I think it is dumb. I still have no 0 interest on buying a steam box if I can put my desktop behind a LCD TV, connect HDMI to receiver, receiver to LCD TV and home theater setup. Then extend a 18inch USB 3.0 wire to a 7 port usb 3.0 port hub and connect controllers, kb and mouse.
There you go, your own living room setup.
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A lot of people have just a notebook nowadays. For them a Steam Machine could be a good alternative to a console and they can play their steam games that their notebook can't handle.
Just because it's not for us, it doesn't mean their is no market for it :D
I really hope the Steam Machines sell well. I think that could be good for PC-Gaming in general.
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your point? I can easily make a better desktop with @ their given pricepoint. The only good thing about their machines is it includes a steam controller.
The only reason I see atm that a person might want to buy a steambox is you are too lazy to build 1 yourself or you have space constraint on your living room
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CyberPowerPC:
I3 - €113
GTX 760 - €220
8 GB ram - €70
Total €403
Now count the HDD, fans and motherboard with it... You'll likely come at about €500-... Ohh loak the CyberPowerPC is €500-! Profit by building it on your own: 0 (likely below 0).
But I do agree some are terribly over priced (the ones above 1500-).
EDIT, I calculated the Webhallen's steambox, I got €1138,90-, thats only for CPU, GPU, HDD and RAM.
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We don't know if the box priced at 499 is the one with those internals. Just sayin'.
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Yes, I did read it. And nowhere does it state that the machine costing 500$ is the one with those specs. That's the price for the AMD configuration. The one with the i3 + 760 is 700$, not 500$.
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Since you cant find it by your own, I screen shotted it for ya
You can thank me later.
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Since YOU appear to not be able to find it on your own, I'll link it for ya, since I CBA to continue this argument with someone that refuses to read properly.
http://www.engadget.com/2014/01/06/cyberpowerpc-steam-machines/ no clicky, doesn't take that much effort to drag, does it?
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Well, you can't use a license for both your desktop / laptop and a steam machine; windows licenses are cheap only when you buy them as OEM, which cannot be transfered to another machine. I think that the only situation when you are right is when you want to upgrade from your pc to a steam machine and you don't have an OEM license.
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Well you are not supposed to do so. If that windows key came with the laptop is means it's OEM. In the worst case Microsoft can invalidate your key.
tom's hardware
ntz ntz
PS: If it isn't a OEM license, you can use it on how many machines do you want, but they shouldn't run in the same time.
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"Where's the point of having windows in a steambox?"
Well I think because what you said: "Your statement fails just because a Steambox can't handle the vast majority of games, due to SteamOS. The number of games compatible with linux is small."
Also Valve said they are busy getting the majority of their games run-able on steambox...
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Not really, nowadays there are people that still buy pre-built or customized computers as a finished product and you still have to deal with: Compatibilities with hardware, checking requirements, learning how the O.S. works, and those are the main points that console players use to attack computer gaming.
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[...Compatibility with hardware...]
I don't think that matters anymore. It would only be an issue with really old hardware which are Compatible with Windows XP and below. I don't think such hardware exists. Also driver updates can fix that stuff.
[...checking requirements...]
If you mean system reqs for gaming, it would only need a first time purchase of decent hardware, after which it should be future proof changing gfx card and perhaps CPU in five or so years. So the initial setup is the hardest part after which it should be smooth sailing.
[...learning how the O.S. works...]
Erm what?
And your post implies console players don't touch PCs. They might only do that if they live under a rock, in a cave or in a basement. PCs are now essential part in households and offices. Console players don't bother with 'gaming' PCs because, it costs more, finding and fixing parts maybe daunting for first timers or because they are old school and don't want to change their ways. For them the SteamBox might be the perfect solution to playing PC games.
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Yes I did, and you can read my post: "These things are a bit overpriced, I just "built" (pcpartpicker) a PC that stomped on (price vs performance) the Alternate $1339 one, which is quite silly. Total: $1372.90 With a 4670k, GTX 770, and 128 SSD. The only one that seems to be around its price point is the $499 one, if that is indeed the spec of them, considering Intel is more expensive."
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A USB 3 hub for keyboard mouse and controllers? That is more than a bit excessive. Not only would a USB 2 hub be just fine for all that. I'm fairly certain even a bargain basement 12 megabit 1.1 hub would do the same job just as well.
