The steam box preview..

mortals said:
They could always buy a ready made PC :confused: (more than likely will be cheaper than these steam box things & have more possibility of upgrades)
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You overestimate people, they want something that will run games. They don't want to faff around looking at pc specs because that is what you will have to do when buying a "PC". The steam box is an attempt to let an average consumer with no PC knowledge just go out buy a Steam box as you would an xbox or playstation. It's a Steam box, it will play games.
Like I said it is an effort to standardize the buying experience when wanting to get into the PC gaming market.

mortals said:
It's based on linux & these days most hardware is compatible :confused:
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It has no where near the level of support (read ease of use) windows has when it comes to different hardware configurations. If that were the case I could just wack Steam OS on my PC right now and expect it to work flawlessly.(It won't)
 
mortals said:
Why spend more on getting a 'box' shaped computer with a logo on the side :confused:
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Why dont we just use ip addresses, domain names are unnecessary. Its convenience and accessibility.

A little logo and possible jingle will have them doing no worse then Intel and Microsoft and all the others.
They do need it to be a cheap idea as all consoles are essentially cheap bundled hardware. The ps4 or new xbox arent anything especially ground breaking afaik, mostly its about arranging existing technology so steambox fits that definition even more cheaply.

I believe it will have to be leaner and meaner not to flop, I doubt it'll be widely advertised ?
 
Seems like a marketing flop to me. If Valve are going to let any old company create these machines then surely they need to have a high level of quality control in place that stop the crap getting through and a strong level of brand management so anyone who see's one of these boxes knows its a steam box.

Make a product that is sexy and stands up against the competition in the living room and people will buy it rather than these fugly designs that do nothing to move on the image of PC gaming. They might as well crack out the UV lighting and random case badges.
 
Frenzy said:
I think you guys are missing the point, these aren't for pc enthusiasts that can build their own PC. They are for people transitioning from console to PC and don't know how to or can't be bothered to build a PC.

I guess it is also standardizing hardware to a certain extent. If the hardware works on the Steam OS (driver support) then it can eliminate a percentage of hardware configurations meaning more general stability.

The other side is, if they can groom the general public into buying this kind of setup then they can create a sub market similar to that of the console market. Think buying a new system instead of buying new parts, granted there will be people buying parts but I can imagine gimmicks like "Steam OS" ready parts etc.
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We (us entusiasts) shouldn't be looking at this like its our next buy. We should be looking at this because we love PC gaming and this is a PC in console form for the layman to buy.

At the end of the day no matter what console users say they would love a high powered PC but don't know where to start. This does it all for them. Ready made PC/console, drivers, games, massive support from the off. Its a ready made console.

The thing is we've had one for ages and the console 'dudes' will love it and think they're getting an uber console. They'll be drooling over DAYZ etc
 
silversurfer said:
They do need it to be a cheap idea as all consoles are essentially cheap bundled hardware. The ps4 or new xbox arent anything especially ground breaking afaik, mostly its about arranging existing technology so steambox fits that definition even more cheaply.
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I think this is the main problem.

The boxes will be expensive.

Also in order to run newer games they will require at least mid ranged gpu's (eg: GTX760 which the cheapest on OcUK atm is £194.99).

Some of the specs mentioned in the article wouldn't run newer games like Metro Last Light at a acceptable framerate on steamos.
 
Could they do with the steambox do what consoles do i.e have a chip with the os on or somit so steamos instant loads when you power on or somit? That would help maybe get living room pcs nearer to consoles speed for just getting it on and gaming quickly?
 
Ars Technica have reported prices as well - http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2014/...m-machines-and-all-of-their-glorious-variety/

Most are way above the price of a next gen console. I really can't see that the boxes are going to gain any market traction at these prices:

2dr5ddu.jpg
 
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Cyber powers is looking the best. They don't need massive specs they just need a close to metal API to run with Linux. That would solve everything and I think is what steam are working/planning on.
 
a lot of them specs seem very strange to me. If it was me it would be say a cheap one would have a 650 boost with a quad core of somit like a cheap i5 if possible and 8gb of ddr3 and a 1tb hdd and call it for about 350 quid and then a medium one would be say a 670/760 with a 3580k and 8-12gb or ddr3 for say 450 maybe and somit highish end would be one of the new i7s of at least quad or whatever thats 3.5ghz or more (4ghz ideally) a 780 or a 680 i dunno with 12-16gb of ddr3 and call that about 700-800.

Oh and i reckon all steamboxs should come with a ssd for at least the os, a cheap 60gb or 30gb one would do and then either 500-1000gb hdd.
 
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Anything that gets console gamers over to the PC crowd so developers and the industry move away from consolitus and back to where they belong (pc) is good imo.
 
