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If we can’t extract all the value, no one can.

Anyone know what the refresh rate for these displays are, at least with the stock firmware? Reading the datasheets didn't help, though maybe I didn't know what to look for.

so probably waveshare or some other ODM? got it.

They have an infinite money glitch in Steam, it hardly matters for them even if it makes a loss as long as it propagates the ecosystem.

Valve is one of the most efficient (revenue/staff) corporations there is. Far more so than most tech companies even. If that's how you measure goodwill then it seems like it works.

They have a money printer that gives them nearly unlimited flexibility. Being a private company means Gabe can do long-term investments without concern.

Steam has been an incredibly good steward of its position, but I fear for the day when capitalism finally sinks its claws into the platform.

Same, but the front is important for airflow in the Framework Desktop, so I don't think covering it with an e-ink screen would work. But maybe with some space between the screen and the fan intake?

A little e-ink status tile for temps, build status, now playing, or just a static label would be much more interesting than most decorative inserts

The main thing I'd worry about is long-term reliability

You're not modding a pre-built $1049 device. The faceplates are removable and swappable with no disassembly needed, and this fancy one connects via bluetooth and is powered via a battery. Entirely non-invasive.

That's an interesting case of a display being off actually indicating something ("loss of power") which can't be replicated with a bistable screen.

On the other hand, you probably don't want that glow of an active screen all the time. Status LEDs are annoying enough.

Gamers Nexus did a very in depth review of the Steam Machine [1], which includes a comparison to a build yourself similar machine.

The result is that for about 70 dollars less you can put together a somewhat more powerful PC than the Steam Machine, but not for that form factor, it would still be bigger.

IMO, the Steam Machine is not a bad purchase if you are in the market for that type of product.

[1] https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=66QzlDewigE

You can't build a machine which is as powerful, small, quiet, and cheap, nor can you take for granted that a machine you build can have a controller that can wake it from sleep, or which has HDMI-CEC (both are possible, but take extra work or hardware). You can rather easily build a machine with multiple of those attributes, but you'll have to pick ones to sacrifice in the name of the others.

Wildly depends where you live.

For the same price I can get a prebuilt desktop PC with double the performance (Ryzen 7 5700 + RTX 5060 Ti)

Even if you go mini ITX you can get a better PC with 50% more performance (Ryzen 7 5600x + RTX 5060) https://pcpartpicker.com/forums/topic/498435-diy-45l-steam-m...

Compared to buying from parts? No.

Compared to an average prebuilt? You can probably find large tower PCs at a lower price, but they'll likely have a low quality motherboard or power supply.

Compared to an average prebuilt that ships with Linux? Absolutely

For a small gaming box it is a good price.

If you don’t care that much about size, HDMI-CEC or SteamOS there are faster alternatives for the price.

Full color, except for certain shades of blue

Given computer part prices recently because of new datacenters, I think the price is already justified, as they don't want to sell it at a loss

Yes but saying "it would have justified the price if they had included extra expensive things" is the same as saying "it should be cheaper". Sure, but stuff costs.