Alienware steam motorcar review: A play PC for your live room
I laughed when the rumors beginback in 2012: "
is building a PC-based game console for living rooms." Sure it is, I thought. Imagine my shock when "Steam Machines" turned out to be actual
. The project promised a bizarre, revolutionist controller
, a Linux-based function system
designed specifically to play PC games and in-home game pour
for titles that required Windows to run properly. The proposal was unbelievable, but it's finally here; it's real. As of today, I have an Alienware Steam Machine nestled in my entertainment center that delivers on almost everything those original rumors promised. Let's talk about that. Valve
84 Engadget 84
28 review
64 Users 1 review 90
Ratings &
Buy Now Pros
convict
hardware
If the Alienware Steam Machine looks familiar, it's probably because it has the exact same chassis as another PC built for the living room: the Alienware alpha
-- the unofficial Steam Machine Dell launched without Valve's support late last year. Dell classifies these PCs as different products, but they're mostly separated by their operating systems: Windows 10, for the Alpha and steamOS for the Alienware steam machine
. Today we're looking at the latter, Valve-sanctioned Steam Machine, but both rigs have a great chassis: It's compact, subtle and fits right in with everything else in your entertainment center.
Visually talk, the Alienware steamer machine is a childlike matter: a glossy Black squarely with a matte black peak and a few bare LEDs -- matchless
buttocks the office clitoris and another highlight a triangle-shaped bisection of the chassis corner. A steam logo incandescence out from this triangle-shaped stinger, marker the only purpose tweak that separate the Alienware alpha from the Valve-sanctioned steam machine.
Want connections? You got 'em. The Steam Machine has two USB ports on the front, two more in the rear, HDMI output, optical audio out and an Ethernet port. Just like with the Alpha, there are two other connectors here, as well: an HDMI input for piping a cable box through the Steam Machine interface (no, it won't capture video
or stream your other consoles to Twitch) and a fifth USB port hidden under a panel on the rig's undercarriage. Don't get too excited: That extra USB slot is already spoken for. The console ships with the steam control's
dongle pre-installed in the secret compartment (sit tight, we'll be talking about that very soon). In general, Steam Machines are a difficult thing to define. Too often, we describe it as a "game console" for PC gaming, but it's more complicated than that. A Steam Machine isn't just a simple piece of hardware designed to play games on a TV; it's an ecosystem of disparate parts that come together to create a versatile platform
you can use to play games on your TV.
frame simply, a steam machine is make up of three main component: a gaming PC, valve's Linux-based steamOS and the paradigm-defying steam control.
The Alienware Steam Machine earns its name by the simple virtue of having all of this in one package. It presents itself as a consumer game console -- which is the idea -- but as we move forward, don't lose sight of that bigger picture. This is a normal, powerful gaming PC loaded up with a special version of Linux and controlled with a bizarre gamepad. It's not a game console, but that's what's amazing about it: It feels, acts and performs almost exactly like one.
The console masquerade
Truth be told, I didn't expect a lot from the Alienware Steam Machine when I first turned it on. To me, it was just a collection of things I'd seen before. SteamOS' TV-friendly interface
has existed for years as the desktop app's "Big Picture" mode. Almost every version of the Steam Controller I touched over the years felt like an awkward prototype
. Not even the hardware was new to me -- the Alpha came conclusion
to mimicking the feel of a game console, but the illusion was incomplete
. I couldn't imagine it all coming together into one cohesive whole, but it does. I almost can't believe it. The Alienware Steam Machine is everything that Windows-based PC "game console"
aren't. It's easy to set up, easy to use, extremely reliable and practically idiot-proof. Let me invoke the Alienware Alpha one more meter
to illustrate this: When I booted up Dell's original media-center gaming PC for the first time, it presented me with a "grab your mouse and keyboard" Windows 8 setup screen. It was awful. The new machine? It showed me a simple outline of Valve's Steam Controller, asked me to press a single button and then effortlessly led me through signing EULAs, adjusting TV settings, setting up the internet and logging into Steam. It was easy.
