Avoiding Meta’s platform lock-in isn’t worth the hundreds of extra dollars Valve is seeking for its unsubsidized VR hardware
Avoiding Meta is THE EXACT reason it's worth hundreds more.
this post was submitted on 14 Sep 2026
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Steam Hardware
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And you call it Steam Frame despite it clearly being grilled.
Framed hams?
It's an Albany headset.
I don't understand the desire to not use a desktop PC for all the power it provides, but I'm not an everyday normal consumer. For a wireless VR set attached to a computer, it sounds lovely-- I'd like a cheaper, gutted version that's strictly for streaming.
But I suppose for now, I can stick to my Index, especially with prices for parts the way they are. I still much prefer it over Quest 3, tether and all.
the desire to not use a desktop PC
My desire is inhibited by my platform. It won’t have Linux support day 1, so just gotta deal with not using a desktop PC for the power it could provide.
This will make an awesome travel computer. Still capable of playing games, but also a giant screen for movies or even desktop work.
A lot of hotels make hooking up the steam deck to the tv a pain so this way I won’t have to deal with it anymore.
Its absolutely nuts if they launch this without the ability to stream from their own, Linux-based, hardware.
The article doesnt explicity state that foveated streaming is nor supported on Linux, but it does go.our of it's way to mention Windows in every instance it mentions streaming.
"Your Steam Frame headset easily pairs with your Steam Controller; you’ll even see a virtual Steam Controller floating in your VR space. Stream from your PC, laptop, Steam Deck or Steam Machine for an immersive experience with any of your favorite games."
So I take that as it does stream from Linux,
I saw elsewhere that the feature is planned for launch but wasn't available to reviewers
I owned 2 quest headsets. The only time I used streaming was for alyx, and that runs natively here.
Even in Windows, I struggled getting streaming working on quest.
It's not as big a deal for many like me as people think
Have you tried Steam Link recently (and on at least a 5ghz WiFi connection with decent signal)? It really works well with pretty much zero hassle.
PC VR is a major part of the VR market, so it is important. I would never pay a single cent to Meta, so I have only used PC VR.
If the games ran on the headset directly though, would you still bother with PC VR?
that was the problem with the meta quest. Steam Frame is a proper computer, and you could even use different stores.
I'll play a few games on it directly, which will be convenient, but I also understand that I can't strap a big RTX GPU to my head like the one in my desktop.
They are simply 2 different levels of VR experience. Also I can run Elden Ring in VR on the PC, and a lot of other VR mods.
Thats fair.. My PC sucks at the moment
Even in Windows, I struggled getting streaming working on quest.
Ironically, streaming is better on Linux these days with the full open source stack (wivrn + xrizer) than it is on Windows.
Hopefully, the Frame will at least support wivrn at launch (which should in theory as it's just an android apk on the client side).