A YouTuber named Bringus Studios found a very old Xi3 mini PC that later turned out to be one of the Steam Box prototypes that Valve worked on in 2013. This particular prototype didn't make it as a gaming console with Valve's name on it, but as the video shows, it's definitely an interesting computer.https://www.notebookcheck.net/YouTuber-boots-Windows-on-forgotten-Valve-Steam-Box-gaming-console-prototype-runs-multiple-games-on-it.811802.0.html
Boo! This article felt like such a waste of my time. It's not often I read an article and then can't logically think of a reason it exists since it's: A, covering a YouTube video and not your own research. And B, it points out the obvious to people that would know what it is and people that don't know what they are probably aren't gonna give a crap. Come up with some real content
That Xi3 was just one of the many Steam Machine prototypes. Valve had 0 interest in releasing a single hardware and the plan was to open it up to OEMs like windows is.
The problem was that the minimum hardware was simply too weak, you can't have a gaming console on intel integrated graphics. Thus, the experience varied significantly with many finding they couldn't play games on the low end steam machines. The whole point of consoles was precisely about a guarantee that all games for that console would play. This poor experience on low end hardware pretty much killed the Steam Machines
In the end, most of the Steam Machines just ended up being released with Windows on them.
This article is a**. It didn't even mentio the coolest part about the machine that Bringus booted. That being the HDMI/DP port that accepts both cables. Like how can you make a shitty article like this and not even mention that?