Tesla Turns Its Cars Into Steam Gaming PCs On Wheels, But How About That $350 SSD?
Deemed the "Holiday Update" as far back as 2019, it is Tesla's way of gifting new features for its line of electric vehicles. This year, owners of 2022 or newer model year S and X cars will be receiving support for Steam games via update 2022.44.25. We have long known that these models possess some powerful variant of AMD Zen 2 and RDNA2-class GPU with 16GB of RAM with as much as 10 teraflops of processing power, similar to a PlayStation 5. Therefore this Steam announcement isn't too surprising, although getting to play AAA games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Witcher 2 on the 17-inch center console or rear-center mounted 8-inch display is rather cool. Just don't game and drive, folks.
Concurrent to the holiday update, Tesla also announced a new 1TB SSD (solid state drive) that is meant to fit your stored games or dash cam footage. Elon Musk would like $350 for that privilege, please. The product claims, without any specs to back it up, to be an "automotive-grade external SSD is designed for durability withstanding extreme cabin temperatures, vehicle shocks and vibrations." Technically, withstanding extreme temperatures, shocks and vibrations are inherent qualities of SSDs. Plus, you don't have to spend that much for one either. Name-brand ruggedized 1TB SSDs from Samsung or SanDisk range easily go for $150-200 less.
Other highlights of the Holiday Update is now with the cabin camera, passengers can make Zoom calls, as well as use the Tesla app to check the interior of the car in Dog/Sentry Mode. The 2022 Holiday Update is available now, while the 1TB SSD, if you really have to have a Tesla-branded one, will hit the Tesla store in February 2023.
