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Before anyone considers this product, I think it is more important to know what is ISN'T before you talk about what it is. There are tons of reviews online that go over exactly what the Steam Link is and what it can and cannot do. I'll try not to repeat too much of what is already widely described out there, but the single most important thing that you must know about the Steam Link is:
The Steam Link is not a gaming console!
The Steam Link is also not an all-in-one solution to gaming on Windows. Many people do not like playing games on a Windows PC because the experience is not as streamlined as a console. You need to install apps, load updates, sometimes hardware doesn't always work correctly, sometimes Windows gets in the way and pops you out of your game. All of these scenarios can still happen with the Steam Link which can be annoying if the gaming PC is in another room to where you are using the Steam Link. You may need to get up, walk over to the PC and press ENTER for something to go away.
The Steam Link is an accessory to a gaming PC which allows you to stream your screen to a display device like a HDTV somewhere else on your network. There are a couple of prerequisites that you must already have before this device will be useful for you. They are:
A Gaming PC - You must already have a gaming PC that can play games at an acceptable frame rate. If your PC has an under powered CPU or GPU, the Steam Link will not improve upon it.
An Ethernet Network - Although some reviews say that this device will work with a wireless adapter, this is a very bad idea IMO. Anytime you stream anything, whether its a game, movie, or anything, you should never do it over wireless. The speeds simply can't support it properly. Yes, it will work, and it might even work "acceptably", but for the serious gamer who wants high frame rates and instant response, this is a no-go. If you cannot get wired ethernet to both where your gaming PC is and where you plan on using the Steam Link, I would not buy this product.
Console Gaming Pads - The Steam Link is often pictured with the Steam controller because Valve makes both products and of course they want to sell them to you. While the Steam controller has it's merits, I personally do not like it. There is a large list of controllers that the Steam Link is fully compatible with including the Xbox 360 wired and wireless controllers, Xbox One controller, and PS4 controllers. There are more, but if you want to see the whole list, you can find it online. For me, I used my 6 year old Xbox 360 controllers with a Microsoft USB wireless adapter and they work FLAWLESSLY.
Steam Games - It should probably go without staying that a product called the Steam Link, requires Steam. You must have Steam loaded and running on your Gaming PC before you can use this device as it needs to connect to your Steam library on the gaming PC. If you hate Steam and their DRM, then stay away from this product. If you have non-Steam games installed on the same PC, you must first manually add them to your Steam library first. Not every non-Steam game works smoothly when added into Steam, so be sure the game works properly on the PC itself before trying it with the Steam Link.
So, assuming you have an adequately powerful gaming PC, a wired ethernet network, one or more compatible gaming controllers, a Steam library, and a need to play your PC games on a television or display device that is far away from your PC, then this is the product for you!
What the Steam link does is actually quite simple. When launched, it puts your PC in "Big Picture" mode, which in essence changes the display on the PC so that things are larger and easier to use on a television in a living room. Everything the Steam Link shows is actually happening on the PC itself. The Steam Link basically "mirrors" whats on your PC screen onto your HDTV. It is important to understand that everything you "see" is actually happening on the PC which means that someone else cannot be working on the PC browsing the web while you are playing a game. When the Steam Link is working, the PC cannot be used for other tasks (background apps still work fine though).
Windows has come along way in terms of being game friendly, but the occasional Windows system update, or a random application notification can pull you out of the game which means you have to walk back to the PC to acknowledge whatever came up and go back to the game. Depending on your level of PC knowledge, you may want to disable Windows Updates or certain apps while playing. The Steam Link does an EXCELLENT job of mimicking a console in on a HDTV, but it still is not a console.
The device itself is very small. Its about the size of a USB external hard drive. It has absolutely no lights on it whatsoever. Valve was clearly going for a minimalist design, but I would have appreciated at least a tiny LED to let you know it's on.
There are 3 USB ports on the device for various controllers. I believe you can even connect a mouse and keyboard to the Steam Link, but I haven't actually tried it. Other than the USB ports, there is a HDMI port, an Ethernet port, and the power cord port and that's all. The device tucks in nicely behind your TV, so it can be completely out of sight.
The UI is pretty simple and straightforward. When powered on, it immediately searches your network for a PC running Steam. On mine, it found my gaming PC immediately. The first time it connected, it automatically updated it's firmware on it's own. It also detected the proper resolution of my Sony HDTV and my Xbox 360 controllers. There was literally no setup other than turning the device on and waiting for it to update.
Once everything was updated, I connected to my Steam library and was able to browse my library. The UI is designed to be readable from "couch distance". Everything is large and bright and easy to see. Valve did a great job with the UI as everything was intuitive and unobtrusive.
In terms of performance, I did not do any actual benchmarks, but I played a variety of racing and FPS shooters and I noticed no perceptible screen lag. My gaming experience was just as good as if I was sitting in front of the PC itself. Some reviews note a 10% loss in framerate, which may be true, but my PC is powerful enough that I couldn't see it.
I did notice some occasional artifacting in fast motion sequences, but it was no worse than the type of artifacting you see in some low bitrate fast motion video. It was barely noticeable and by no means compromised the gaming experience for me.
Simply, the experience was good enough that if you were to invite your friends over and just start playing a game and not told them what kind of device you were using, they would have no idea that you didn't have an actual console somewhere behind the TV.
Overall, I am extremely happy with the Steam Link. The fact that this thing costs only $50 is amazing to me. It would cost that much to get a very long HDMI cable and run it from a PC in another room to your TV. The fact that its a nicely designed piece of hardware with a great UI and it integrates seamlessly into your Steam library and is compatible with almost any modern gaming controller is one heck of a value!
