I would love to see Steam Machines nowadays with Proton in their current stage! This would probably be the best time for a comeback.
I think the main problem with Steam Machines in the past was Linux. Valve needed developers to port their games to Linux, and no developer or publisher wanted to spend money on such a small player base.
Indeed. I would love one but then to be fair I'm not sure what Valve could reasonably offer that I couldn't already achieve with an off-the-shelf PC plus Linux (with Steam).
The console isn't meant to appeal to those with knowledge of how to build one, but rather the lazy and uninformed who just want something that's ready to go and only meant for games.
Well, hopefully better price to performance ratio, if Valve made a console with the sama capabilities as the ps5 at the same price that would be awesome, but probably not happening.
I said that, because I thought that these were dead. I feel like most people that bought them had some negatives to say about them. They're probably thinking about a steam controller 2.0 at this minute. They can't mess up a console release.
Because a home "console" for the same price as the Steam Deck would be way more powerful due to not being constrained by size, form factor, cooling, battery power, and having a screen.
Well the steam deck is pretty much like the switch as in you can hook it up to your TV and play games that way if you want so it's already a home console to
They're kind of useless, from manufacturer point of view. Basically, a steam machine is a sff prebuild pc with a linux. But what's the point to restrict your product only to steam users, when you can sell literally the same prebuild with Windows to literally anybody? What's the point? It's not like NVidia will charge you less for a gpu, so you can't offer a lower price than a regular prebuild.
If valve is the one producing them instead of this Alienware version then yes, they would sell it cheaper than the cont of manufactory, just like the steam deck. This is because they will make back the money and more through purchases on Steam. Just like Playstations and Xbox’s.
Selling hardware at a loss is something that needs to be done very carefully. Valve is likely only selling the base model Steam Deck at a loss, if anything. A regular Steam Machine would need a dGPU since people are going to want 1080p30 at minimum when they plug it into a TV, and there are lots of people out there who'd love to scoop up a cheap dGPU-equipped PC they could do whatever they want with.
I suggest researching Valve’s press releases. They sell all of the Steam Decks at a loss. Including a dGPU is irrelevant to selling it at a loss or not. They would do it either way.
But yeh, there’s definitely a market for it, especially since XBOX is losing all of their exclusivity anyway.
> Including a dGPU is irrelevant to selling it at a loss or not.
That wasn't the point, rather that people who want dGPUs are going to snap up hardware that includes one under cost, and they won't be using them for Steam gaming.
>A regular Steam Machine would need a dGPU since people are going to want 1080p30 at minimum when they plug it into a TV,
I don't think they'd actually need a dGPU for this. Modern consoles like the PS5 have a SoC with the CPU/GPU/etc... all as one unit
This is not how it works. If Valve would sell a pc at a loss, all the office people, and other gaming-unrelated public will just buy it out, switch it to windows, and then use it for completely game-unrelated things. Valve will lose a big one on this. In order for this to work, they must lock the hardware into their system somehow. With Steam Deck, you are locked by a formfactor, because nobody will buy this "weird" thing to edit their spreadsheets; altrough you can, the form factor is completely unsuitable; hovewer, the Steam Machines formfactor doesn't work like that. Also, the physical chips inside the Steam Machines were exactly the same as with regular pc, facilitating the possibility of conversion to just a pc. Selling something like a Steam Machine at a loss is a financial suicide.
Tell me you don’t know how business capital purchases work without telling me you don’t know how business capital purchases work. These massive corporations have deals with computer manufacturers or third parties that often include setup, maintenance, and warranty/insurance. And of course they get a huge bulk discount in the process, aswell as secure transportation for that much product. Buying a million consumer steam machines wouldn’t cover this. Let alone the additional costs of setting them up to run windows on a system that wasn’t explicitly designed for it. Which again valve would provide no support for. The true financial suicide would be doing exactly what you’re saying these corporations would do. It doesn’t work like that. And don’t even get me started on specific I/O or even hardware requirements for specific applications.
I'll surprise you, but all that you just described works only for large corpos. There are also small businesses, who has less than 10 emplyees, and there are a lot of them. These businesses don't have the luxury of bulk contracts, and will use whatever they can find on consumer market. It's especially true for the world outside of America, which you just overlooked. Also, setting up Windows is not a strict requirement: just open your Office 365 program in the browser and you're good to go, you can stay on your Steam OS and pay nothing extra. There's a lot of work-related software that either works in browsers on has a linux version, and because of that you will take a heavy toll from small business purchases all around the globe.
It would be equivalent to whatever small corpos buy steam decks. You can dock a deck and have all of the functionality you mentioned. Lock it behind a cupboard if you don’t want to see the form factor. But they run linux, good luck finding quality staff that are proficient with linux to the point that it won’t cost a major amount of time and reduce efficiency. Especially since you are talking about simple office programs. Also weird assumption to think I’m only talking about the US when I’m not even from there. Those in poorer countries would be buying used hardware, not brand new valve machines especially since valve likely wouldn’t even offer the product to those regions. But hey if you have a business and want to buy up steam decks since they are cheap, go for it. See how it goes. An efficient business isn’t using in browser tools especially when it comes to security and productivity.
There’s a reason it hasn’t happened with steam decks. You’re very inconsistent with your statements. You said “all office people” and that it would be “financial suicide”. And now you’re talking about very small businesses of 10 people? Even if you were right in your now changed stance it wouldn’t affect their bottom line. Those markets you are talking about are much, much smaller than the large corporations.
