Valve already stated from the beginning that they didn’t want to subsidize the cost like a console but they also believe that idea is infeasible which isn’t true, especially in the short term.
The whole point of the hardware is to push steam software and increase the Linux marketshare which would encourage other OEMs to offer SteamOS or Linux from factory. No one is buying this to not use it for gaming under a subsidized price because there are much better options for that purpose.
The primary buyer would still be a steam user, meaning they’d make that money back on steam purchases. They could even run a launch promo to offer reduced price with a steam wallet combo. At least give it a month or two before the final price sets in stone.
Even if they had launched at the original $750 earlier this summer with a fat price increase warning, I think the average user would have been more receptive to buying at the full price in the future. It’s the getting slapped with a $1k pricetag from the start that’s got everyone shell shocked.
Beg to disagree. I’d never pay 750 for a “pc” that performs like ryzen 3600 with an rx 6600 and has no way of being upgraded (besides replacing ram and ssd). The hardware is outdated from day 1.
For people like you and me, sure, not worth it. I know at least 3 people that are getting one because it is better than what they have, they will never upgrade even the drive let alone ram. PC I upgraded from was a ryzen 7 3800 with a rtx 4070ti super, now on a ryzen 9 9950x with an rx 9070xt. Remember this is better than what many steam users have currently, and again, these people will just use it til it dies as is. Plus this gives devs a target hardware to code for to maximize their sales and optimize their games for (there are some indie devs that do care to optimize unlike the AAA types). If the system was going to go for the original price it would almost be worth it for a living room pc, if my pc wasn’t already filling the role.
I say “upgrade” but it’s actually a repairability issue as well. If something breaks, getting a replacement part is not as easy as going to any pc store/amazon/newegg and getting what you need. You’ll have to go through steam/ifixit and it will most likely be more expensive than the equivalent pc part. You also can’t replace just the cpu, gpu or motherboard. If any of those breaks, you have to replace the whole thing.
We are not “normal” in this sense, I no longer build my own pc I go to my favourite local computer store and buy the parts and have them put it together, but I will never buy one that I did not choose the parts. Since I won’t be buying one I didn’t look at the warranty but would hope that it is at least 2 - 3 yrs (should be 5 but, yeah). Most people will simply send it off to steam and pay whatever the cost is. I was beating the hell out of my 3800 for 5 years (some VR games sent that cpu to the red line and stayed there for hours) and it is still a viable machine, owners just need to hope they don’t get a dud cause I don’t think these are off the shelf parts (cpu/gpu/mobo) so replacement will be difficult either way.
It doesn’t matter if you build it yourself or not, it matters that whoever repairs it can swap only the part that failed. The steam machine has a lot of stuff on a single board (kinda like a laptop) and that sucks, from a repairability standpoint.
Steam Doesnt even need to push hardware to increase sales… plenty of idiots like me with a 200 game backlog, and didnt even bother to stress the valve CDN by downloading the gamr even once
No one is buying this to not use it for gaming under a subsidized price because there are much better options for that purpose.
If it cost a few hundred dollars less per unit than comparable small form factor PCs, then small businesses probably would. When you only need something that works and don’t care about support contracts or having a standardized hardware fleet, anything cheap will do the job.
Valve already stated from the beginning that they didn’t want to subsidize the cost like a console but they also believe that idea is infeasible which isn’t true, especially in the short term.
The whole point of the hardware is to push steam software and increase the Linux marketshare which would encourage other OEMs to offer SteamOS or Linux from factory. No one is buying this to not use it for gaming under a subsidized price because there are much better options for that purpose.
The primary buyer would still be a steam user, meaning they’d make that money back on steam purchases. They could even run a launch promo to offer reduced price with a steam wallet combo. At least give it a month or two before the final price sets in stone.
Even if they had launched at the original $750 earlier this summer with a fat price increase warning, I think the average user would have been more receptive to buying at the full price in the future. It’s the getting slapped with a $1k pricetag from the start that’s got everyone shell shocked.
Beg to disagree. I’d never pay 750 for a “pc” that performs like ryzen 3600 with an rx 6600 and has no way of being upgraded (besides replacing ram and ssd). The hardware is outdated from day 1.
For people like you and me, sure, not worth it. I know at least 3 people that are getting one because it is better than what they have, they will never upgrade even the drive let alone ram. PC I upgraded from was a ryzen 7 3800 with a rtx 4070ti super, now on a ryzen 9 9950x with an rx 9070xt. Remember this is better than what many steam users have currently, and again, these people will just use it til it dies as is. Plus this gives devs a target hardware to code for to maximize their sales and optimize their games for (there are some indie devs that do care to optimize unlike the AAA types). If the system was going to go for the original price it would almost be worth it for a living room pc, if my pc wasn’t already filling the role.
I say “upgrade” but it’s actually a repairability issue as well. If something breaks, getting a replacement part is not as easy as going to any pc store/amazon/newegg and getting what you need. You’ll have to go through steam/ifixit and it will most likely be more expensive than the equivalent pc part. You also can’t replace just the cpu, gpu or motherboard. If any of those breaks, you have to replace the whole thing.
We are not “normal” in this sense, I no longer build my own pc I go to my favourite local computer store and buy the parts and have them put it together, but I will never buy one that I did not choose the parts. Since I won’t be buying one I didn’t look at the warranty but would hope that it is at least 2 - 3 yrs (should be 5 but, yeah). Most people will simply send it off to steam and pay whatever the cost is. I was beating the hell out of my 3800 for 5 years (some VR games sent that cpu to the red line and stayed there for hours) and it is still a viable machine, owners just need to hope they don’t get a dud cause I don’t think these are off the shelf parts (cpu/gpu/mobo) so replacement will be difficult either way.
It doesn’t matter if you build it yourself or not, it matters that whoever repairs it can swap only the part that failed. The steam machine has a lot of stuff on a single board (kinda like a laptop) and that sucks, from a repairability standpoint.
Steam Doesnt even need to push hardware to increase sales… plenty of idiots like me with a 200 game backlog, and didnt even bother to stress the valve CDN by downloading the gamr even once
If it cost a few hundred dollars less per unit than comparable small form factor PCs, then small businesses probably would. When you only need something that works and don’t care about support contracts or having a standardized hardware fleet, anything cheap will do the job.