Steam Machines will finally be arriving later this year, and Valve has decided to reveal just what to expect. A listing of the PC/console hybrids has appeared on the Steam store, and to say that the information is surprising is and understatement. While Valve has always maintained that the price of the machines would be comparable to current generation consoles, that doesn’t seem to be the case. When Alienware is considered a cheap option, something has gone horribly wrong.
For those who want to spend on something that costs about as much as a Sony PlayStation 4, there are the Alienware Steam Machine and the iBuyPower SBX. Alienware puts its lowest end Steam Machine at US$479.99 (about RM1748), while the iBuyPower SBX comes in at US$459.99 (about RM 1679). For this, you get some extremely low end specifications for a computer; in the case of the Alienware it is an Intel Core i3 Dual-core processor, an unspecified NVIDIA GeForce GPU, and 4GB of RAM. Hardly anything to shout about for gaming.
Of course, those with too much money to burn can instead opt for the ORIGIN OMEGA Steam Machine, which can come in at a slightly pricey US$4,999 (about RM18,000). For that, gamers will receive a top of the line Intel Core i7 processor, three NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980s, and 32GB of RAM.
The rest of the lineup falls around the US$700-900 mark, which is honestly a little more than most consumers would want to spend on a console. It looks like the idea of affordable Steam Machine is no longer on the cards, and it will be interesting to see how many of these Valve is able to sell.
Of course, there is no telling how many of these Steam Machines will be available to the Malaysian market. Of course, Zotac is likely to arrive on our shores; but for US$999.99 (about RM3650). So much for competitive pricing there.
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