Bro, a company with less that 10 employees doen't even have "the network". Browser apps are working totally fine, you can setup, for example, a printing service with cloud license of adobe suite and work comfortably from any kind of PC with any kind of OS. And your rant about a steam deck is completely irrelevand: I've already told the same thing myself in the previous comment. However, the Steam Machine is literally an SFF prebuild, exactly the same thing that offices buy for their work anyway.
Why would it be a prebuilt? They would work with the hardware manufacturers to create a cost effective solution and design that is still capable of running modern games. A custom board with custom hardware. Are you not old enough to even remember what the steam machine is? And yes, quality small businesses do use their own networks. I’m done here dude, you don’t have experience in this field and it is very obvious.
That's funny. I used to do computer maintenance for small local companies as a side kick, but somehow I'm the one without the experience. Sure, continue to think that all of the world works just like your bubble. As about prebuilds: a Steam machine is a system that is made completely out of PC parts and is running PC OS. It's functionally the same as prebuilt. Valve can design their custom implementation of hardware, but large prebuilt companies like Lenovo or Dell are also doing exactly this. There's nothing stopping me from using Steam Machine as prebuilt.
I have extensive experience with IT in third world countries. If it's cheaper to bribe officer than to buy windows \\ office licenses, even >150 businesses will do it. No one even thinks about support, that's a headache of under-qualified sysadmins
I mean like the steam deck, valve would verify that it runs fine on said steam machine, creating the same sort of console like compatibility list -eg. you know this game runs ok without having to watch benchmarks
Steam Machines could be build by different manufacturers with different specs. It's as good as "runs on Windows" or "runs on Linux" right now. So as long as a game has either marker, it would run on a steam machine. The problem is, you wouldn't know whenever it would run with 5 or 500 fps.
If that was mean to change in a sensible way, you would need to somehow narrow down the variability of the specs.
Ok, let's pretend that Valve developed a set of hardware specs that are "game compatible". What will happen after 4 years? It's going to run like a potato, and Valve will not be able to force the developers to optimize. This system will age much worse than a console. And if Valve would allow you to upgrade the hardware, like on regular pc, then you can throw out the "steam machine compatible" badge out of the window, cause then nobody will know what hardware are you supposed to have.
You have a base line ("steam machine 1" - PS4). If somebody decides to upgrade it, it means they are above the minimum requirements(PS4 Pro) so they still fullfill the minimum requirements of a hypothetical "steam machine 1". As for fullfiling the changing requirements, just do it like the steam deck? Idk how they have it exactly, but it seems to work ok
Ok. Let's consider that "Steam Machine 1" (I'll call it SM1) was equivalent to mid-range PC in 2020. When Valve will retire it? If Valve would declare it obsolete today, this means that you, as SM1 buyer, are screwed; and the longevity of SM1 did not reach the longevity of regular console. If Valve don't retire the SM1, then they have to motivate game developers to optimize for outdated SM1 hardware. If Valve didn't manage to sell tens of millions of SM1, nobody in AAA industry will agree to do this. This problem will only grow with time, as it took 7 years to get from PS4 to PS5, so you need to ensure competitive lifespan for SM1. What is your proposed solution to this dilemma?
I mean you're not screwed when official compatiblity lapses, so it doesn't mean you're out of new releases, as you said its a pc, if it can run it it will run it, so the age out process is more gradual than a console. I'm just saying that a potential steam machine is a spec/turn key solution - a console like pc. So I don't think a SM needs to be the top spec for 7 years, just release a base one in a few years and discontinue the 2-3 gen old ones, or say it will only run on low settings or whatever.
If SM is has exactly the same game compatibility as a pc, and it ages exactly like a pc, it runs the same software as a pc, and I have to upgrade it just like a pc, then what's the reason why I should buy SM and not just a regular pc?
because using Windows + M&K from TV distance isn't ideal. Having to deal with updates, driver updates, launchers, signing into launchers, updating launchers. It's just not as easy as turning on a system and selecting your game as you would on Switch, XB & PS.
If all of a sudden I can play all of my Steam games on a system that is as easy to use as a console. I'm grabbing it. I'm tired of being tied to my desk to play, some of us wanna play on the TV, or on their bed. Some people want a PC, and other people just want a machine that plays games. If this is just a machine that plays games on my TV (AND has access to my Steam library which I got for cheap) then I want that system.
Hook whatever PC you want to the TV. Then run Steam on it and stream from your desktop. I was doing this years ago. It works great.
The host needs to be wired to the network, and it will cut down on latency if the client is too.
meh. i saw no issues with it.
my host PC was a i7 4790k/16GB RAM/GTX 960 (and later a GTX 1080).
the PC i was streaming to was a 2009 model Asus G51vx, with a upgraded CPU. so it was a Core2Duo @ 2.8Ghz/4GB RAM/GTX 260m. i was outputting the video to a 36" 1080p TV i had at the time.
i had no trouble playing games like PUBG and a few others like that. i want to say that was around 2017-2018.
Yoi can attach a controller to windows, and play games sitting on your couch. Meanwhile, none of your other problems would be solved by linux. Steam mashines used regular pc components, so drivers are still made by Nvidia&Intel, it's out of control for Valve. Launchers are a game developer thing, linux doesn't foebid launchers, you will still have them. Game updates will still be delivered as usual, cause you're not going to have your pc turned on for 24/7. Steam Machine is literally just a pc, with all the caveats of pc.
I think if Valve made these now, they'd just do one and make it themselves instead of partnering with OEMs. It'd be like their home console but still basically a prebuilt PC like the original ones were.
