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

This PC gaming console is really a different gaming machine meant to bridge the couch/living room experience with typical PC gaming. Dell could have had a hit on its hands with this machine in 2014 had Steam OS launched at that time; fast-forward to 2016 and Steam OS is still lacking full support of the Steam library. The physical machine is well powered with three variant, the version being reviewed here is the ASM100-6980BLK (Intel Core i7 4785T). The box is square with a corner triangle that is back with leds and an Alien head power button with led. The look is similar to the original Wii in size and shape.Inside it is running a laptop class i7t processor from the 4th gen Intel lineup, 8 GB of ram, matted to a 1TB 7200 hard drive and a custom GPU chip from Nvidia GTX (No real class information). It comes with the Steam controller which has a scroll wheel kind of pad, a d pad, one analog stick and buttons like PS4. I do not recommended leaving the machine stock as the machine is just too limited for use, but I’ll explain more on that in a minute. Steam OS does support keyboard and mouse as well as the steam controller to play SteamOS supported games. That is a hug deal for playing on your couch vs a standard desk, however as I said before SteamOS (Linux based) is like using Microsoft RT it is just to limiting and a waste of processing power. As games rely on GPU not CPU the i5-i7 perform about the same with 8GB of ram when using SteamOS. I recommended dumping this OS and installing Windows 10 running the Steam Client. When I stated this machine is limiting I meant it (there is not a good way to browse the web or ability to load outside applications locking the console PC to a limited ecosystem and lack of games).Windows 10 installs pretty easily off a usb drive with generic drivers. Once the system is up and running go to DELL, download the Alienware Alpha drivers (all of them or use the dell tool and it does it for you) allow the drivers to update than download the Steam Client (same as SteamOS) and you’re ready to play just the same as the SteamOS that came on the machine. Now with this upgrade you can load games that are not on the Steam store or applications that are normal desktop apps such as MS Office. If this is the only upgrade you do it shall make a difference in your steam experience. Doing this is cheaper than purchasing the Dell Alienware Alpha with the same power.The Steam client does run in big picture mode which looks and functions the same as the preloaded SteamOS. The store has over 5600 games. Controller support is good for even normal PC keyboard and mouse games allowing the user to virtually map the keys with out having to use any other input device. The Steam store is well laid out but I find that purchasing my game in a Web browser is better suited for my liking vs the Steam store in the application, due to purchasing and lag issues (not my connection).(Side note recommended an SSD upgrade and at least 16GB of ram).As of writing this review I have gotten the Yellow light Alien a few times. The only solution to this is unplug the machine's power brick from the wall and the back of the machine leave it sit for 10-20 mins. Replug all back in and turn on, this shall clear the BIOS battery. If a warning appears such as fan not working etc replace it. Mine is the BIOS battery so I only have to press F1 after it starts up than esc to allow it to reload. This issues I faced and so many are facing has caused a star loss for my review of a could be excellent product.*********** EDITED****** 10/14/2016******************Any Steam or Alpha Machine can have upgraded graphics now!I've been using this machine since June 2016 streaming to my NVIDIA shield for steam games, all over WiFi. This is great but graphics on the machine are not full 1080 with setting on high due to the GPU 2GB limit. This however is not an issue, as the internal WiFi card can be removed and replaced with a EGPU cable. This allows you to purchase a separate graphic card power block and adapter (which comes with the egpu cable) to have an external solution allowing for full 1080 gaming and VR support. I love my machine but the lack of GPU power was a big issue for me.Link of someone with the EGPU. Once mine is completed and configured I shall post pics. We tried this with the GTX 960 card and it worked, I am now trying this on my i7 version with the AMD RX 470 8GB card.[...]

Absolute garbage.You take it out the box and set it up. Once powered on, there was an initial screen to pair the controller, however I turned it off while I went to go work on something momentarily. Afterwards, the system refuses to power back on, and the logo continues to blink yellow. Power cycling doesn't work, there are no instructions explaining why it might be behaving in this manner, Alienware hasn't responded on their public forms about this issue despite its prevalence, so clearly the customer support is crappy. Never even got to pair the controller, my experience with this thing lasted one hour and it was enough to make me want to return it.You'd be better off making your own Steam Machine.

I'm giving this four stars even though it probably doesn't deserve it. I give it four because I really love the idea and vision of the Steam Machine. The Steam platform makes it possible for me to play all my PC games in my steam library on my TV.Pros:I really like the Steam Big Picture mode. I didn't like it when it was first released and I was messing around with it on my computer but after seeing it on the TV and using it with a controller I really do like it.SteamOS. I know a few people in the reviews have rated this product low because of the operating system that's installed. SteamOS is Debian Linux with Steam integrated into it. You need to know this going in, and understand the usage scenario with it. It WILL NOT play all Windows game natively! Although the number of games that are available on SteamOS is ever-growing and quite impressive, to play games that were designed for Windows only you will have to stream them from a Windows based PC on the same network. As long as you have a WIRED connection the experience is very good (some games do seem to stream better than others). Also, because you have access to the underlying Linux OS, you have access to a full-blown PC right on your TV.The visual. This console looks great. It's small! I didn't realize how little it was until I unboxed it. It easily fits on my TV stand and is actually smaller than my Blu-ray player.HDMI passthrough. The passthrough feature on this console is nice. I can plug the Blu-ray player or Chromecast directly into the console and pass the video onto the TV and therefore don't have to adjust TV input to watch movies.The Bad:This machine was nothing short on an unmitigated disaster to get running. I am a IT guy and also very familiar with Steam/Debian Linux. I am very confident that anyone without similar knowledge would have returned this machine.When I first booted this machine I was greeted with the Steam logo, then presented with the login screen. That's the end of things going well. I connected to my wireless network and it told me it needed an update to Steam. Once the steam machine updated it rebooted and my controller no longer worked. I had to use a old keyboard I had lying around to finish setting up my steam account. It then told me my controller firmware was out of date and that it would only take a minute. It never updated the controller firmware. I thought, no big deal, I'll just reboot, that will probably take care of it ! When I rebooted, the machine hung on the SteamOS logo for about 20 minutes until I became convinced that it wasn't actually going to boot up. I discovered it was the keyboard that it didn't like so I unplugged the keyboard and rebooted... "Steam is attempting to recover from a fatal error" - Great. Twenty minutes later Steam has finished recovering and boots up. It factory reset itself?! Meanwhile my controller still wont work. I have to plug in the keyboard again to log into my Steam account. My controller still won't update its firmware. I had to unplug the wireless dongle and use the USB cable to connect to the console and I was able to finally get the controller firmware current.Final thoughts:If I was the average consumer I would have walked away from this disappointed in Steam and the console and probably would have returned this and purchased an Xbox instead. I worked through all the issues because I knew once I got it running it would be great, and it is. It will play most games on high settings and is fairly fast. I may upgrade the 1TB hard drive to a SSD someday for faster load times. In conclusion, this is a great piece of hardware. This is also a great bundle of software, but the console HAS TO WORK OUT OF THE BOX, no excuses!