• NecroticEuphoria@lemmy.ml
    0·
    1 month ago

    I’ll repeat what others likely mentioned before:

    Valve specifically chose to build a mid range PC, so more people can afford it.

    Also they priced it in a way where it’s still affordable while offering the convenience of not having to build it yourself. The majority of people never built a PC themselves, nor do they want to.

    • yyyesss?@lemmy.world
      1·
      1 month ago

      i think i must be their target audience because i’m excited as hell for the steam machine. i have no desire to build my own, i just want to play my steam games on my big tv. that’s it. they’re making that easy.

    • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
      0·
      1 month ago

      Not disagreeing with any of this, but it’s not like people who don’t build PC’s dont have plenty of options of prebuilt ones from either high end 3rd party stores as well as low end ones. To me it’s just another option to add to a long list which due to the company name will definitely sell more than the others right off the bat.

      • Rooster326@programming.dev
        0·
        1 month ago

        The key difference is that the Steam Machine can be controlled 100% for the controller with a OS built to be controlled by the controller, and seen on a TV.

        Windows doesn’t do that. It fuckin sucks to see on a TV because the UI is so small, and the controller only works in-game.

        I am most excited for the OS progress. I will be putting whatever on my living room pc as soon as it’s released. I can’t stand using a mouse and keyboard in the living room and having to scoot close to the TV

        • HeyJoe@lemmy.world
          0·
          1 month ago

          Maybe its the games I have played but my last pc was connected to my tv exclusively for 5 years and never saw that UI issue. I definitely had issues that sometimes needed addressing, but that wasnt one. I thought it worked good enough, but yeah the keyboard and mouse was always annoying. I used the Logitech all in one which was pretty small and mouse pad on the right side from the couch. For the most part I used it more for video playback though so I was in Kodi a lot and I would then use my phone as the remote control.

          • kkj@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            0·
            29 days ago

            The games are rarely the issue. It’s the OS in between the games, switching between games on Steam Big Picture and then to Jellyfin or similar for media, a web browser, and so on. You can do it with a wireless mouse or trackpad, but it’s a bit of a pain. SteamOS will presumably have a better UI for that.

            • Rooster326@programming.dev
              1·
              29 days ago

              Yeah I have 2 sound devices. And Windows chooses randomly every single time it resumes from Sleep, or Power Off.

              My option if I don’t want to get a keyboard/mouse is to hold the Power button ot the controller for up to 10s and use the right analog to maneuver the mouse, and R1 to left click. There is no right -click best I can see.

              If I hold the button for over 10s then the controller shuts off.

              What a shit ass system. Who picks a key combo with the power button?

  • paultimate14@lemmy.world
    0·
    30 days ago

    I can build a better PC for less money

    Can you?

    First of all, Valve has not even announced a price yet. Everything is still pure speculation.

    Second, have you seen the price of GPU’s, RAM, and SSD’s these days? Consumers for gaming PC parts are competing for supply with industrial buyers now. AI is hoovering all the supply up with the backing from private equity. The GPU market never fully recovered from the cryptocurrency era either.

    I’ve been wanting to build a new mid-range gaming PC for years now. I’ve kept an eye on prices. I spent ~$1k on a machine in 2019, with the GPU costing a mere $175. Nowadays a comparable tier of GPU starts at $600, and the cost fo a mid-tier machine is over $1,500, getting closer to $2,000 with the RAM and SSD prices.

    Valve can get better bulk pricing on components. Their primary profit center is software sales, and it’s really hard to sell software when no one can afford hardware. So Valve is incentivized to design these machines that are resistant to being scalped or scrapped for specific components, and to sell them for relatively low margin in order to drive game sales. We already saw this with the Steam Deck- it was hardware that could play games without mining crypto.

    I do think the RAM and maybe SSS supply could throw a wrench into Valve’s plans though. Just because if the prices go high enough, people could start buying steam machines to rip out the RAam modules and sell them separately. But we are nowhere near that level of RAM pricing yet.

    • jobbies@lemmy.zip
      0·
      29 days ago

      People say the same about a Mac, and they are usually correct but a Mac is built to last and be energy efficient. Hardware/software integration is also tight.

      You’d spend less building your own or buying a cheap windows machine but in terms of performance, energy efficiency, build quality etc you’ll struggle to get better value in the long run.

      • Xatolos@reddthat.com
        1·
        29 days ago

        Except they don’t. Sure, if your comparing a $500 Windows laptop to a $2000 MacBook, then yes this is correct, but once you start comparing computers of the same price tag then it gets different. The parts on the Windows devices tend to be newer, faster, better screen/touch screen, and longer supported. Apple supports their computers for around 7 years before they can’t be updated, Windows on average 10 years. And yes, Windows computers do last 10+ years, everyone is complaining very loudly how their 10+ year old Win10 machine isnt getting updates anymore and cant install Win11.