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.
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.