Too early for me to judge yet, but I do like a nice cube.

  • Keld [he/him, any]@hexbear.net
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    4 hours ago

    Why would I purchase this instead of beefing up an existing pc? What does this do that a pc does not do?

    The steam deck is portable. What is the value add here?

    • i_drink_bleach [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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      4 hours ago

      It’s targeted towards people that primarily run console already. People that don’t have PCs, or have old, janky PCs. People that don’t know how to build or upgrade a PC. If you already roll your own, then you are not the demographic.

      I agree. I build my own machines, this is not for me. I like the idea though. I know a lot of people that just have off-the-shelf PCs. They can barely troubleshoot a PC, let alone build one. It also moves people towards Linux and away from Win/Mac. which is a good thing.

      I had a young guy in one of my Discord channels. I shit you not: he wanted to clean his PC, so he cracked it open, got a wet rag, and wiped all the internals down. Then he messaged us asking why his PC won’t turn on anymore. Bruh…

      But the value-add for you? Nothing. You can just build your own shit. Most people can’t piece together a functional PC though. It’s a box with stuff in it.

      • 9to5 [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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        4 hours ago

        Some people dont know shit about pcs. So a console like experience out of the box is great for them. Or they want a “relatively” cheap living room pc. Both of them could be served with the Steam machine.

        As you said I have already heard various console only people profess interest in this since its “basically” like a console for them but they now can access the metric fuckton of games that run on steam/pc.

        • i_drink_bleach [any, comrade/them]@hexbear.net
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          3 hours ago

          That’s exactly what I’m getting at and, I think, exactly what Valve is getting at. Plus, while it functions like a console, it’s still just a Linux box. Meaning that its functionality can be massively extended depending on the user. An Xbox is an Xbox. It will never do anything else, regardless of user preference. I really like the idea, and if it catches on, it means a large influx of Linux users.

    • Dort_Owl [they/them, any]@hexbear.netOP
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      4 hours ago

      I guess that all depends on the price. If it’s cheaper than a gaming PC of similar specs than I’d say its a good deal. If it’s similar or more expensive, I’m inclined to agree that yes it’s pointless so long as the Steam Deck exists.

      • BelieveRevolt [he/him]@hexbear.net
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        3 hours ago

        I wouldn’t say that, the Steam Deck is relatively old hardware at this point and it’s basically a laptop with a decent APU, the Steam Machine has a dedicated GPU with OK specs. It can do at least some AAA gaming while the Steam Deck can’t.