The Steam Machine dilemma

Valve announced the Steam Machine and its price(s), causing much unrest online. Some saw it coming, some are disappointed, some have a more realistic view that this is the price of non-subsidized hardware in 2026. I think the price is fine for what you get, but you should not be paying it if you are comfortable building a computer yourself. Let’s put the Steam Machine into perspective. When you buy one you get a console-like experience with the ever growing catalog of Steam. But you also get a fully functional computer you can use for everything you could use a regular computer for. And you get all of this in a neat, little box. What we should be aware of is that the Steam Machine does not compete as computer for most, but as console. When you buy a console you get just a console-like experience (duh) and a smaller, slowly growing catalogue of games. Compared to a PlayStation 5 The hardware of the Steam Machine seems solid and roughly competes with the PlayStation (non pro). Owning a…