I just did a random price check on the parts of one of the machines. It seems that they are basically giving the controller for free? Is that what the Steam Machine is about? PC in a box + Linux + free controller?
 
Frenzy said:
It has no where near the level of support (read ease of use) windows has when it comes to different hardware configurations. If that were the case I could just wack Steam OS on my PC right now and expect it to work flawlessly.(It won't)
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'right now' steamos is BETA

SteamOS Hardware Requirements
Intel or AMD 64-bit capable processor
4GB or more memory
500GB or larger disk
NVIDIA graphics card (AMD and Intel graphics support coming soon)
UEFI boot support
USB port for installation
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If you are comparing windows to linux kernel then .... :o

Also if you are comparing windows to linux desktop then this is the wrong thread as steamos seems to be designed to boot into the steam client in big picture mode.
They do have an option to go to desktop but it seems that is there to fix possible problems more than to be used as an every day desktop solution.
 
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Frenzy said:
You overestimate people, they want something that will run games. They don't want to faff around looking at pc specs because that is what you will have to do when buying a "PC". The steam box is an attempt to let an average consumer with no PC knowledge just go out buy a Steam box as you would an xbox or playstation. It's a Steam box, it will play games.
Like I said it is an effort to standardize the buying experience when wanting to get into the PC gaming market.
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That's all well and good ignoring the "It's linux" part, so you've got a handful of AAA titles actually running (Last light and Rage/FM14 be the latest of which)

My problem is this, people will be buying these, buying games, then not being able to play their games (Despite buying a game on the "platform" they're running for the "platform" they're running)
 
mortals said:
'right now' steamos is BETA
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Which is my point :confused:

Yeah right now, we don't know what direction it is going to go in terms of support yet. Will it stop at basic support for graphics cards and mainboards or will it expand to peripherals and other things such as sound cards?

Compatibility and performance are also different things, I guess I should have made that point clearer.

mortals said:
If you are comparing windows to linux kernel then .... :o

Also if you are comparing windows to linux desktop then this is the wrong thread as steamos seems to be designed to boot into the steam client in big picture mode.
They do have an option to go to desktop but it seems that is there to fix possible problems more than to be used as an every day desktop solution.
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Yeah... I don't know enough about the inner workings of kernels to compare them on that level, nor would I. I am not comparing the desktop as there would be little point, you can dual boot a Steam OS machine, it has already been done. The Steam box looks like it is aimed more at the console user as I have previously stated, they want to play PC games but do not want to learn how to use a PC.

Martini1991 said:
That's all well and good ignoring the "It's linux" part, so you've got a handful of AAA titles actually running (Last light and Rage/FM14 be the latest of which)

My problem is this, people will be buying these, buying games, then not being able to play their games (Despite buying a game on the "platform" they're running for the "platform" they're running)
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Exactly. On release the choice of games is going to be incredibly small. I know of a publisher contemplating porting their games to linux, it can be done but it will cost. Performance may not be amazing either.

Then theres the added headache for future developers, do they devote development time to both linux and windows? What do they do?

Same thing is happening with this new mantle tech, do they go with mantle or do they go with directx or do they go with both. Time is money and if you look at how buggy games are these days because they have been pushed out to meet a deadline it's obvious there are going to be issues.

Still, if you think back to the release of Steam people did question the sanity of such a product. Look where we are now.

I am not biased for or against the Steam box, I am just very interested in seeing where it will go.

As a PC gaming enthusiast myself Steam box does not appeal to me (I can simply build a mini pc), the Steam OS itself does but only out of curiosity. If there are significant performance increases over windows and newer titles start to favour the Steam OS I could see myself dual booting at some point.
 
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THE STEAM MACHINE ISN'T FOR PEOPLE THAT KNOW HOW TO BUILD THEIR OWN SYSTEM!

These are to market and sell the PC platform to console games, the type of people that have absolutely no idea what a GTX 780TI or an R290X.

If you know anything about PCs and PC gaming this product isn't for you so shhhh.
 
Antony101 said:
THE STEAM MACHINE ISN'T FOR PEOPLE THAT KNOW HOW TO BUILD THEIR OWN SYSTEM!

These are to market and sell the PC platform to console games, the type of people that have absolutely no idea what a GTX 780TI or an R290X.

If you know anything about PCs and PC gaming this product isn't for you so shhhh.
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Then people aren't going to understand why their steambox isn't playing their steam games are they?

It's the elephant in the room and it's not going away.

@ Frenzy, if developers go mantle/openGL, the Windows/SteamOS is moot as it'd run on both "porting" as such wouldn't an issue (As right now we're needing games going from directX to OpenGL)

The thing is, SteamOS is touted for better performance with OpenGL, but it's not that black and white obviously.
 
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