Valve have put up an official explainer on why we haven't gotten released dates or pricing for the new Steam Hardware like the Steam Machine and Steam Frame.
I think most of us understand that the parts market (RAM and SSD at least but also GPU) is so volatile that, for a machine they don’t expect great numbers on and they aren’t selling as a loss leader (like game consoles are), they can’t name a price because they don’t know. Committing to one price now almost certainly means a “price rise” at launch or selling at a loss, neither of which they want.
Personally I’m expecting $999. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m a little off, by $200 — in either direction. This will not be “affordable,” but they’re expecting their fans to come out and support them.
Clever idea would be to give to option to sell it without RAM and SSD (as option, you can still buy the whole package).
They need an open platform to soar, who cares if RAM and SSD comes from second hand market? Steam is a store, they could even lead the second hand market for the (key) accessory components!
I feel like that goes against their whole message with Steam hardware though. The Steam Machine is advertised as a plug-and-play console alternative that needs zero effort on the user’s part, if they sell versions of it without components it would quickly start gaining notoriety for being for tinkerer’s and linux nerds instead of the average person.
Classic Valve move, tease neat hardware then tuck tail when real-world supply chains hit. Yes, RAM and SSD prices are bonkers right now, but I still think they should have either locked suppliers before announcing or waited to show anything that needs a launch window. Saying “first half of the year” with no prices feels like selling hype, not products.
That said, the controller looks awesome and foveated streaming is actually a clever idea that could help these boxes punch above their weight. If they share CAD and let the community mod faceplates, I will forgive them slightly. But I’m not holding my breath for H1 deliveries, not unless prices calm or they get lucky with parts.
My 10 years old computer is already giving me signs of failure. If in the next months it dies, do you really think I’m gonna find 16gb ram at decent prices? Or a recent graphic cards under 200€? I’ll have to add one new motherboard too because mine being old means it won’t support much of what I’ll have to install.
As of today, if I want to keep the budget of my pc under a reasonable price, I’ll have to settle with something that probably won’t be able to output the last battlefield at 4k120fps.
But you know what? That’s fine, because I’m confident enough with the size of my dick not to need a computer that lets me brag about dumb numbers.
You don’t have to update all the parts at the same time. Sure, if your motherboard/cpu/ram fails you’ll likely need to replace all 3, but your current graphics card, PSU, case, etc should still be fine.
Plus, if you’re going from a 10 year old rig you could buy used DDR4 era parts on EBay or Facebook to save money and it’d still be an upgrade
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I think most of us understand that the parts market (RAM and SSD at least but also GPU) is so volatile that, for a machine they don’t expect great numbers on and they aren’t selling as a loss leader (like game consoles are), they can’t name a price because they don’t know. Committing to one price now almost certainly means a “price rise” at launch or selling at a loss, neither of which they want.
Personally I’m expecting $999. I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m a little off, by $200 — in either direction. This will not be “affordable,” but they’re expecting their fans to come out and support them.
You can say $1000 instead of $999.
No reason to do our abusers’ dirty work for them.
OK but if it does turn out to be exactly $999 it’s going to be slightly more impressive foresight.
I’m guessing $998.99
What is this, The Price Is Right?
Clever idea would be to give to option to sell it without RAM and SSD (as option, you can still buy the whole package).
They need an open platform to soar, who cares if RAM and SSD comes from second hand market? Steam is a store, they could even lead the second hand market for the (key) accessory components!
I feel like that goes against their whole message with Steam hardware though. The Steam Machine is advertised as a plug-and-play console alternative that needs zero effort on the user’s part, if they sell versions of it without components it would quickly start gaining notoriety for being for tinkerer’s and linux nerds instead of the average person.
As a cheaper option? Maybe. But that’s means the SteamBox certified might not be true (8 gigs of ram instead of original 16).
Also, while it might have reparability I’m mind, the fact it has to be opened in the first day requires more design effort
Ooh, I’d assumed the RAM would be soldered/integrated with the SOC, but looking at the FAQ you’re completely right! That would be a neat option…
That’s not going to appeal to the console market they are targeting.
Classic Valve move, tease neat hardware then tuck tail when real-world supply chains hit. Yes, RAM and SSD prices are bonkers right now, but I still think they should have either locked suppliers before announcing or waited to show anything that needs a launch window. Saying “first half of the year” with no prices feels like selling hype, not products.
That said, the controller looks awesome and foveated streaming is actually a clever idea that could help these boxes punch above their weight. If they share CAD and let the community mod faceplates, I will forgive them slightly. But I’m not holding my breath for H1 deliveries, not unless prices calm or they get lucky with parts.
When did they do this before, to make it a classic Valve move?
I don’t remember any of their other products being affected by global supply chain issues before.
In the post they say they’ll publish CAD for faceplates
Valve is going to try and sell you an $850 6 year old outdated console so you stop blowing Microsoft and start blowing Valve 🤣
Even if that were the entire situation, it’s still extremely compelling.
My 10 years old computer is already giving me signs of failure. If in the next months it dies, do you really think I’m gonna find 16gb ram at decent prices? Or a recent graphic cards under 200€? I’ll have to add one new motherboard too because mine being old means it won’t support much of what I’ll have to install.
As of today, if I want to keep the budget of my pc under a reasonable price, I’ll have to settle with something that probably won’t be able to output the last battlefield at 4k120fps.
But you know what? That’s fine, because I’m confident enough with the size of my dick not to need a computer that lets me brag about dumb numbers.
I said it will be a shitty value, not that it didn’t produce big numbers.
You don’t have to update all the parts at the same time. Sure, if your motherboard/cpu/ram fails you’ll likely need to replace all 3, but your current graphics card, PSU, case, etc should still be fine.
Plus, if you’re going from a 10 year old rig you could buy used DDR4 era parts on EBay or Facebook to save money and it’d still be an upgrade