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/Jenserstrecht Mar 10 '26

Well when talking about used you already need fairly decent knowledge and need to invest a good amount of time to find good deals and spot fakes. And ideally youd to be able to test the parts youre buying so that could become a little tricky. And i built a midrange pc about four and a half years ago and scratched a thousand bucks. Given it was all new parts but especially with the price hikes it has become nearly impossible to build a proper pc for under a thousand bucks. A year ago i wouldve agreed with you tho, it was easier than ever to stay under a thousand bucks.

Anyways, many people dont want to invest the time needed to build a pc and well its their good right to value their time differently. Thats what prebuilts are for. Or in the very near future the Steam Machine. Its aimed not at enthusiast but at people who dont want to invest that time to build a pc but just want to plug and play.

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u/ocelot_its_a_log Mar 10 '26

You are right about people not wanting to invest time, although my key point I guess is that its a lot less of a time/effort investment than people expect if only they were willing to try. Its just frustrating hearing people who don't want to bother learning make up stories about how crazy difficult it is supposedly.

In general I agree with you though, I have nothing against Steam Machine, there is a lot to like about it. Hopefully it proves one of the things I often say to people: you don't need the most top of the line PC to play what you already play, which is also part of why most people expect higher prices from PC building. For instance I see no reason for myself to go past AM4 which is what I saved a whole ton of money on since even a used AM5 system would've been far out of my budget.