A while back, we heard talk of a new portable Steam Machine coming out called the "Steam Boy". Not much info on what it was, how it'd look, when it'd release...until now. Resurfacing as "Smach Zero", the company behind it, Smach Zero (what a great name), has officially announced a price and a general ship date, along with a few basic specs.

Here's what we know now:

• The Smach Zero is expected to ship in Q4 2016, with preorders supposedly opening November 10 for $299/€299.
• The Smach Zero has 4GB of RAM, 32GB of internal storage, a 720p touch screen and HDMI output. EDIT: Other sources now confirm there is an SD Card slot for expandable storage, along with USB OTG.
• The Smach Zero carries an embedded G-Series SoC "Steppe Eagle" from AMD, with a Jaguar-based CPU and GCN-based Radeon Graphics.
• And, of course, the Smach Zero is going to launch with SteamOS and "1000's of Steam Games ready to play". EDIT: Sources claim the portable will be able to handle games like Cities Skyline, Civ 5, BioShock Infinite, Half Life 2, and Dota 2 no problem.

The video below is what the company released while at Gamescom on Saturday.



Source
EDIT: Additional Source

I'm quite interested in this project myself, I've always been fascinated by the idea of a portable game system that is essentially a PC, and this project so far looks to be exactly what I've been looking for! If this portable truly boasts a full x86 version of SteamOS, and specs enough to play a good amount of the Steam library, then I'd definitely be interested in giving one a purchase.

 

[RevPokemon]

Interesting...but 32 GB is a joke no matter how you look at it. Even on indie games (which we'll have to be honest about: these are more likely to be linux-compatible), it'll fill up in no time.

As for the "yeah, but streaming from PC"-notion: I can buy a shield tablet or portable right now for that. You just can't both taut on the go and have these specs. More so since quite some of those games also appear on android...

Very true but I guess it's odd because its better then a vita / 3ds but not good enough for PC gaming.
Likewise as for streaming they have better cheaper options

 

[Vipera]

All we know so far is:

- (Part of) The price
- HD Ready screen
- No buttons

Great, we still have a few things left:

- Battery life (pretty crucial for a handheld isn't it?)
- The actual specs of CPU and GPU
- External storage (if any)
- What this thing can actually PLAY


Every announcement of any handheld ever had "NEW KICKASS GRAPHICS HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THIS" and "THIS THING IS ___x FASTER THAN THE OTHER THING HOLY FUCK". Steam does things backwards, as usual. Also I can't wait when this thing's battery life is going to suck and PCtards are going to justify le lord GabeN while everyone bashed 3DS and Vita when they came out.

I'm not a specs fetishist, but I can't help but feel disappointed about the screen resolution. I think that's pretty cheap for a 2015 handheld. That, and no physical d-pad/buttons. Seriously Valve? While I can understand they cba about the D-Pad patent shenanigans, buttons are still fucking buttons.

Not only that, but out of 100+ games I own, only a few support joypads. If what some user said it's true, and this handheld is supposed to play light stuff, the number gets even tinier because many casual games I own were designed for a mouse.

And that "starting" near the price tag scares me. What if they try to justify the lack of external storage as "there is no space PRAISE LE GABEN"? What if those price mean different internal storage sizes?


Hopefully we can get more informations soon.

 

[RevPokemon]

All we know so far is:

- (Part of) The price
- HD Ready screen
- No buttons

Great, we still have a few things left:

- Battery life (pretty crucial for a handheld isn't it?)
- The actual specs of CPU and GPU
- External storage (if any)
- What this thing can actually PLAY


Every announcement of any handheld ever had "NEW KICKASS GRAPHICS HOLY SHIT LOOK AT THIS" and "THIS THING IS ___x FASTER THAN THE OTHER THING HOLY FUCK". Steam does things backwards, as usual. Also I can't wait when this thing's battery life is going to suck and PCtards are going to justify le lord GabeN while everyone bashed 3DS and Vita when they came out.