Also, those machines from Gigabyte and Zotac Look sufficiently small enough to consider lugging around on trips or simply taking with to a friends house. Outside of planning LAN parties that is something that pretty much never happens with PCs but is relatively frequent with consoles. They are also looking like machines that would be difficult to impossible to build yourself as those two appear to not be using off the shelf form factors.
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Zotac and gigabyte are pretty vague atm. Price TBD and parts TBD. Maybe the premium price might be worth it for portability, but it is being advertised as a living room box atm.
EDIT: about the USB 2 hub vs 3.
USB 2 hub suffers input loss @ 18inch distance even it is powered. Maybe I got a poor one but I quickly replaced it with a usb 3.0 and it works @ 18 inch distance w/ 4 controllers w/ gaming kb and mouse.
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I just wanted to input that all transmission lines (including USB) will suffer loss along any distance. Your implication that USB3 does suffer from signal degradation @ 18 inches is incorrect. It just loses much less signal than USB2.
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Ah, you edited it. Before that, it seemed like you were saying that USB3 doesnt suffer any loss.
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That has more to do with the cable than the hub but it is possible you had a defective hub. Use an unshielded cable and yeah, it will have to be short. Use a decent shield cable and you can use 12 and 15 foot cables like I do. The spec allows for unpowered cables up to 5 meters for both 1.1 and 2. Throw in active repeaters (essentially single port hubs) and you can go further if you need to.
Why yes, I do have all kinds of crazy gear hooked up all over the place.
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PC gamers aren't the target demographic. The point of those boxes is to bring console gamers over to Steam.
Of course some PC gamers with only laptops and no desire to build their own rig will take interest in those, but they aren't the primary targets.
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Well I guess they are targeted at Console gamers, not on PC gamer :> Any PC gamer can make a better setup for the same price on their own and just install SteamOS on it ;) but they may, especially 500/600$ ones (as it's comparable price to next gen consoles) appear to console gamers, which are terrified by the words "build your own PC" and just want plug'n'play hardware.
And honestly - why would Valve need to fight for PC gamers, if they already own them? Now they just focus on fighting Console market, which is still big chunk of gaming industry and where they are fairy weak now compared to main players.
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Agreed. The target is console gamers that were intimidated by the thought of trying to become a PC gamer. It is a big leap compared to buying a uniformed product (consoles).
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Except for 2 or 3 boxes, those are really ugly HTPCs with Linux. I wouldn't want those bricks in my living room.
You can build your own setup with better specs for the same price or with same specs for a lower price, buy a controller and you're good to go.
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Where is all the hate coming from? I only have a laptop and I could really use a Steam Machine because I have no budget to buy an expensive gaming pc. Just to admit, those prices seem to high with regard to the specs they are offering. But that doesn't mean the idea is worthless.
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I am only a pc gamer but if I wanted a "pc / console" for my living room, I would buy A laptop at the same price and do that. That way I would have A portable PC (which I don't have now) and a "windows console" for the same price.
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Heat is a problem, I agree, there are fans for that but surely not the same as a pc. As for the specs, there are decent laptops at 500€ with decent specs, maybe not exactly the same as the box but close. As for the 1000-6000$ boxes, yes, there are spectacular laptops. Also, we have to wait and see what heat problem those boxes might have cause they havethe items a pc has, but not the space for decent cooling system. It is too early to tell but I am certain that they have something up their sleeve to make this desirable.
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The problem with laptop is that you still have a case between insides and actual fan, no matter how good cooling mat you invest into. It's a massive heatsink loss compared to systems applied directly to your GPU/CPU/whatever.
As for price points - all we know for now are basics system (CPU,GPU,RAM,S/HDD) - no idea about extra specialist hardware they gonna add to these, nor factory OC that's gonna take place. And thing like manufactured OC or specialist cooling system may be costy. Not to mention the fact that while building your own basic PC may seem easy to most of PC gamers, but effectual OCing it, implementing advanced cooling systems etc is a whole different story. ANd look at top-tier-price manufacturers. They are known from their OC'ed, professionally-made, mega-cooled PCs. OFC if you have skills to do all this yourself for much less cost. But if you're unskilled in HardWare, OCing and especially if you are just a pure console gamer - these may still look good. Look on usual Alienware PC setups. They are heavily overclocked and professionally cooled. Ofc with skills you could do it yourself for lesser price, but what if you're not pro enough? While I would personally never buy their setup, cause I can mod my PC myself, they still have a lot of customers. Why do you think it would be any different for Steam Macines? :>
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Surely many people will find it interesting and gonna buy it. But it is (for the momment at least) not the breakthrough in the industry (unless they realease HL3 for Steamos only :D). Ofcourse there will be a lot of people that this box setup is perfect for them, but how many can they be? I don't think they target such a small group (compared to all gamers since it combines PC and console gaming). As I said, it is too early to tell, and maybe they can surprise us later with something super - cool, that maybe even I won't be able to resist. Who knows.. we just have to wait.
