u/cardfire

Thank you! I feel like folks don't understand that Valve doesn't manufacture hardware, either, and had to source all of these components from other vendors anyways..

It makes sense that they trust *ifixit* with the components instead of trying to sell them on the Steam store to bewildered customers who would have a meaningful percentage of support and return requests which Valve never wanted to deal with. I think that's why they had the official position that folks aren't supposed to go inside the hardware, at the same time as they released all the instructions for doing so.

Hah, right?!?

Probably because of the goodwilled the company has from their track record with product releases and extending support for Hardware they put out in the ecosystem.

Folks are big mad at valve for ending first party components distribution on the discontinued Steam Deck LED, but I don't fault them for that in the slightest, and Trust valve to have a product that I would engage with as much as a Framework or an Apple One.

It's just a bummer, they couldn't hazard even subsidizing the steam machine because they had to worry about folks using them for office computers and never actually participating in the Steam store ecosystem.

Tl;Dr: The person you're responding to is exactly the reason the Steam Machine had to be sold with margins. And he, and Valve, and everyone else are just doing the best we all can.

Plot twist: Valve was never in the battery manufacturing business, they were always third-party batteries just sometimes embedded in devices for first party sale.

You forget, many of the target audience also celebrate copyright infringement as a virtue.

I paid about $450 for mid-range Mini PC and another $450 for a smallish egpu that should match the performance of what's going in the Steam Machine. That was before the Rampocalypse, and I would still expect valve company to have contracted with manufacturers and component packages upstream from the public announcement so I'm still crossing my fingers people can buy these things for sub $1000.

Hot take: I think they should only allow any one Steam account to purchase one or two units total and require at least *one* paid game purchase in the account history, thus frustrating the efforts of scalpers and office businesses trying to get at productivity machines for cheap.

That works out to a $1 USD fee and an extra 3 minutes of effort, if they're going to be cheap about it.

Necro-Bump, but Steam announced this last week, that they'll unleash the Steam Frame in 2026, which will make use of the FEX efforts they have been working on. This thread is a great read in that context, since there is still shockingly little chatter in consumer corners of the internet about this exciting tech.

Always, this. :)

You are describing in-game settings.

Folks are recommending you check up make sure the deck isn't making ALL games more jagged with higher level settings, as described.