As I said earlier in this review, it is very important to know what this device is not before you buy it. Assuming you meet all of the prerequisites to make it work, this is hands down, one of the best piece of consumer electronics I have ever used.
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From the manufacturer
PLAY ALL YOUR GAMES ON YOUR TV
The Steam Link allows existing Steam gamers to expand the range of their current gaming set up via their home network. Just connect your Steam PC or Steam Machine to your home network, plug into a TV, and stream your games to the Link at 1080p.
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Customer Review: Easy to setup and use.
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Impressive little gadget!
Have mine connected to WiFi 5G with Asus RT-N66U router and it works great! No lags in frames or anything. Using the screen overlay it shows that it's running the game @60fps, this fluctuates 30-60fps depending on what's going on in the game. Ran the connection test the result was 9% potential latency loss which I thought was too minimal to worry about. It might be an issue for FPS games which I'd never play hahaWent with wireless since I'm a techy, *cough* nerd, and like to be with the latest tech... wired is soooooo yesteryear :PPairing with DS3 controller was a bit more complex than it says on their wiki... it is not plug n play wireless even after the update to the latest firmware. It did work wired but this is not the function I wanted since my TV is far from where I'd be sitting to play. In my case I had to go with the beta build and wait for install/reboot. After that the DS3 controller was plug n play wireless, connect the DS3 controller with USB to Steam Link and disconnect once detected and done wireless DS3 controller as if connected to the PC. FINALLY AFTER 30min of searching the web and reading different guides and checking YouTube that were outdated (all said wired only!)... good thing I'm an IT guy SMH The one star less is due to this...Played Kingdoms of Amalur Reckoning, old game I know but it's the one I'm playing at the moment, and it looked great. Mostly play retro or older games... also catching up with my queue as I work full-time and have responsibilities. Sometimes being an adult sucks! lol Going to try the remastered edition of Darksiders aks Warmastered Edition and see how it handles it as it was re-rendered to be in ~4K. Might also reply The Evil Within and see how it handles as well.However, was disappointed that it picks up the resolution of your monitor and that is what's used in the stream on the TV. My monitor is pretty old relic with 1680x1050 LCD (AOC 2019Sw1) whereas my TV is a 4K smart (LG 43UH6100). So I'm playing 16:10 on a 16:9 screen >_> I'd have to see if increasing the resolution on Win10 would affect the stream resolution output by Steam link or if this is strictly dependent on the monitor. I've checked their FAQs and this is a limitation that I wasn't aware of... guess it's finally time to upgrade the monitor XD Nope.... couldn't put off checking while wrapping this up and changing the Win10 resolutio to 1920x1080 affects Steam Link as well while streaming PC and in game resolution change to 1920x1080 gets Steam Link running the game with this resolution at 60fps. Was going to upload a screen shot from in game with the screen overlay FPS and resolution but Steam doesn't capture that info... Did not drop 1 star since there is a work around... it is a streaming device and doesn't handle the resolution native.Got this on the Cyber Week sales for $19 and think it was a steal... might of paid the full price knowing it was going to be this good.
Top reviews from other countries
Saul Veloz
Excelente, el mejor amigo de tu televisión
Reviewed in Mexico on January 22, 2016
Saul Veloz
Reviewed in Mexico on January 22, 2016
El steam link será capaz de duplicar lo que se ve en tu computadora a tu televisión
Horas de diversión con tus amigos en tu sillón
Pros:
-Para configurarlo tardé menos de 2 minutos
-Se pueden usar varios mandos (más abajo)
-Big Picture (la interfaz de steam a la hora de usar el link) es amigable y facil de usar
-Se pueden jugar juegos que no son de Steam (Battlefield, Fifa etc.)
-Es bastante pequeño y tiene buen diseño
-Se han añadido configuraciones de audio (5.1 Stereo etc.)
-Es capaz de prender la computadora remótamente (Wake on LAN)
-Puertos Usb (uno en el costado derecho muy accesible)
-Conexión Bluetooth
-Wi fi* (Se recomienda conectar el link con un cable ethernet para jugar sin problemas)
Contras:
-No tiene botones físicos (si crashea tendrás que desconectarlo de la corriente)
-Aún Steam no tiene aplicaciones de entretenimiento (Netflix, Spotify, Youtube) he leído que ya hay un SDK del steam link, así que esperemos que pronto haya
-A la hora de navegar en el Escritorio (sí se puede) usando el control es incómodo e impreciso (por eso uso Controller Companion)
-No todos los juegos son compatibles, la mayoría si (el foro del steam link es muy activo y pueden ayudarte)
-El audio le falta mucho los bajos (pero cuando juegas con amigos es lo que menos te preocupa)
Lista de Controles probados por mí
-Xbox 360 Alábrico
-Xbox 360 Inalámbrico (Se requiere Receptor Inalámbico para PC)
-Play Station 3 (Sólo alámbrico)
-Play Station 4 Funciona por bluetooth (inalámbrico)
-Wii U Pro Controller Funciona por bluetooth (inalámbrico)
Juegos Probados
-Battleblock Teather
-Awesomenauts
-Nidhogg
-Castle Crashers
-Dead Space
-Gta V
-Left 4 Dead 2
-Gang Beast
-Limbo
-Super Meat Boy
-Guacamelee
-Portal 2
El Steam Link tiene un muy buen futuro, es un dispositivo excelente para tener en la tele e invitar amigos
y cumple los1080p a 60fps
Images in this review
Arturo
Funciona y llegó con todos sus accesorios pero...
Reviewed in Mexico on December 12, 2023
Arturo
Reviewed in Mexico on December 12, 2023
Images in this review
SAS
Valve's Steam Link is an excellent way to stream your PC to your TV
Reviewed in Canada on January 27, 2017