Are you gonna be buying a Steam machine?

No. With that price, extra no.

But in the current economy I'm not really buying anything else either.

I don’t know if mine is actually steam but having a machine feels like it’s been a good investment as a pet owner. Our dog is very good about going outside to potty but she does throw up from time to time and she will always try to find the limited amount of carpet we have in our house (I think it’s the closest thing to grass in her mind). Maybe it would be cheaper still to go rent a machine, but the convenience of being able to use it right away also has to be considered.

Sold!

Oof yah, a pet situation could change everything, stat.

Yeah I'd agree.

I was pretty set on buying one regardless when it was announced and still plan to. I knew the price was going up but with the delay I had time to save more. I like the compactness of it and it would be great next to my Mac Mini M1 on my TV shelf. I also want to reward the adoption of Linux as a gaming platform, and buying Valve hardware is the best way right now to vote with your wallet that Linux is the future of gaming. I bought multiple Steam Decks and I bought both the 2015 and 2026 Steam Controllers. I want the Machine.

Also, it has RGB! I need to get one to add it to OpenRGB.

The question is whether I'll get it with or without a second controller, and I think that comes down to whichever queue I get selected for in the random drawing.

I was lucky enough to out together a nice PC just before the AI thing made the prices explode, plus I've been a PC gamer all my life (except for the PS1 I had as a kid), so I won't buy the Machine.

That said, I had high hopes it'd be a success, more so given how well the Controller has sold, and that it'd be the things that brought Linux to lots of people who would never consider it otherwise.

Unfortunately, I fear the price will damped things quite a bit.

FYI, physical Steam gift cards are out of production and will not be restocked. It was announced a week or two ago. Not sure if your work does physical or virtual cards

It's a point of pride to build my own PCs, including Linux boxes.

"Some Steam games"... If you look at it from a console gamer's perspective, Steam's back catalog is colossal. I have over 1000 games going back to the Half Life 2 days.

I haven't looked at the specs for the Steam Machines, but I doubt they're worse than a Switch 2 or an Xbox Series S. Modern AAA games already have to account for modest reference platforms. At least these don't have all the bloat of a Windows machine.

it's a straight downgrade for me, so no way I'd replace it as my daily driver.

I could consider one if the prices go down like below 600$ range, switch up my media center with it maybe. Impossible with the current prices though.

When the ps6 costs over $1000 this will be positioned well.

Right now it might be ahead of its time but that’s not out of character for valve. It’s easier to react to market conditions if you already have a product than it is to spin one up in a hurry.

I think they expect early adopters at this stage, it will get them early feedback and drives some platform revenue.

Are you gonna be buying a Steam machine?

No, but I was never the target audience and I wouldn't have bought one regardless of price. I'm currently using a laptop and if I ever want a stationary gaming machine again I'll just build one myself, I don't care for a console-like experience either so even SteamOS isn't a selling point for me.

So, do you think even at this price point Valve is taking a hit?

Nope. Pretty sure that they're at least breaking even on the hardware. It's a PC, they can't be sure of future game sales. You could use alternative stores, pirate everything, or not use it for gaming at all.

Probably, if I can. My PC is a prebuilt one from four years ago, it's really showing its age. I'm not sure if another pre built would be better, but the steam machine has tremendously better stats than my current system.

I know I could probably build a PC and get better value, but I hate assembling the bastards so much its worth having someone else do it for me.

They’re all digital gift cards from what I’ve seen. I do appreciate the warning though!