November 10 is the date that was chosen for the official launch of SteamOS Hardware. The usual suspects are already ready and there is nothing new under the sun in terms of partners, but ZOTAC has just announced its NEN Steam Machine bundled with the Steam Controller. It’s about the same format as what they had shown last year, but it has revised specifications and look. Actually it looks pretty neat, and much nicer than the Alienware steam Machine (I have never been a fan of the Alien Eyes logo).

It specs feature a GTX960 chipset from nVidia, although it’s probably a GTX970m but it’s referred to as a GTX960 because of NVidia’s policy with pre-built PCs, as far as I understand. Overall it’s a very well rounded machine, with a powerful CPU, sufficient for gaming, and a nice GPU to enable most games to run very well in high settings in Full HD (or more…). It also has a wealth of USB ports.

• Processor Intel Core i5-6400T (quad-core, 2.2 GHz, up to 2.8 GHz)
• Chipset Intel 100 Series, NVIDIA
• System Memory 8GB (Max 16GB)
• Graphics Engine NVIDIA GeForce GTX 960
• Video Output 4 HDMI 2.0 (Up to 4K @ 60Hz, NVIDIA Surround of multi-display not support by SteamOS)
• Mass Storage 1TB 2.5“ SATA hard drive
• M.2 1 x M.2 SATA SSD slot
• Card Reader SD/SDHC/SDXC UHS-II
• Microphone, Headphone
• USB Port 2 x USB 3.0
• 1 x USB 3.0 Type-C
• 1 x USB 3.0 (From SD Combo)
• 2x USB 2.0
• LAN Dual Gigabit LAN
• Antenna 1 x WiFI SMA connetor
• Wifi 802.11ac/b/g/n
• Bluetooth Bluetooth 4.0
• CIR Infrared Port Yes

And many HDMI ports as well, which may be very useful for multi-monitor support. By the way I am not sure if you need to do anything with SteamOS to enable multi-monitors… or if it depends on the game, case-by-case. If anyone has any clue, feel free to let us know in the comments.

The ZOTAC NEN will be priced at 999 USD apparently - It’s certainly pricey (you could do a build with a GTX970 for about the same cost) but the form factor is very attractive if you want to save space and have something small under your TV. It comes with a very standard set of accessories, including oviously the Steam Controller.

You can purchase it online on stores like Amazon in the US, but its retail availability may differ depending on your location.