Soldato
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Give it a rest.
*** Valve Steam Machine ***
- Thread starter kakarott
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Give it a rest.
Soldato
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Really can't see the appeal in it. Seems to be the machine that nobody wants at a price nobody wants to pay.
I do want one but I also recognise that it is a low end PC and I already have a PS5 Slim disc drive version which is of a similar performance level which I only paid £400 for. Some people don't mind paying over the odds for such things but already having a similar level of performance for £400 stops me from wanting to pay much more than that for a Steam Machine. I like to feel like I get my money's worth.
Really can't see the appeal in it. Seems to be the machine that nobody wants at a price nobody wants to pay.
Valve fanboys want it and there are lots of them
Mini pcs are great. You get to have a vastly smaller case and adequate performance to play anything as long as you can cope with reducing settings as needed.
I was up for buying a second mini pc but turns out for the same money I paid in 23, I would only be able to get the barebones version end of 25. HEH. Nah, pass. Check back in another year.
Anyway this one will be kinda premium and Valve has abnormal amounts of good will for a company hoovering up billions a year from the nerds they cater to.
I was up for buying a second mini pc but turns out for the same money I paid in 23, I would only be able to get the barebones version end of 25. HEH. Nah, pass. Check back in another year.
Anyway this one will be kinda premium and Valve has abnormal amounts of good will for a company hoovering up billions a year from the nerds they cater to.
Soldato
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Thinking more about this surely Valve wouldn't dare price the Steam Machine above £750?
You could buy a PS5 Digital and a Steam Deck OLED for about £769.
Nah I am pretty sure it will be £600 which is £100 more than I think it is worth.
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Really can't see the appeal in it. Seems to be the machine that nobody wants at a price nobody wants to pay.
I don't think its success is as assured as the Steam Deck. That came along at the right time and rode the wave of this new handheld form factor PCs.
This might be a companion device for those that want more power, or something very simple in their lounge.
I would buy one, but then my PC requirements aren't top-end and I'm pretty fed up with PC components prices, companies like Nvidia, the broken OEM model and where Microsoft are heading at the moment. I don't want AI on my notepad app, or some of their developments for Windows 11. I love what Valve has done with Linux gaming and hope they keep at it. To me Steam IS the platform as I can take my games anywhere on Steam Deck, Windows 11 PCs and Linux PCs. Or Mac OS. But that doesn't mean Valve aren't beyond criticism, their continued selling of gambling loot boxes and aggressive monetisation of Steam is abhorrent. That said I trust them way more than Microsoft.
Think it will come in £799. Imo RAM prices has killed off any prospect of it coming under anything less
Soldato
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You can buy slightly more powerful prebuilt PC's for £700 which have the advantage of being upgradeable.
I don't see it as trying to set any standard for value for money other than being "normal" to allow other manufacturers to look at it as the benchmark then make their own Steam Machine.
Valve would like SteamOS to be adopted without having to personally manufacture every device it can be installed on. So their Steam Machine isn't going to undercut the market and isn't going to use the most powerful hardware. It's an obvious invitation for other companies to join in and go in directions they feel they can improve on. It all comes back to Valve when those variants are shipped with SteamOS as default.
Soldato
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Maybe.
The thing is though, if the Steam Deck is anything to go by, all the other manufacturers that popped up with their own versions of PC handhelds opted to build more powerful and more expensive handhelds. The Steam Deck has been the most affordable and most recommended handheld since it's launch. I expect the Steam Deck is the best selling PC handheld too.
So if Valve's plan is to release the Steam Machine at an expensive price allowing room for other manufacturers to sell cheaper machines, I have to wonder how many will actually release a more affordable machine. I can't see any company going cheaper because they will only make money on the actual hardware unlike Valve.
Also if Valve release an expensive machine, it's probably going to be even less successful than the Steam Deck and it will probably be viewed less enthusiastically by gamers. I think one of the big reasons quite a few companies hopped on the PC handheld bandwagon was because of the huge positivity around the Steam Deck. If the Steam Deck is viewed as being overpriced and underpowered I can't see many other companies bothering with making their own.
