The use case is it’s going to introduce gamers to Linux. And it’s going to prove that in PCs, just like consoles, you don’t need Microsoft to game.
That seems like a nice start to adopt Linux to the mainstream market. If there are more products, it maybe will be like with Android phones. I’m happy there seems to be more alternatives nowadays. Just installed one of my Steam games on my now semi Linux PC and I find it pretty cool that I can now play on that. Before, with just an emulator, it doesn’t really feel the same.
As someone who’s tried several PC-in-the-livingroom solutions, just try building a PC with good specs at that size and you’ll appreciate the niche that is being filled.
Price!
We can argue about it all we want, but basically everything hinges on its street price.
If it’s cheap, all those critiques are irrelevant.
Expensive? “It’s cute, I like Steam, I like how it mostly works OOTB,” gets real niche, real quick.
Regardless of the box cost, there’s no arguing with the price of games in a Steam sale!
I don’t think I’ve paid more than £15 for a game in years and years.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the cash to spend up front. Paying more over time is easier.
Or they just get lured in by a cheap sticker price.
And again, price is still relevant. If this is well over $1K, it starts to negate the Steam storefront cost savings.
Fair enough. If they’re cash poor, grabbing one of those cheap games consoles is a good plan. 😟
Well what if i want something like a console but hate the big tech and dont enjoy someone spying on me? this is the only option. What if i want a console that i can modify and use as a pc or a server if i damn want to? this is the only option. What if i want a true console like experience but want to play a title that just isnt on any consoles? this once again is the only option. This thing will have so many usecases, just maybe a little specific ones… :D
Arch with KDE is for people who don’t like Linux?
It’s for the people who can’t afford to build their own PCs these days. Graphics cards went up in price, hard drives went up and now RAM.
Other than “not seeing the use case” I think the meme is right on. People hate Windows but don’t want to deal with Linux, people hate being trapped in the walled gardens of Microsoft or Sony consoles, but don’t want to deal with a full-on gaming PC. Kinda like how when iPads came out people where like, this is worse than a phone and worse than a laptop, who are these things even for?
This kinda blew up. For the record, there are probably decent use cases. I’m just befuddled by its popularity. The best I’ve seen is PC games on a TV more easily than moving an entire setup. But the form factor removes a lot of the upgradeability and repairablity that makes PCs so great, it has standard hardware like a console but still traps you in a (admittedly slightly better) ecosystem, it has Linux but masks it so well most people won’t notice or care. If it pushes gaming to a more linux-friendly place, great, but it feels like it’s packaging it to the point that it won’t push the player-base, only devs. It feels like it packages almost all of the limitations of the 3 groups with very few of the best benefits. Truly do hope I’m wrong, I often am.
Hooking a whole desktop to a TV is intrusive with most desktop form factors.
Most people who want a console don’t care about upgradability or repairability, and that’s certainly not the main thing that “makes PCs so great.”
Most people gaming on PC are equally “trapped in an ecosystem.” This has a desktop mode if need be, but hardly anyone does games outside of Steam.
“It has Linux but most users won’t notice or care” is a double positive.
“It won’t push the player base, only the devs” is a double positive.
The point of a console isn’t to make people into more technical proponents of open source projects. It’s to play games.
And if it’s competing in the console market, especially for people who aren’t terribly interested in the “Call of Duty” type AAA titles of today, it seems like a perfect fit.
it has Linux but masks it so well most people won’t notice or care.
That’s the best sales pitch for linux I’d ever heard!
Idk, to me it’s like veggie bacon. Stop spending so much time trying to make plants taste like meat when you can just… make the plants taste good. I’d rather be shown the advantages and explore the reason for a switch than have it try to be what I wanted to avoid in the first place. Maybe this is just a natural in-between step towards more universal adoption, it just kind of feels like the first step towards enshittification. Maybe I’m just jaded and cynical at this point, I’d just rather have something that is proudly itself rather than something trying to shamefully hide what makes it unique
I want them to build a top of the line gaming pc put into a small box and sell it to me at a huge loss. Why can’t they do that?
The GabeCube could hit the market at $1000 and still be a major success. Think about the RAM prices and there‘s not really a way to build yourself a cheaper PC that‘s convenient for couch gaming.
It’s a console for people who don’t like being constantly kicked in the balls so they drop their money.
Even with all the tweaking time in the world I don’t believe you can get a pc set up so that it can reliably and intuitively be operated with just a controller 100% of the time.
If you want to be technical about it, you pretty much just described any modern video game console. The OS is the only thing actually differentiating modern consoles from PCs (or tablets in Nintendo’s case).
Reminds me of the steam box / idiocracy cross over I found
https://lemmy.zip/pictrs/image/fa3c3bbb-ada2-4876-b98e-621b35305eed.webp
I saw that post and it made me start thinking about why I have no interest in it, and a few days later here we are. Honestly, the last 3 panels live rent-free in my head
It’s a console for people who like PCs
You can pretty easily just build an itx system and install linux on it. It might be a bit bigger, yes, but it’d also be easier to fix and upgrade. I believe the only thing you can change in the steam machine is the storage.
Sorry but you can easily do that. The average person cannot. Most people would have to do multiple weeks of research into what different parts of a computer even are to have any hope of building a PC. Lemmy is one of the most out of touch places I’ve ever seen as far as tech literacy goes. The average person likely couldn’t even tell you what an operating system is, let alone know what Linux is.
If you don’t want to build it just buy a prebuilt. It’s not that hard.
Ah, maybe they could make some cool prebuilt with Linux already built in. Hmm and make it small enough to fit under a TV in a small shelf 🤔
And if only that machine could use OEM parts so that people could upgrade and fix it 🤔
I don’t think you could get OEM parts that would actually fit in that space tbh. Also the guaranteed software support from valve, and set spec list allowing devs to optimize for it are some pretty huge bonuses over other prebuilts. I’m not saying building your own comp is a bad idea, but for the average user who just wants to be able to game at medium settings in most games, this has some pretty major advantages.
It’s DoA unless they have an absurdly low price. Give me a steam deck 2.
