Valve gave us the latest teaser for the Steam Machine and Steam Frame which they said are now shipping this summer in a post about their verification systems.
Some people may not want to spend time on cobbling together a Linux machine. There’s some research involved in figuring out which hardware works best, and maybe fiddling around with configuring a system. There is value in know that all of the hardware in your system will get priority support from the OS maintainer and game developers. Some glitchiness in a game on a steam machine will get fixed before some glitchiness on someone’s custom rig.
And many of us don’t buy a new PC every year. What benefit is it to me if a new AAA game has higher resolution options that aren’t available on my 2+ year old PC unless I spend a thousand dollars to buy video card or whatever?
No idea if this will be a success or not, but there is a lot of upside to having a standardized platform (there’s a reason consoles are so popular) and little downsides for anyone that’s not spending more money on hardware than on the actual games. Sure the PC Master Race types won’t want this, but I think that’s a very small group of people.
Sure the PC Master Race types won’t want this, but I think that’s a very small group of people.
The number of people that want a low powered, non-upgradeable, outdated by about 10 years gaming PC that will struggle to play anything other than 2D indies at 4K60, and also can’t play any of the big AAA games like GTA6, COD, Apex, Battlefield, etc at all is infinitely smaller than the PC Master Race types lol.
Fair enough. The ease of setup and use is a powerful feature. Though it’s not too hard to confugre a solid long running machine. Just upgraded my old Intel i5 4xxx 750TI machine only because Windows is a pain. Haven’t been able to play a AAA title in a minute though lol.
I’m just thinking about the people I know who purchased a PS5 Pro and I’m not sure they’re going to be the ones tinkering with proton settings on a Linux desktop.
We will surly see as time goes by. And I’m planning to get one if I can because I like tinkering and messing with things.
I’m just thinking about the people I know who purchased a PS5 Pro and I’m not sure they’re going to be the ones tinkering with proton settings on a Linux desktop.
I’d think if you get the steam machine you won’t be tinkering with the proton settings. Valve will do that and since you’re running on the same hardware they’ve tested there shouldn’t be any issues.
I did build a PC a couple of years ago, but I found myself wishing someone would just put out a decently priced PC that has hardware that’s tested with Linux. If the steam machine had have been a thing then, I would’ve gone that route. Also there’s a lot of people that aren’t happy with Windows and would like to try Linux but are worried it will be a major headache to switch (which it can be in many cases). With MS basically forcing many people to buy a new PC since Windows 11 doesn’t work on a lot of PCs currently running 10, some people might want to give the steam machine a shot… and they do have the option of paying the MS tax later and installing windows on it if they it’s not to their liking.
Hard to say how it will go, but there are reasons to get this thing. We’ll have to see how many people actually want to get it.
It really isn’t. This thing needed to be cheap if it was going to gain any traction. It needed to undercut everything comparable on the market, significantly. Valve needed to aggressively subsidize it since they make money hand over fist from every game that it can play. Instead it’s going to be even worse than the last time they released steam machines, only this time it will be much more damaging to them since they’re making it themselves.
Some people may not want to spend time on cobbling together a Linux machine. There’s some research involved in figuring out which hardware works best, and maybe fiddling around with configuring a system. There is value in know that all of the hardware in your system will get priority support from the OS maintainer and game developers. Some glitchiness in a game on a steam machine will get fixed before some glitchiness on someone’s custom rig.
And many of us don’t buy a new PC every year. What benefit is it to me if a new AAA game has higher resolution options that aren’t available on my 2+ year old PC unless I spend a thousand dollars to buy video card or whatever?
No idea if this will be a success or not, but there is a lot of upside to having a standardized platform (there’s a reason consoles are so popular) and little downsides for anyone that’s not spending more money on hardware than on the actual games. Sure the PC Master Race types won’t want this, but I think that’s a very small group of people.
The number of people that want a low powered, non-upgradeable, outdated by about 10 years gaming PC that will struggle to play anything other than 2D indies at 4K60, and also can’t play any of the big AAA games like GTA6, COD, Apex, Battlefield, etc at all is infinitely smaller than the PC Master Race types lol.
Fair enough. The ease of setup and use is a powerful feature. Though it’s not too hard to confugre a solid long running machine. Just upgraded my old Intel i5 4xxx 750TI machine only because Windows is a pain. Haven’t been able to play a AAA title in a minute though lol.
I’m just thinking about the people I know who purchased a PS5 Pro and I’m not sure they’re going to be the ones tinkering with proton settings on a Linux desktop.
We will surly see as time goes by. And I’m planning to get one if I can because I like tinkering and messing with things.
I’d think if you get the steam machine you won’t be tinkering with the proton settings. Valve will do that and since you’re running on the same hardware they’ve tested there shouldn’t be any issues.
I did build a PC a couple of years ago, but I found myself wishing someone would just put out a decently priced PC that has hardware that’s tested with Linux. If the steam machine had have been a thing then, I would’ve gone that route. Also there’s a lot of people that aren’t happy with Windows and would like to try Linux but are worried it will be a major headache to switch (which it can be in many cases). With MS basically forcing many people to buy a new PC since Windows 11 doesn’t work on a lot of PCs currently running 10, some people might want to give the steam machine a shot… and they do have the option of paying the MS tax later and installing windows on it if they it’s not to their liking.
Hard to say how it will go, but there are reasons to get this thing. We’ll have to see how many people actually want to get it.
It really isn’t. This thing needed to be cheap if it was going to gain any traction. It needed to undercut everything comparable on the market, significantly. Valve needed to aggressively subsidize it since they make money hand over fist from every game that it can play. Instead it’s going to be even worse than the last time they released steam machines, only this time it will be much more damaging to them since they’re making it themselves.