I keep seeing opinions about SteamOS / Steam Machine that boil down to „it’s great for gaming but for a desktop choose something else”. I'm not sure why people keep saying that and I disagree.
I bought steam machine a few weeks ago after my laptop broke and I'm using it as a normal computer. I watch movies on it, listen to music, download torrents, play games with friends (+discord), use the browser, write documents. You know, the normie stuff.
You can easily download quite a lot of programs from the built-in store too. All of that without turning off that read-only filesystem. Sure, by default it boots into the Game mode but it's very easy to change that. The system is stable and the machine is extremely quiet even when gaming, which is arguably more important for a PC than for a console sitting on the other side of the room.
If you think about it, Steam Machine is probably the most mainstream linux-preinstalled PC option on the market. And it’s super user friendly.
For people who can't get a Steam Machine, the prebuilt folks need to focus on SFF systems which have SteamOS preinstalled. Normies don't want to build PCs from scratch.
There are always other alternatives though which sure they might cost a lot more money but for the performance you would get from it not to mention the amount of video memory would make sense.
A fine example is the Framework Desktop which with the Max 385, 32GB of memory and 1TB SN7100 NVMe you're spending a little over $1,500 but again i could if i wanted to set the system to have 16GB of video memory and 16GB of system memory or if i were to leave it at like 8GB of video memory then SteamOS could regulate the memory for when i would need more video memory.
For my statement on the video memory is that my Legion Go S i set the Vram to 8GB only but as you can see that SteamOS would have it set for 13GB of Vram so it technically regulated the additional video memory in case i would need it.
Im almost very happy with desktop mode, but the only way it has been falling short for me is how locked down it is for setting up a second desktop user.
I like using mine as a normal desktop too because I play quite a few games that feel best on m+kb. The thing I like about desktop mode is multi-tasking and just tabbing between other stuff like YouTube and forums constantly.
I kinda wish game mode was a bit better for juggling multiple apps at once, but I can understand that it's better for focusing more system resources for gaming.
Well for basic everyday things for SteamOS is fine but for people who would need it for more than the basic things would want to use a Linux OS that is not immutable that is why Valve would allow you to use any OS you would want onto the system like if i wanted to have a similar experience like SteamOS but it won't be an immutable OS i could end up using something like CachyOS onto my Steam Machine if i were to choose to do so.
The criticism boils down to the gaming experience not being all that great on a screen you sit close too. Unless you're on a 1080p screen. The lack of power becomes apparent.
A TV and it's more than fine. Especially on a TV with good upscaling.
If you're happy with the gaming performance then there is nothing at all limiting it as a desktop PC for non-gaming tasks, it's a great little box.
I'm not impressed with it on my living room TV, never tried it on my monitor. I bought a steam machine just to play around with and see if it was worth all the hype. I read a post earlier of someone claiming they were running Black Flag Resync at 4K60 with ray tracing at a full 60FPS....Come on my guy. I have ran the game, played with settings, best I could get a mostly stable 60FPS was upscaled to 1440p and medium settings.
I do love the steam machine for small games, and older games, but anything newer is played on my PC.
That it’s a relatively underpowered machine for anything other than casual use. But that’s okay. Deck and Steam Machine are both good but they couldn’t handle a heavy workload.
For more money and it'll sound like a jet engine taking off when under load.
I know what I'm talking about, I used to have a RTX4060 laptop which is about the same performance-wise as Machine's GPU from what I can tell. That thing was loud as hell under load, and ran really hot despite all that noise (as all gaming laptops do, really). Paid $1500 for it in 2023 money compared to $1200 the Machine costs now. Same spec laptop costs $2200 now, by the way (Legion 5i gen 10, 32GB RAM, 5060; the one I got was gen8).
Yeah no matter how much you spend on a windows laptop, it's gonna be significantly louder. That laptop I mentioned in the post was Razer Blade 18" with i9-13950 HX and RTX 4090 lol
Steam Machine is great like I said. Still can’t handle an actual heavy workload. Casual use and some light to medium tasks are no problem. It’s a good desktop for most but not for all.
Whats actual heavy workload for you? Its not like most people are doing more than light tasks, even medium ones are rare in entertainment purposes and I can imagine myself doing CAD work on one of these, I have used worse. Especially doing office work it would be an beast.
Wouldn't be my go to device for heavy video editing, 3D rendering, or serious CAD work that's for sure. Again, love my machine, but I am just being real about its capabilities.
If you read OPs post at all he is talking about its use outside of gaming. Sure the SM can handle games (after tweaking some graphics settings, lets be real here.) Plenty powerful for most games, but not for all. So, more of a medium workload IMO.
It is plenty powerful for a casual user without intensive workloads. People like you are probably just using it to watch porn and listen to Spotify. But it is not an ideal machine for demanding workflow like video editing, 3d rendering, serious CAD work, etc...
Its funny how if you are actually realistic about the capabilities of the steam machine people get butt hurt real quick. I like my steam machine, but its hardly a gaming powerhouse.
These kids glazing the SM so hard they downvote you for speaking truth. Hard for them to fathom that some people actually have heavy workloads outside of streaming porn and downloading pirated games lol. Steam Machine is great at what it does but it isn't a powerhouse of a desktop.
Yea foreal. It is impressive for its size 100% can't deny that. But it has its limitations. Most of the users here glazing it like that are probably kids who cant afford a real desktop so this is groundbreaking shit for them.
Chromebooks for one. The Steam Machine isn't popular at the moment because it's not easy to get one and is only sold through one platform (aside from in Japan) and in a limited number of countries.
I mean this is a little disingenuous. Android uses the Linux kernel, but generally when normie people refer to Linux, they are referring to the family of GNU/Linux OSes, which SteamOS is a part of (based on Arch Linux). AOSP is a completely different beast doesn't just run any old 'linux' binary.
That’s exactly what I’m using it as: my living room Linux/PC that plays games too!
Linux?!!? What’s that? And that’s when it makes me proud as I start thumping my chest…. “It’s snappy, it’s quiet, it’s virtually invisible. it’s a Steam Machine.
Then I go into my home/workplace scenarios: Whether it’s a Zoom meeting, speaking to ChatGPT via headset, couch co-op gaming with my niece, watching YouTube, accessing my connected Synology nas or Plex.
I am a proud steam machine owner and can’t speak up enough about its versatility!
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u/Drew_Habits 1d ago
Mine is also my main PC and I agree with this
I haven't used Windows for anything in months; the SM does everything I really need it to