Should it make sense to a PC gamer? It's a PC. If you already have one there's nothing more here. I feel like it's for people coming from consoles first or maybe you love the form factor so much you want it under your TV. At the end of the day it's just a PC
this post was submitted on 23 Jun 2026
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Yeah, this seems targeted at people who want to get into pc gaming but might not have the time/expertise to build a gaming pc for themselves, and are used to the unified experience of a console.
Edit: what it also seems like is a very clever niche market device that would have been perfectly priced at ~$775-$1225 but came out 6-8 months too late to get that pricing and a lot of customers that could still afford it, so missed that sweet spot. It could’ve been a huge boon for Valve, Steam, and pc gaming in general, but the timing of both AI screwing prices for pc components and the whole economy going to shit, it really is bad luck.
From the gamers nexus review the UX of this seems pretty atrocious currently. Pair that with proton being very hit or miss I think a regular pre built would still be better for someone who knows nothing about PCs/PC gaming.
Pair that with proton being very hit or miss
I can't name a game I didn't get working with proton. The default option works probably 75% of the time, and if it doesn't, I change it to "proton experimental" and it works every time. I wouldn't call it "very" hit or miss.
I mean, it doesn't work for the games with kernel level anti-cheat, but that's an active decision on the part of those developers to not allow a growing market to play their games.
I never cared about steam machine to be honest.
I just want steamOS. And I think it makes more sense to promote that in the current market. Specially giving that linux is starting to give better performance than windows in some games, and that windows 11 have turned a lot of older machines obsolete, and people cannot afford new ones.
Just install any widespread distribution, add Steam. Same thing as SteamOs.
Or install SteamOS !?
Doesn't it cost basically the same as any other pre-built gaming PC with similar specs?
Yes. The sad truth is that PC hardware has become significantly more expensive and this is what things cost now. Until new fabs are built that can meet the demand it doesn't look like prices will be coming down. That's unfortunately still at least several years away.
This is a static target for game devs, like the Steam Deck. There is an incentive (from Valve) to make proper presets for the SM specifically.
A random Chinese miniPC doesn’t have that. An enthusiast can install Bazzite on it and knows how to optimise the settings for max FPS.
Joe regular can’t or doesn’t want to.
a 1200 dollar prebuilt is, generally, a much better deal than a steam machine if your interest is in gaming. It will have more power, more performance, better repairability, and actual upgradability. We're not talking low spec/budget gaming here, we're talking more about a luxury good, so saying "spend an extra 200 dollars for a vastly superior product" isnt so much of an ask.
If you care more about form over function and want an interesting piece of furniture, then I think thats where the steam machine excels. Its not a powerful gaming rig, almost any 3d game you play made in the past 3 years will probably have to rely heavily on FSR to get decent framerates above low settings on anything higher than 1080p, and any 3d game that comes out after this point will probably be even harder on it than that.. but if you're cool with that and just want a neat glowy black cube in your entertainment stand and can accept the limitations, then Valve has you covered.
a 1200 dollar prebuilt is, generally, a much better deal than a steam machine
Highly depends on the form factor. SFF costs a lot more
I think it blatantly showcases how backwards our reality has become. Sure you could say you could get something very similar for roughly the same. I would even say you can pretty easily find something a little better for that money but you could also get something much better for roughly the same years ago.
The specs look horrendously bad for the price if you happen to be someone who upgraded just 2 or 3 years ago but the reality is that we won't get anything nearly as good as back then for a somewhat acceptable price for a very long time. 6 months from now the price could actually start to seem a little low and I wish I was kidding.
I genuinely think Valve tried their best but it still feels like a slap in the face by AI companies.
More or less. Because of the design and size and novelty of it, it might be a bit more, but pretty much.
Not in terms of performance per dollar. The steam machine is HEAVILY compromised by the last Gen. 35 watt CPU, and previous Gen. 110w GPU. The entire system performs like a mid range PC from 2021.
You can get a much faster pre built for the same money. You’re paying the SFF and quiet PC tax on top of the RAM/SSD crunch tax. If you don’t need the small size or for it to be whisper quiet you can get a much better PC for your money.
It's not compromised. It's fully optimized for the use case of sitting next to your TV.
It's not really competing with desktops though. You can't just buy a new GPU and add it to this. Just like you can't buy a 6" cube case and add components to it beyond ram and ssd usually.
It's more akin to a laptop or SFF prebuilt pc. The perf per dollar there is not good either. Value for gaming is really bad nowadays.
Its a form over function fashion statement that is would have been significantly underperforming for the intended price, in absolutely is under performance for the actual price.
You're right, its not competing with desktops. Its competing for fashion space on the entertainment stand.
I think this is absolute garbage, but people will still buy it. https://www.razer.com/gaming-laptops/razer-blade-14/RZ09-05305ES3-R3U1 It's $2300 for a mobile 8gb 5060.
People have been spending $3000-5000 for 5090 since release. A thousand bucks is nothing these days for so many (and totally out of reach for even more.) This isn't intended to be selling millions, they only have tens of thousands of units anyway.
of course its garbage.
You can tell its garbage because it has the razer logo on it.
and yes, people are stupid. mind numbing hordes of people are disturbingly, unsettling stupid.
Doesnt mean we cant discuss the flaws of a product.
Disappointed that the cost will probably not make this a huge hit. I was hoping for an even bigger population taking up linux gaming! The more people the better for all of us
SteamOS release is still a huge step forward, independently of the success of the Steam Machine itself!
It makes total sense if you're a PC gamer and want a second gaming PC in the living room to play your existing Steam library.
I built my own Home Theater PC ages ago and have periodically upgraded it over the years. It's been great. This would be even simpler; no fuss finding Linux wifi drivers or installing Mesa or anything.
Every day I'm turned off more and more from building my own PC.
I put my name into the lottery for all four different options so I'm hopeful I'll be able to get one.
My PC is way better but it's also in the basement and it seems like this one will be good to move to my bedroom or living room and possibly even take it to my office and such.
Mini ITX form factor is the tits. I drilled a handle into mine before I put it together. It takes a full size video card and PSU, and has space for more SDDs than I could need.
Maybe, but definitely makes sense to steam deck users who want a bigger-screen-experience. And will make sense to everyone once they have released half-life 3.
I agree that hardware-wise it's a few years late to the party, but I suspect it will find it's niche. If valve manage to sell out a recently overpriced deck and seriously underestimate the demand for an overpriced controller, who's to say this won't at least pay its bills? Besides, it's an interesting device, it's customizable and mildly upgradeable, and it has a draw to it. After initially seeing news of it I remember instantly thinking "gotta buy one, even at 500-700€" and only later thinking "wtf kind of use do I have for it". Anyway, time will tell.
an overpriced controller
Premium controllers often cost $200+.
I'm sure they do