It would be $650 they already figured it would be $750 without ram pricing issues and normal 32GB ram pack would be about $90ish. So $650 seems about right.
Well, don’t forget the SSD as well. $500-600 sounds right without either of those components and adds up pretty well with current SSD and RAM prices to around $1.1k or $1.3k depending on SSD size.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Valve started offering this after the hype dies down to a point where they actually can “have stock” instead of “keeping up with pre-order demand”. Right now every box they’ve got is guaranteed to sell, so they may as well stick the expensive components in there and only get blasted by games media for “being expensive” instead of “selling a brick for the price of a Switch 2”
Kinda defeats the purpose
That would be up to the customer to choose. The purpose of any product is to be sold/not sold, everything else is just PR and advertisement.
If ram/ssd suppliers force your product to lose its purpose (due the price being too high), there’s no purpose to defeat since there are no sales at all (aside for scalpers that buy everything for speculative hopes/purposes)
I disagree, though only in specific rather than in principle.
The point of a “box” like this is an out-the-door experience that anyone can jump into. Picking the hardware allows for tight integration with the planned power consumption, life span, etc.
So, just on that basis, it’s an iffy proposition.
But, user freedom and choice is always good, so I could see it being a good long term option.
Thing is, it would also require different stocks of boxes. You’d need to shift manufacturing lines to accommodate it, have different storage and shipping infrastructure in-house, and that runs into artificial scarcity issues where you run out of one or the other and can’t fulfill orders of that option, and they already knew they’d have trouble keeping up with demand even at the higher price points.
The point of a “box” like this is an out-the-door experience that anyone can jump into.
The idea is not “get rid of all Steam Machines with ram/sdd and sell only the barebone ones”.
The idea is “add a selling option”; then let buyers, with their money to decide if they want to pay premium for the “out-the-door” thing, or they are looking for something to mess with.
Both kind of clients.
…at the same time (some may want to buy 2 mismatched Steam Machines: one with and one without).
As per “shifting” infrastructure or whatnot. We’re talking pre orders here. “Worst” case scenario no one buys the barebone one or just few: in this case you get little efforts in telling those “extra clients” to wait a bit longer (patient gamers are happy if they get to pay less and have better bugfixed systems).
On the other side, if the volume of the barebone match or surpasses the “premium” one… well, Valve got the answer they need to get rid of the ram cartel.
Valve is not making you paying “premium price” on ram because Gabe need a new Yatch. Valve is making paying “premium price” on ram because the ram cartel need a new Yatch.
It was my understanding that despite it being preorders, the devices were already under production. If that’s not the case, I tend to agree that it would have been damn nice to have an option, even if it came with limits on exactly what kind of hardware you could use in it. I can still understand why they wouldn’t, but I would also love to see the option if it isn’t going tp disrupt production the way I was talking.
That being said, I’m still not sure the market would be there in enough capacity to make it worth the small extra effort. I don’t mind cracking open a brand new device and fiddling with it, and I know plenty of fellow lemmizens that are equally (our even more) enthusiastic about technology that would as well. I’m just not confident that the kind of folks both willing and able to do it without fucking up would be worth even designing a second option on the website lol.
I dunno, maybe I’m not guesstimating the value of the option. My thinking is that for it to be useful, you’d have to already have the parts, or you wouldn’t be saving much money, which means you’re just doing it for fun, or to customize the exact specs of the ram and sdd. Not that that isn’t great! It is! I just didn’t (and don’t) see it as something that’s on the radar for this kind of device. Looking at prices, I didn’t find anything that would represent a reduced price tag new, unless I fucked up reading the specs (and I am dyslexic, so I do fuck up sometimes).
So, yeah, if my base assumptions are wrong, it could well be that it would be a net benefit to valve and users.
Need to know how the rest of the hardware compares to really know.
GPU: Semi-Custom AMD RDNA3 28CUs, 2.45GHz max sustained clock, 110W TDP RAM: 16GB DDR5 + 8GB GDDR6 VRAM Power: Internal power supply, AC power 110-240V Storage: Two Steam Machine models: 512GB NVMe SSD 2TB NVMe SSD Wi-Fi: 2×2 Wi-Fi 6E Bluetooth: Bluetooth 5.3 dedicated antenna Steam Controller: Integrated 2.4 GHz Steam Controller wireless adapter Displays: DisplayPort 1.4 Up to 4K @ 240Hz or 8K@60Hz Supports HDR, FreeSync, and daisy-chaining HDMI 2.0 Up to 4K @ 120Hz Supports HDR, FreeSync, and CEC USB: Two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports in the front Two USB-A 2.0 High speed ports in the back One USB-C 3.2 Gen 2 port in the back Networking: Gigabit ethernet LED Strip: 17 individually addressable RGB LEDs for system status and customizability Size: 152 mm tall (148 mm without feet), 162.4 mm deep, 156 mm wide Weight: 2.6 kg Operating System: SteamOS 3 (Arch-based) Desktop: KDE Plasma```
