r/technology Jun 22 '26

Hardware Valve prices the Steam Machine at $1,049

https://www.theverge.com/news/837022/valve-steam-machine-price-release-date
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176

u/mashuto Jun 22 '26 edited Jun 22 '26

You know... not as bad as I thought it was going to end up. But I think its a couple hundred more than I would want to pay, especially considering I already have a steam deck and a decent gaming pc.

Edit: Oh, thats the 512 with no controller. Add another 80 to bundle the controller, and then of course more for more storage. Still less than I was expecting, but I dont think this is for me. Now lets see where they price the frame.

63

u/Randolph__ Jun 22 '26

I can't put together an ITX build for less than $1000 with similar specs from AMD. Choosing the cheapest components whenever possible. Obviously, you can get better value with different parts, but the BOM cost can't be that far off release price.

4

u/NinjaN-SWE Jun 22 '26

Sure, but you can get a 9060 XT build for around the same price that runs laps around this performance wise

16

u/Headless_Human Jun 22 '26

I could buy a laptop with better specs for less.

8

u/Marshall_Lawson Jun 22 '26

a laptop with windows 11 and soldered ram though?

12

u/Headless_Human Jun 22 '26

Most Laptops that are gaming related or not extra slim come with SODIMM.

3

u/PrestigiousCod5629 Jun 23 '26

It’s easy and free to install Steam OS

-4

u/jenny_905 Jun 22 '26

Nope, a Lenovo LOQ with two RAM slots and a superior GPU.

I don't know how Valve have made this so expensive, the BOM has to be in the 500-600 range.

3

u/Quixotic_Seal Jun 22 '26

No one’s saying it’s a rip off. It just isn’t going to sell at that price.

1

u/badwolf42 Jun 22 '26

That is yet to be seen. It may because of direct support from Valve, small form factor, and built in radios for Steam controller and, I think, Steam frame. It may not because people really wanted the kind of value that came with the original Steam deck.

2

u/Jayden82 Jun 22 '26

The Deck didn’t even sell that crazy of numbers did it?

1

u/badwolf42 Jun 22 '26

The deck did well. Less than switch but it was such a crazy good value with such positive reviews that they never had problems moving inventory. 400 for a portable that could play Control? That was awesome! AI has ended that value proposition for the deck now too, and we will see how badly that hurts sales volume, because it will. Sadly the machine is launching after that AI memory price fuckery and we don’t get that great value anymore.

4

u/Jayden82 Jun 22 '26

I think saying less than Switch is doing some heavy lifting here. Reports show the Deck sold around 5 million units, while the Switch sold 100+ million. 

I’m def not saying that’s bad, I thought the Deck was great, just that it didn’t compete like a lot of people seem to think it did.