Steam Machine Prices Range From $499 to $6,000 for First Generation

[james.sponge]

Wow some of these things are mighty ugly. Still don't know why would anyone pick this over a gaming PC, if you want to play PC games on your sofa just a buy a small affordable rig and stream games to your TV. Also Valve is yet to announce the full list of games supported by steam OS, seriously if this continues somebody is going to lose money.

 

[Doom972]

Looks like some of those manufacturers completely missed the point of Steam machines and just decided to make overpriced PCs with SteamOS on them. No one would want that $6000 tower in their living room, and the price doesn't help.

I think I may be remembering this all wrong - but didn't they say at one point that all Steam boxes will run any game at 1080p and 60fps?

If that's the case, I'm not sure if a $500 machine would be capable of that.

I doubt they ever promised such a thing, because it is impossible.

 

[misg]

My biggest issue is the price. I know that gaming hardware isn't cheap, but the lowest end system is just barely matching the price of the most expensive console. Which is already pushing things, given that the PS4 launched at $399. Though the controller sounds neat, it's not clear to me what benefit a Steam Machine brings over a similar gaming PC, and until they answer that question this is going to be a hard sell for Valve.

I really don't see 500 bucks as a reason to hold people back, 60Mill+ people already have steam accounts with games on them. So right there even if you only have say 5-10 titles you aren't needed to buy anything else to start off. Also tons of AAA titles are 20-30 bucks where you are paying $60 for just one game on a new console. With the weekly sales and such it won't take a person long to build up a library. Lets assume you buy 3 games for your new console on top of buying the console your easy $600. if you buy a steambox for the $500 that leaves you with $100 to spend on games which at the very less will get you 3-4 good games and if you take your time possibly a dozen or two good games. That is the steam box advantage. Gaming systems always boil down to the games the more you can play on a system the more value it has.

 

[DarkhoIlow]

I still don't understand who is this for..console gamers? Really doubt it because they are glued to their respective consoles (X1,PS4 or WiiU) due to exclusives. PC gamers? They can just hook up their PC to the TV and use Big Picture Mode.

So can someone explain me why these exist? I just don't get it. If you are planning to pay more than 500$ then just buy the parts individually and you can get more bang for your buck and just use Big Picture Mode. If you really want to get the SteamOS just install it instead of Windows? And buy a Steam controller and you are golden.

 

[Crazy Zaul]

After looking at various versions, it seems the Steam Machine is nothing more than putting the steam brand on any custom PC build and charging way more than its worth for it. The stupid thing is that anyone who would be interested in a steam product would be smart enough to know that all the steam boxes are way overpriced for the specs.
I guess these are just for the rich version of COD and Fifa console gamers to be tricked into buying.

 

[rapidoud]

My biggest issue is the price. I know that gaming hardware isn't cheap, but the lowest end system is just barely matching the price of the most expensive console. Which is already pushing things, given that the PS4 launched at $399. Though the controller sounds neat, it's not clear to me what benefit a Steam Machine brings over a similar gaming PC, and until they answer that question this is going to be a hard sell for Valve.

I really don't see 500 bucks as a reason to hold people back, 60Mill+ people already have steam accounts with games on them. So right there even if you only have say 5-10 titles you aren't needed to buy anything else to start off. Also tons of AAA titles are 20-30 bucks where you are paying $60 for just one game on a new console. With the weekly sales and such it won't take a person long to build up a library. Lets assume you buy 3 games for your new console on top of buying the console your easy $600. if you buy a steambox for the $500 that leaves you with $100 to spend on games which at the very less will get you 3-4 good games and if you take your time possibly a dozen or two good games. That is the steam box advantage. Gaming systems always boil down to the games the more you can play on a system the more value it has.

I bought pikmin 3 for $45. Sold it for $40. That was a month after release.

Steam games have no refunds, no trade-in value, require online-only (all of them have to be downloaded), encourage geopricing ($90 for Dishonored in Australia? GTFO), and have a habit of breaking when used in conjunction with steam (whereas regular copies are fine).

I really don't see why valve even deserve any modicum of the market with what they've shown. Hate to say "I told you so" to the public but really, I was telling everyone who would listen that these would be expensive because there was no logical way they'd be cheaper than the sum of custom parts.