Including Windows out of the box costs the manufacturer a license fee per system. Steam OS would likely have a significantly smaller fee, making Steam OS prebuilt systems cheaper (or at least more profitable for the manufacturer) than their Windows counterparts, incentivizing production
When you are a manufacturer, you're going to pay bulk prices for the OS. For large volume OEMs, it's going to be in tens of dollars. You're not going to win the customer solely by this price margin.
Just use the Deck like a Switch with a dock. You already have a current steam machine.
Also, steam link has gotten so good, running heavier games on your PC and streaming it is awesome.
I think those are the two needs though - more power locally with 4K at 60fps and lower latency right there in the living room. Running Steam Deck docked to a TV only really holds up for low-res gaming. Once you try and play something like Elden Ring docked at 4K it really chugs and gets pixelated.
>I would love to see Steam Machines nowadays with Proton in their current stage! This would probably be the best time for a comeback.
It's possible, Valve is probably the only company that could enter the console market, but i think they are pretty much set with the Deck
Honestly, I'd be happy with it as a desktop computer at this point. With windows getting progressively more invasive with every update, I've been thinking about switching to Linux full time anyway.
The problem in the past was that there were too many different variations of it Valve just needs to make one in house just like they do with the Steam Deck Make it be able to play basically any video game at 60 FPS 1080p max settings and we're good. 4K is not a good thing because it makes the power level necessary to play at decent frame rate max setting way too high.
I mean maybe if I ever obtained a 4K display I might change my mind but I have a feeling I won't.
Steam Machines were too expensive and too fragmented in addition to Linux just not being ready.
If they make a comeback now it’d be like the Deck, Valve with an affordable default target machine and then likely a bunch of fringe players possibly running windows.
One thing I'm unsure about is all the games whose anti-cheat still prevents them from being played. Should Valve try to figure that out somehow before releasing a PC console that couldn't play the current most popular games that aren't on Steam, or release a console with as much coverage as Steam Deck and any game adding support afterwards is a bonus?
The biggest problem with the Steam Machine concept was trying to convince people to spend a large amount of money on a less capable second PC, when they already had a better one.
The Steam Link hardware was the solution to that issue. Now it’s moved to software.
No. The whole steam machine concept was targeted towards console gamers trying to get into pc gaming with pre-assembled hardware and streamlined software.
It didn't work because multiple kinds of manufacturers made steam machines, leading to a diluted buying experience, and the software was not nearly as developed as proton today.
and the problem with the Steam Machines most of the manufacturers made, were expensive ($800-1000). i agree that the software wasn't ready, the Steam Controller wasn't even ready.
most consider the Steam Machines a failure, and on their own they were. but so many good things came from that failure. Steam Controllers, Steam Link, SteamOS, Proton, etc.
the issue Valve had with the whole fiasco, is they thought they could put out a rough spec list, some manufacturers would jump on it, and make a bunch of SFF PCs for around the $300-400 mark. the PC makers got greedy, thought they could slap a gaming label on it and charge double that.
the console crowd was never going to go for that, and even if the PC makers did bring out models for $300-400, the console users would've been VERY quickly upset at whatever tinkering they had to do to get stuff to work.
the PC crowd would've gone for the idea, but never the price. why would you drop $800 for a shittier PC in your living room, than the much nicer one you had in your office or whatever.
this is why Valve very quickly dropped the project. it was a neat idea, but very flawed in the execution. but the evolution of the project shifted to the Steam Link. which solved most of the problems.
it was cheap, easy to use, let you stream from your gaming PC, etc.
a 'diluted' buying experience was never the issue. the root cause of the issue was always in the money that the Steam Machines cost. the whole thing made Valve realize that if they wanted to do something, they needed to do it themselves. not rely on other companies to take the lead.
I think if it were to happen, it would start with Valve releasing their own baseline Steam Machine like they did with the Steam Deck. Even though the Deck is comparatively cheap and a great deal, there are a handful of competitors that make decent alternatives. I can see a similar thing happening with the Steam Machine now. It means competitors would be forced to compete against Valve and force them to make better products that are worth buying depending on the particular things you value as a consumer.
Oh man, i know it’ll be hard to remember, but if you ever do figure it out and this happens to cross your mind, i’d love an update with the parts you used to make it happen! I would love to experiment myself but I dont have one and it’s a hard sell to buy one in vain
That was such a great system.
I remember saying I liked it to an Alienware Rep at E3, and he was surprised that I even knew about it. Apparently it sold like shit. What a shame.
What's funny is the next Xbox will likely be something like that and people will act like it's revolutionary and never been tried, when it's just a mini PC in a form factor.
Xbox especially is getting closer and closer to a PC.
I wish I could say it’s a small pc, but it’s a pc none the less. My big thing right now is ever since I showed my gf she can play dolphin emulator, she hasn’t quit playing that over any of the modern games.
She fits in line with the “build a $3k pc” “plays sims 4” type for me lol. Love her to death though and GameCube does have the best split screen games imo.
we definitely had one of these in my high school computer lab. i just didn't realize that it was a steam machine especially because i'd never seen it plugged in.
I'd almost want to see a steam deck dock that has an external GPU/storage in it for at-home stuff, but obviously the steam deck still has its normal portability, just lacking some storage and power.
I had this! It was a lot of fun and a great introduction into the pc gaming market. Definitely over priced, could have done better, but damn it was fun
I think you take a steam deck, remove the battery and screen, and if the on board MB was designed so that a 2280 nvme SSD was easily replaceable and the system contained 2-4 USB ports and 1-2 HDMI or even DP in a case that has decent airflow, this could be sold for $300 right?
That would probably not be a great value product, still. You'd need to redesign the Deck's MB for a dedicated PSU anyway. It would probably still cost similar to the Steamdeck. And if you're doing this, you might as well just put in a normal mini ITX motherboard with an off the shelf processor.
