4 ms·

I hope steam machines make a comeback. Steamdeck is the best gaming platform I've ever owned, and I'd easily pay up to $2k for a box that I can just put under m

I hope steam machines make a comeback. Steamdeck is the best gaming platform I've ever owned, and I'd easily pay up to $2k for a box that I can just put under my 4k TV and have all my 1000+ steam games there without ever having to see the windows logo.

freedomben 2y ago
I likewise hope they do, but that said once you get into the >$700 range a custom PC build starts to be a much better value. With projects like Bazzite being IMHO even better than Steam OS and having full support for desktops, I suspect a higher end box would have a lot of competition from DIY (which is still pretty popular in the gaming world). I'd love to see them dip a toe in with an ~$700 NUC-style steam machine with higher specs than the Deck but still very affordable for most people. If that sells well then increasingly look at more premium models, though it may be in their best interest to facilitate custom builds at that point. They could possibly even sell the parts or a kit or something!
- bsimpson 2y ago
  Bazzite lifts the same boats as SteamOS. They want you to be able to play (and buy) games from Steam. I doubt they're fussed about whether you're using their official image or a homebrew enthusiast build.
- golergka 2y ago
  I have built my first PC back in 1997. But now I'd pay money to get a ready made box with a compatible and fully tested OS already installed.
leidenfrost 2y ago
LTT made a video about installing SteamOS on a big machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR-bxvQKN8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR-bxvQKN8 You need a Radeon card though
- gpderetta 2y ago
  Bazzite now (as of last week) has beta support for nvidia cards. Only through the open driver though, so no series 10 cards unfortunately (I have one laying around which I was planning to use to build a gaming box on my living room).
vel0city 2y ago
You can pretty much get that experience today. Go build yourself a gaming PC and install Bazzite. It is a bit focused on handhelds but also works on more desktop form factor but controller focused PCs. Steam Big Picture works as well so it is a lot of the same interface as what you'd get on SteamOS. https://bazzite.gg/ https://bazzite.gg/
- bsimpson 2y ago
  It's funny that they still call it Big Picture Mode, because the UI makes assumptions about being on a Steam Deck (definitely in Linux, and even in Windows). In fact, my Legion Go counts as a Steam Deck in my Steam Replay stats. (I guess the actual funny bit is that they make assumptions that a general-purpose UI is only used on their hardware…)
wqaatwt 2y ago
> ever having to see the windows logo Why? I mean you can pretty much just boot directly into Steam’s full screen mode and almost never interact with Windows already.
- Toutouxc 2y ago
  I'm afraid that the times where you do have to interact with Windows are exactly what some people are trying to avoid — the nags to upgrade to Windows 14 (remember when 10 was the last one?), defender popups, ads for 3rd party bloatware when you connect a mouse, forced updates before shutdown, etc.
  - wqaatwt 2y ago
    To be fair pretty much all of that stuff can be disabled by tweaking a few settings (on pro/enterprise at least). I do get the update notifications but that’s it.

freedomben 2y ago

I likewise hope they do, but that said once you get into the >$700 range a custom PC build starts to be a much better value. With projects like Bazzite being IMHO even better than Steam OS and having full support for desktops, I suspect a higher end box would have a lot of competition from DIY (which is still pretty popular in the gaming world). I'd love to see them dip a toe in with an ~$700 NUC-style steam machine with higher specs than the Deck but still very affordable for most people. If that sells well then increasingly look at more premium models, though it may be in their best interest to facilitate custom builds at that point. They could possibly even sell the parts or a kit or something!

bsimpson 2y ago
Bazzite lifts the same boats as SteamOS. They want you to be able to play (and buy) games from Steam. I doubt they're fussed about whether you're using their official image or a homebrew enthusiast build.
golergka 2y ago
I have built my first PC back in 1997. But now I'd pay money to get a ready made box with a compatible and fully tested OS already installed.

leidenfrost 2y ago

LTT made a video about installing SteamOS on a big machine: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR-bxvQKN8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdR-bxvQKN8 You need a Radeon card though

gpderetta 2y ago
Bazzite now (as of last week) has beta support for nvidia cards. Only through the open driver though, so no series 10 cards unfortunately (I have one laying around which I was planning to use to build a gaming box on my living room).

vel0city 2y ago

You can pretty much get that experience today. Go build yourself a gaming PC and install Bazzite. It is a bit focused on handhelds but also works on more desktop form factor but controller focused PCs. Steam Big Picture works as well so it is a lot of the same interface as what you'd get on SteamOS. https://bazzite.gg/ https://bazzite.gg/

bsimpson 2y ago
It's funny that they still call it Big Picture Mode, because the UI makes assumptions about being on a Steam Deck (definitely in Linux, and even in Windows). In fact, my Legion Go counts as a Steam Deck in my Steam Replay stats. (I guess the actual funny bit is that they make assumptions that a general-purpose UI is only used on their hardware…)

wqaatwt 2y ago

> ever having to see the windows logo Why? I mean you can pretty much just boot directly into Steam’s full screen mode and almost never interact with Windows already.

Toutouxc 2y ago
I'm afraid that the times where you do have to interact with Windows are exactly what some people are trying to avoid — the nags to upgrade to Windows 14 (remember when 10 was the last one?), defender popups, ads for 3rd party bloatware when you connect a mouse, forced updates before shutdown, etc.
- wqaatwt 2y ago
  To be fair pretty much all of that stuff can be disabled by tweaking a few settings (on pro/enterprise at least). I do get the update notifications but that’s it.