The recently redesigned big picture mode that shuffle up the steamOS interface is a huge improvement over steam's previous TV-scaled layout. The kernel element of the menu are present movement and plaza in big button: memory, library and community, all of which can be selected exploitation the gamepad's joystick. dive into any of them bring up a tilt of deep option on the sieve's exit English, while a dynamic layout of game and content is plaster on the correct.
From there, everything is extremely self-explanatory. The Library menu, for instance, shows your games as wide billboards on the right with options like "recent," "installed" and "favorites" on the left. Pop in into any of those menus, and a filter menu will peek out from the right side of the screen, enticing you to search or sort your library with various attributes: controller, supported, installed locally, etc. When you settle on a game, the menu morphs again, moving the title's banner to the upper-left corner of the screen and underlining it with more options. These allow you to play or manage your game (another sub menu that offers controller configuration, launch options, and so on). There's also a list of community content for the title (screenshots, artwork, videos, live broadcasts, etc.). This feels like a console experience because it is a console experience -- it never betrays itself as a Linux desktop PC rigged to run in Steam's Big Picture mode. Pop-up windows and errors don't leave me wanting for a mouse and keyboard. Like a game console, it just works -- without troubleshooting. For the most part, the interface "just works" too.
steamOS' bad picture mode may be the good interpretation of the TV interface valve's make to date, but there are definitely a few area that hush necessitate oeuvreplace. I specifically had problem with the memory. steam's on-line marketplace is enormous, fun to crop and fairly well-organized, but on steamOS, it's also incomplete. valve say there are over 6,000 game available to purchase on steam, about 1,500 of which are compatible with Linux and the Alienware steam machine. Too bad the steamOS memory make find them a chore.
Right now, SteamOS only lets users browse curated lists of featured and recently released games. These limited lists are organized by "top sellers," "recently updated" and "popular new releases," but they only make up a tiny fragment of the available library. Users can browse content by tag, but there are hundreds of tags to choose from. The menu has no advanced options for listing all titles by release date, price or user review average. This leaves SteamOS with an inferior content search system compared to the service's desktop and web interfaces, and can make finding new, non-featured content a frustrating experience. To be fair, SteamOS gets a little better almost every day -- literally. As of this writing, it's received 17 updates in 25 days, each one killing a game-crashing glitch, adding new features to the user interface or otherwise improving the Steam Controller in some way. In fact, these updates directly addressed some of this review's original complaints. A month ago, I had to add several SteamOS compatible games through the console's built-in web browser because they wouldn't show up in the native interface's store. Now they all do. The website's storefront still has the better search tool, but with each update Valve is closing the gap. SteamOS feels very close to a real console menu, but its interface is definitely still a study in advancement
. For the most part, the illusion of it being a game console never breaks, but if it does, you'll have Linux to contend with. A few weeks into testing, I somehow messed up the Alienware's boot record and had to load a partition restore in Grub to fix it. It wasn't straightforward, and that's a bummer -- but at least we know Valve is taking the platform's faults seriously and actively trying to make it better.
A console controller for PC game
I may have had my doubts about Valve's plan to build a PC platform for the living room, but the company's Steam Controller had my attention from day one. Valve had design a prototype gamepad
that eschewed every convention we've come to expect from modern game controllers. It didn't have analog sticks; it had clickable touchpads that promised to replace a PC gamer's mouse. Instead of face buttons, it had a large, high-resolution touchscreen. Valve even put extra buttons on the back of the gamepad's grip. It was new. It was weird. It was exciting -- but it was a little too bold. Valve spent the next two years trying to make the Steam Controller feel a small less stranger
. Today, it's a balanced combination of innovation and familiarity: a single analog stick, four face buttons, standard shoulder and trigger toggles, two rear-facing grip buttons and two big haptic touchpads. It's probably the biggest deviation in traditional gamepad design since Sony introduced the DualShock Analog accountant
in 1997, and I love it. Gallery: Steam Controller | 8 Photos /8 Gallery: Steam Controller | 8 Photos /8
most of the steamer accountant's part feel precisely as you would expect: It has a top-flight analog stay, responsive confront button and commodity trigger -- but the flagship feature is definitely those eldritch touchpads. These slightly concave surfronts allow the controller to functionplace as a surprisingly precise sneak. It's not just a 1:1 mouse control, either: The steam control cleverly emulate the momentum of a path ball. If you puff a finger over the surconfront dullly, the cursor will gesture with deliberate, precise motion. flick that same flick and it will accelerate and gradually slow down. Haptic engine under the touchpads lend a tactile spirit to the integral experience. It feel beneficial. great, flush.
