Alienware Alpha is a $550 Steam Machine

[Guest]

Windows with Bing is almost free

 

[Guest]

If all games I want to play would run on Linux, why would I need Windows for a gaming machine?

 

[Guest]

And what if cats were dogs?

 

[hahahanoobs]

The very nature of steamos suggests otherwise.
Windows is an added barrier to entry - it costs money. Steamos is free.
The investment for a gaming PC then becomes the cost of the hardware.

Except Dell did it for $550 with Windows 8.1. Do you think other players will price theirs higher or lower?

 

[Nima304]

Why would they have an upgradable processor but not an upgradable GPU, especially since this is apparently a gaming PC?

 

[Guest]

Because I'm growing tired of MS, end of story

Really? That's what you are going with? Well, to say that is laughable is an understatement! Last I checked Microsoft didn't get to know people on a first name basis, so the fact that they have insulted you somehow is quite miraculous to say the least. I cannot think of one possible reason that a company would single you out and do something to you, of all the millions of people out there, to have you hate them so. I am well aware of your dislike of, and I quote "Coloured pastel squares", but that is hardly fair to judge an optimised OS as great as Windows 8.1 but that very broad brush you are using.
Perhaps its all the 180's that Microsoft is doing regarding the XBOX that's got you all in a knot. Well, last I checked, there are plenty of companies that backtrack on their policies, but few are as open about it as Microsoft, and so many crucify them because of it. Well, quite frankly I would rather have a company that shows all their cards and is willing to change even if it means ticking off a few people than one that plays coy and beats around the bush.
Windows 8.1 is a good OS, and I'm sorry that you cant seem to get over your fetish for Aero transparencies, but I judge an OS on what it can do, not what it looks like, and to be perfectly frank Windows 8.1 could have looked much, much worse like Chrome OS, but it still can be made to look very pleasant. Also last I checked, Microsoft allows Windows to be customisable, thus allowing you to modify how its UI fundamentally functions, and has been allowing it for as long as I can remember.
But, seeing as how a multi Billion dollar company has somehow offended you, Cliffordcooley, I guess I cant say much...
Steam OS I think is probably going to achieve some limited success, but I think its largely a stillborn project unless there is some serious, and I mean SERIOUS, 3rd party support. Although I have been known to be wrong in the past, I have a feeling I'm not about this one...

 

[Satish Mallya]

Except Dell did it for $550 with Windows 8.1. Do you think other players will price theirs higher or lower?

What was the hardware capability of the $550 machine?
Also, we are likely to see a 'console effect' with games heavily optimized for ' standard' steam machines ; giving hardware manufacturers a clean target vis-à-vis graphics and processor configurations. This in turn means the things that sell most (and in bulk quantities) get cheaper due to things like reduced machine changeover, warehousing and logistics costs.
I expect the hardware costs to go down considerably when both competition and economics of scale kick in.

 

[hahahanoobs]

What was the hardware capability of the $550 machine?

Pretty good actually. Far better than some APU.

 

[Guest]

"Really? That's what you are going with? Well, to say that is laughable is an understatement! Last I checked Microsoft get to know people on a first name basis, so the fact that they have insulted you somehow is quite miraculous to say the least "

Written for Microsoft and by Microsoft personnel.....

move along please

 

[theBest11778]

This is the right direction for this market. I bet their using a GTX 860M GPU on this motherboard. With a 65w TDP it's more powerful than either the PS4 or XBO GPU. In reality DGPUs will not work for small slimline machines. BGA mobile GPUs mixed with LGA CPUs is a practical solution to reduce size to compete with consoles. Until APUs can compete with the best DGPUs in the mobile market (probably never will,) this solution makes the most sense.

I'm using a GTX 750Ti right now, and it runs everything 1080P/60 no problem. Before this I had a GTX 760, 780, R9 290. I kept down grading because I saw no performance drop, and saved a bunch of money.

 

[cliffordcooley]

Really? That's what you are going with? Well, to say that is laughable is an understatement!

Would you shut up! I didn't come here making excuses for anyone else or start **** about MS. I stated my desire to move to Linux and you are defending MS for some damn reason.

 

[Guest]

Written for Microsoft and by Microsoft personnel.....
move along please

Nope, couldn't be farther from the truth. I find residence in South Africa, quite possibly the farthest place from anything to do with Microsoft. Albeit they do happen to have a presence here, its anything but large. I simply have no issue with them as a company, and fail to see why anyone would? I mean, what company doesn't try to make a profit? People claim to hate Microsoft then proclaim their undying love for a half baked OS like Linux (mind you, I do believe it to be a fair platform, just not even close to being for everyone, or as complete as it should be). TheBigFatClown that floats around this site may disagree with me, but the fall out over a simple start screen seems to have earned the ire of many people for what I can gather is no real reason beyond their own shortcomings and inability to adapt with changes to some software. Granted, I too believe the start screen could use some more polishing, however its not all as bad as people make it out to be. People tend to act like a broken telephone, they hear all bad things about something from those vocal few on forums like this without ever trying it themselves (and I don't mean a 10 minute session at a store), and next thing you know something as simple as a start screen is suddenly the bad guy, with everyone and their dog spewing their 100% influenced opinion about how bad something is. I'm sure what I just said may annoy a few, but lets just be honest, we have all seen perfectly good software or hardware go under the radar because it didn't quite measure up to those few writing some bad reviews based on their small opinion. Although, some of it may be justifiable.

