According to PCWorld who spoke with Chris Sutphen, the senior marketing manager at Alienware, Dell are pushing out two new Steam Machine models.
QuoteA new Alienware Steam Machine priced at $749 will have the Intel quad-core Core i5 chip based on the Skylake architecture, Nvidia's GTX 960 GPU, 8GB of DDR4 memory, a 500GB hard drive and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
For more horsepower, a $899 Steam Machine will be loaded with a Skylake-based Intel Core i7 chip, an Nvidia GTX 960 GPU, 8GB DDR4 DRAM, a 1TB hard drive and 802.11ac Wi-Fi.
The original cheaper Steam Machine will continue to be sold too.
I see this as a good sign, a sign of Dell's faith in the platform. Also, they wouldn't be introducing new models if the original didn't sell enough to be worth continuing to the point of adding more models. You could argue the opposite though, if it didn't sell enough they are trying higher models to see if people bite.
Another interesting quote from the article is this Alienware's Chris:
QuoteWe expect the SteamOS catalog to strengthen at the end of year
Going to be a fun year. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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Quoting: EKRboiIt is indeed cool that they are making new models, but I'm a little confused by the "For more horsepower" model that is $150 more.
As far as gaming goes the user will likely see VERY little difference as far as performance from the two models. IMO it would have made MUCH more sense to keep the i5 in the "upgraded" model but use the extra $150 to put in a GTX970 to go with the 1tb HDD. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Indeed. Around Christmas I built a rig with i3-6100/950/8GB/250GB SSD on an ITX board with quiet power supply. Was around EUR500 and is decent enough for most games. The difference to my other desktop with i7/960 is most of the time hardly noticable.
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An AMD based Steam Machine does have a chance to be sold below $350. And it will likely have exactly what people here are asking for: A weaker CPU and a quite powerfull GPU.
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Quoting: dmantioneAn AMD based Steam Machine does have a chance to be sold below $350. And it will likely have exactly what people here are asking for: A weaker CPU and a quite powerfull GPU.
Not sure weaker CPU is good thing imho, considering Vulkan and games using CPUs for all kind of fancy things, not only GPUs.
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I've been saying it multiple times and will say it once again. What would make Steam Machines success? If they would do some great deals for the games while buying Steam Machine. For example:
You pay 749$ for an Alienware Steam Machine, but you receive for example 149$ back on Steam wallet, and you can spend it whenever you want on any game (Let's be honest, we all know that except Sales, games on Steam Store are overpriced).
Currently deal on Alienware Steam Machine offers:
That's fine, but I am not interested in this titles.
If Valve does not want to just give money back, they could as well prepare fixed number of bundles that you can pick from. For example, buy Steam Machine and pick one (or few) bundles, in example:
- Valve games bundle (I've bought one a year ago)
- Saints Rows bundle
- Metro bundle
- Bundle that Alienware already prepared
- Feral ports bundle (Not all the games, but can be like Feral bundle 1, Feral bundle 2... etc)
- Indie games bundles (Indie games bundle 1, Indie games bundle 2... etc
and so on.
This would make people consider the platform, because let's be honest - people who consider Steam Machine mostly just want to play games, watch a movie and listen to the music. And having multiple interesting titles in the library is a must.
Let's take a look what XBox One and PS4 do - very popular starter kits are with 3 games, including best currently available title on their platform.
In May in my country (Poland) one of the stores offered PS4 + Uncharted 4 + Witcher 3 + Drive Club for 1599 PLN (in current exchange rate it is 360.95 euro).
Don't get me wrong, but for me choosing between Alienware Steam Machine for 749 euro with Payday 2 and games that I've never heard of and PS4 with Uncharted 4 + Witcher 3 + Drive Club for half that price isn't hard. And the choice is not the one that we all would like to hear here. Especially that currently, I cannot be sure that most of the titles were work great on Steam Machine, and on PS4 it is... acceptable :D.
So to sum up - Valve, Dell, Syber - please prepare some great games deals for all that decide to buy Steam Machines. It will make you and us happy.
You pay 749$ for an Alienware Steam Machine, but you receive for example 149$ back on Steam wallet, and you can spend it whenever you want on any game (Let's be honest, we all know that except Sales, games on Steam Store are overpriced).
Currently deal on Alienware Steam Machine offers:
QuoteWe’ve included three free games: PAYDAY2 + DLC* (available in SteamOS in early 2016), Roller Disco Derby and Screencheat. Along with WARTHUNDER DLC, Brawlhalla DLC, and Coffin Dodgers demo. All worth over $200!
That's fine, but I am not interested in this titles.
If Valve does not want to just give money back, they could as well prepare fixed number of bundles that you can pick from. For example, buy Steam Machine and pick one (or few) bundles, in example:
- Valve games bundle (I've bought one a year ago)
- Saints Rows bundle
- Metro bundle
- Bundle that Alienware already prepared
- Feral ports bundle (Not all the games, but can be like Feral bundle 1, Feral bundle 2... etc)
- Indie games bundles (Indie games bundle 1, Indie games bundle 2... etc
and so on.
This would make people consider the platform, because let's be honest - people who consider Steam Machine mostly just want to play games, watch a movie and listen to the music. And having multiple interesting titles in the library is a must.
Let's take a look what XBox One and PS4 do - very popular starter kits are with 3 games, including best currently available title on their platform.
