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Alienware Steam Machines are un-upgradable, will be released annually

S

shinobi602

Member
Alienware has announced its plans to launch Steam Machines every year, in order to mimic the lifecycles of consoles.

Alienware GM Frank Azor confirmed the plans to TrustedReviews, commenting that, like the consoles produced by Sony and Microsoft, the hardware of Alienware’s Steam Machines would be locked.

"Lifecycle wise, consoles update every five, six, seven years, we will be updating our Steam Machines every year," he explained. “There will be no customization options – you can’t really update it."
Click to expand...
PCR via MCVUK
 
L

L~A

Member
Totaly useless then. You're taking away one of the best features of a Steambox. Useless, useless, useless.
 
Sentenza

Sentenza

Member
Better be really cheap for what they offer in terms of hardware, then.
Not that I was interested anyway, having just ordered my new system.
 
B

Bricky

Member
Makes sense, since most people buying Alienware are doing so because they don't want to build/upgrade/fiddle with their own machine anyway. There's a reason so many people buy their overpriced machines. They know their target audience well.

On the plus side for people who do care about upgrading, their machines will probably be very sleek and slim. Design can also be a selling point no?
 
R

RibbedHero

Member
They're trying to mimic the phone market (iPhones, Galaxy, etc) but fail to realise that TV connected PCs are far less ubiquitous or necessary in today's world.
 
G

glaurung

Member
This is either a stroke of genius or the stupidest decision ever.

Makes sense in terms of video card developments, but CPU-wise... gouging.
 
S

solarus

Member
Why would i pay more to give up one of the best features of PC gaming?
Fuck that, my custom node 304 steam box is better than this and most likely cheaper.
 
H

Hasney

Member
DoYouEvenLift? said:
Lol, Steam boxes are going to bomb HARD; like, damage Valve's reputation "hard." How utterly pointless.
Click to expand...

Why? Because of one manufacturers intentions?

I read the thread title about the non-upgradeable nature and thought: CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. Sure it's nothing a soldering iron can't fix.
 
S

Somnid

Member
Makes sense if they are going small and custom (though I imagine minor updates to HDDs and stuff are possible even if not officially supported). But this is my problem with Steam Machines, that it seems to marry the worst parts of consoles and PCs, I have to think about the hardware but I can't do too much with it. I have to have a PC but not the (software) power of one.
 
F

flkraven

Member
So it's a PC, except for the part where they remove the benefit of it being a PC but still maintain the high price.

At this point isn't everyone better off building their own Steam Machines from scratch?
 
T

thomasmahler

Member
Problem is that upgrading PC Hardware is just waaaaay too fucking complicated for the common user. I know how to do it all and built a few PCs before, but I'm also never gonna do that again, cause there's too much time involved doing all of that.
 
Riky

Riky

$MSFT
A non-upgradeable PC where you need to install another operating system to use your existing library to its fullest?

It's basically taking all the advantages of a PC and throwing them out.
 
T

twisted89

Member
I know this doesn't really matter but surely it should be non-upgradable or just plain not upgradable in the title, the un- suggests something was done then reversed like unapproved or undo.
 
C

chaosblade

Unconfirmed Member
Depending on how it's being handled, this could allow them to produce the systems cheaper. I also think this is intended to be more competitive with consoles than PCs. And yeah, the target audience for Steam Machines is not someone who is going to be comfortable opening it up and swapping out components anyway.

And I don't think the annual upgrades are a bad thing, it means you can upgrade at your own pace. Look at all the people who were begging for new consoles 3-4 years ago but had no option to upgrade.
 
H

HoosTrax

Member
Sooo...why would someone buy this over the Alienware X51, which is upgradeable (upgrade options are limited, but still).
 
K

KingSnake

The Birthday Skeleton
I think they want to say that with consoles you can upgrade just when the lifecycle ends while with their plan you can choose when it's time to upgrade, they will make sure you will have the options. This could work only if the device is cheap.
 
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