The first Valve Steam Machines have arrived at the homes of 300 beta testers, leading to the first snaps and unboxings of the new living room PC.
As announced last week, Valve shipped 300 Steam Machine prototypes out to members of the Steam community on December 13. Those arrived over the weekend, leading to a number of photos and information spills.
The above image was taken by one of those lucky 300, a user going by the name of Colbehr, who then posted the unboxing pics online.
As you can see, Valve has harnessed its flair for presentation in the packaging – a large wooden box with Portal stencils applied to the exterior. Inside, of course, is the Steam Machine and that novel Steam Controller.
The Steam Machine itself apparently features 299 drilled ventilation holes, and an extra one that’s been stamped with each user’s unique identity. Another lovely touch.
As for internal specs, it seems as if each of the 300 prototype Steam Machines differs slightly in bid to help Valve simulate the range of configurations that will be accessing its SteamOS platform. While these might look like games consoles, they’re actually fully configurable PCs.
According to a related Reddit posting, the pictured unit features an Intel i5-4570 3.20GHz CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a GeForce GTX 780 GPU with 3GB of video memory.
As for a wider release of these Steam Machines – or whatever form the finished product takes – Valve will be revealing more at the CES show on January 6.
Next, read our Xbox One vs PS4 comparison
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
