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.
  • MIDItheKID@lemmy.world
    2·
    6 hours ago

    I kind of feel like the Nvidia Spark reveal lit a bit of a fire under their ass. As well as several other announcements at Computex, such as the Intel Arc G3 stuff. I k ow the G3 is more in line with Steam Deck competition, but it shows what kind of power can be put in a small form factor. The Steam Machine is already looking like “last Gen” and it’s not even out yet. Price is really going to be what makes the SM make or break. I feel like they had a good plan, and then the RAMocolypse happened and it’s not looking so great now. I love Valve, and what they have done with Proton and for Linux Gaming is nothing short of amazing, but I’m worried about this one. The Steam Deck was amazing when it came out because of the price point. The current price is absolute insanity. Not worth it at all in my opinion, especially given it’s age.

    I dunno. I really want this to work out, but it seems like every day things get more challenging.

    And honestly, the Steam Machine isn’t even a thing for me. I have a great gaming PC that’s already hooked up to my TV. Don’t need it, never will. I am much more interested in the Steam Frame because it runs on ARM. I wholeheartedly believe that ARM is the way of the future, but the software side needed the pressure. Between Steam Frame, Nvidia Spark, and Apple Silicon, I feel like it’s actually finally happening.

  • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    11·
    11 hours ago

    I wonder if they’re going to have a sku for the Frame with drastically reduced ram that’s required to be tethered to a host PC and not run anything on its own until upgraded.

    Being a standalone unit is nice, but I wasn’t planning on using it that way, and being able to save money by reducing ram would be nice

    • JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz
      41·
      8 hours ago

      The Frame is an embedded mobile device with space constraints, it’s going to have soldered ram and storage. At least it has a Micro SD card slot so you don’t have to necessarily pay for the biggest SSD.

    • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
      1·
      6 hours ago

      That’s what I’ve been wanting, but I don’t think so, at least not yet. I have a pretty powerful PC, and I don’t care to use this away from it. I’m totally fine with a tethered requirement. Being standalone is cool, but it isn’t worth the additional price in my opinion.

    • nialv7@lemmy.world
      33·
      8 hours ago

      if you reduce its ram to the point it’s no longer practical to run games on it anymore, then all the compute power it has will also be wasted. at this point might as well redesign from ground up to be a tether device…

      • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        31·
        8 hours ago

        at this point might as well redesign from ground up to be a tether device

        That’s literally my point. Let me buy the non-Meta headset now, and upgrade it with more ram in 2 years when the prices aren’t as stupid

    • HouseWolf@pawb.socialEnglish
      23·
      16 hours ago

      edit: My brain somehow completely glossed over Steam Frame not Steam Machine. I haven’t actually thought about VR in years. my bad.

      You basically just got a bigger more expensive Steam Link at that point. Which the original one should still work?

          • Dettweiler@lemmy.dbzer0.com
            3·
            13 hours ago

            On that note, though; I’m sure the RAM in the steam machine will likely be upgradeable, since it’s basically a small form prefab PC with Arch / SteamOS pre-loaded on it.

            In fact, I hope this means we will see a desktop release of SteamOS that isn’t just turning your PC into a bulky Steam Deck.

            • Cethin@lemmy.zipEnglish
              1·
              6 hours ago

              There are advantages to soldered RAM. It can be faster without extra cost. The issue is it’s not upgradable. It depends if they’re targeting people who will upgrade their device or people who won’t on which is the smarter option.

              If you want SteamOS though, there are already plenty of options. SteamOS is just another distro based on Arch. It isn’t doing anything special (except on the actual Steam Machine which will have extra hardware to, for example, turn on when you press the button on your controller). There is literally no reason you should be waiting for it, especially if you want just a desktop OS that can play games. If you want a console-like experience, where it’s harder to access the desktop and more restricted, then there still isn’t a reason but it is a thing you can do.