value proposition. It’s slightly bigger than a box of Kleenex and you can put it next to the TV, on your desk, etc. I’m tempted to get one just to free up the floor space used by my ATX case. The graphics capability seems good enough, most people can live without 4k gaming.
>I’m tempted to get one just to free up the floor space used by my ATX case
if you're willing to spend a grand just to free up a few inches of floor space I don't think you're going to understand the reaction of the average consumer to prices in the current economic climate
Apple is proof that people still like spending money on expensive little nice things, even in this economic climate.
I understand there is a segment that is disappointed that the Steam Machine isn't being priced as a discount item, but there is a large segment that still wants to pay.
I don't think the majority of ppl are giving it hate tbh - I think it's just a HN thing. everyone I know that is into gaming is excited about it. I would chalk it up to consumer misunderstanding around the pricing, but I actually think most consumers that are interested in buying a steam HW product are fully in the know why there's a chip shortage. I am in the group that is waiting for the price to drop, but I am excited to get mine!
The Steam Machine is a victim of RAM prices exploding. It's price is fair considering the price of its parts but also causes it to be in a price segment where I am not sure who it is for.
People that can afford a Steam Machine at the current price point are likely to already have stronger hardware.
A Mac Mini a similarly sized with like half the price with dramatically better CPU. Or if you could get a PS5 pro, still for cheaper with vastly superior gaming performance.
Valve could have started with a premium model for the hardcore fans that are less price sensitive and released a budget version later when maybe the RAM apocalypse has ebbed.
I don’t understand who the target is. I can afford one but I’ve already got a PS5 Pro and it just works. I’ve got a threadripper+blackwell running Linux too, but it gets 2/3 the framerate of when I boot it to windows for games. When I had more time and less money, I would have built a gaming PC that would be better and cheaper than the steam offering. So the market isn’t me.
Who is it? Who wants a gaming machine connected to their TV? Every PS5 and Nintendo owner. Are they the target market? Why would a PS5 owner spend $1100 on a machine that places games worse if at all? So I can FPS with a mouse? DRM doesn’t work. So I can play RTS? No I’m sitting at my desk over my keyboard.
Who wants a Linux PC connected to their TV that doesn’t already have a Linux PC connected to their TV? Who wants a smaller, less customizable box? That you can’t swap out the graphics card when they inevitably become a lot cheaper? Who wants a last gen AMD GPU and not be able to swap it out for a 5080 once things are cheaper again and the 6060 comes around?
Who is this for? I’m not hating on it. It’s not for me and I don’t know who it IS for.
Define lots? You are describing someone who: 1/ has spent many years building a steam collection (has $$$) and 2/ has a collection of console-playable games but never bought a console to play them. (Suggests doesn't have $$$). and 3/ doesn't already have, or desire building, a SFF upgradable PC?
Like, the sweet spot is they have to: 1. have $$$ of games, 2. have $1200 to spend on a second PC and 3. not have, nor desire to have, an upgradeable SFF PC.
$1200 is a 5070ti or a 5080 (just). We know they have a PC already (they have $$$ steam games). If I have a PC already and I play games, and it doesn't have a 5080, then I'm spending my $1200 on the 5080, not a living room console. So, now we're talking about someone who either has a 5080, or plays the kind of casual games that don't need a 5080. My experience is that those kind of games aren't great on a TV and a joystick. I'm not playing Factorio, Civ, Rimworld or Citizen Sleeper on a TV with a controller!
I've got quite a steam collection, but they are all non-console games. That's the distinction for whether I bought it on steam or for a console.
Is there a large demographic who bought console games on steam because they don't own a console?
Anyway, valve themselves have the demographics, so presumably they see a target market. I just don't know what it is! =)
Yeah man I think your logic is massively flawed. You’re making assumptions based on your own preferences. Not every gamer is going to prefer the latest gpu and yes there are plenty of gamers whose libraries are filled with games that are meant for controllers and consoles, in fact I’d argue that this is more common than your choices.
And we don't know yet, but I am hoping for reliability. My gaming PC is a nightmare. Sometimes it works great. Other times, I have to sacrifice a goat to get the thing to work.
Today I had to disable dual band WiFi on my windows gaming machine because PoE2 has this bug when a group of mobs surround you, network latency suddenly spikes, but only if the network card works on dual band... Sigh.
I assume many issues like that will still exist on Steam Machine, as it's kind of unrelated to what's running the buggy software.
That issue cannot be a bug in the game, because the operating system should not allow a game to (by any means) produce that type of behaviour. So it's a bug in your OS, potentially the network card driver.
There are fewer of those on Linux but they still exist.