In May in my country (Poland) one of the stores offered PS4 + Uncharted 4 + Witcher 3 + Drive Club for 1599 PLN (in current exchange rate it is 360.95 euro).
Don't get me wrong, but for me choosing between Alienware Steam Machine for 749 euro with Payday 2 and games that I've never heard of and PS4 with Uncharted 4 + Witcher 3 + Drive Club for half that price isn't hard. And the choice is not the one that we all would like to hear here. Especially that currently, I cannot be sure that most of the titles were work great on Steam Machine, and on PS4 it is... acceptable :D.
So to sum up - Valve, Dell, Syber - please prepare some great games deals for all that decide to buy Steam Machines. It will make you and us happy.
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I was planning to get a Steam Machine then changed my mind at the last moment and got this instead:
https://system76.com/laptops/oryx
Obviously regular gamers don't need the extra non-gaming power in this machine, but I needed that extra power for work. So, Steam Machine manufacturers aren't the only ones who started believing in Linux gaming. It's nice to finally be able to pick up a powerful gaming laptop designed specifically for Linux. I am really enjoying Tomb Raider on this machine :)
Last edited by sarmad on 14 June 2016 at 9:41 am UTC
https://system76.com/laptops/oryx
Obviously regular gamers don't need the extra non-gaming power in this machine, but I needed that extra power for work. So, Steam Machine manufacturers aren't the only ones who started believing in Linux gaming. It's nice to finally be able to pick up a powerful gaming laptop designed specifically for Linux. I am really enjoying Tomb Raider on this machine :)
Last edited by sarmad on 14 June 2016 at 9:41 am UTC
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Quoting: sarmadI was planning to get a Steam Machine then changed my mind at the last moment and got this instead:
https://system76.com/laptops/oryx
Obviously regular gamers don't need the extra non-gaming power in this machine, but I needed that extra power for work. So, Steam Machine manufacturers aren't the only ones who started believing in Linux gaming. It's nice to finally be able to pick up a powerful gaming laptop designed specifically for Linux. I am really enjoying Tomb Raider on this machine :)
System76 is go to Ubuntu OEM vendor for very long time.
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Many journalists do not consider the relatively low production costs of steam machines for the manufacturers. DELL has no license costs nor observe any restrictions. They make use of synergies here. Is such another alien ware box with SteamOS. What do they risk?
Sooner or later SteamOS will also prevail in the mass market, because the whole concept makes just a lot more sense. Ultimately, many people wait for Sony finally brings out a steam machine. See the PS4 hacks. :)
Sooner or later SteamOS will also prevail in the mass market, because the whole concept makes just a lot more sense. Ultimately, many people wait for Sony finally brings out a steam machine. See the PS4 hacks. :)
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I guess Dell are selling these even if customers are choosing to run Winblows instead of SteamOS. What doesn't make sense as others have stated is the higher end product having a i7 and not a faster gpu.
I bet they're holding off until Zen before they release an AMD version.. I also wonder if AMD's Project Quantum is going to reappear as a steam machine in the future.
Last edited by lejimster on 14 June 2016 at 2:22 pm UTC
I bet they're holding off until Zen before they release an AMD version.. I also wonder if AMD's Project Quantum is going to reappear as a steam machine in the future.
Last edited by lejimster on 14 June 2016 at 2:22 pm UTC
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Quoting: PeciskQuoting: sarmadI was planning to get a Steam Machine then changed my mind at the last moment and got this instead:
https://system76.com/laptops/oryx
Obviously regular gamers don't need the extra non-gaming power in this machine, but I needed that extra power for work. So, Steam Machine manufacturers aren't the only ones who started believing in Linux gaming. It's nice to finally be able to pick up a powerful gaming laptop designed specifically for Linux. I am really enjoying Tomb Raider on this machine :)
System76 is go to Ubuntu OEM vendor for very long time.
Yes, but they weren't making any focus on gaming in the past as they are doing with the Oryx.
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fnordianslip Jun 15, 2016
Hmm. I had imagined that the next generation (the one we're discussing) of Steam Machines would be specified to work with Steam-VR and the HTC Vive, if there was any likelihood of Linux and SteamOS becoming supported for that technology in the near future. This news makes me wonder how likely it really is that Steam-VR support will be coming our way at all!
BTW, I'm a noob here, this is m first post but I'm not new to Linux or Steam gaming on Linux, and I have a beard but not of the neck type :)
Also BTW, would like to find other Arma 3 on Linux players to lure me into some kind of multi-player action, as I'm also a noob in such things.
BTW, I'm a noob here, this is m first post but I'm not new to Linux or Steam gaming on Linux, and I have a beard but not of the neck type :)
Also BTW, would like to find other Arma 3 on Linux players to lure me into some kind of multi-player action, as I'm also a noob in such things.
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Cyba.Cowboy Jun 18, 2016
And yet, Dell still do not sell a single Steam Machine - not any other computer running a Linux-based operating system - in Australia... If Dell were truly devoted to Linux-based operating systems and SteamOS, they'd show a little more enthusiasm.
Not in Australia - I have spoken to Dell Australia numerous times over the years, and they usually don't even know that Dell USA sell computers running Linux-based operating systems, let alone sell such machines themselves...
Quoting: Peciskedit: also they are only OEM who knows how to market and sell Ubuntu OEM.
Not in Australia - I have spoken to Dell Australia numerous times over the years, and they usually don't even know that Dell USA sell computers running Linux-based operating systems, let alone sell such machines themselves...
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