I'm not a specs fetishist, but I can't help but feel disappointed about the screen resolution. I think that's pretty cheap for a 2015 handheld. That, and no physical d-pad/buttons. Seriously Valve? While I can understand they cba about the D-Pad patent shenanigans, buttons are still fucking buttons.

Not only that, but out of 100+ games I own, only a few support joypads. If what some user said it's true, and this handheld is supposed to play light stuff, the number gets even tinier because many casual games I own were designed for a mouse.

And that "starting" near the price tag scares me. What if they try to justify the lack of external storage as "there is no space PRAISE LE GABEN"? What if those price mean different internal storage sizes?


Hopefully we can get more informations soon.

Issue to is that most ones that do are multiplats which probably will run poorly

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

All we know so far is:

- (Part of) The price
- HD Ready screen
- No buttons

Great, we still have a few things left:

- Battery life (pretty crucial for a handheld isn't it?)
- The actual specs of CPU and GPU
- External storage (if any)
- What this thing can actually PLAY

According to other sources, external storage is included as an SD Card slot and USB OTG.

We know the specs will be one of AMD's G-series SoC's, and it's a fair estimate to assume it'll at least be a middle-tier one to help avoid too much power consumption. At that point, we know that it'll at least be some dual core CPU, with at best 2GHz, based on their lists of G-series SoC's. According to other sources who talked to the devs are Gamescom, the thing will run Cities Skylines, BioShock Infinite, Civ 5, Dota 2, and Half Life 2, so we can assume it'll at least play most "demanding" games at around low settings. It's not going to be any Witcher 3 or GTA V machine, but it's not going to play "nothing but indies" like some people in the thread are claiming.

 

[RevPokemon]

According to other sources, external storage is included as an SD Card slot and USB OTG.

We know the specs will be one of AMD's G-series SoC's, and it's a fair estimate to assume it'll at least be a middle-tier one to help avoid too much power consumption. At that point, we know that it'll at least be some dual core CPU, with at best 2GHz, based on their lists of G-series SoC's. According to other sources who talked to the devs are Gamescom, the thing will run Cities Skylines, BioShock Infinite, Civ 5, Dota 2, and Half Life 2, so we can assume it'll at least play most "demanding" games at around low settings. It's not going to be any Witcher 3 or GTA V machine, but it's not going to play "nothing but indies" like some people in the thread are claiming.

So anything pre 2010 will probably run fine and so will many 12 ish games

 

[Vipera]

According to other sources, external storage is included as an SD Card slot and USB OTG.

We know the specs will be one of AMD's G-series SoC's, and it's a fair estimate to assume it'll at least be a middle-tier one to help avoid too much power consumption. At that point, we know that it'll at least be some dual core CPU, with at best 2GHz, based on their lists of G-series SoC's. According to other sources who talked to the devs are Gamescom, the thing will run Cities Skylines, BioShock Infinite, Civ 5, Dota 2, and Half Life 2, so we can assume it'll at least play most "demanding" games at around low settings. It's not going to be any Witcher 3 or GTA V machine, but it's not going to play "nothing but indies" like some people in the thread are claiming.

Good work!

That only leaves us to wonder what kind of game settings we are going to see to said titles plus the framerates.

 

[pastaconsumer]

Finally, I can play Sakura Clicker on the go.

This is the pinnacle of all that is right in the world.

 

[RevPokemon]

This is the pinnacle of all that is right in the world.

Or wrong in the world

 

[pastaconsumer]

Or wrong in the world

Oi.
I respect you for having a differing opinion.
With that, I'll continue to play my Waifu Simulator 2015 p1ngpong Edition.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Good work!

That only leaves us to wonder what kind of game settings we are going to see to said titles plus the framerates.

Yeah, they didn't mention any settings or anything, but BioShock Infinite and Citites Skyline are at least considered somewhat demanding, so we can at least assume games like Rocket League or maybe the usual Battlefield/CoD's will at least run on the thing, most likely at lower settings but they'll run.

