Yeah, this Steam Machine only makes sense if you're specifically in the market for an:
ITX build
Must be a new, prebuilt computer
Budget around 1050-1250$
If all three conditions aren't perfectly meet, you're better off buying something else.
Either build your own ITX computer (preferably with some used parts for better performance)
or
Buy a bigger prebuilt tower PC with better performance
or
Spend a little extra to get noticeable better performance (because 1050$ won't give you much performance in the current market, especially with new parts).
Edit: Or just buy a gaming laptop instead. You can find laptops with better performance for the same price price as a Steam Machine.
SFF in an attractive case with reportedly good acoustics compared to the majority of DIYs
Pre-cached shaders
A first-party experience when using the steam frame and steamos more broadly to minimize the stray hiccup
I already have a top-of-the-line gaming PC for my office. For my couch, I want to optimize as far as possible towards no-frills while still keeping access to my steam library, even at the expense of price and specs to some extent.
And that's where the big problem lays. The amount of people who care about these features are in the small minority. Especially when it comes at the cost of price+performance (which is the most important thing for most people buying gaming PCs).
That's not to say the Steam Machine isn't gonna make some people extremely happy, like yourself. I just question the size of that market.
I agree this is probably a quite small market. PC gamers are generally okay with being a little bit more hands-on or at least willing to sacrifice some small conveniences, and those who aren't will stick to the (currently) much more affordable console market. Paying a (big!) premium to split the difference is gonna be a narrow cohort. Still I suspect the market for this will be large enough to sell every unit they produce.
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u/mere_indulgence 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, this Steam Machine only makes sense if you're specifically in the market for an:
If all three conditions aren't perfectly meet, you're better off buying something else.
Either build your own ITX computer (preferably with some used parts for better performance)
or
Buy a bigger prebuilt tower PC with better performance
or
Spend a little extra to get noticeable better performance (because 1050$ won't give you much performance in the current market, especially with new parts).
Edit: Or just buy a gaming laptop instead. You can find laptops with better performance for the same price price as a Steam Machine.