The Steam Machine Was Originally Meant to Cost About $750

you don't have an eidetic memory?


boil them in gallium!

Kinda an accident to be honest, the article title is "The Steam Machine Was Originally Meant to Cost About $750", but when I submitted it to Lemmy, the default title for the URL was instead ”Valve Says the Steam Machine Saw a Similar Price Increase as the Steam Deck...”, so I tried to change it back to the actual article title from memory. I was on my phone at the time, so I didn't double check the title as I should have.

I'll fix it now.

We wouldn't want them to run out of money.... Or life, would we?

The RAMpocalypse has widened the price gap between console makers that subsidize their hardware and Valve more than ever. PS5 got a $150 increase, Steam Deck (and presumably Machine) got a $300 one.

Except for the billionaires running the AI shitshow.

The Index did not have OLED screens, they used regular LCDs.

Though the Index did use an intricate OLED screen and it had the lighthouses and finger tracking controllers (they have *87* different sensors per controller). Without the AIpocalypse, the Frame was originally supposed to be the cheaper of the two.

2026 prices though, who knows. Painful, like any tech hardware, that's for sure.

I don't think this is true, they use different tracking technology.

Apparently the thumbsticks were actually shite? Mine never went out, but I've heard from other people.

I think what sanpo meant was the actual tracking of the headset and controllers, since the index used base stations PLUS accelerometers, giving them VERY precise location and movement. Whereas the frame controllers seem to be only inside-out optical, maybe with accelerometers?

We will have to wait and see. With them being better or worse than the index, we'll have to wait and see. I'm still excited.

Nah, while the Index controllers were awesome, the potentiometer used for the thumbsticks were total garbage and break super easy. I'm so ready for a tmr (magnetic thumbsticks) fix.

You can still buy and use the original base stations and they should work with the new headset.

Index might still have an edge in tracking and controllers, everything else should be improved.

The entire index kit was 1000 before all the bullshit.. iirc, you could buy just the headset for like 650, because the base stations were like 100 each and the controllers were separate too. My memory is a little fuzzy on that.... But let's say 1000 for all of it. Putting the frame, with all extras at like.... 800 target price point before all the fascism scarcities, and considering the about price-doubling of ram, would put it at right about the same price as the steam machine? Maybe if they were targeting 600, it might be like 1000 now?

Which makes sense in some ways. The Frame should be more capable and powerful by itself, but the Index needed those damn base stations which cost a bit just by themselves

I'll be honest, I've been pretty out of the loop and totally spaced on that. I was basing it from the general product offering (omitting base stations, high bandwidth display cable throughput, overall display specs), and super old leaks from the time where we knew it only by its codename (deckard), suggesting a much lower cost, partially modular system.

I wouldn't be surprised if the Index remained the overall higher quality VR solution for now

The original announcement (or some interview or something around that embargo) mentioned that it was going to be cheaper than the Index. Granted that was before the current component crunch and they did not specify whether they meant the base model Index or the full kit with base stations, controllers, etc.

EDIT: https://roadtovr.com/steam-frame-price-cheaper-than-index/

Haha thanks, but my estimate was about 3 months out of date

Well they didn't say launch price...

Bravo

Launch price was $1k

If we look at the Steam Deck, it got a ~43% price increase. If we apply that same increase to the $750 Index + controllers, you're looking at ~$1075.

I feel like 1200-1300 was probably likely **before the price bump**.

Huh?

Yea.... That was then.

Yeah... That's what you said?

Yeah, that makes sense. If that's the case, then a 1300 ish range seems pretty likely assuming comparable price increases

Yea.... That was then.

If they had planned to have the machine at 750, then we can extrapolate from that a frame cost. Up from around 900.

They said it would be cheaper than Index at the time, so no.

I feel like 1200-1300 was probably likely before the price bump. I'm not confident it will come out under 15 at this point

Relative to what? I don't think it's shooting for pimax dream or even valve index price points (well, outside of the component pricing crunch)

Tbf, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 with 256 GB shouldn't be insane.

To be fair, the Frame was never going to be cheap.

If the index cost $1000 without a battery, storage, memory and a SoC in 2019, I can't imagine the frame is going to be anything below $1,500 with 2026 pricing.

It will be like running backwards through a cornfield.

I am deeply concerned

I'm dreading what the Steam Frames are going to cost.

don't editorialize the title please. valve didn't say this, this is just one ign writer's speculation based on a very vague answer ("probably similar"). the said writer, btw, can't even do simple math...

$1050 is the new $750. LOL.

I was prepared to pay $1,000 plus extra for the Walnut faceplate and controller.

Having to get the 2TB version to do that stings a little.

I'm running on fumes.

My budget is out of steam.

I've condensed my spending habits.

Take your pick!

And even then, it would have a hard time competing against the base PS5 unfortunately. AI has risen the cost of everything for everyone, turns out

512gb is Kong o ridiculous for minimum storage these days.