As for battery life, I'm a bit disappointed they haven't said anything about it, I can't imagine with the current form factor and size shown off in photos and stuff can fit all that big of a battery in it, unless it's just a mock up and it'll be much thicker than shown.

 

[insidexdeath]

This is a good start for a portable PC, but I'm sure in the next couple of months, we'll see better specs on a new portable steam machine.

Even with an SD slot or USB OTG, 32 storage is a huge disappointment and definitely not acceptable.

I'll try not to grab this and play the waiting game.

 

[Megaben99]

Gotta say as a Dad, I heart mobile devices. If the console is being played already [most of the time] or streaming Netflix [the rest of the time] mobile lets me still play. Definitely waiting for more info, but looks like a fun concept.

 

[RevPokemon]

Yeah, they didn't mention any settings or anything, but BioShock Infinite and Citites Skyline are at least considered somewhat demanding, so we can at least assume games like Rocket League or maybe the usual Battlefield/CoD's will at least run on the thing, most likely at lower settings but they'll run.

As for battery life, I'm a bit disappointed they haven't said anything about it, I can't imagine with the current form factor and size shown off in photos and stuff can fit all that big of a battery in it, unless it's just a mock up and it'll be much thicker than shown.

Who knows but I am concerned about how battery is but I think it depends how it relates with the cpu

 

[obs123194]

Yeah, they didn't mention any settings or anything, but BioShock Infinite and Citites Skyline are at least considered somewhat demanding, so we can at least assume games like Rocket League or maybe the usual Battlefield/CoD's will at least run on the thing, most likely at lower settings but they'll run.

As for battery life, I'm a bit disappointed they haven't said anything about it, I can't imagine with the current form factor and size shown off in photos and stuff can fit all that big of a battery in it, unless it's just a mock up and it'll be much thicker than shown.

I'll rather have it thick as a brick for long battery life than a slim profile with worse battery. That goes for anything including CELL PHONES

 

[RevPokemon]

I'll rather have it thick as a brick for long battery life than a slim profile with worse battery. That goes for anything including CELL PHONES

I think it depends but if we can have something like that old gaming tablet then this could work

 

[obs123194]

imagine running batman arkham asylum in your pocket. that would be neat.

 

[RevPokemon]

imagine running batman arkham asylum in your pocket. that would be neat.

Sure would but even running pre 10 stuff would rock

 

[HtheB]

I rather wait for the Pyra-Handheld
(the successor of the Open Pandora)

 

[obs123194]

I rather wait for the Pyra-Handheld
(the successor of the Open Pandora)

Technical Specs:

• Texas Instruments OMAP 5 SoC
  • 2x ARM Cortex-A15 @ 1.7Ghz with NEON SIMD
  • 2x ARM Cortex-M4
  • PowerVR™ SGX544-MP2
  • Vivante GC320 2D Accelerator
• 2GB RAM*
• 720p 5" LCD with 20ms response time*
• High-Quality speakers, analog volume wheel
• Headset-Port, Built-in-Mic, HDMI Video Out

• Ultra-portable: approx. 140 x 84 x 29 mm*
• Huge battery for a long battery life (4200mAh - maybe even 6000mAh)*
• Gaming controls (DPad, 4 shoulder buttons, 6 face buttons*)
• Two accurate analog controls with push-button
• QWERTY keyboard with backlight
• Integrated Wi-Fi 802.11a/b/g/n and Bluetooth 4.0*
• Dual SDXC card slots
• 2x Full-size USB Host (one is a combi-eSATA-Port), 1x Micro USB 3.0, 1x Micro USB (Debug and Charging)*
• Fully configurable RGB-LEDs for notifications
• Optional 3G/UMTS and GPS module*

are those specs beter than the smach zero?

 

[RevPokemon]

I rather wait for the Pyra-Handheld
(the successor of the Open Pandora)

Well this is better for the price considering it has better emulators and better specs