Steam Frame
store.steampowered.com
VR and non-VR gaming

256 GB model: $1,059 USD

1TB model: $1,299 USD

Preorder list randomized, goes out Sept 17th

Power supply not included, costs $29 (same as Steam Deck power supply)

3rd party addon available for color passthrough, Arcturus Vision Camera, $149

  • AmbitiousProcess (they/them)@piefed.socialEnglish
    5·
    3 hours ago

    I would get it if the battery life didn’t suck.

    ~1.5 hours when streaming from PC at 144hz, and a full charge time of around 3 hours, meaning you probably can’t even get unlimited playtime if it’s plugged in the entire time and solely streaming from a PC instead of computing the game itself.

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzMEnglish
      8·
      2 hours ago

      According to the Ars review, the 1.5 hour battery life is when running games on the Steam frame itself. Battery life is supposed to be a lot better when streaming from a PC I believe.

      Also all lithium batteries slow down charging speed a lot as they get closer to being fully charged, so taking 3 hours to charge doesn’t mean that it can’t charge faster than the battery drains. I’m sure it can just do power passthrough to power the headset indefinitely.

      • AmbitiousProcess (they/them)@piefed.socialEnglish
        1·
        35 minutes ago

        According to the Ars review, the 1.5 hour battery life is when running games on the Steam frame itself

        I was going off the LTT number which put it at 1:36 when streaming Half Life Alyx from a desktop PC, running at 144Hz. Ars’ number is when running on Performance mode with “most VR titles”, so I don’t know how comparable that is.

        The Verge says they never got above 2 hours even when using battery-saving mode or streaming-only, and demanding games got under 1 hour.

        As for charging time, LTT claims it’s 3 hours to 100%, and 2.4 to 95%, and doesn’t seem to state there’s much of a speed increase below that point, and as far as I’m aware you usually only see a major difference in charging speed for the last ~10%, though previously The Verge did also state a power bank could keep them going up to 2.5 hours.

        So with all that said, if it takes around 1-2 hours for it to die after starting from full, and it takes a minimum of 2.4 hours just to get it almost full… that means it’ll still run out of battery eventually, even if plugged in.

        • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzMEnglish
          2·
          15 minutes ago

          That’s disheartening about the battery times.

          So with all that said, if it takes around 1-2 hours for it to die after starting from full, and it takes a minimum of 2.4 hours just to get it almost full… that means it’ll still run out of battery eventually, even if plugged in.

          Once again, battery charge speed is slower than what the charger can provide. Look at it this way, it has a 21.6 Wh battery. If that battery drains in 1.5 hours, that means it drains the battery at an average rate of 14.4 W. It charges at a max of 45w. So when plugged in you can fully power the Steam frame for about 14.4w, and still have about 30w of power left over to charge the battery. It won’t always use 30w to charge the battery, it will further reduce that amount based on heat and charge level, but it won’t ever have a problem maintaining the 14.4w needed to keep it powered up while plugged in.