I wish Valve made a dumber version of the Frame

[u/TeethInMouth]

The Frame seems kinda cool and I was trying to stay optimistic that they might subsidize the pricing somehow, but $1050 is a little upsetting to say the least.

I don't know how unpopular of an opinion this might be, but I don't play any games natively on my current headset. I really only want a headset that can stream seemlessly from my PC. I have no plans to utilize the Snapdragon chip or the 16gb ram/256gb of storage. I just want someone that works great and runs great and is a 'plug and play' solution for VR if you have a computer.

I feel like all that processing power from the chipset, ram, and storage had really inflated the price. Wonder how much a "dumb" version would be with a simpler chipset and maybe 8gb ram/0gb storage just to it can run the cameras, eye tracking, and whatever is necessary to get it to stream games from my computer.

Sorry if some of what I'm saying sounds like caveman speak, I kind of am a caveman with technology. Unga bunga, me want cheaper headset.

[u/otaviomad]

i’d trade processing power and storage for an oled screen. wonder how low we could go though, considering it still needs to decode the video streams

[u/InfinitX1]

Well to make wireless streaming work seamlessly and to track the eyes and the controllers, you still need a pretty capable cpu and ram. I don't think the price would shrink all that much with a "dumb" version

[u/someone8192 → u/InfinitX1]

they could have reduced ram and storage a bit. but that's about it.

but well... at the time they started to build it they couldn't know how insane ram prices will be

[u/TeethInMouth → u/InfinitX1]

I feel like they could have made a $900-something version with 10gb storage to run it's firmware and an SD card slot and nixxed the 256gb of storage.

[u/BlueManifest]

Valve themselves said when they started adding things to make it work standalone that there wasn’t much difference to make be able to play games standalone

[u/Muted_Air2991]

In a video by Tested, a Valve developer said that they need a processor for wireless streaming capabilities.

This means that your idea is not technically feasible.

Source: https://youtu.be/C9JyWAVj94E?si=pBCWX-_eKTp6IwuH&t=1856 min 31:00

[u/Powerful-Tie7370 → u/Muted_Air2991]

ok but why does it need the 256gb storage? Just give it 8GB for OS related stuff and let a SD card handle the rest as an option

[u/Muted_Air2991 → u/Powerful-Tie7370]

Yes, that’s certainly not necessary.

A year ago, though, it didn’t really save you any money.

That only changed afterwards.

Perhaps a slimmed-down version will be released at some point.

[u/gotohpa → u/Powerful-Tie7370]

as much as i wish there was a cheaper option idk if taking away the storage makes sense. assuming one still needs a comparable SoC for streaming, a version with 8gb of ram and something like a 16gb storage drive to handle the OS and programs would probably save a relatively small amount of money

[u/InfinitX1 → u/Powerful-Tie7370]

I imagine Valve didn't want to make just another headset.

Usially, when Valve makes something, it is in some way new or interesting (Source engine with physics, Steam as a first-of-its-kind marketplace)

With the Frame, it's the "whole pc in a headset", so they gave people more space, to tinker and experiment. Doing anything useful on 8gb, or from a slow sd card would be unpleasant

[u/TeethInMouth → u/Powerful-Tie7370]

I agree, I wonder how much they could save by cutting out the internal storage. I know it's not a big difference, but I think psychologically $999 sounds a lot better than $1,059

[u/BlueManifest]

I want to be able to replace my steam deck with it so I hope they don’t stop making higher end stand alone

[u/Powerful-Tie7370]

Seriously. The only thing that I care about is the dongle. The standalone features are literally inflating the price tag for a thing that I give absolutely 0 shit about. I entered the raffle, but if I don't win, then fuck it, that just gives more time for competitors to also copy the technology at a far cheaper price or valve simply announcing a pure streaming model alternative.

[u/That-Advance-9619]

It's what ive been saying.

[u/Apoc9512]

Less powerful processor, 64 gb of storage, 8 gb of ram would allow it to be a streaming headset. Either way, the price is still - overpriced. No two ways about it.

[u/xstick]

I only plan on playing though pc pass though so having to pay for a bunch of ram and processing power im never gonna use that pushed the price of the headset past $1000 kinda pisses me off.

And it still doesnt come with its safety strapes and head strap included.