Smach Zero - a $300 portable, handheld Steam Machine

[Humbug]

Hold up a sec, does AMD have any hardware based H.264 decoding in their chips? I mean I know for sure know intel has them which is great for steam machine streaming.

Both NVIDIA and AMD have this. And steam was updated a few months ago to use these hardware decode capabilities of GPUs.

[CTR640]

Can it run Minesweeper?

[dalekphalm]

Both NVIDIA and AMD have this. And steam was updated a few months ago to use these hardware decode capabilities of GPUs.

Yep. AMD has had H.264 decoding for going on 8+ years now.

[Dabombinable]

Yep. AMD has had H.264 decoding for going on 8+ years now.

For Nvidia it was around the Geforce FX/Geforce 6 series I think.

[Ashaira]

shipping in Q4 of 2016

 

Am i the only one seeing the problem with the specs and the launch date? by q4 2016 we will have mid range tablets with these specs and a 4k screen. This thing is already outdated and the x86 platform will only do so much for it. Unless i'm missing something and amd has some great x86 soc chip that performs amazingly this is dba (dead before arrival)

 

http://wccftech.com/taipower-x98-pro-amazing-and-affordable-windows-10-tablet/

[NeatSquidYT]

Huh. If it works well with the games I like, this'll be my next handheld system.

[Humbug]

by q4 2016 we will have mid range tablets with these specs and a 4k screen. This thing is already outdated and the x86 platform will only do so much for it.

There is no way that 2016 tablet GPUs will properly drive 4K gaming. This thing is a handheld gaming device. Not an iPad replacement. It's not competing with 'midrange tablets'.

[Ashaira]

There is no way that 2016 tablet GPUs will properly drive 4K gaming. This thing is a handheld gaming device. Not an iPad replacement. It's not competing with 'midrange tablets'.

obviously it wont play at 4k but the screen will be better and will be an overall better device. This steamboy doeans't really do anything a tablet can't. IF it can somehow play most games at 60 FPS at 720p and ok settings then maybe. But considering the specs i doubt it. And the 720p screen is a deal breaker 4 me. I'm not the type to want 4k on a phone but full hd yes. You can see the difference between 720 and 1080 at that size.

[Humbug]

obviously it wont play at 4k but the screen will be better and will be an overall better device. This steamboy doeans't really do anything a tablet can't. IF it can somehow play most games at 60 FPS at 720p and ok settings then maybe. But considering the specs i doubt it. And the 720p screen is a deal breaker 4 me. I'm not the type to want 4k on a phone but full hd yes. You can see the difference between 720 and 1080 at that size.

No advantage to a high res screen if the games are going to be rendered at a lower res. Playability is the most important thing in a handheld. 720p games look good on a small screen. Pixel density is already way better than a 23" desktop 1080p monitor. No point getting into resolution wars with more expensive smart phones or much bigger tablets. Input methods on this for gaming are better than tablets

Specs and graphics processing capabilities should be compared with other handhelds.

[Ashaira]

No advantage to a high res screen if the games are going to be rendered at a lower res. Playability is the most important thing in a handheld. 720p games look good on a small screen. Pixel density is already way better than a 23" desktop 1080p monitor. No point getting into resolution wars with more expensive smart phones or much bigger tablets. Input methods on this for gaming are better than tablets

Specs and graphics processing capabilities should be compared with other handhelds.

with all the phone/ tablet controllers you can buy i'de say input is not a problem.

[christianled59]

I'll be getting one if these for in he streaming. I didnt want to get a shield for that, because that's all I intend to do with it. Besides, this will more natively support steam streaming. I'd also get to try out the steam controller with it. Pretty hyped.

[dalekphalm]

with all the phone/ tablet controllers you can buy i'de say input is not a problem.

And how many games actually properly support all those third party controllers? Not very many - and some that do, don't work well.

 

One advantage that the SteamBoy will have is consistency with the controls.

[Dabombinable]

And how many games actually properly support all those third party controllers? Not very many - and some that do, don't work well.

 

One advantage that the SteamBoy will have is consistency with the controls.

$90 Android Tablet with a 1.5GHz quad core (still can't find the exact model-but its a lot better than the dual cores in my previous tablets), 1GB RAM and a USB OTG adapter connected to an Xbox controller adapter, with the customised version of Android set up to emulate old console games. The controls are pretty damn consistent since I can re map the buttons to suit the game.

[dalekphalm]

$90 Android Tablet with a 1.5GHz quad core (still can't find the exact model-but its a lot better than the dual cores in my previous tablets), 1GB RAM and a USB OTG adapter connected to an Xbox controller adapter, with the customised version of Android set up to emulate old console games. The controls are pretty damn consistent since I can re map the buttons to suit the game.

Sure. But this isn't targeting old console games - at least, not exclusively. The SteamBoy is targeting the Steam catalogue. Certainly there are a ton of old console ports on there, but many more newer games.

 

And that is my main point - most Android games are not very friendly with a controller. Certainly, emulated games with customizable input are, but that's a tiny tiny fraction of games on Android - so either the experience would be wildly variable depending on which game you tried to play, or you're looking at a Curated Catalogue - the latter of which can apply to both the Android based devices, or Steam.

 

My point was that, sure, controllers work on some Android games, but for the most part, pretty much any game on Steam will be playable on a controller type interface. Certainly any game you would try playing on a portable handheld device. The same cannot be said for Android.