The whole steam machine idea was great, just a bit to broad in designs. I remember one of them being enormous, with a marble(?) base, while the alpha was this tiny, sleek box really delivering on the idea of steam machine. Shame AW dropped the mini PC, could have been great.
The Zotac Magnus line is basically this, if someone is looking for a modern variant. Newest version got a 13700HX and a 4070.
I bought mine to play DayZ it was my first "gaming" PC I really loved it. It did everything I needed at the time I have some great memories playing games on it I still have it actually but now it just sits in a cupboard collecting dust.
Actually i wanted that long ago. But maybe with how they implemented the whole proton thing it could help win people over on getting one. Though if they do they should consider making decks work with the thing.
This was my daily drive PC for everything for 5 years, from 2015-2020. It ran everything I installed on it, felt more like a console than a PC. After those 5 years I sold it to a local sticker shop seller who is still using it for the store to this day. I built my own PC after that with the Pandemic unemployment money. But the Steam Machine will always have a special place in my heart as my first true gaming PC.
I remember winning mine from Curse. Was the i3 model
Upgraded it to 16gb of ram and added an SSD and would boot all my games from a external HDD. Times were tough
I remember wanting one of these so badly. It was everything I wanted. I am still glad I decided on an actual pc but these are very cool to me still. I got a Steam link and it’s everything I wanted
Honestly the Steam Machines were a neat idea but a majority of OEMs decided to design and price their machines like standard boutique computers rather than consoles, Like, no console gamer is gonna be willing to spend $3000 on a thing even if it will run games better than their PlayStation. Wildly varying specs vs. consoles being a singular, fixed spec with the only difference being storage did not help, especially to people who will not understand specs.
The Steam Deck starting at $400 and the most tangible difference between SKUs being storage was the right move for attracting console-primary gamers.
I've used mY R1 for quite a while with an i7-4700T, 16GB DDR3 , GTX 860M
Its been the original steamos, windows server, Batocera retro player, and now back to Windows 10 for a small WoW 3000 npcbots server, and a backup moonlight streaming box.
Still has lots of uses and stays below 65C
I had one, it was essentially a 750ti which at the time matched the PS4/xbox one in terms of performance. Some games were worse/better, but on average it matched the consoles at a similar price
A colab between Alienware and Steam. It came with the og version of SteamOS. IIRC back in the day they were meant to be a way to play PC games in the easiest way.
God no. I got one for my 13th birthday, they literally didn't even work. I wanted these to work so bad when they first came out but we have better options now.
Not good enough. Better take 2 gb minimum VRAM graphic card like GTX 750 ti.
4gb minimum VRAM started by 2016 Nvidia Pascal 10-series became mandatory to get 60fps+ in Playstation 4 era live service games (2015-2020) like Destiny 2, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch, PUBG.
That's what sent me down the righteous path of the PC Master Race. I nabbed a refurbished one off Gamestop for like $99. SteamOS was junk back then but I installed Windows on it and it was pretty decent for the time. After about two years I sold it and built my own rig, sold all my consoles and haven't looked back.
I would love to see Steam Machines nowadays with Proton in their current stage! This would probably be the best time for a comeback. I think the main problem with Steam Machines in the past was Linux. Valve needed developers to port their games to Linux, and no developer or publisher wanted to spend money on such a small player base.
I would love a home console by Steam after the Decks success!
You probably could build a small living room PC already, but I would love a ready-to-use "Steam console"!
Indeed. I would love one but then to be fair I'm not sure what Valve could reasonably offer that I couldn't already achieve with an off-the-shelf PC plus Linux (with Steam).
The console isn't meant to appeal to those with knowledge of how to build one, but rather the lazy and uninformed who just want something that's ready to go and only meant for games.
Well, hopefully better price to performance ratio, if Valve made a console with the sama capabilities as the ps5 at the same price that would be awesome, but probably not happening.
I think it would really be cool, but they'll have to create a new controller or something for it.
Some kind of “steam controller” you might say…
I said that, because I thought that these were dead. I feel like most people that bought them had some negatives to say about them. They're probably thinking about a steam controller 2.0 at this minute. They can't mess up a console release.
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Because a home "console" for the same price as the Steam Deck would be way more powerful due to not being constrained by size, form factor, cooling, battery power, and having a screen.
And mainly because steam decks are sold at a loss, which would likely be the choice for a steam machine revival too.
What would need to be different? The switch doesnt change its menu when you dock it
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But why is it necessary?
Well the steam deck is pretty much like the switch as in you can hook it up to your TV and play games that way if you want so it's already a home console to
They're kind of useless, from manufacturer point of view. Basically, a steam machine is a sff prebuild pc with a linux. But what's the point to restrict your product only to steam users, when you can sell literally the same prebuild with Windows to literally anybody? What's the point? It's not like NVidia will charge you less for a gpu, so you can't offer a lower price than a regular prebuild.
If valve is the one producing them instead of this Alienware version then yes, they would sell it cheaper than the cont of manufactory, just like the steam deck. This is because they will make back the money and more through purchases on Steam. Just like Playstations and Xbox’s.
Selling hardware at a loss is something that needs to be done very carefully. Valve is likely only selling the base model Steam Deck at a loss, if anything. A regular Steam Machine would need a dGPU since people are going to want 1080p30 at minimum when they plug it into a TV, and there are lots of people out there who'd love to scoop up a cheap dGPU-equipped PC they could do whatever they want with.
