Doing it yourself would mean visiting one of those build your own pc forums for help, and I think most people would rather kill themselves.
Jokes and sarcastic remarks are not received on lemmy.
Be prepared for a deadly serious carefully crafted soapbox post.
I made a huge mistake
theres a reason /s has become a thing to indicate sarcasm.
and its because true stupidity has become so extreme that its impossible to tell from sarcasm in the tone free medium of text.
and its because true stupidity has become so extreme that its impossible to tell from sarcasm in the tone free medium of text.
Eh. There’s some sarcasm where it’s so subtle that it better fits into an example pf Schroedinger’s Asshole
That’s the best kind.
Do you want Nazis? Because that type of sarcasm is a major contributor to getting Nazis
What a very strange way to say “I don’t want to”. Some people are very odd.
The people downvoting this don’t understand how intimidating building and upgrading PCs is to the average person. Like seriously, there’s a reason prebuilts exist. Building a PC may seem easy if you’re used to doing it, but most people aren’t.
A lot of people see a PC as this magic box that runs games and other programs, and they don’t dare open it up for fear of breaking something. Heck, a lot of people don’t even understand that an operating system is just a piece of software that can be swapped out for other software, and not an integral part of the system they’re using.
I know a number of people that have demonstrated all of the required skills at work but the mere thought of plugging unique shapes into the matching sockets scares the fuck out of them.
Having the electrician at work watch me build a computer and ask “how do you know you won’t electrocute yourself?” made me facepalm thermal paste between my eyebrows. He even solders but he seemed serious, confused, and a bit defensive when I said something like “oh fuck off ya turd”.
I think about that every block in the square hole video with the girl crying a lot. At first it feels like its pointing out lousy and exploitable design, but I start thinking that a lot of people won’t be able to solve it and it’s actually showing how most people think and the girl is the outlier dying from trying to teach people incapable of brain cell.
It pains me that people are like that. Working with computer hardware really isn’t that scary unless you’re cracking open a CRT monitor or a power supply for whatever reason.
I’d like to think that more people would be able to work with computer hardware if they simply set aside their fears and preconceptions and were willing to learn a few things, but like I said before, there are plenty of people who see computers as “magic boxes”.
deleted by creator
I thought your joke was funny 👍
Appreciate it ❤️🩹
When I asked on the subreddit for pc building ages ago, people seemed genuinely helpful and friendly?
They don’t like it when you ask them for parts lists. They also don’t like it when you tell them you don’t like tempered glass case panels because you worry about them breaking. :P
I don’t think you really need those forums. However, why not just slap Ubuntu on a second hand PC, put a decent GPU in and install Steam from the app store? Isn’t SteamOS Linux-based anyways?
Yea but how would someone who isn’t into PC hardware know what a decent GPU, nevermind a decent second hand PC would be, without going to forums, watching reviews, etc.
The whole appeal of the steam machine is it being a console-like PC for people who don’t have the knowledge and/or patience to build their own.
I wouldn’t buy it because I enjoy building myself a bang-for-the-buck PC from used parts and ain’t scared of installing Linux myself. But if you want the benefits of a PC (game availability and prices, flexibility, compatibility) with the benefits of a console (plug-n-play, couch game friendly), a steam machine is pretty much it.
the guys from the forums don’t know those things from the forums themselves. those things have specs. most in numbers. you can read system requirements of games you like to get an idea and then look up PC parts or complete PCs that exceed them. there are standards that say what parts generally fit together. when you know one part you want, that narrows down what other parts can be connected to it. for example, if you think the GPU is most important, it will determine the mainboard must have a certain connector for the card and also the power supply needs to fit, as well as the case dimensions to fit it inside. this is how you build/upgrade a PC. Some stores let you select only components that fit together for a configuration, like this German store for example will only let you choose a mainboard with an AM5 socket, if you selected a CPU that requires one and so on: https://www.alternate.de/PC/PC-Konfigurator
I know, I myself enjoy building PCs. But I know a lot of people who don’t. And they’d rather pay some amount of money more to not have to look up hardware comparisons, find out what works best together, install operating systems, etc. It’s a hobby not everyone enjoys and for those people a pre built and configured system with manufacturer support is great, even if it might cost them a little more.
yeah, but the OP thinks they must visit a forum to built a specific setup. but that forum is just a pool of second hand info. it can help, but OP doesn’t have to, if they dread it.
