I want one because I don’t have a modern PC that can run games. I have a PS5, Switch 2, and a MacBook. I hate windows, I don’t want to deal with Linux or assembling a PC from components. I’m missing out on a lot of Steam games that I want to play. I don’t want to sit in my office and play games, I want to relax on my couch in my living room and play them.
This is for people like me. There’s a lot of us. We’re the ones that find piracy too much effort so we keep giving money to streaming services.
No, I’m not asking you to open your curtains. Long as you have a good connection between your PC and TV, and some small TV device, you can play a lot that way.
This concern exists regardless of what device is running on the TV.
If you have a wireless keyboard that’s comfortable on the couch, use that. Otherwise, just use a controller and launch in Steam Big Picture mode (now basically looks like Steam Deck’s main screen).
Good launchers (not all of them) also take controller input.
EDIT: But I think to reinterpret your question, yes, the device on the TV generally should have the input connected directly. That can be done with Android TV and I think Apple TVs.
What I’m wondering is whether controls have to be still directly connected to the main PC (ie moonlight is casting the display only), or if moonlight also handles controller communication to the PC.
Assuming its the former, I would imagine using a Bluetooth controller connected to the main PC, which would probably limit the physical range that I could leverage this solution.
EDIT: Rereading your comment, perhaps the remote device can handle controls. I will look into this more later when I can research it better. Thanks for sharing!
My computer is at least 12 years old by now and according to the Steam hardware survey the majority of people on Steam has a PC that is worse than the Steam Machine. I might get one as my new desktop if the price is not too high.
You can pretty easily just build an itx system and install linux on it. It might be a bit bigger, yes, but it’d also be easier to fix and upgrade. I believe the only thing you can change in the steam machine is the storage.
Sorry but you can easily do that. The average person cannot. Most people would have to do multiple weeks of research into what different parts of a computer even are to have any hope of building a PC. Lemmy is one of the most out of touch places I’ve ever seen as far as tech literacy goes. The average person likely couldn’t even tell you what an operating system is, let alone know what Linux is.
I don’t think you could get OEM parts that would actually fit in that space tbh. Also the guaranteed software support from valve, and set spec list allowing devs to optimize for it are some pretty huge bonuses over other prebuilts. I’m not saying building your own comp is a bad idea, but for the average user who just wants to be able to game at medium settings in most games, this has some pretty major advantages.
Well, no. That’s why they used custom parts. I’d rather have a slightly larger machine that I can actually maintain though.
Also why are you so confident devs will “optimize” for the steam deck? That’s just wishful thinking and I highly doubt it would happen. I also don’t know what you’re talking about when you mention “software support”. Every pc component I’ve bough has had software support from its manufacturer.
There’s not even a cost advantage. We don’t know the price but valve already said that it should cost about the same as building a similar pc.
Unlike your itx system, the steammachine is going to be reference hardware, much like how games got a Steamdeck profile, there will be games with a Steammachine profile.
You don’t think games optimized for a Steam Machine isn’t going to be a selling point?
And just because you haven’t manually used a Steamdeck preset, I’m willing to bet that the game did it for you.
The settings are optimized, not the game itself. There’s quite a big difference between those two. Why are you assuming that there would be special versions of games for the steam machine if there aren’t any for the steam deck?
And no, if I tell you that I’ve never used a steam deck preset, it’s because I haven’t. I always tweak the settings myself or at the very least check them.
Most developers don’t test on my setup and games have always worked fine. Adjusting game settings is not rocket science. Worst case scenario, you use the low/medium/high presets.
You’re lucky if changing graphics presets is the worst case scenario. Maybe check out the recent Gamers Nexus video on Linux GPU benchmarking to see a variety of performance issues on different cards for different games e.g., frame delay spikes, super low 1% rates and sometimes just overall bad performance.
it’s smaller and comes with a touchpad controller for running desktop/waydroid apps, and it has hdmi cec
Not to mention the OS is way better and easier to use as an HTPC than anything else out there. That won’t be fully out until the steam machines release anyways.
You can just buy a steam controller, hdmi cec is minor feature imo and I’m not really sure what you mean about the OS being so much better than “anything else out there”. Install bazzite and you’re most of the way there.
It’s a console for people who like PCs
It’s a PC Console for people who DON’T like PCs.
I want one because I don’t have a modern PC that can run games. I have a PS5, Switch 2, and a MacBook. I hate windows, I don’t want to deal with Linux or assembling a PC from components. I’m missing out on a lot of Steam games that I want to play. I don’t want to sit in my office and play games, I want to relax on my couch in my living room and play them.
This is for people like me. There’s a lot of us. We’re the ones that find piracy too much effort so we keep giving money to streaming services.
And a PC for people who like consoles
Exactly. I have a PC and a Steam Deck but I’ll buy it if the price isn’t completely off-putting. It’s just perfect for the living room.
You’d think those people would already have a PC…
Not one hooked up to their TV
May I introduce you to Sunshine and Moonlight.