Would you shut up! I didn't come here making excuses for anyone else or start **** about MS.

Whoops, seems like I touched a raw nerve, my bad.
Back on topic, I don't believe these Steam Machines will be a hit. They may find a niche in the market, but they wont gain traction because they do what consoles do, and consoles already do what they do very well. These devices are stuck floating in limbo with some identity crisis sitting somewhere between a console and a PC. It is not going to be a good PC replacement as its most likely going to sit in the lounge in front of a TV, and its not going to do well as a Console replacement as it costs as much as one and games PC's are optimised for PC peripherals. The Steam Controller idea may be somewhat effective, but I for one don't like controllers as I am useless with one, and I am pretty sure I am not alone in this regard. Besides, any PC gamer worth their salt would build their own rig anyway. This alone will ensure that Steam OS does not get much 3rd party hardware support as these manufacturers will never be able to compete as effectively against an aggressive console market thus keeping already slim profits down. I believe it was Alienware that already said that they wont be mass producing for that very reason so my point is made with that confirmation.
If you disagree with my sentiments, then please by all means, lets debate it as I believe that's the purpose of these comments, or you could bury your head in the sand and yell at me to shut up alternative call me a Microsoft agent, your choice...

 

[pheonixnexus]

Steam machines are basically pre-configured computers. lots of people don't game on computers because they don't know how to build a decent gaming pc. Buying one pre-built can be really expensive and can have gaps like low ram, little hard drive space, underpowered graphics card or processor if not customized. designing a computer can be dizzying and downright confounding to anyone who doesn't understand computers and what all the numbers and prefixes mean. Steam boxes are simple you just plug them in, install your games by download or disk, plug in you gamepad, lightgun, steppad, or any input device you want like a mouse and keyboard. steam machines just make it easy for anyone to buy a decent too great computer for gaming and not have to know the difference between parts.

 

[Guest]

Steam machines are basically pre-configured computers. lots of people don't game on computers because they don't know how to build a decent gaming pc.

Perhaps, but that's the exact definition of a console wouldn't you say? Isn't that why consoles are as big as they are? What purpose could these Steam Machines fill when there is already something that fills the gap at a generally cheaper price point? There are already gaming class pc's out there at fairly good price points, but none of them are as cheap as a console. As mentioned before, why as an uninformed regular gamer would I want to buy something that's probably more complex than a console that you just plug in, switch on and game? Maybe this will result in cheaper console games, which by all accounts would eliminate the only reason I can think of building a living room gaming box - cheaper PC games, so if that advantage goes out the window, then what remains?

 

[GeforcerFX]

How would Iris 5300 Pro compare to this gpu?

since we have no idea what gpu is on the board we can't compare it to intels, but just drivers alone will give the nvidia chip a FPS boost.


I wouldn't be surprised to see other OEM's do the same things with there steam boxes. Windows 8.1 can be bought for $40 for the OEM's, I bet this system was supposed to be $499 and all Alienware did was add the $50 to make up the price difference on the OS. Personally I would rather have windows anyways, I am a PC gamer because of all the different things I can do on my PC besides gaming, that all boils down to what the OS is. Vavle pushing Steam OS back could have possibly killed all the hype and momentum it was getting.

 

[Ryker Tong]

Care to explain more rather than just stating something without adding any facts?

Perhaps because ALL the games are already ON Windows? Perhaps its cheaper for all these studios to just offer a Windows device rather than spend millions porting all those games to a less than ideal platform (read that as simple to use). A very small percentage of gamers actually enjoy having to fiddle with something to get it exactly how you want it, by installing this or configuring that. Windows just works straight out the box, no mess, no fuss, and despite what you may think, It works well enough for most situations.

I have to pretty much completely disagree.

1. Windows is far from easy to set up. Yes, it works right out of the box, but so does OSX, iOS, SteamOS, you name it. You'll always have to fiddle with an operating system to get it the way you want it.

2. There's been a large influx of games being ported for Linux recently, and when SteamOS actually launches and Steam machines start to sell, that number will shoot up. Also, don't forget that a copy of Windows runs at over $100. Linux (and SteamOS) is free. And when a developer ports a game for Linux or Mac, almost every time, they don't do it themselves. They hire another studio to do it, creating jobs in the industry.

3. Think of SteamOS like Android. Android is Linux in this case, and SteamOS is a specially designed version of it made to bring out the best living room PC gaming experience. Windows simply doesn't work for this experience. Can you just plop a gaming machine in the average living room and hook up a wireless Xbox controller and have a gaming PC? No. You need a mouse and keyboard. Of course, without SteamOS this machine is kinda pointless but SteamOS will change that.