Nah, it’ll probably be $800-1k. It’s basically a 7600 CPU + RX7600 GPU or whatever, and it’s not really upgradeable. So somewhere between the Series S and X in performance, and not subsidized by game sales.
Not necessarily. Minecraft kinda went that way, but Factorio is still independent, and they were both released around the same time.
AAA games are often based on someone else’s IPs (e.g. Tom Clancy) or derived from a successful competitor (e.g. indie games). But I haven’t seen a ton of cases where the indie studio was bought outright.
I don’t think that’s all that impressive though. The GPU looks to be a little weaker than the Xbox Series X, one gen newer and just over half the CUs, and the CPU is a gen newer with fewer cores. I’d wager The comparison I’ve seen is the Steam Machine is about the same size as the Series X, but a bit shorter. The Steam Machine doesn’t have a disc drive, so that makes sense.
It looks like the Steam Machine’s cooling is just a big heatsink and a 120mm fan. That’s really not that crazy. It’s basically a mini PC with a custom SOC and a bigger heatsink and fan.
Idk, I wouldn’t really call Steam OS an Arch distro. It’s not quite as extreme as the relationship between PlayStation and FreeBSD, but it’s in that realm.
The user has very little control over the base system, which is distributed by Valve. Most of the user’s interaction is on the surface, such as through Flatpaks and whatnot, not w/ the package manager. It’s like other distros like Aeon (openSUSE) and Silverblue (Fedora) where the user doesn’t really interact w/ the distro itself.
it takes minutes on the forums to convince me what a horrible idea that would be.
The reason the forum is like that is because Arch is designed to be a system where you have the tools to solve problems yourself and not need to ask for help. That’s why the install process is so manual, the intention is that if you can make it through that, you probably won’t need much help from anyone else. The install process has gotten easier, but it’s still to a point where it generally discourages “casuals”, for lack of a better term.
I used Arch for about 5 years and I think I interacted w/ the forums like twice. If interacting w/ the forums is something that’s important to you, then Arch probably isn’t for you. Something like Debian or Fedora will probably be a better fit.
I really don’t get people’s fascination w/ Arch. It’s basically a LEGO-style Linux distro, and that’s not really what most seem to want. I switch from Arch to openSUSE because openSUSE had everything I liked from Arch (rolling release, mostly-vanilla packages, etc) and most of the reliability of a release-based distro. I still don’t recommend it for new users because the community is pretty small so getting help is a bit harder, but people are generally nicer than Arch users.
The DS4 has a gyro though, so I can do gyro aiming w/ it if I want. Steam Input makes configuring it quite easy.
I thought I was the target for the Steam Controller because configurability sounded fun, so I picked it up w/ the Steam Link in a bundle w/ Rocket League and I ended up not using either (and I bailed on Rocket League after EGS bought them). I think it was a cool idea, but I ended up not liking it as much in practice. I keep trying to give it a second chance, but each time it just feels weird.
That said, I love the Steam Deck, which is a natural evolution of the Steam Controller. It has capacitive joysticks to make the gyro better, the track pads don’t get in the way, and the triggers and shoulder buttons feel better. The main thing I miss from the Steam Controller is the button in the triggers. Everything else on the Steam Deck is a straight upgrade, and the extra back buttons are enough to make me not miss the button in the triggers.
I might end up getting the new Steam Controller, but I wish they would’ve put the left thumbstick a bit higher and the D-pad a little lower. But since I already use a DS4 and have been considering a DS5, this is a natural upgrade for me.
I have a Steam Controller and could never get used to it. I don’t like the track pad D-pad on the left, since it’s uncomfortable to use for camera control or as a D-pad, it’s just awkward. The right one is okay, but in a weird spot, since it’s annoying to jump all the way down to the buttons.
The new one looks a little better, but I’d still prefer the left stick to be higher (maybe seap with the D-pad?). I love the Steam Deck, so maybe in practice this is fine.
I find asymmetrical sticks more comfortable to use. The natural position of my thumbs is in the top corners of the controller. Since the D-pad is rarely used, the left thumb stays in that sweet spot and the right jumps between the stick and the buttons.
I use a DS4 on my desktop, an Xbox 360 controller on my retropie box, and a Nintendo Pro controller on my Switch, and the DS4 is way less comfy than the other two. I only use the DS4 because it had better compatibility with Linux and other features (mostly gyro) when I shopped for one when I moved the Xbox controller to another room.
I’ve considered buying the DS5, but would much rather wait for something better, like a new Xbox controller with a gyro.
The Xbox was my first, and I prefer the asymmetric design. However, the controller I use on my PC is a DS4 and it’s fine, and I use it because it had better Linux support at the time.
This isn’t going to be a high end machine, it’s probably competitive with the PS5, more or less.
You didn’t mention what you have, but you could probably get a decent upgrade competitive with this for well under $1200. The GPU seems to be about an RX 7600 ($250-260), the CPU is about a 7600 ($190), motherboard is $170, and 16GB RAM is $120. So $700-800 mandatory, plus whatever you need to replace from your current rig, and the result should be a bit faster than the Steam Machine. That’s probably a bit more than the Steam Machine, but it’s upgradeable, whereas the Steam Machine won’t be.