Like the iBuyPower SBX and Alienware Alpha PC gaming consoles, Cyberpower's Vapor aims to bring Steam games into living rooms. Unlike those systems, however, this one runs Windows 8.1 instead of the upcoming Steam OS and can launch into Big Picture Mode from the get-go. It's also equipped with a 3.5GHz Core i3 processor, 8 gigabytes of DDR3 RAM and a GTX 750Ti graphics card for a system that's prepared to take on whatever you throw at it.
This is a full-fledged PC, of course, and the base model sells for $1,499 on Cyberpower's site. That's a lot more than the iBuyPower and Alienware consoles, but it also packs more performance into its small form factor. As we'll see in our syber vapor xtreme review, the Vapor can run most games at maximum or near-maximum settings.
The Vapor is a well-built machine and highly upgradeable, thanks to the use of standard off-the-shelf components. That means you can swap out the motherboard, RAM and video cards for a more suitable configuration when it's time to make upgrades.
The mini keyboard / touchpad combo is a little small to be comfortable using as a primary input device, but it's a decent backup for when you need to type in usernames and passwords or navigate Windows itself. The mouse is a little sloppy in terms of response, but it's fine for navigating the Steam interface and other menus. The unit is fairly quiet at idle and under load. Power draw was a little higher than the iBuyPower and Alienware systems at around 74 watts while running a game in Big Picture Mode, but it's understandable given that this is a much faster system.
