Yeah true the index headset wasn’t a bargain compared to the quests that were clearly being sold as cheaply as possible.

Can get an ‘aoostar GODY’ on AliExpress for US$1000. Basically the same GPU, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD. The steam machine has less cores and less ethernet. Though it also has a way bigger heatsink, LEDs and extra Bluetooth/valve gamepad antenna.

Comparing the deck to comparative brands, it is wayyy cheaper. I think valve are going to be aggressive on price, especially when the CPU/GPU are fairly old and meek.

That’s the fantasy. It’s full of politics and informal power structures though.

Well yeah, Hopoo sold the RoR franchise to gearbox 2 years ago.

Moving from a small indie studio to Valve they are giving up a lot of agency.

They’re still at it, they bought Campo Santo (Firewatch Devs) in 2018 and now their game In The Valley of Gods is never gonna happen, they worked on Alyx instead.

They poached a bunch of folks from Hopoo Games recently too.

The first time I opened an invite steam said I couldn’t join, but on a whim I opened it a week later and it worked. I still live in a different city so don’t know what happened.

I’ve been using my Sennheiser HD 598 s for over 10 years. I’d recommend anything the same shape/size: being large over ears means it doesn’t touch or squeeze your ears at all. Being open backed and velvet padded stop my ears getting hot and sweaty. Being wired saves weight, prevents lag/quality concerns and isn’t too big a deal in a stationary gaming situation.

I do need to use an external mic for chatting, which is not ideal if you’re gonna be always in voice chats when gaming. Dedicated gaming headsets tend to not sound as good for the same price, but can’t deny the convenience.

Here is a recent rundown of recommendations by audiophile youtubers for gaming headphones might be worth watching. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIwgVzSiZ68

A lot of desktop motherboards have a slot for a M.2 WiFi card like that AX200. Usually though they already come with a card anyway. You can often also use the same ssd/HDDs going from laptop to desktop. CPU, RAM, and GPUs are different sizes and connectors though, and won’t be transferrable.

Main thing for choosing a mac is the personal preference for the OS / interface. Its not totally better than Windows, there’s pros and cons. You have to really want it to pay for the overpriced hardware. Even second hand they retain a lot resale value.