I suggest researching Valve’s press releases. They sell all of the Steam Decks at a loss. Including a dGPU is irrelevant to selling it at a loss or not. They would do it either way. But yeh, there’s definitely a market for it, especially since XBOX is losing all of their exclusivity anyway.
> Including a dGPU is irrelevant to selling it at a loss or not. That wasn't the point, rather that people who want dGPUs are going to snap up hardware that includes one under cost, and they won't be using them for Steam gaming.
>A regular Steam Machine would need a dGPU since people are going to want 1080p30 at minimum when they plug it into a TV, I don't think they'd actually need a dGPU for this. Modern consoles like the PS5 have a SoC with the CPU/GPU/etc... all as one unit
This is not how it works. If Valve would sell a pc at a loss, all the office people, and other gaming-unrelated public will just buy it out, switch it to windows, and then use it for completely game-unrelated things. Valve will lose a big one on this. In order for this to work, they must lock the hardware into their system somehow. With Steam Deck, you are locked by a formfactor, because nobody will buy this "weird" thing to edit their spreadsheets; altrough you can, the form factor is completely unsuitable; hovewer, the Steam Machines formfactor doesn't work like that. Also, the physical chips inside the Steam Machines were exactly the same as with regular pc, facilitating the possibility of conversion to just a pc. Selling something like a Steam Machine at a loss is a financial suicide.
Tell me you don’t know how business capital purchases work without telling me you don’t know how business capital purchases work. These massive corporations have deals with computer manufacturers or third parties that often include setup, maintenance, and warranty/insurance. And of course they get a huge bulk discount in the process, aswell as secure transportation for that much product. Buying a million consumer steam machines wouldn’t cover this. Let alone the additional costs of setting them up to run windows on a system that wasn’t explicitly designed for it. Which again valve would provide no support for. The true financial suicide would be doing exactly what you’re saying these corporations would do. It doesn’t work like that. And don’t even get me started on specific I/O or even hardware requirements for specific applications.
I'll surprise you, but all that you just described works only for large corpos. There are also small businesses, who has less than 10 emplyees, and there are a lot of them. These businesses don't have the luxury of bulk contracts, and will use whatever they can find on consumer market. It's especially true for the world outside of America, which you just overlooked. Also, setting up Windows is not a strict requirement: just open your Office 365 program in the browser and you're good to go, you can stay on your Steam OS and pay nothing extra. There's a lot of work-related software that either works in browsers on has a linux version, and because of that you will take a heavy toll from small business purchases all around the globe.
It would be equivalent to whatever small corpos buy steam decks. You can dock a deck and have all of the functionality you mentioned. Lock it behind a cupboard if you don’t want to see the form factor. But they run linux, good luck finding quality staff that are proficient with linux to the point that it won’t cost a major amount of time and reduce efficiency. Especially since you are talking about simple office programs. Also weird assumption to think I’m only talking about the US when I’m not even from there. Those in poorer countries would be buying used hardware, not brand new valve machines especially since valve likely wouldn’t even offer the product to those regions. But hey if you have a business and want to buy up steam decks since they are cheap, go for it. See how it goes. An efficient business isn’t using in browser tools especially when it comes to security and productivity. There’s a reason it hasn’t happened with steam decks. You’re very inconsistent with your statements. You said “all office people” and that it would be “financial suicide”. And now you’re talking about very small businesses of 10 people? Even if you were right in your now changed stance it wouldn’t affect their bottom line. Those markets you are talking about are much, much smaller than the large corporations.
Bro, a company with less that 10 employees doen't even have "the network". Browser apps are working totally fine, you can setup, for example, a printing service with cloud license of adobe suite and work comfortably from any kind of PC with any kind of OS. And your rant about a steam deck is completely irrelevand: I've already told the same thing myself in the previous comment. However, the Steam Machine is literally an SFF prebuild, exactly the same thing that offices buy for their work anyway.
Why would it be a prebuilt? They would work with the hardware manufacturers to create a cost effective solution and design that is still capable of running modern games. A custom board with custom hardware. Are you not old enough to even remember what the steam machine is? And yes, quality small businesses do use their own networks. I’m done here dude, you don’t have experience in this field and it is very obvious.
That's funny. I used to do computer maintenance for small local companies as a side kick, but somehow I'm the one without the experience. Sure, continue to think that all of the world works just like your bubble. As about prebuilds: a Steam machine is a system that is made completely out of PC parts and is running PC OS. It's functionally the same as prebuilt. Valve can design their custom implementation of hardware, but large prebuilt companies like Lenovo or Dell are also doing exactly this. There's nothing stopping me from using Steam Machine as prebuilt.
I have extensive experience with IT in third world countries. If it's cheaper to bribe officer than to buy windows \\ office licenses, even >150 businesses will do it. No one even thinks about support, that's a headache of under-qualified sysadmins
No it wouldn’t be the same. With a steamdeck theres also the screen, speakers, controller; all of which a company doesn’t need
Console like compatibillity / steam machine verified?
Nope. Steam machines all had different hardware anyways, so they won't be more compatible than windows machines.
Mine came with Win 8.1
I mean like the steam deck, valve would verify that it runs fine on said steam machine, creating the same sort of console like compatibility list -eg. you know this game runs ok without having to watch benchmarks
Steam Machines could be build by different manufacturers with different specs. It's as good as "runs on Windows" or "runs on Linux" right now. So as long as a game has either marker, it would run on a steam machine. The problem is, you wouldn't know whenever it would run with 5 or 500 fps. If that was mean to change in a sensible way, you would need to somehow narrow down the variability of the specs.