But you do need to get that info from somewhere, be it forums, tutorials, etc.
And if you have no idea about what makes a computer good (for gaming), that’s quite a hurdle that many would rather not need to get into, by buying something prebuilt/pre-set-up like the steam machine
How are you supposed to learn anything if you don’t make the effort of actually learn anything? Do you expect to get everything served on a silver plate? :)
Idk, I still think it has some merit. It can reduce a lot of troubleshooting when something not playing right. There’s 1001 things that can go right and wrong with PC gaming. Reducing the hardware to near zero with a standardized rig takes a lot of headache off IMO.
Some people just want to play games from Steam without all the pc gaming hobby’s baggage. They probably already have other fulfilling hobbies they learn from. What’s wrong not adding another hobby to go down a rabbit hole?
Maybe I’m too optimisticYou don’t have to learn everything. People have all kinds of hobbies and not a lot of time.
And I don’t expect anything to be handed to me. I expect to pay extra for people who know what they’re doing to do it for me.
I personally would never do that for a PC because I do have the know how because I enjoy bargain hunting for hardware and building my own rig.
But when I have an issue with my car, I bring it to a mechanic because I don’t have enough time and interest to teach myself how to repair it myself. I‘d rather put my little time into my existing hobbies.
Fair point. I can’t argue with that. :)
Personally, I understand the appeal of the Steam Machine, it’s also cheaper than a standard prebuilt which helps. The fact it can basically be a nice, cute form factor machine is great! There is room for optimization in the future to make it run games and shit better too.
Personally, I would rather buy a prebuilt over putting a computer together myself because…While I can get a distro installed and use the package manager and command line to set stuff up. I am ever afraid of actually plugging and screwing things in. As my goose on the loose energy is LEGENDARY for causing random fuck-ups. Random sneezes, itches, all manner of odd occurrences will distract me to the point of not being able to reasonably complete the build correctly. I can change thermal paste, and do little things. Nothing as big as making my own computer from a bunch of parts boxes.
Edit: I still might try and fix my busted BIOS PC anyway, but, first I will get a mini-PC that will be a guarantee that I can play some games that I have been missing out on.
Yeah thats completely fair. I love the small cute form factor. I think there is also a social aspect to it, with communities that are going to form around it, similar to how they did around steam deck.
Yeah there is also the social aspect to consider. Which can provide a tech support system aside from Valve’s, and in general connection with others that happen to have a Steam Machine or other Valve branded device!
a. pcpartpicker checks compatibility for you so you dont get parts that dont work together
- there are tons of videos explaining how its done on the internet
Haven’t seen that come up a lot. I have seen “I want official support from valve” and “I want to support valve”. Not so much of what you’ve suggested.
You can get other pre built PCs
A steam machine is literally just a PC with linux installed on it with a handful of presets. Go buy a 500 buck shit box from walmart and install cachy/bazzite img that has those presets out of the box on it. TA da done you have a steam machine. Its literally that simple.
You dont gotta build shit if you dont want to.
That’s definitely a worse experience in any way besides price.
The steam machine promises a certain point of build quality, support and ease of setup your proposed solution will not.
It’s not the best bang for the buck, sure. But it’s not targeting people who have the know how or patience to either build and/or configure their own system.
A lot of those old Dell Optiplexes are going to get dogshit performance without a GPU upgrade
I kind of got your frustration, I also would love for more options in the marcher for “steam machine-like” consumer hardware, almost like a “console” version of the steam machine.
Isn’t the whole steam machine not supposed to appeal to the console crowd?
Why would it not?
Sorry, slang slipped in there. I meant that it is supposed to appeal to console gamers
I mean rather kill themselves is a bit harsh. You could buy a computer and install bazzite but I get the appeal of a vendor warranty that covers both the machine and the os.
Unless the form factor is really a must i would still recommend just getting a more generic prebuild. That way it leaves the door open for you to upgrade some parts later if you feel up for it.
