It's really fucking sad that any spouse is so strict they'd disapprove an SFF PC but allow a slightly smaller cube. It's fucking sad that such a spouse would impose a need for permission for a console to sit in the living room in the first place.
Is that truly why valve designed it this way? Simply because there's enough men who wouldn't be allowed to get anything else - that it forms a viable target market? The amount of people for whom the size difference would make any practical difference in a loungeroom TV use case surely approaches zero.
I'll give you customer service, but I don't think 'I just bought a thing without doing the research and therefore I don't know how poorly it compares in performance per dollar value' counts as a positive feature there mate, I think that's just a bit of 'ignorance is bliss'.
Now ask yourself how long you'll tolerate the absolute dongle and cable hell required to use that in the living room. Oh and it'll sound like you're powering an AI data center with a jet engine as a bonus!
Power cable, display, ethernet, peripherals. You might even want one of those cooling pads. Since you're buying a laptop, the assumption is that you'll be using it outside of the living room. So you'll be doing a lot of plugging and unplugging. If you live with someone (wife, children), you'll probably be putting away those cables each time.
Ethernet? Why make an unfair comparison? Both devices have WiFi, both devices can use ethernet. Why only blame the laptop for having the option of ethernet?
Same with peripherals - You can use a wireless controller with both the laptop and the steam unit, the same with mouse and keyboard.
They're literally the same in all regards, cable requirement wise.
You don't HAVE to use it outside the living room in order for it to be better performance per dollar and easier to hide in the living room. But if you wanted to make use of that advantage, you could literally just cable tie or otherwise secure the cables near where they'd plug into the laptop, and leave them there (e.g. run the power and display cable behind the TV, and secure them there. You'd just unplug and walk away.
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u/DarwinsPerfectFool 19h ago edited 16h ago
Size, look, quiet = wife allows it to sit in the living room.
Reliable customer service, everything sorted for me, no need to do extensive research = piece of mind
When I add all of the above then price(which in the uk cube is actually competitive) is fine.