This kind of control opens doors for mouse-only PC titles. Games that rely on cursor control like Shadowrun return
and composition please
are suddenly playable without a mouse and keyboard. I found myself playing civilization: beyond earth
in my living room. In first-person shooters and action games, the Steam Controller offers me a more sensitive mouselook-style input than I've experienced with a traditional gamepad. It's exactly what I want in a hand-held PC game controller, but I won't lie: The memorize curvature can be brutal
. Those touchpads are incredibly sensitive, and using them in first-person gaming feels wildly different than pushing against the consistent pressure of an analog stick. Appropriately, it's more like using a mouse and keyboard -- flicking quickly in one direction or another to look around and picking up and repeatedly moving the "mouse" (or in this case, your thumb) to achieve certain movements. It takes time and patience, and won't come easy to everyone.
The steam control also relies heavily on valve's software. Every game now has a "configure controller" submenu that let the user to customize the gameslog to their like. lack to adjust the sensitivity of the trackembroider? look to disable the necessity to "snap" the leave pad down to file a directional pad stimulation? motivation to remap a button with an dark keyboard toggle to arrive the control to spirit correct? You can do all that here -- there are dozens of choice to tweak.
You can also select from three default templates -- a gamepad-emulation mode, keyboard (WASD) with mouse and a hybrid mode that blends gamepad controls with the higher-precision camera allowed by mouse control. These three profiles were enough to make most of my Steam library playable, but they aren't perfect: The gamepad mode does a pretty poor job of emulating the right thumbstick, resulting in a control scheme that feels unnatural and slow. The hybrid mode fixes this for most titles, but some simply don't play nice with simultaneous gamepad and mouse inputs -- those will need to be configured using the WASD mode. This usually works, but it means any on-screen prompts you see in the game will be for a mouse and keyboard. Like I said, it's not perfect.
Many game arrive with a nonpayment or commend profile, but lookout out: some of them are amiss. iodinef a game command dual-analog control and recommend use the gamepad-emulation mode, it's usually an nasty experience. You can align the sensitivity curve of the emulate lodge, but more frequently than not there's a "community" profile induce by another user that has already solve the problem. Oh, did I not note? Any controller profile you produce can be share with the community -- and these crowdsourced profile are usually the Best available.
Also, I think it's a little telling that almost every game I played that recommended "gamepad" mode from the publisher also had a community profile titled "Alienware PAX" that swapped out the right-stick emulation for high-precision mouse control. When it works, though, it's phenomenal. Valve has baked native Steam Controller support into some of its own games, and they're excellent. Portal 2, for instance, has controller profiles that automatically remap certain gamepad buttons to fit your situation. If you're in a level, the Steam Controller adopts one setting; if you're in a menu or the game's puzzle editor mode, it'll adopt another. These native profiles are a game changer -- replaying Portal 2 with the Steam Controller has been an absolute joy. The sensitivity curves are just right, while the jump and use functions of the rear-facing paddle buttons feel natural. Valve even included an optional motion-control profile that lets you tilt the gamepad to control the camera, similar to the aim mechanic
Nintendo uses for Splatoon. It feels great, like Portal 2 was make
for the Steam Controller. If true native Steam Controller support becomes a PC gaming standard, I'll never touch my Xbox 360 gamepad ever again... but in the meantime, I'm not getting rid of it. I was perfectly happy to use the Steam Controller for most of the titles in my library, but every now and then one wouldn't play nice with hybrid gamepad mode and also didn't feel right in WASD-keyboard-and-mouse mode. In these rare cases, reverting back to the Xbox gamepad worked best. Luckily, the Alienware Steam Machine natively recognized my wireless Xbox controller dongle.