Anyone that honestly thought the steambox would do well with what they were shown was delusional. You can't compete with a $500-570 console with your $600+ LINUX (GL trying to sell that to anyone that doesn't already build their own PC) box that can only play linux games or play windows games poorly through wine (and if you dual boot then congratulations they ended up buying a windows-installed PC anyway) with less longevity than a console. The x360 came out in 2004 yet still could play AAA games 9 years later. My 2008 PC? Couldn't even run Guild Wars 2 or Crysis 3, even on the lowest settings.

 

[Denamic]

The x360 came out in 2004 yet still could play AAA games 9 years later. My 2008 PC? Couldn't even run Guild Wars 2 or Crysis 3, even on the lowest settings.

My 2006 machine can still almost run every game ever made, all Crysis games included. And it was never even a high-end machine to begin with. If your 2008 PC can't run GW2 or Crysis on the lowest setting, was it geared towards accounting? Because by '08 standards, you'd have to have scraped the bottom of the barrel to achieve that performance.

 

[WhitbyDragon]

Muchly disappointed here, I had thought with the Steam OS being supposedly better for games that the manufacturers would get away with smaller specs so therefore smaller price tags! I might as well buy a decent PC and run it off the Steam OS myself.

Also just thought, the variety of manufacturers will cause higher price tags, instead of one box needing X million of each part which drops the cost per part, there are loads of boxes needing just thousands of each part.

 

[Li Mu]

I still don't understand who is this for..console gamers? Really doubt it because they are glued to their respective consoles (X1,PS4 or WiiU) due to exclusives. PC gamers? They can just hook up their PC to the TV and use Big Picture Mode.

So can someone explain me why these exist? I just don't get it. If you are planning to pay more than 500$ then just buy the parts individually and you can get more bang for your buck and just use Big Picture Mode. If you really want to get the SteamOS just install it instead of Windows? And buy a Steam controller and you are golden.

I agree. I'd imagine that most Xbox gamers would look upon this with absolute disgust. And my gaming PC already runs all the best games on ultra settings. I'm also not understanding what niche this is filling.
BUT...a STEAM OS seems pretty damn good right now. I used to actually like Microsoft when they brought out Win7. For me, Win7 did everything I wanted it to in a fast and easy manner. Then they brought out Win8 and shit all over my face. I don't like people shitting on my face. I don't like Microsoft for making an OS which is actually degenerate to their previous release. So I hope that the Steam OS is the bleach which will clean up Microsoft's shit.

 

[holyshaman]

I still don't understand who is this for..console gamers? Really doubt it because they are glued to their respective consoles (X1,PS4 or WiiU) due to exclusives. PC gamers? They can just hook up their PC to the TV and use Big Picture Mode.

So can someone explain me why these exist? I just don't get it. If you are planning to pay more than 500$ then just buy the parts individually and you can get more bang for your buck and just use Big Picture Mode. If you really want to get the SteamOS just install it instead of Windows? And buy a Steam controller and you are golden.

I agree. I'd imagine that most Xbox gamers would look upon this with absolute disgust. And my gaming PC already runs all the best games on ultra settings. I'm also not understanding what niche this is filling.
BUT...a STEAM OS seems pretty damn good right now. I used to actually like Microsoft when they brought out Win7. For me, Win7 did everything I wanted it to in a fast and easy manner. Then they brought out Win8 and shit all over my face. I don't like people shitting on my face. I don't like Microsoft for making an OS which is actually degenerate to their previous release. So I hope that the Steam OS is the bleach which will clean up Microsoft's shit.

i do not think Steam OS is a alternativ to Win7/8 but linux is, most off all because Steam OS is made to play games and i think it will only have thiere own web browser with no easy option to get google chrome or firefox plus you can't get all the 3rd party software you all ready have on your Win7/8 and linux.

 

[bliebblob]

Yay, another batch of info that doesn't help me at all in pinning down what exactly makes a steambox a steambox :| To me it just seems like a bunch of pre-built pc's. Is it just the fact they come with steamOS and a steam controller?

And of course their price, size, components, shape and color are all still possibly subject to change. As they have been ever since steamboxes were first announced. So basically we still don't know jack.

 

[Kahani]

So can we now stop pretending there's actually such a thing as a "Steam Machine"? Valve have produced their own Linux distro and they have several manufacturers who will ship it with some of their PCs. If the OS is any good it will stand on its own merits; if not, giving regular PCs a silly name won't make any difference.

 

[SinisterDeath]

After looking at various versions, it seems the Steam Machine is nothing more than putting the steam brand on any custom PC build and charging way more than its worth for it. The stupid thing is that anyone who would be interested in a steam product would be smart enough to know that all the steam boxes are way overpriced for the specs.
I guess these are just for the rich version of COD and Fifa console gamers to be tricked into buying.

