I have been checking the Steam Machine subreddit the last couple of days and seen that a handful on people over there has been getting theirs now.
So, Lemmings: have you gotten yours yet? And what’s your first impressions?
Don’t mind my essay here. TLDR: I love this thing.
I got mine yesterday. It’s the 512GB with no controller since I already got the controller separately and the 2TB version felt like an especially bad deal.
I was initially on the fence about the price and reserved just to get into the queue to make the actual buy decision later. I was expecting more people to have thoughts on it out before my spot in the queue came up, but I ended up getting my purchase email very quickly on 6/30. I let the email sit for a day but ended up deciding to pull the trigger for a few reasons:
One, I’ve owned every first-party Valve device so far, and all of them have been more than the sum of their parts. Two, I wanted a HTPC, travel, and LAN party PC that’s a bit less restraining than a laptop. Three, being a bit of a performance snob has been distracting me away from actually gaming and I wanted to get back into the no nonsense side of PC gaming again. And four, I don’t mind spending a little extra money advancing Linux, repairable hardware, etc.
I feel like I have to acknowledge reviews from the PC space have been largely negative, but they seem to be undervaluing a lot: the form factor (a 6" cube is still tiny compared to almost all other SFF builds), performance per volume (almost the entire cube is a heat sink), and the benefits of more standard performance targets we’ve already seen with the Deck.
As for first impressions, the device is packaged well, and unboxing was very satisfying. I did have some trouble getting my controller paired since it was already paired to my existing desktop PC and plugging it in directly wasn’t enough to get around that like I expected, but looking up how to pair it to multiple PCs got me past that.
I spent a few hours testing a mix of light to demanding games, and I’m more than happy with what it can do. I haven’t tried gaming beyond 1080p yet, but I’m going to be very selective about when and how I do that. 512GB is proving to be plenty of space for what I’m playing at any one time, and I think that would still be true if I didn’t have other devices acting as additional storage.
I feel like all my expectations above have been validated, and now I’m really looking forward to getting the Frame. I want to make a travel backpack or suitcase with foam cutouts for the whole set.
I think this is the appropriate place to post something like this:
https://youtu.be/zvaO4DPM1ZMYou can easily build a PC that’s better at a lower cost.
Yep, this comes up in every post involving the Steam Machine, so we get it. 👍 I’m getting a Steam Machine anyway, but power to anyone who does a custom build.
No offense, but I really don’t like this take.
The Steam Machine is not about price/performance. It’s about easy access with zero hassle to your existing Steam library in your living room. Of course you will be able to match the price/performance if you disregard HDMI CEC, noise levels, size and accessibility/ease of use.
Of course people wanting a PC shouldn’t get this. This is for people who doesn’t have a console since they are PC gamers, and now for the first time can access their existing library at the TV.
Didn’t get picked for the lottery, but i did look into hardware more specially for what I need that can get away with older tech for cheaper and still cover what I want to use it for
I think this is the appropriate place to post something like this:
https://youtu.be/zvaO4DPM1ZMYou can easily build a PC that’s better at a lower cost.
When we did the one-time randomization of the list, your place in line ended up beyond the number of units we’ll have in this production run.
😕
I just want to know how/if it out-performs the steam deck in docked mode.
I’ve been using that in my living room for the better part of two years and it’s been great aside from some AAA games.
Got any particular games you’d like tested? I got mine in yesterday, and I’ve got a pretty big library of games to throw at it.
I’d love to see how Expedition 33 performs. The deck was fine if graphics were turned waaaaay down, but I’d love a couch experience with nice visuals.
I think the CPU should be at least 50% faster, and the GPU more than that. I believe they said the GPU was up to six times as fast, but I feel like the “up to” might be doing some heavy lifting in that statement
It has beefier internals and is running the same software so it will easily outperform it. Whether it will be enough to bridge the gap for the AAA games to meet personal preferences is a good question.
Paid for mine on Friday and it’s all packaged up, waiting to be picked up by the courier, presumably tomorrow on Monday morning. UK buyer and it seems to be coming from the Netherlands. I’m going away for a week starting on Friday so fingers crossed that the 3-5 working days lands on the lower side
Got the email to purchase mine (2TB no controller, but I managed to get a controller when they first came out so not too disappointed I didn’t get the bundle) last Wednesday, it shipped the following day and should be arriving on Monday. I actually have the day off too so I’m looking forward to spending a good amount of the day testing it out when it arrives.
Got my mail to buy the 2TB with controller yesterday but after some thought I am going to undo my reservation. I just can’t justify the price of this thing. I have a pretty beefy computer upstairs and would probably get really annoyed by the lack of performance in comparison. I will probably go for a mini pc (with steam controller) and stream my games instead.
Btw, if you enlisted on more than one model, your option to buy will only be for the most beefed up one. I enlisted for 512GB and 2TB, but can only buy the 2TB and the 512GB spot is gone.
Btw2, for me it said 3-5 business days for delivery.
Good luck with your reservations, hope you all enjoy your steam machines.
I don’t mean to be rude, I’m just curious.
If you already have a beefy computer, why were you planning to get it in the first place?To also have my steam library available downstairs mainly. When the rumours started about a new steam machine I was all excited, big fan of the stuff Valve makes. But after seeing the specs and price I started having second thoughts but reserved one thinking it would probably take a couple of months anyway before I could buy one. Oh well.
If it was around 700 euros I would definitely have gotten one. The lack of performance could have been justified then because I could also use remote play if needed.
That’s not true. If you reserved for multiple models, then you were rolled randomly in each. Whichever model you rolled best on is the model you can buy.
I guess that depends on what you mean by “rolled best.” It was random for each SKU you selected. If you got on the reservation queue for more than one, then you got to keep the queue position for the most expensive model and your queue position for the less expensive model was discarded, regardless of which queue you were closer to the front of. If you didn’t get reservation queue for any, then you got the shortest waitlist of your selected options.
Ah I read that wrong then. But the end result is the same for me at least. My 512GB reservation request was removed when my 2TB queue spot was granted.
Yea, it just means you were rolled closer to the front of the line on your 2TB slot.
Still waiting on my second email to be able to buy the thing. I got the first email saying I’m in the reservation queue, but I have no idea how quickly they are moving through said queue.
Same. Got a reservation mail for the 2TB with controller and still waiting. I’m located in Sweden.
My reservation is for the 512GB with controller. I’m in the US. I signed up for all four options when it first went live.