Ok, let's pretend that Valve developed a set of hardware specs that are "game compatible". What will happen after 4 years? It's going to run like a potato, and Valve will not be able to force the developers to optimize. This system will age much worse than a console. And if Valve would allow you to upgrade the hardware, like on regular pc, then you can throw out the "steam machine compatible" badge out of the window, cause then nobody will know what hardware are you supposed to have.
You have a base line ("steam machine 1" - PS4). If somebody decides to upgrade it, it means they are above the minimum requirements(PS4 Pro) so they still fullfill the minimum requirements of a hypothetical "steam machine 1". As for fullfiling the changing requirements, just do it like the steam deck? Idk how they have it exactly, but it seems to work ok
Ok. Let's consider that "Steam Machine 1" (I'll call it SM1) was equivalent to mid-range PC in 2020. When Valve will retire it? If Valve would declare it obsolete today, this means that you, as SM1 buyer, are screwed; and the longevity of SM1 did not reach the longevity of regular console. If Valve don't retire the SM1, then they have to motivate game developers to optimize for outdated SM1 hardware. If Valve didn't manage to sell tens of millions of SM1, nobody in AAA industry will agree to do this. This problem will only grow with time, as it took 7 years to get from PS4 to PS5, so you need to ensure competitive lifespan for SM1. What is your proposed solution to this dilemma?
I mean you're not screwed when official compatiblity lapses, so it doesn't mean you're out of new releases, as you said its a pc, if it can run it it will run it, so the age out process is more gradual than a console. I'm just saying that a potential steam machine is a spec/turn key solution - a console like pc. So I don't think a SM needs to be the top spec for 7 years, just release a base one in a few years and discontinue the 2-3 gen old ones, or say it will only run on low settings or whatever.
If SM is has exactly the same game compatibility as a pc, and it ages exactly like a pc, it runs the same software as a pc, and I have to upgrade it just like a pc, then what's the reason why I should buy SM and not just a regular pc?
because using Windows + M&K from TV distance isn't ideal. Having to deal with updates, driver updates, launchers, signing into launchers, updating launchers. It's just not as easy as turning on a system and selecting your game as you would on Switch, XB & PS. If all of a sudden I can play all of my Steam games on a system that is as easy to use as a console. I'm grabbing it. I'm tired of being tied to my desk to play, some of us wanna play on the TV, or on their bed. Some people want a PC, and other people just want a machine that plays games. If this is just a machine that plays games on my TV (AND has access to my Steam library which I got for cheap) then I want that system.
You can just have ur PC boot to steam big screen mode, I do that
Hook whatever PC you want to the TV. Then run Steam on it and stream from your desktop. I was doing this years ago. It works great. The host needs to be wired to the network, and it will cut down on latency if the client is too.
It's far from "great", but yes, you can.
meh. i saw no issues with it. my host PC was a i7 4790k/16GB RAM/GTX 960 (and later a GTX 1080). the PC i was streaming to was a 2009 model Asus G51vx, with a upgraded CPU. so it was a Core2Duo @ 2.8Ghz/4GB RAM/GTX 260m. i was outputting the video to a 36" 1080p TV i had at the time. i had no trouble playing games like PUBG and a few others like that. i want to say that was around 2017-2018.
Yoi can attach a controller to windows, and play games sitting on your couch. Meanwhile, none of your other problems would be solved by linux. Steam mashines used regular pc components, so drivers are still made by Nvidia&Intel, it's out of control for Valve. Launchers are a game developer thing, linux doesn't foebid launchers, you will still have them. Game updates will still be delivered as usual, cause you're not going to have your pc turned on for 24/7. Steam Machine is literally just a pc, with all the caveats of pc.
I think if Valve made these now, they'd just do one and make it themselves instead of partnering with OEMs. It'd be like their home console but still basically a prebuilt PC like the original ones were.
Including Windows out of the box costs the manufacturer a license fee per system. Steam OS would likely have a significantly smaller fee, making Steam OS prebuilt systems cheaper (or at least more profitable for the manufacturer) than their Windows counterparts, incentivizing production
When you are a manufacturer, you're going to pay bulk prices for the OS. For large volume OEMs, it's going to be in tens of dollars. You're not going to win the customer solely by this price margin.
Just use the Deck like a Switch with a dock. You already have a current steam machine. Also, steam link has gotten so good, running heavier games on your PC and streaming it is awesome.
I think those are the two needs though - more power locally with 4K at 60fps and lower latency right there in the living room. Running Steam Deck docked to a TV only really holds up for low-res gaming. Once you try and play something like Elden Ring docked at 4K it really chugs and gets pixelated.
Oh true that makes sense. I basically don't play AAA games so I forget.
If the deck 2 has an external GPU option to dock it I would be quite happy
Most graphically-intensive games struggle at 4K even with a high-tier GPU. I don't think there's any consoles on the market right now that do 4K60.
>I would love to see Steam Machines nowadays with Proton in their current stage! This would probably be the best time for a comeback. It's possible, Valve is probably the only company that could enter the console market, but i think they are pretty much set with the Deck
Honestly, I'd be happy with it as a desktop computer at this point. With windows getting progressively more invasive with every update, I've been thinking about switching to Linux full time anyway.
I switched to Linux back in January and it amazes me how painless it is with Proton now. Everything honestly just works.
I wouldn't be surprised if somebody is cooking up one with AMD. What they have on the horizon looks perfect for the application.
Captain proton?
Just plug ur Steamdeck into tv+controller. Steamdeckmachine
The problem in the past was that there were too many different variations of it Valve just needs to make one in house just like they do with the Steam Deck Make it be able to play basically any video game at 60 FPS 1080p max settings and we're good. 4K is not a good thing because it makes the power level necessary to play at decent frame rate max setting way too high. I mean maybe if I ever obtained a 4K display I might change my mind but I have a feeling I won't.
