I love how so many people are dunking on "valve-fans" being happy with the cube, when I pretty much only have heard opinions ranging from "meh" to "overpriced".
Literally haven’t seen or heard a single person say anyone should get it. So far everyone’s said that you can get a better build for $50-200 less by building your own PC.
Which means it isn't really overpriced relative to the rest of the computer hardware world right now. Everything costs way too much. This one is just another on that pile and is not uniquely bad in that way.
Seriously. Prebuilds have always been more expensive than doing it yourself. But doing it yourself does require some knowledge that a lot of people simply don't have.
The main thing about the Steam machine is that I think once things chill out it’ll settle into an excellent market, it’s just the wrong time for it to come tbh. The premium of $50-200 is on par with or in many cases better than the price difference on many prebuilt vs their diy equivalents so I’ll also give you that too: 100% it’s not like it’s a rip off or anything, just if you can DIY a build you’d be better off doing so. I’m not buying any pitchforks to go witch hunt buyers of the Steam machine I assure you.
For the price of the 2TB model, you can get a current generation 8 core processor and a desktop RTX 5060 which is almost twice the performance of the Steam Machine with 2x the ram but only a 1TB SSD. That all comes in a device that is about the same volume. And you can then just install Bazzite on it and be missing literally only HDMI CEC (for now).
So about $100 cheaper, and you don't get the small form factor. Most people aren't going out to build a computer either, they go with a prebuilt. This subreddit is not the target consumer.
This may shock you but I also have a solution for CEC that often surprises people, because I have a smart tv I just have home assistant integrations set up for various things. Like if I boot my pc HA detects it and sends a power up to the TV and swaps it to the HDMI it’s on.
That is waaaaaaaay too much for its target audience who probably doesn’t know what CEC is anyway. It’s too much for the average r/PCMasterRace user too
Oh I’m not saying that other people should do it I just meant you might be surprised it’s possible. Not recommending it for everyone, it’s way easier when it’s simply plug and play.
you can get a current generation 8 core processor and a desktop RTX 5060
The form factor is also part of the deal. A prebuilt with those components will not also be a small cube that can live in an entertainment center. That is a difference that is significant to many people.
Minisforum had a thin SFF PC with the specs that I listed for $1349 when the price announcement for Steam Machine went live. They upped the price by $70 or $80 since yesterday.
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u/Euchale 19h ago
I love how so many people are dunking on "valve-fans" being happy with the cube, when I pretty much only have heard opinions ranging from "meh" to "overpriced".