With any luck, one won't want a accompaniment Xbox 360 gamepad for very retentive -- valve is constantly mail the controller firmware update and add feature to mitigate park problem. remember how I state the controller was icky at emulate a traditional gamepad's correct thumbstick? A few week after the controller ship, valve add a Modern "mouse-like-thumbstick," which let users give medium cursor control to game that don't play Nice with the steam accountant's loanblend mode. there's also a Modernly "affect menu" mode that use the steam overlie to add supernumerary on-screen hotkey button to any game that motivation more stimulation than the physical controller offer. It's Nice to remember that the controller will just arrive bettor and good with time.
The Steam Controller is pretty handy for text entry and web browsing, too. No, really -- pull up a text-entry field in SteamOS' Store search or web browser, and the system will let you use the dual touchpads to touch-type text. Simply drag your finger across the pad, use the on-screen cursors (one for each pad) to select a button and click down to select it. After years of smartphone text messaging, it feels completely natural, and it's my new favorite "game console" mechanic for text entry. The right touchpad also works like a real mouse in the web browser and the left works as a scroll bar. For the first time in my life, I'm comfortably browsing the web on my television. It's nice. Finally, there's one killer feature the Steam Controller and the Alienware Steam Machine are missing: The ability to power on the console using just the controller itself. This is a standard feature for every other device in my entertainment center, but the Alienware box just can't do it. This isn't a surprise: Most desktop PCs can't be powered on from a device over USB, but some devices can be put into sleep mode and woken up by a remote controller. As far as I can tell, that's not an option here, either. If you want to play Steam, you'll have to get off your couch and turn the machine on yourself. How tedious.
Gameplay and performance
O.K., so the Alienware steam machine has the correct function organization and the veracious controller -- but does it have the properly component? can it keep up with today's consumer game cabinet and disilentery crack muster as a gaming PC? most of the clock, yes.
My $749 test unit costs a pretty penny more than the highest-priced console on the market, but it has a lot to offer. The flagship Alienware Steam Machine packs in a Core i7-4785T CPU, 8GB DDR3 memory, a 1TB 7,200 rpm hard drive and a customized NVIDIA GTX 860M graphics chip with 2GB of video RAM. That turned out to be enough power to run almost everything in my SteamOS-compatible library on high visual settings at a decent frame rate. Most games automatically configured themselves to medium visual settings by default, hovering at 45 frames per second or higher, depending on the title, but I found the system could push most of them a little further. Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel happily bounced between 35 and 50 fps (depending on how much action was on screen) on maximum visual settings, and both shadow Warrior
and Spec Ops: The line
eclipsed 50 fps with the dials turned to 11. BioShock infinite
dipped just below 30 fps on Ultra, but maintained a solid 40 average when tuned down to "very high" settings. I had similar results with serious Sam 3
, finding Ultra to be just a tad too much, but High ran just fine. It should be no surprise that Valve's own games also ran great on the first official Steam Machine: left 4 dead 2
and Portal 2 had no problem hitting 60 fps on their highest visual settings. Even The Witcher 2, one of my library's heavier hitters, ran moderately well, managing to stay above 30 fps on high settings and comfortably hitting the 40s on medium. Simpler offerings like civilization: beyond land
had no trouble hitting playable frame rates on maximum settings, and the machine also shrugged off the plethora of indie titles available for SteamOS + Linux. The games that ran poorly surprised me: darkness of Mordor
struggled to hit playable frame rates at my television's native 1080p resolution until I dialed back its graphics options to their lowest settings. I don't know if the game is simply more resource-intensive than I realized, if it's poorly optimized for PCs or if it's just a bad Linux port. Installing, running and playing games on the Alienware was usually a seamless experience -- jumping directly from the SteamOS menu into a game. Most of the time, this led to a smooth, console-like gaming experience, although there was the occasional hiccup. The Witcher 2 doesn't launch straight into the game, and requires the user to click "play" in a launcher program before starting in earnest. To navigate this quirk, I had to press the Steam Controller's "home" button to change profiles multiple times. A few games also suffered from weird stuttering despite running well at high specifications: BioShock space
, Spec Ops: The line
and Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel would all occasionally drop a few frames, causing the game to look like it was "hanging" for a quarter of a second every few minutes. Weird.
correct now
, our examination unit represent the absolute better steam machine that Dell has to crack -- if you privation more office, you'll have to ascent it yourself. Fortunately, that's reasonably easily: four-spot screw on the penetrateland of the tiny character are all you indigence to murder to arrive access to the steam machine's Aries, HDD slot and LGA 1150 CPU socket (compatible with Haswell and choose Broadwell processors. deplorable Skylake fan).
