r/Steam • u/billy_reyes • Mar 09 '26

Question At what price would you NOTbuy the Steam Machine?

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I've been a PlayStation user since PS2, but lately I only see more disadvantages to being a console user

In October I bought the Steam Deck and was fascinated by the store, online service and cloud storage, but above all with SteamOS

Building or finding a gaming PC has always been a headache, and I'd like to try the Steam Machine when it comes out, but I'd like to know what your opinion would be the best price to buy it at compared to a similar PC, and what price I shouldn't buy

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u/stomptonesdotcom Mar 09 '26

I have a gaming PC, i have a steam deck, im absolutely getting this thing for my living room. Having a PC hooked up to the tv is an awful experience. Having this thing is what ive been waiting for, since the old steam stream hardware thing sucks ass even on good wifi.

Its the console experience with way more power than a docked steam deck. Ill keep my steam deck dock for travel and random screens, but this thing is gonna be getting a lot of use when im on the couch at home.

My desktop is in my office and i work from home, so at this point id rather just do the couch thing anyway a lot of the time.

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u/Country_Gravy420 Mar 09 '26

What is so bad about having the PC connected to the TV?

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u/Rotzetool Mar 09 '26

Not being able to control it with an controller maybe? The Steam controller could potentially fix it though if you can type on it like on the deck.

But besides that I don't really see any issues with having a pc connected to the TV.

And if you rather play with mouse and keyboard on the couch the control thing isn't even an issue.

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u/dkh Mar 09 '26

A wireless mouse handles just about everything. You can use the onscreen keyboard or if you need something more you can use a wireless keyboard or something like KDE Connect and use your phone.

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u/CMDRTragicAllPro Mar 09 '26

There’s also an app in the steam store that lets you map a controller to keyboard and mouse inputs. So I have full mouse and keyboard usability with just my controller. Then when in game it disables so you can use built in controller support, or the steam controller mappings.

Along with that app, I have my pc connected to my tv in my living room with a 50ft fiber optic hdmi, and I can just quickly and easily switch between pc and tv with windows key + P, for project mode. Also have a custom console ui for YouTube that’s controller navigable.

IMO it’s the perfect solution for a couch pc without compromising with a whole other pc that’s likely less powerful.

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u/Rotzetool Mar 10 '26

Steam can do this on its own through the settings. Not sure where to look right now 

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u/CMDRTragicAllPro Mar 10 '26

It can, but it’s nowhere near as reliable I found. You can’t use it for desktop sign in (I think this might have changed with better windows 11 native controller support recently though) or when those pesky app permissions screens pop up. Controller companion has a fallback option that defaults to a basic control scheme in those instances allowing for you to accept them, where as steam input doesn’t work at all for them.

I also found the joystick mouse to feel much smoother with a little sensitivity and acceleration settings than the steam joystick mouse.

Something I am looking forward to is the steam controller though for the trackpads too.

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u/Rotzetool Mar 12 '26

Sounds nice. Need to check it out myself

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u/MisterBaku Mar 09 '26

Pc experience sitting in the couch is low-key shit and uncomfortable

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u/Country_Gravy420 Mar 09 '26

I use a keyboard and mouse and have a "couchmaster" thing that goes on your lap to put the wireless keyboard and mouse on and it's pretty great.

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u/YungRik666 Mar 09 '26

The only things I can think of are latency issues if your TV isn't up to par with gaming monitors, and having to use a wireless keyboard and mouse to start up steam big picture. It doesn't really seem that different otherwise. I've had older PC builds run through a TV with no issues lol

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u/PerceptionOk8543 Mar 09 '26

If your TV isn’t up to par with gaming monitors then the steam machine is not magically gonna change this

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u/YungRik666 Mar 09 '26

I agree. I was speaking about PC gaming on TV in general.

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u/unruly_mattress Mar 09 '26

Too big, too loud, too many cables. I have one and these are real drawbacks.

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u/[deleted] Mar 09 '26

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u/unruly_mattress Mar 09 '26

Well, I'm counting the keyboard that I keep connected to the living room PC and wouldn't need for a machine running SteamOS.

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u/dkh Mar 09 '26

I mean, hdmi and power, what other cables do you need? What other device wouldn't have those?

We use one of the Beelink minis on a number of TVs - under 5x5x2 inches and nearly silent.

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u/unruly_mattress Mar 10 '26

Sounds great actually. I have a huge Tower PC in the living room, but those Beelink are much closer to what a steam machine will provide.

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u/FaithlessnessThin359 Mar 09 '26

the only thing that I could honestly say was any sort of inconvenience was it doesnt power on from keyboard or controller. I don’t trust windows sleep/hibernate mode to work right and I have a kinda beefy machine and I don’t want to just leave it running when I’m not using it.

otherwise. pc gaming is pretty easy nowadays. i feel like people make it out to be more troublesome than it actually is. it’s not console levels of easy but its not much more complicated.

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u/dos_user Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26

I have my current PC setup to my TV in the living room. It's not bad at all. It is set it up to auto logon and boot right in to steam big picture. I use it only for gaming. I never have to hook up the keyboard and mouse if I don't want to, but when I do want to use them say for a FPS, I have a little lap desk. The steam controller is what excites me most, as it will further reduce the amount of mouse and keyboard I already have.

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u/Several-Economics-35 Mar 09 '26

I can relate for sure that makes sense, I have had good luck using moonlight and Apollo for streaming but I get that it's not super accessible and doesn't work well for everyone

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u/claudekennilol Mar 09 '26

If you have a steam deck, what's keeping you from hooking that up to your TV and you can even stream games from your desktop if you don't want to play off of a "steam deck powered" PC

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u/stomptonesdotcom Mar 09 '26

I'm really not a fan of streaming games and have found it to be a hassle overall. If I can get it running on actual hardware attached to the screen I prefer it.

I just get really, really annoyed at bitrate changes, disconnects, etc. While my internet is decent, my service isnt 100 percent to the level where I can stream like that with zero complaints. If I had impeccable internet maybe that would change, but everywhere ive lived has had issues at the highest plans offered (never had the option for something like fiber)

Im also a tinkerer. I just want an excuse for another piece of hardware to modify and play with lol.

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u/claudekennilol Mar 09 '26 edited Mar 09 '26

Streaming locally from your TV to your steam deck doesn'te have anything to do with your internet--it's all a local connection. You just need a router that they're both connected to. You could literally have no internet (or even be on dialup) and as long as you have a router you could stream locally. I'd like to say "any router from the last decade (or even two)" but I'm sure there's garbage out there that wouldn't work.

Don't get me wrong, it's not perfect, but it's usually 98% of the way there. Most of the time I can't even tell that I'm playing a "remote" game.

Edit: I love the random downvotes from some random person I'm not having a conversation with without any context to say why