Reddit mentions of Alienware Steam Machine ASM100-6980BLK Desktop Console (Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD) NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU

I may try to avoid the mini-PC route if cost is the major factor. I feel like you end up paying a premium for the form factor and proprietary GPU/motherboards/etc., Take into account other things like typically requiring an SSD, etc., and prices start to add up quite quickly. I think your best bet is to find some prebuilt SFF PC and slap in a GT1030/other low profile GPU.

I'm having a hard time finding a mini-PC sub $500 (at least, new ones), and most of these don't include storage or RAM.

I did find this Steam Machine though. Maybe you could get this for ~$500 then install Windows on it, instead of using the weird Steam OS. It apparently comes with RAM and storage, plus a steam controller.

EDIT: Now that I think about it, I'm actually kind of salty I didn't think about this Steam Machine thing for my HTPC.

About 80USD more than the price they listed, but if that's still within your range there are some used ones going for 429.99 on Amazon US https://smile.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B015XK1O6K/

I believe this is the one he has

https://www.amazon.com/Alienware-Machine-ASM100-6980BLK-Desktop-Console/dp/B015XK1O6K/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1498203553&sr=8-1&keywords=steam+machine

Sorry for the late response hopefully your still here. This is what I was looking at. https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B015XK1O6K/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1465327156&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=steam+machine&dpPl=1&dpID=31LlyKgYDxL&ref=plSrch


Honestly truth is I've been wanting to get a nice pc gaming set up and finally got the money. But now I don't know what to buy because I'm not to good with computers. Seen this steam machine and though it could solve my problems. I'm looking to play games like Ark, Rust ect. Thanks

$450 after shipping https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B015XK1O6K
There's a lot of bad reviews but that's because people don't like SteamOS

I believe this is the Steam Machine being sold by Walmart, not the Gamestop one you listed, because it's the only one I could find in the Walmart catalog (though I'm not sure because I couldn't find it listed in any Black Friday ads.

It was tough to find true specs since they list generic "2GB NVIDIA graphics", but on this Amazon page of the same model, it says it's comparable to the 860M graphics, which is weak.

Again, don't bother with it, especially since you'd need Windows rather than SteamOS anyway. Build your own PC.

If you're going for a small form factor at $500 price range, you're right in thinking about the Alienware Alpha. Anything else that I know of is usually a full or mid size tower pc.


There is also the [Alienware Steam Machine] (http://www.amazon.com/Alienware-Machine-ASM100-6980BLK-Desktop-Console/dp/B015XK1O6K/ref=sr_1_43?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1451877500&sr=1-43)


As far as a laptop, the [Acer Aspire E5] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16834315131&cm_sp=Homepage_BS-_-P1_34-315-131-_-01032016) is the cheapest I've seen for a laptop with a dedicated GPU. That said, the GPU is a "entry-level" one.


The only other SFF gaming pc's are more expensive.


[CyberpowerPC Desktop Computer Gamer Xtreme S102 Intel Core i5 6600] (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883230094)


[Asus G20AJ-US006S Intel Core i3-4150] (http://www.amazon.com/Asus-G20AJ-US006S-i3-4150-Windows-Desktop/dp/B00NMVC8C2/ref=sr_1_25?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1451877500&sr=1-25)

She was trying to update to v2.6.

Steam Machine she purchased:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015XK1O6K/ref=cm_sw_r_em_apa_S-4FxbDTTBQTG

We tried the restore option and it just made the issue worse. System freezes at boot now. I was going to do a factory reset with the System Restore Disk, but the link Steam provides isn't very helpful. The instructions mention a sysrestore.zip file, but the link provided has no such file. Its just a directory of folders and files. The folders cant be downloaded, and the instructions don't say which ones to download. The link takes you to the contents of a folder called steamos, but this isn't the parent directory, so I'm unsure of what exactly I need to download.

Steam has been less than helpful. When she contacted them about the system recovery failing and causing the system to freeze they appologized for not being able to help her further and pretty much said "good luck". Ridiculous, awful support system.

Instructions for creating the restore disk:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_article.php?ref=6963-EYVB-8167

Link to restore files:
http://repo.steamstatic.com/steamos/

Alienware Steam Machine ASM100-6980BLK Desktop Console (Intel Core i7, 8 GB RAM, 1 TB HDD) NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU https://www.amazon.com/dp/B015XK1O6K/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_XqvJyb7E39Q6R

I'll flash windows 10 on it