Steam Machine scores near-perfect marks for repairability
The device teardown reveals from iFixit reveals that its parts are worth about $1,300. However, the device is still in beta, so that will likely change.
Valve's Steam Machine is only beta and only 300 kits have been released so far. But the folks over at iFixit got their hands on one, and as they've done with so many other devices, decided to tear it down to see what's under the hood.
The Steam Machine, which aims at bringing PC games to the living room through the television, scored a high score in iFixit's teardown, with a 9 out of 10 for repairability. The device was given high marks for being "designed to be opened and worked on," and actually upgrading the components in the device is a cinch. iFixit dinged the device on just one front, saying that "during reassembly, precise cable routing is difficult without a repair manual."
Valve's Steam Machine comes with a wealth of ports, including PS/2 ports for keybord or mouse, two USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0 ports, and support for HDMI, Dual-link DVI, and DisplayPort. The Steam Machine iFixit took apart came with a 1TB Seagate solid share hybrid drive and a ZOTAC GeForce GTX 780 graphics card. Other notes from the the teardown: the device has a mini-ITX motherboard and comes with 16GB of Crucial Ballistix Sport RAM.
Although the findings are notable in their own right, they might not amount to much as time goes on. Valve has been quick to point out that the Steam Machine is in beta and is subject to change. The company is also pushing gamers to install its Linux-based operating system SteamOS onto their own boxes to bring gaming to the living room. Still, it's always fun to see what's lurking under the hood of the latest tech gadget.