Getting less power is pretty easy too: Dell sells a $649 model identical to our test unit, save for a downgraded Intel Core i5 CPU. Dropping down to the $549 build will saddle you with a Core i3 CPU and one fewer internal wireless antenna. A bottom-dollar $449 unit is available as well, shipping with the Core i3 processor, 4GB of RAM and a smaller 500GB HDD. Fortunately, all configurations share the same NVIDIA GPU.
The library
Knowing that the Alienware Steam Machine can play modern releases (with a few caveats) is great, but that alone isn't enough to say if it can compete with traditional cabinet
or other gaming PCs. In an industry where content is king, are there enough Linux games available on Valve's platform for SteamOS to thrive? It depends on your perspective. In a strictly numerical sense, SteamOS has tons of games -- over 1,500 titles available to download and play right now, today. In a more qualitative sense? Maybe don't bank on a Linux-based Steam Machine as your only game console. Not yet, at least. That's not to say there aren't lots of great games available for SteamOS and Linux -- every single one of the titles I listed above ran natively on the system -- but there are definitely fewer multiplatform AAA titles on the Linux section of Steam's marketplace than you might find on Windows, Xbox or PlayStation. Worse still, some games that were promised to launch on Linux alongside Windows and consoles missed their mark: The Batman: Arkham knight
Linux port failed to surface when the game re-launched on PC and The Witcher III: wild search
is still absent from Steam OS five months after its Windows release. On the plus side, Valve carries a lot of weight in the gaming industry, and it has a vested interest in convincing developers to port big-name games to Linux. It's extremely probable that we'll see an explosion in Linux-compatible releases over the next several years. In the meantime, SteamOS' Linux library offers one extra advantage: It's unique. There are literally hundreds of distinct, fun, independent and lesser-known titles lurking in the Steam marketplace that simply aren't available on Xbox one
or PlayStation 4.
Not enough? O.K. -- valve has matchless more whoremaster up its sleeve, but it ask another computer: steam In-Home cyclosis. This feature has been about for a while, but now it's bake immediately into the steamOS ecosystem. If you have a window PC anywhere on your netemployment run steam, you can pipe its game to the Alienware steam machine to satiate in the hole in the Linux library. This trick tend to functionplace bettor over Ethernet, and the unharmed thing depends on the health of your local netexercise, but it's a full stopgap for folks with another gaming machine. Already have another gaming PC but don't privation a Linux game console for your entertainment kernel? You may desire to spirit at the steam link -- it's cheap; it semen with a steam accountant; and it's design specifically for users who need to flow their gaming PC to their TV without add a unharmed fresh computer to the netinfluence.
Wrap-up I used to laugh when I saw Linux users scramble to build compatibility layers to play "real" PC games. I chuckled when valve CEO Gabe Newell lambasted window 8
as a "catastrophe for everyone," proffering Linux and SteamOS as a viable alternative. It seemed so far-fetched, so silly. Truth be told, I'm still laughing -- but now it's because I'm enjoying myself. The Alienware Steam Machine has some growing pains, but it's fun. tons
of fun. The first commercial Steam Machine isn't quite an idiot-proof console just yet, but it's close. In fact, it's close enough I'm thinking about recommending it to friends who would otherwise be hesitant to step into the world of PC gaming. It's fun and easy to use. Most of the issues I encountered are minor and simple to troubleshoot. It still needs some major patches and a larger selection of supported games, but Valve seems committed to making these improvements a reality. Even as is, Steam Machines are good. Shockingly good. Soon, they could be great. Either way Valve is on the right track.