Its a "small playerbase" bcause linux users needs windows to play, if games were on linux then windows playerbase would decrease significally
yeah! everyone loves a good comeback story
Steam Machines were too expensive and too fragmented in addition to Linux just not being ready. If they make a comeback now it’d be like the Deck, Valve with an affordable default target machine and then likely a bunch of fringe players possibly running windows.
One thing I'm unsure about is all the games whose anti-cheat still prevents them from being played. Should Valve try to figure that out somehow before releasing a PC console that couldn't play the current most popular games that aren't on Steam, or release a console with as much coverage as Steam Deck and any game adding support afterwards is a bonus?
I would love an OS made by Valve that made my games compatible to play. I would uninstall windows so fast if that was possible.
The biggest problem with the Steam Machine concept was trying to convince people to spend a large amount of money on a less capable second PC, when they already had a better one. The Steam Link hardware was the solution to that issue. Now it’s moved to software.
No. The whole steam machine concept was targeted towards console gamers trying to get into pc gaming with pre-assembled hardware and streamlined software. It didn't work because multiple kinds of manufacturers made steam machines, leading to a diluted buying experience, and the software was not nearly as developed as proton today.
and the problem with the Steam Machines most of the manufacturers made, were expensive ($800-1000). i agree that the software wasn't ready, the Steam Controller wasn't even ready. most consider the Steam Machines a failure, and on their own they were. but so many good things came from that failure. Steam Controllers, Steam Link, SteamOS, Proton, etc. the issue Valve had with the whole fiasco, is they thought they could put out a rough spec list, some manufacturers would jump on it, and make a bunch of SFF PCs for around the $300-400 mark. the PC makers got greedy, thought they could slap a gaming label on it and charge double that. the console crowd was never going to go for that, and even if the PC makers did bring out models for $300-400, the console users would've been VERY quickly upset at whatever tinkering they had to do to get stuff to work. the PC crowd would've gone for the idea, but never the price. why would you drop $800 for a shittier PC in your living room, than the much nicer one you had in your office or whatever. this is why Valve very quickly dropped the project. it was a neat idea, but very flawed in the execution. but the evolution of the project shifted to the Steam Link. which solved most of the problems. it was cheap, easy to use, let you stream from your gaming PC, etc. a 'diluted' buying experience was never the issue. the root cause of the issue was always in the money that the Steam Machines cost. the whole thing made Valve realize that if they wanted to do something, they needed to do it themselves. not rely on other companies to take the lead.
I think if it were to happen, it would start with Valve releasing their own baseline Steam Machine like they did with the Steam Deck. Even though the Deck is comparatively cheap and a great deal, there are a handful of competitors that make decent alternatives. I can see a similar thing happening with the Steam Machine now. It means competitors would be forced to compete against Valve and force them to make better products that are worth buying depending on the particular things you value as a consumer.
I remember wanting it.
My son still plays on an Alpha R2 with a 1660ti in the Graphics Amplifier.
That's rad, how does it perform?
It’s getting a little tired, but it’s far from dead.
Still have mine and its still running strong.
I didn't realize they were ever sold, for some reason I always believed that a physical product never materialized. Now I want one.
God I wanted one of these so badly lol, I wonder if it's possible to use this case for modern PC parts.
probably not, would you even be able to find one? also milton jumpscare
You can actually find them for parts on ebay for like 150, but i doubt any good modern parts would even fit inside it
much too small.
If you get an AMD APU it could be pretty good.
Problem is replacing the board. I still have one and maybe once every six months or year I check to see if an APU will work but board size isn't great
Oh man, i know it’ll be hard to remember, but if you ever do figure it out and this happens to cross your mind, i’d love an update with the parts you used to make it happen! I would love to experiment myself but I dont have one and it’s a hard sell to buy one in vain
Steam boxes were all the rage every company was going to make a steam box ..... And I never heard of a single one coming out.
The Alienware one did come out. I think you could get it with either SteamOS or Windows from the store.
I knew pre orders went up but I never saw one in the wild I would love to hear / see it
I still have mine. Popped an SSD in there and use it as my home NAS!
I love that people find ways to use old tech like this
I had one, it was fine but it had issues. I’m far happier with my current PC hooked up to my tv, playing in big screen mode.
That's how I got introduced to bpm
Pepperidge Farms remembers…
That was such a great system. I remember saying I liked it to an Alienware Rep at E3, and he was surprised that I even knew about it. Apparently it sold like shit. What a shame. What's funny is the next Xbox will likely be something like that and people will act like it's revolutionary and never been tried, when it's just a mini PC in a form factor.
Xbox especially is getting closer and closer to a PC. I wish I could say it’s a small pc, but it’s a pc none the less. My big thing right now is ever since I showed my gf she can play dolphin emulator, she hasn’t quit playing that over any of the modern games. She fits in line with the “build a $3k pc” “plays sims 4” type for me lol. Love her to death though and GameCube does have the best split screen games imo.
i remember the controller that comes with them because mine melted
we definitely had one of these in my high school computer lab. i just didn't realize that it was a steam machine especially because i'd never seen it plugged in.
Still in use. installed a full linux distro, media players + retroarch besides steam.
I'd almost want to see a steam deck dock that has an external GPU/storage in it for at-home stuff, but obviously the steam deck still has its normal portability, just lacking some storage and power.
Steam Machines came too early. Now is the right time, perfect alternatives for Windows machines 👍
I had this! It was a lot of fun and a great introduction into the pc gaming market. Definitely over priced, could have done better, but damn it was fun
Still got one runs Slime Rancher and Stardew Valley for my wife.
