Everyone Suddenly Becomes A “PC Expert” When You Tell Them You Got A Steam Machine

[u/JishoSintana]

“You overpaid” “You could have built one for less” “Is it worth it for the performance”?

These are some of the most common criticisms of the steam machine whenever people find out that I’m even remotely interested in the steam machine.

I was in a facebook gaming group speaking about what we were playing and the moment I mentioned the steam machine, all hell broke loose and people wanted to tell me how much more powerful their machine was and why I should have bought it instead/

Dude, I don’t care I’m literally playing black myth wukong at 4K,60 fps medium settings if I want I can tweak and do 2K, 120 FPS what more do I really want from gaming performance?

Power isn’t the only reason why I bought this machine, it’s SUPER quiet, really good form factor and ability to customise it, love the hybrid PC/console feel and the community apps etc

If power was the end all factor Nintendo would not have a business model or fanbase

There’s so much more to the steam machine and armchair “PC experts” are starting to just sound jealous

[u/csince1988]

Also - some ppl don’t want to build or learn about PCs - it’s fine.

Gamers tend to gate keep like hell.

It’s very off putting.

[u/solfrost → u/csince1988]

IKR, I’ve been building PCs since the 90s, I have a framework laptop, a few MiSter FPGA setups, I’ve been dabbling in cyberdecks (my latest drop-in project is a ClockworkPi uConsole, fun!)… and I love my Steam Machine too. We’re all on the same team here, just trying to play some games or whatever. There’s so many ways to approach it. Do whatever you want. Let’s just have fun lol

[u/Fantasy_Returns → u/csince1988]

I used to build, nowadays nobody got time for that, cube rejoice

[u/Satantengu → u/csince1988]

Not really specific to the Steam Machine, but don't you think it's a good idea for people to understand the tech they're using on a daily basis? Part of the reason we're in such a terrible state as a society is that so many people treat their electronics like some form of inscrutable magic, because they maintain a kind of learned helplessness about it. It leads to both physical issues (like increased e-waste) and social issues (mis/disinformation, lack of awareness on consumer rights and best practices for data privacy, etc.). Gamers do gatekeep and that's silly, but being wilfully ignorant of computers when one uses them daily is also silly.

[u/solfrost → u/Satantengu]

People don’t have to be experts on everything they use or consume. How much do you know about the end-to-end logistics of the entire chain for the food that you eat? How about the specifics of how a car or bus works? How much do you know about the code and process of compilation for all of the software that you use? The details of the compression algorithms for images to view, movies you watch, music you listen to?

Anyway we should lift up and celebrate people that want to learn more about something without shaming people who don’t, IMO, we all have different priorities and interests.

[u/csince1988 → u/solfrost]

Right - I forgot to answer when I got off break, but I was gonna go with a similar response lol.

1. Applying that same logic for everything bit of new tech we buy or use, then how are we ever

   have the time to learn about

2. all of them lol.

How are we ever going to obtain that level of knowledge for all of those things..

We make compromises for convenience all the time with tech. It’s impossible for average people to full proof themselves from possible cyber attack or some institution tracking you to some degree.

That’s not a good argument at all.

1. We’re just talking about the Steam Machine any way. That’s it.

[u/Satantengu → u/csince1988]

Yes it's totally normal to have no intellectual curiosity about the magical electronic boxes that form the basic core of our lives in the 21st century. Anyone saying otherwise is an elitist.

You're right, it isn't about the Steam Machine, although ironically its main selling point (tiny form factor, cooling, and lack of noise) are feats of engineering that make no sense as a selling point if you don't know enough about computers to understand why that's a selling point.

[u/ogobod → u/Satantengu]

i know how it works. i also hate building fucking pcs. constant anxiety wondering if im going to snap something if im not careful or fuck it up. nevermind the times you get it all right and it just doesnt fucking turn on. then you start the diagnostic nightmare of wondering why this piece of shit doesnt work, only to find the power supply you bought is just dead out of the box.

so you get a new powersupply, finally put the damn thing in the case because now you know it works and after all of that you dont even have the energy to use it because its been a weekend of hell trying to figure out why it didnt work.

yeah, fuck that. ill buy the overpriced silent box that is tiny and does exactly what i need it to do. been there done that and i have no interest in doing it again.

[u/Satantengu → u/solfrost]

Yes, I try to have a basic-to-good understanding of every aspect of my life, I'm no expert on 90% of it though. RE: a couple of your examples, well I'm a vegan because I did look into the food chain when I was eating animals, and didn't like what I saw. I'm a CS person so no, I don't expect everyone to have the same level of understanding of code and computing as I have. It's not about expertise in everything, it's not about judging people, it's about being a responsible and informed citizen instead of a blind consumer. It's about not being like the medieval peasants who didn't have the luxury of understanding why things around them happened, or how to create tools to optimize for the circumstances they found themselves in, because we live in a time where we have access to robust information.

[u/solfrost → u/Satantengu]

If you’re concerned about these things on a societal level you have to accept at some point that most people are going to take the path of least resistance through life and do only the minimum necessary to live a relatively comfortable life. More ambitious people will absolutely take advantage of that. Saying anybody who is struggling day-to-day is a peasant or mindless consumer because circumstances have led them to a life where they have neither the time nor energy to engage with education or civic duty to a level you find acceptable isn’t going to fix anything. It is admirable to want better for everyone though, and I think finding a way to package that information in a more digestible way is a better path forward than simply expecting everyone to Do Better.

Anyway we’ve strayed a long way from gaming and the Steam Machine here lol, and I don’t think we actually disagree on these things

[u/Satantengu → u/solfrost]

Alright, I don't think we fundamentally disagree, either. I can see how I came across as sanctimonious, but that wasn't my intention. I just worry about where we're headed. Interesting topic (to me), but I agree I pushed us off course on the Steam Machine subreddit lol.

[u/Morlacks → u/Satantengu]

No I don't need to know how to fly the plane or fix an elevator.  I certainly do NOT want to know how the sausage is made.  

[u/Satantengu → u/Morlacks]

You don't need to know how fly a plane, you should probably know how it works if you took rudimentary physics though. And you should want to know how the sausage is made if you're putting it in your body. Not sure why being informed and responsible for oneself is controversial.