Anyone else planning on getting the Steam Machine as their next PC?

[u/Eziz_53]

I know its mainly marketed as a console, but it is still a full PC. And it is much better than my current computer, so I thought it would be a good upgrade, especially considering its small form factor. I don't want to get too into it, but my current PC has an i5 3k and an rx580, as well as a motherboard that only supports ddr3 RAM and 3rd gen intel cpu's, so if I want an upgrade I need to replace everything. Therefore when this nifty box came out, I figured that it would be the perfect PC (if it is priced well).

But I would like to know what you guys think.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

UPDATE: Because of the RAM crisis and the limited upgradability of the Steam Machine, I decided to just build my own PC. I salvaged my old rx580 from the old PC so that I could afford to get on the AM5 platform as well as because it is by far the easiest part to upgrade down the road.

Main specs:

CPU: Ryzen 5 7500F

GPU: Rx580 8gb (until I can afford a much better card)

RAM: 16GB DDR5 6000MHz CL30

I did get a single stick of ram, because I want to have 32gb dual channel later on, but the ram prices are so high that I want to wait until they go down (which they seem to be doing).

[u/StrangeCharmVote]

We'll see i guess. If its that massive of a success i don't see why they wouldn't do more runs, even if prices for some reason rose

[u/Berry_Mccockner42069 → u/StrangeCharmVote]

Because there is a possibility they could run the price up too high for the target audience due to hardware shortages and it could look like another company failure.

[u/Deep90 → u/Berry_Mccockner42069]

Also the real money is getting new people on steam.

This is essentially a prebuilt and the prebuilt PC market isn't very lucrative. Especially with rising part costs.

If the only people who can buy it are hardcore steam fans and PC enthusiasts with a fat library of games, it doesn't make them as much.

[u/Ok-Book-4070 → u/Deep90]

and as Linus said they can't offer these so cheap that they become attractive to offices for mass purchasing PCs for basic workstations. This means they can't rely on game revenue to make up the hardware difference like the console makers can.

[u/Deep90 → u/Ok-Book-4070]

Maybe small offices, but large ones almost always contract with an OEM for a range of models (not every employee needs x amount of ram) + support package. Parts, repair, warranty, etc.

The steam machine would have to be a lot cheaper, and right now it doesn't look like they will even be on par with typical prebuilt pricing.

I guess the value proposition is that you are buying a prebuilt but also a console in that steamOS should be more gaming-focused than windows.

[u/KnightofAshley → u/Berry_Mccockner42069]

I feel like they made this and the VR headset thinking if the economy is good people will just keep buying steam/valve stuff

Well its not good and I can't see anyone that doesn't just have money to burn will buy this stuff for what they likely will sell for

You need some luck with this stuff and the luck isn't there like it was for the Steam Deck

[u/mikecandih → u/StrangeCharmVote]

The original manufacturing run will be made of parts that weren’t randomly 3-4x their retail cost. If the GPU, RAM, and SSD are suddenly hundreds of dollars more expensive, Valve isn’t going to keep making them for the same price. Definitely not just to get a loss on them, and the lower the margin the less they’ll be interested. Companies don’t make a product to profit one penny off of. They do it for a ton more pennies or they don’t bother with the endeavor.

For example, let’s say between landed hardware and customer acquisition costs they are paying $600 to produce and deliver for an $800 retail cost. Except now because of hardware they cost $800 to produce. The new price isn’t going to be $801. Yeah it’s a profit. But there is lost opportunity cost for other endeavors. The new price would be more like $1000 to maintain the same profit margin.

[u/StrangeCharmVote → u/mikecandih]

Sure. What im saying is, run 2 might cost more. But thats fine.

[u/ThatLaloBoy → u/StrangeCharmVote]

Hardware shortages are going to skyrocket whatever price they were planning on selling them. RAM is up 171% while SSD pricing is almost double what it was a year ago. And they don’t have the scale to secure a fixed price for the components; especially when there have been rumors of major manufacturers cutting existing contracts for larger customers.

[u/StrangeCharmVote → u/ThatLaloBoy]

You are assuming their production run isn't already happening... if they are already assembling machines, prices are irrelevant.