Alienware Steam Machine Review

Initial Setup & SteamOS Overview
Getting the Steam Machine setup is just as easy as a console really. First make sure you have your batteries installed in the Steam Controller. Place the Steam Machine unit in your home theater or where you plan on using it. Connect the power, HDMI cable, and Ethernet cable if you plan on using wired internet. Press the Alienware logo on the front of the device to turn it on. You will notice the Alienware logo as well as the Steam logo on the side of the unit light up.

Alienware Steam Machine

Above is a shot of the Steam Machine installed in my home Theater with my WDTV Live Hub and NZXT DOKO sitting on top of it. As you can see it can easily fit into any home theater without any issues.

Upon initial power-on of the Steam Machine SteamOS will boot up and you will be asked to login to Steam. It is a pretty easy process, which me made a full video of. Check it out below.

SteamOS itself is a specialized custom version of Debian Linux. This brings the cost of a Steam Machine down because the creator of the Steam Machine does not have to pay a fee for the use of the operating system like they do for a Windows-based machine. Now you would never really know you are running Linux as SteamOS automatically loads Steam in Big Picture mode when you turn the system on.

Steam’s Big Picture mode is very easy to navigate. It is very easy to go through your Game Library, search and buy games from Steam, see when your friends are online and chat with them and there is even a web-browser built in. It is extremely functional and if you are strictly going to playing games then I don’t see any major problems with it. Check out the video below to see a full overview of SteamOS.

Don’t like the blue illumination on the Alienware logo or Steam logo? Well this can be changed by going into the Steam settings and finding AlienFX. Here you can set each of these colors independently. Here are some shots of the different colors available.

Alienware Steam Machine Alienware Steam Machine Alienware Steam Machine

About Author