A lot of those $500 models, aren't actually that over-priced. When your talking an i5, GTX660, and 8GB memory at the $500 level, $500 is actually fairly spot on. Don't believe it? Look it up on newegg.com.

The biggest advantage a steam machine has, right off the bat?
$100-180 cheaper than any windows PC.
Thus the 'mummy' who gets asked to buy a 'pc' for their kid, will see a steam machine for $500, and a windows for $600 and go "hmmmm"

Anyone that honestly thought the steambox would do well with what they were shown was delusional. You can't compete with a $500-570 console with your $600+ LINUX (GL trying to sell that to anyone that doesn't already build their own PC) box that can only play linux games or play windows games poorly through wine (and if you dual boot then congratulations they ended up buying a windows-installed PC anyway) with less longevity than a console. The x360 came out in 2004 yet still could play AAA games 9 years later. My 2008 PC? Couldn't even run Guild Wars 2 or Crysis 3, even on the lowest settings.

You aren't limited to using just Linux. You can install windows 7 on it for all they care. it's not Ps4 where your locked into their OS.

The demographic they are aiming at, which has been said before is those who don't build PC's. Those who don't know jack about building pc's and have no interest in doing so!

Believe it or not. They out populate people who build PCs. 10 to 1.

 

[Athinira]

I bought pikmin 3 for $45. Sold it for $40. That was a month after release.

Steam games have no refunds

My steam library is just above 200 games, most purchased through Steam Sales or Humble Bundles. According to Steamcalculator i haven't played 60 % of them. Might sound like a waste, but i can play them whenever i want, and pick whatever i like to play. And i can always replay them. Occasionally i look through the library, pick a game and play it (when i have time).

Not everyone cares about refunds. Some of us actually want to be able to replay our games whenever we want to, or simply wants a lot of choice at our hands.

 

[fix-the-spade]

If that's the case, I'm not sure if a $500 machine would be capable of that.

If the parts are well chosen, no reason it won't. My two year old $650 machine manages that on everything except Battlefield 4 and Mirror's Edge (which was seemingly coded by a drunk monkey). Even on BF4 dropping the settings to a mix of high/medium gets 60+ fps most of the time.

 

[loa]

Can I slap windows on it, plug a keyboard, mouse and tablet in it and work on it like on a regular miniature more silent pc while not having to worry about frying it with occasional gaming like I would have to with laptops?
Cause I'd want something like that for my next rig.

 

[RicoADF]

The lack of uniformity is a good thing.

Not in this case (at least, not in my opinion)

PCs already had that lack of uniformity thing going for them. Almost complete customization down to what color LEDs you wanted in the case. I was under the impression one of the driving factors behind Steam Machines was to standardize PC gaming slightly so that you knew what you were getting when you bought certain hardware. I thought I remembered hearing about 3 main classes of Steam machine...but these early prototypes seem scattered all over the board rather than falling into simple-to-understand groups. Aside from SteamOS (which many Steam games still aren't Linux compatible and will need to dual-boot to Windows to play), what exactly is the point?

The only thing I'm really excited to try is that Steam Controller to see if the haptic feedback and touch screens are as fluid and intuitive as they claim. Aside from that, I'll just continue to build my own machines with the exact hardware (and software...I can't wait to see all the bloatware these companies cram into their boxes) that suits my needs.

I see this as being like Android, there are alot of options from different companies at different price points, each with their own twist which is good as it gives the consumer choice.

Can I slap windows on it, plug a keyboard, mouse and tablet in it and work on it like on a regular miniature more silent pc while not having to worry about frying it with occasional gaming like I would have to with laptops?
Cause I'd want something like that for my next rig.

Yes you can, SteamBox is just the name of a pc running steam os. Other than the controller which will be available seperatly, there's no difference between one of these and a windows pc.

 

[Magix]

I wonder if it's just the different pricing that we get for computer components in Estonia, but 500 usd = 366 eur for Intel Core i5, GTX 760, 8gb RAM looks very attractive. I put together a PC with i3, HD 7770 build half a year ago and paid more. The only thing that's a bit small is the HDD. And the case itself doesn't look bad either.

So if I was looking for a new PC and could get my hands on one of those at 500 USD in my country, I would seriously have to consider it. Depends on how upgradable it is though.