The Steam Deck has an "aggressive" and "painful" price for Valve. It is not a benchmark for selling at a profit. Any company selling alternative handhelds even if they sold an identical clone of the Steam Deck would be forced to price it higher. The only thing they can do is target a higher price and provide some kind of value by going into higher performance territory.
Valve isn't targeting the Steam Machine at an expensive price but a normal price for hardware being sold at a profit. It doesn't have to be a bargain and create PC sales because people already have a PC, they didn't have many handhelds before the Steam Deck. The goal is to spread SteamOS on PC and the Steam Machine is to be the demonstration of it in action.
If Valve puts in the work then people don't need to buy a Steam Machine, they just need to be able to install SteamOS on the PC they already have.
In a case less than half the size of a series X? Its a PC for living room that will fit on a shelf/tv stand and can be switched on via the controller. There is currently nothing like this on the market, its not aimed at enthusiast or to replace gaming PCs its there to open up PC gaming to people that don't want a chuffing great big box next to their TV.
People in general seem to be upset that's its not doing what they want it to do when its not aimed at them. Its a PC for people that don't want a PC
Soldato
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I get what your saying but if they price it unfavourably all it is going to demonstrate is people's lack of interest in such a machine which won't encourage other manufacturers to either build Steam Machines or pre install steamOS on their other PC's.
The Steam Machine is quite low end so you have to think that Valve were at some point aiming to replicate the Steam Deck strategy of price it cheap, build a buzz and encourage other manufacturers to build their own more premium versions. But all the messaging from Valve seems to suggest the opposite and is more in line with what you are suggesting which from a laypersons point of view doesn't seem to make logical sense.
Of course this is all assuming that Valve are targeting the mainstream gamer who is more likely to buy a console or 5060 GPU rather than a 5090. It could be the case that they are going after the top 1% of gamers who don't think twice about buying a 5090 and who wouldn't care if the Steam Machine is viewed as being over priced by the masses. There could be more money being spent by that 1% than everyone else combined so why would Valve care. But even that goes against the messaging Valve has put out saying that the Steam Machine will be an upgrade for 70% of gamers???
I wish they would just release a price already because I can't make heads not tails of it!
The sad reality is that PC component pricing has become a little bit silly these days and what we're probably going to see is a 'living room PC' box that's about as powerful as a mid (maybe even low) tier gaming laptop (is 'between Series S and PS5' still where we think the benchmark is?), at what's likely to be widely perceived as an expensive price alongside alternative living room options (PS5 Digital at £429 RRP or Series X Digital at £449 RRP).
As I think I said before, there will no doubt be some people who will want this regardless but once it starts going north of £600 you'll have to really really really want this form factor to justify a machine that's not actually all that powerful.
As I think I said before, there will no doubt be some people who will want this regardless but once it starts going north of £600 you'll have to really really really want this form factor to justify a machine that's not actually all that powerful.
I don't think it was ever Valve's intent for the Steam Machine to be an expensive product. Unfortunately they've been caught short by the rapidly escalating cost of components due to the AI boom. And these costs will apply to any other manufacturer that wants to "fill the gap". Hence why there are rumours circulating that Sony plan to delay the release of the PS6. If it wasn't for the AI boom I think the SM would cost around £500-600 ; still more expensive than a current gen console but close enough to be enticing for some users to move away from consoles and into the world of PC gaming / Steam.
And by the way, you seem to have the notion that the Steam Deck and PC handhelds are wildly popular - they aren't. By early 2025 circa 10 million PC handhelds had been sold, with approximately half of those being the Steam Deck. For Valve, that represents a success but falls way short of the "affordable" consoles eg. Switch & PS5.
Soldato
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I am well aware that compared to the mainstream consoles the Steam Deck wouldn't be classed as being "widely successful". It has been a success in the aspect of it being well regarded and leading to the birth of the more mainstream PC handheld segment.
But that's the thing - all the other "mainstream" PC handhelds account for only approx. 5 million sales globally. It's not a massive market.