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If it can run ALL steam games that is gonna be my next PC...in 4 years
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we still don't know nothing specific about these most pricy platforms. I believe they're gonna be heavily OC'ed with professional cooling systems, like PCs from same manufacturers. It's still lose of money if you can do it yourself but keep in mind that while creating your own basic PC is easy, OCing it to it's limits using professinal cooling systems is totally different story. And they may just target people who want Overpowered system, but don't have skills to buid one of their own, as they do successfully by selling their overpriced OCed PCs nowadays.
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Zotac's and iBuyPower's boxes look interesting (as in "good price/value ratio), but most of the perbuild boxes are just too pricey.
My TV and my PC are in different rooms, but I guess I could connect them with a 3m HDMI cable - I'll probably try that as soon as a Steam controller is out and I can affor it =)
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Some of them are way off in price/specs. Others looks kinda fair: a bit overpriced, but still better spec'ed than Alienwares you can see around.
The 500-600$ are about right.
OF COURSE you can put together the same stuff, stop whining about it, guys. These are not for those who can put their own PC together.
This first generation only needs to stir things in the market. Once you have XX million units out there (hopefully), even big publishers will seriously think about Linux support. If you have games that run on Linux/SteamOS, we can make slightly cheaper gaming-PCs (legal ones, that is... again: WE know that Windows is "free").
The more competition the better for us. It doesn't matter if YOU buy it directly.
I personally don't care to buy one. I can make my own, etc. I'll still take the extra competition happily though.
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Still amazed at the amount of PC gamers complaining, as if knowing how to build a cheaper rig matters in the slightest. You are already playing PC games, therefore you are not the target audience. I won't be getting a steam machine either, because I already have a Big Picture setup.
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wat? naturally, the steambox is not a competitor to the entire console market, I don't think anyone was trying to say that. It's a user-friendly option that any console-gamer now has the ability to choose when it comes time for a "next gen upgrade," in a friendly console-flavored package.
As for options, I do believe that is the name-of-the-game at the moment as evidenced by the article. If anything, PC gaming will be more varied, as the point to the whole endeavor is to be able to play PC games without enthusiast level knowledge that has previously been the barrier of entry to PC rig building (and therefore PC gaming in general).
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I was just trying to show why I think that "thesn00ze" is wrong. If you're trying to sell a user-friendly thing (aka steambox) you should offer a product that has a huge catalogue, and that is where SteamOS fails, by now.
I know that you might say: "Install windows as well". But, wouldn't it make the whole Steambox concept a lot less user-friendly?
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The only target audience should be console gamers...and until they drop the price lower than consoles there is no way any steambox will EVER take off in they way valve hopes.
steambox nice idea but fail on price point....Didn't any of the company's think that if they reduced everything in the box to low to mid range components they would get more interest from console gamers with adverts saying why wait for the next console when you can just upgrade to next gen grfx
this could have been huge and taken a big chunk out of the console market instead just a big fail..........
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if the 500$ are able to eventually run also the windows only games (i.e. not stream) i guess they can effectively compete with the recent ps4 and xboxes. including, someone could be interested to pay (once) something more for the steambox console, since games on steam are much cheaper than on traditional consoles and it can compensate the higher initial barrier.
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Webhallen is doing it's own Steam Machine, that's awesome. I'd like to know their local price though.
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most of these prices are meh, if I wanna spend that much I would just do it on my pc. Seems like some insane prices for steambox so far and I get the feeling they aren't going to be able to compete with consoles at these prices.
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So, most manufactures showed their Steam Machines during CES. And the price is kinda mehh.
You can find it here.
IMO the only ones which looks good are the ones of 500$/600$, which are 2 of them...
What do you think?
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