Steam Box

[MRPolo13]

As soon as I mentioned it OOC, I just had to make a thread about it. The Steam Box.
Seems Valve decided to go e le bit mental, and destroy the concept of console gaming as we know it and replace it with a far nicer one.

This. This is the Steam Box Piston, first of the offered Steam Boxes. Don't be fooled by the name, Steam Box isn't a single console, it's an entire concept. People from different companies will be able to buy licenses and produce and sell their own Steam Boxes. They are all to be around that small too, so that you can easily stuff them in any living room.
For those interested in details, here are the rumoured specs;

• Between 4 and 8 gigabytes of DDR3 RAM
• A quad-core 64-bit, x86-based 32nm processor running at up to 3.2GHz (with 4MB of Level2 Cache)
• An integrated graphics card containing up to 384 programmable cores

Though it's around the same as mine, take away the slightly better graphics card, just look at the sheer size! The best thing is though that you can customize that tiny PC you have there to whatever.
The Steam Box will run on Linux based operating systems, giving many possibilities and also stumping Microsoft out of the market for some time (hopefully... Don't really like Windows >_>).
The prices are estimated to be around $999, but the normal range should in theory be as low as $499.

Here are some links for you.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/2/6/3958162/valve-steam-box-cake
http://www.techradar.com/news/gaming/valve-steam-box-release-date-news-and-features-1127072
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/385376/valves-steam-box-everything-you-need-to-know/#

What do you think? Are you getting it? I certainly am if I'll have the money

 

[Spark]

Looks cool, but I would rather have a larger PC that I can upgrade all I want.

 

[2buggs]

 

[MRPolo13]

The thing is it will apparently be upgradable, and it competes against the consoles, not the PCs, as it IS a PC

 

[Spark]

The thing is it will apparently be upgradable, and it competes against the consoles, not the PCs, as it IS a PC

Upgradable sure, but I'd hate to think of the price

 

[MRPolo13]

Between $499 to $999... So around the same price as the next gen consoles of PS4 and Xbox 720 (The name that will never make any sense to me -.-)

 

[2buggs]

That's quite a range... So it's kinda like a portable PC... right?

 

[MRPolo13]

Basically. They intend it as a Living Room PC, so yeah, as, if not more mobile than consoles ;D

 

[matyio]

Best part about this, because it's a mini pc in effect, then more and more will be released and be better (in ways that matter to me) than the other consoles

 

[Sephyrius]

Sweet idea, chuck in a 15' monitor and you have the portability of a laptop and the processing power of a pc, and hook it up to your tv for the gaming power of a console. Wonder what kind of graphics they'll be able to cram in there though.

Way to think outside of the box. Pun intended.

 

[Backstay]

I prefer buying a sweet gaming laptop instead of using this.

Doesn't look as good, and I like real computers more.

 

[Shrimpsy]

*pats big, old and clunky computer* I'll never leave you!

 

[Backstay]

*pats big, old and clunky computer* I'll never leave you!

Exactly

 

[frank frappuccino]

*Pets the case of his PC that for sure is heavier than the steambox* Don't wory I love you. Erhm.. Okay with that done While I Think the idea of a portable PC that Can compete with a console is cool I Will tell you this my poor almost broken virus infested laptop if given the same amount of detail to the coding would be able to easily compete with consoles.

 

[MRPolo13]

If I was to get it, I certainly won't be replacing my PC, but use the Steam Box as an alternative.

 

[Silvertread]

Hang on, I can play Skyrim on that tiny thing?
...
Take my money, Valve!

 

[frank frappuccino]

Bah you are not missing out on much.

 

[MRPolo13]

As far as specs are concerned, in theory Steam Box's rumoured specs will be more than enough to max out Skyrim

 

[Backstay]

As far as specs are concerned, in theory Steam Box's rumoured specs will be more than enough to max out Skyrim

 

[spagbog]

I am excited. That is all I have to say.

...

I lied.
I'm not familiar with Linux so I don't know if it's any good.
$499 is a great price, but $999 is not really... My Mac costed a few hundred more than that...
As technology progresses we can cram more stuff into smaller cases e.g. The memory stick with a Terabyte of memory. We'll hopefully see more and more small PCs and consoles. It also gets cheaper to do it aswell. The Raspberry Pi is also great example of this.
The specs sound great, especially of it's only $500. I don't think they're good enough to pay 1k for it though.
Also, it's not technically not a box... It doesn't have a lid or straight sides or base (And yes I am being deliberately pedantic ).