No, I’m not asking you to open your curtains. Long as you have a good connection between your PC and TV, and some small TV device, you can play a lot that way.
This is cool, how do controls work? Do you use a Bluetooth kbm/controller connected to the main PC?
This concern exists regardless of what device is running on the TV.
If you have a wireless keyboard that’s comfortable on the couch, use that. Otherwise, just use a controller and launch in Steam Big Picture mode (now basically looks like Steam Deck’s main screen).
Good launchers (not all of them) also take controller input.
EDIT: But I think to reinterpret your question, yes, the device on the TV generally should have the input connected directly. That can be done with Android TV and I think Apple TVs.
What I’m wondering is whether controls have to be still directly connected to the main PC (ie moonlight is casting the display only), or if moonlight also handles controller communication to the PC.
Assuming its the former, I would imagine using a Bluetooth controller connected to the main PC, which would probably limit the physical range that I could leverage this solution.
EDIT: Rereading your comment, perhaps the remote device can handle controls. I will look into this more later when I can research it better. Thanks for sharing!
They don’t, I set moonlight up on my friends kids switch for streaming from their pc. Super easy, slick as hell
Yeah but its a pita sometimes with controls and stuff.
Why don’t they hook it to their TV then?
It’s in the other room
Why don’t they just merge the rooms then?
Why doesn’t the larger room just eat the smaller room?
That’s a load bearing wall.
Ever heard of an HDMI cable?
Obligatory fuck HDMI, but yeah
My computer is at least 12 years old by now and according to the Steam hardware survey the majority of people on Steam has a PC that is worse than the Steam Machine. I might get one as my new desktop if the price is not too high.
You can pretty easily just build an itx system and install linux on it. It might be a bit bigger, yes, but it’d also be easier to fix and upgrade. I believe the only thing you can change in the steam machine is the storage.
Sorry but you can easily do that. The average person cannot. Most people would have to do multiple weeks of research into what different parts of a computer even are to have any hope of building a PC. Lemmy is one of the most out of touch places I’ve ever seen as far as tech literacy goes. The average person likely couldn’t even tell you what an operating system is, let alone know what Linux is.
If you don’t want to build it just buy a prebuilt. It’s not that hard.
Ah, maybe they could make some cool prebuilt with Linux already built in. Hmm and make it small enough to fit under a TV in a small shelf 🤔
And if only that machine could use OEM parts so that people could upgrade and fix it 🤔
I don’t think you could get OEM parts that would actually fit in that space tbh. Also the guaranteed software support from valve, and set spec list allowing devs to optimize for it are some pretty huge bonuses over other prebuilts. I’m not saying building your own comp is a bad idea, but for the average user who just wants to be able to game at medium settings in most games, this has some pretty major advantages.
Well, no. That’s why they used custom parts. I’d rather have a slightly larger machine that I can actually maintain though.
Also why are you so confident devs will “optimize” for the steam deck? That’s just wishful thinking and I highly doubt it would happen. I also don’t know what you’re talking about when you mention “software support”. Every pc component I’ve bough has had software support from its manufacturer.
There’s not even a cost advantage. We don’t know the price but valve already said that it should cost about the same as building a similar pc.
Unlike your itx system, the steammachine is going to be reference hardware, much like how games got a Steamdeck profile, there will be games with a Steammachine profile.
That’s literally not a selling point imo. Also, I’ve literally never used a “steamdeck” preset on my steam deck.
You don’t think games optimized for a Steam Machine isn’t going to be a selling point?
And just because you haven’t manually used a Steamdeck preset, I’m willing to bet that the game did it for you.
The settings are optimized, not the game itself. There’s quite a big difference between those two. Why are you assuming that there would be special versions of games for the steam machine if there aren’t any for the steam deck?
And no, if I tell you that I’ve never used a steam deck preset, it’s because I haven’t. I always tweak the settings myself or at the very least check them.
More developers will specifically test on your setup if you have a Steam Machine.
Most developers don’t test on my setup and games have always worked fine. Adjusting game settings is not rocket science. Worst case scenario, you use the low/medium/high presets.
You’re lucky if changing graphics presets is the worst case scenario. Maybe check out the recent Gamers Nexus video on Linux GPU benchmarking to see a variety of performance issues on different cards for different games e.g., frame delay spikes, super low 1% rates and sometimes just overall bad performance.
Isn’t that an Nvidia issue? AMD gpus work fine.
it’s smaller and comes with a touchpad controller for running desktop/waydroid apps, and it has hdmi cec
Not to mention the OS is way better and easier to use as an HTPC than anything else out there. That won’t be fully out until the steam machines release anyways.
You can just buy a steam controller, hdmi cec is minor feature imo and I’m not really sure what you mean about the OS being so much better than “anything else out there”. Install bazzite and you’re most of the way there.
I’d rather have a machine that’s slightly more incovenient to use but that can be upgraded and is also easier (and cheaper) to repair.