The Steam Machine is a computer for no one

The Steam Machine has been revealed in its final retail form, and we know what the price is.At a starting price of $1,049, it's much more expensive than the PlayStation 5 Pro, yet the base model is less capacious than a standard PlayStation 5.The PS5 also comes with a controller, whereas with the Steam Machine you still need to add the price of a controller to your budget.

Now, this is not the price that Valve wanted to release this Linux-powered gaming system.If it weren't for the frankly insane costs of SSDs and RAM as I write this, the Steam Machine would have been hundreds of dollars cheaper.The consoles have also felt the pinch, with price increases across the board more than half a decade after launch.

This is why I was able to sell one of my old PS5s for exactly as much as I paid for it years ago.But, intended or not, this is the Steam Machine we have, and no matter how much I think about it, this has turned into a computer for no one.The Steam Deck had a strong use case It made sense to millions To understand why the Steam Machine doesn't make sense for anyone to buy, it helps if we look at why the Steam Deck used to make a lot of sense before its price also smashed through the ceiling.

First, the main console competition for the Steam Deck was the Nintendo Switch.The base model Steam Deck wasn't much more expensive than the Switch, much more powerful, and gave people access to a huge chunk of their Steam library if they already had one.It also established the template for handheld PCs.

Although handheld gaming PCs existed before the Steam Deck, they were very expensive and underpowered.Small production runs and dependence on off-the-shelf hardware made them a niche product.To date, Valve has sold about 4M Steam Decks (via The Verge) and that's good in anyone's books, though nowhere close to the 155+ million units the original Switch sold, or the almost 20 million units the Switch 2 has sold a mere year into its life.

The Steam Deck isn't the most powerful handheld, but is smartly-balanced, practical, flexible, versatile, and it's not hard to see why people love theirs.It's clear what Valve wanted to do was apply the same overall strategy to the Steam Machine, but external factors have made it impossible.The Steam Deck itself has also seen a massive 40% price hike (as reported by the BBC) which also makes it a product for no one, that you should not buy.

The Steam Machine is great hardware at the wrong price The right PC at the wrong time makes all the difference, Mr.Freeman There's a lot of criticism when it comes to the hardware of the Steam Machine, but personally I think Valve did a good job.It's a custom machine designed to be smaller and quieter than what most people could build themselves.

The specs are fair for playing games at 1080p with high details and 1080p looks perfectly fine on a 4K TV, especially if you crank up the antialiasing.Most of you are sitting too far from your TVs to see the difference between 4K and 1080p anyway, and before console gamers get smug, almost all the games on your consoles run closer to 1080p than 4K.The Steam Machine is pretty much going to run games just as well as a console, the difference being have to do the tweaking and optimization to get there.

Either way, as someone who uses a PC that's similar in graphical performance to a PS5 connected to my TV, the Steam Machine should be OK with current generation games.Not spectacular, but OK.You'll get an enjoyable experience.

The problem is that it be OK when the next-generation of consoles drop, which could be as soon as 2027.They'll be similarly priced or cheaper, and have significantly more performance thanks to hardware price subsidization.Sony PlayStation 5 Pro (PS5 Pro) 7 4K Capabilities HDR, Up to 8K Game support PS5, PS4 The Sony PlayStation 5 Pro lets you play PS5 games with the most impressive visual performance yet.

Processing Power 16.7 TFLOPS, AMD Radeon RDNA-based graphics engine Storage Custom 2TB SSD CPU 8 Core / 16 thread AMD Zen 2 Connectivity Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth Ports HDMI 2.1, Ethernet, USB-C (2), USB-A (2) Weight 6.8 lbs.RAM 16GB GDDR6 / 2GB DDR5 $900 at Amazon Expand Collapse It makes no sense for existing console gamers The off-target market If the Steam Machine is meant to coax console gamers into the world of PC gaming, it's missing the mark significantly.If I look at it from the perspective of an incumbent console gamer, it's hard to see why anyone would take this path.

If you don't have an existing Steam Library, but a large console game library, the generally lower price of PC games isn't going to do much to defray the higher hardware cost.You can't take your console library with you, the hardware is a side-grade at best, and the Steam Machine won't handle next-generation console games as well as next-gen consoles.Next-gen consoles that support your existing console game library.

If you're a console gamer who really wants to enter PC gaming, the Steam Machine still looks like a poor way to do it.Although it will cost a little more to build or buy a pre-built PC to give you the same or better experience as a Steam Machine, that PC will be upgradable.The Steam Machine locks you into the CPU and GPU it comes with.

It's essentially a laptop in a small box form factor.Using a standard mini-ITX chassis and parts gives you a path forward.The Steam Machine is a dead end that is already too far behind to be a sensible purchase.

Existing PC gamers have better alternatives Almost anything is better If you are already a PC gamer, and you have an existing Steam library, but you want to play it on your TV, the Steam Machine makes no sense.You can make a small, silent PC yourself if you really want one.It will be a bit more expensive upfront than a Steam Machine, but again, having the option to upgrade your GPU or CPU down the road beats replacing the entire computer.

Deals Score Gaming Gear Deals: Controllers, Headsets & More Browse top gaming deals and discounts to upgrade your living-room or desktop setup with big savings.Find discounted controllers, headsets, keyboards, gamepads, PC components, and streaming accessories - compare offers to get the best value on gear.Deals Explore Gaming Gear Deals If the small and quiet bit isn't what's tempting you, then just connect your current PC to your TV.

You can use in-home streaming, or just very long cables.I'm not even joking, you can use fiber-based optical cables if your computer is far away, and USB over Ethernet for your controller, mouse, and keyboard.Making your own Steam Machine is the best of all worlds If what you're after is that SteamOS experience, well, you don't need a Steam Machine for that either.

You can now install SteamOS on any system, as long as it uses a supported AMD GPU, but soon NVIDIA will also be supported.We'll likely start seeing third-party Steam Machine prebuilds from other companies, which will bring competition and perhaps more compelling hardware to the table.For me, no matter how you slice it, a Steam Machine at its current price is a purchase you'll almost certainly regret.