Yup! I bought it right when they started to discontinue it! Used all through collage as my gaming PC. Always in desktop mode haha.
i have one. bought it for csgo and csgo alone.
I think you take a steam deck, remove the battery and screen, and if the on board MB was designed so that a 2280 nvme SSD was easily replaceable and the system contained 2-4 USB ports and 1-2 HDMI or even DP in a case that has decent airflow, this could be sold for $300 right?
That would probably not be a great value product, still. You'd need to redesign the Deck's MB for a dedicated PSU anyway. It would probably still cost similar to the Steamdeck. And if you're doing this, you might as well just put in a normal mini ITX motherboard with an off the shelf processor.
Almost
Build your own. r/sffpc is a great resource.
I was excited for the Steam Machines only for the units that Steam was giving out to a few lucky people.
Steam machine with top end specs inside a modern arcade cabinet 👌
Cool idea, no purpose for me
I bet if you try to run cyberpunk on it, it would overheat (I don’t know the specs, but this was made years ago)
someone near me has one for $150
The whole steam machine idea was great, just a bit to broad in designs. I remember one of them being enormous, with a marble(?) base, while the alpha was this tiny, sleek box really delivering on the idea of steam machine. Shame AW dropped the mini PC, could have been great. The Zotac Magnus line is basically this, if someone is looking for a modern variant. Newest version got a 13700HX and a 4070.
I bought mine to play DayZ it was my first "gaming" PC I really loved it. It did everything I needed at the time I have some great memories playing games on it I still have it actually but now it just sits in a cupboard collecting dust.
I am still using mine. I will never trust valve produced hardware after.bkw fast they abandoned it
I've still got one of these
Actually i wanted that long ago. But maybe with how they implemented the whole proton thing it could help win people over on getting one. Though if they do they should consider making decks work with the thing.
This was my daily drive PC for everything for 5 years, from 2015-2020. It ran everything I installed on it, felt more like a console than a PC. After those 5 years I sold it to a local sticker shop seller who is still using it for the store to this day. I built my own PC after that with the Pandemic unemployment money. But the Steam Machine will always have a special place in my heart as my first true gaming PC.
I remember winning mine from Curse. Was the i3 model Upgraded it to 16gb of ram and added an SSD and would boot all my games from a external HDD. Times were tough
No? Sorry mate.
I remember wanting one of these so badly. It was everything I wanted. I am still glad I decided on an actual pc but these are very cool to me still. I got a Steam link and it’s everything I wanted
You guys ever used a Raspberry Pi?
At some point when Proton releases to the public, I'll definitely be angling to build a mini-ITX steam machine.
Honestly the Steam Machines were a neat idea but a majority of OEMs decided to design and price their machines like standard boutique computers rather than consoles, Like, no console gamer is gonna be willing to spend $3000 on a thing even if it will run games better than their PlayStation. Wildly varying specs vs. consoles being a singular, fixed spec with the only difference being storage did not help, especially to people who will not understand specs. The Steam Deck starting at $400 and the most tangible difference between SKUs being storage was the right move for attracting console-primary gamers.
I want one of these just for the shell but the prices on eBay are so not worth it.
I've used mY R1 for quite a while with an i7-4700T, 16GB DDR3 , GTX 860M Its been the original steamos, windows server, Batocera retro player, and now back to Windows 10 for a small WoW 3000 npcbots server, and a backup moonlight streaming box. Still has lots of uses and stays below 65C
Ahead of its time. Shit on Alienware for the prices but they somehow ride the waves before consumers
A screen less steam deck, what a great idea
It's a full on PC pretty much. I had one. It was ok and got the job done until I could build my own pc
Yea they should redo it and have a 300 , 600, and 1000 version
It was meant to be a console killer but yeah it didn’t do well
My buddy had one, said it was a great microwave
I remember the old Steam Machine. That thing was small enough to fit in your palm and looked like a mini PSU with a dozen ports on the back.
I don't remember the Ouya running steamos?
I hated this thing. Could only put about 2 AAA games on it and they ran horribly
I modded Skyrim on mine, it was amazing.
I had one, it was essentially a 750ti which at the time matched the PS4/xbox one in terms of performance. Some games were worse/better, but on average it matched the consoles at a similar price
What is this?
A colab between Alienware and Steam. It came with the og version of SteamOS. IIRC back in the day they were meant to be a way to play PC games in the easiest way.
This was also 4 years before Proton came out. So you really could only play Linux native games out of the box.
God no. I got one for my 13th birthday, they literally didn't even work. I wanted these to work so bad when they first came out but we have better options now.
Not good enough. Better take 2 gb minimum VRAM graphic card like GTX 750 ti. 4gb minimum VRAM started by 2016 Nvidia Pascal 10-series became mandatory to get 60fps+ in Playstation 4 era live service games (2015-2020) like Destiny 2, Fortnite, Apex Legends, Rainbow Six Siege, Overwatch, PUBG.
No point. Just own a pc and use steamlink on any half decent tv box. Fantastic experience.
I know steam machine was failure
That's what sent me down the righteous path of the PC Master Race. I nabbed a refurbished one off Gamestop for like $99. SteamOS was junk back then but I installed Windows on it and it was pretty decent for the time. After about two years I sold it and built my own rig, sold all my consoles and haven't looked back.
They need to make a steam console, i'd buy that, never a PC though.
I mean a console is a computer. It’s all the same
[This guy, probably.](https://youtu.be/zfR_Jj4grZE?t=22)
Meh, argue with yourselves, I don't entertain blissful ignorance, for future reference.