I went to PCPartPicker and tried to assemble a similarly spec'd PC, not with the absolute cheapest components, but definitely from the lower end sorted by price, it came out close to $800.

I guess if Valve can price it at that and be smaller it might have a market, but if much more than that people are better off just buying a PC.

P.S. Since Valve is not buying retail I think there is room for lower than that, and it'd definitely be welcome, but I'm not sure Valve will make that decision.

They're letting us discuss this ad nauseam just to understand what prices people consider acceptable for these devices

I hope they release the price soon, the discourse on this has become incredibly tiring.

1. The top end Steam Deck was like $750 at release. Replace the screen with better CPU and GPU, and there's your baseline for the Machine. Since it's "6x" performance, price will probably be a bit higher. People thinking way less are smoking crack.

2. How many of you have actually had a Linux PC connected to your living room TV? I built one about 13 years ago (and upgraded the guts occasionally) and it's been awesome. With a regular web browser you can watch YouTube (with uBlock of course), Plex/Jellyfin, or any streaming service, in addition to gaming. Plus I've done stuff like vacation planning with my partner, where we can easily bring up maps and hotel listings from our couch without hunching over a laptop or tablet.

3. While Linux hardware support is quite good these days, there's still something to be said for buying a machine that you know is fully supported and targeted by game devs.

Fair prices are fair, the existence of billionaires is not. Tax Gabe Newell and the rest of 'em too.

I find it amusing how much discussion there is around the price of this when it only ships to like 1/4th of the world. If it would be available in stores like nintendo, I doubt people there would be much issue regarding high price.

If they subsidized it, wouldn't that risk businesses buying it as a cheap-for-its-specs option for their office computers? It's not locked to being a gaming machine like consoles. You can just install windows on it.

It’s $2,400 – 6 Steam Decks – the end.

I know speculation is fun, but until we know the price officially, all of this is moot. Wait until next year when they announce actual pricing and judge it then for its value.

I, personally, don't think it'll be a successful product if it isn't less than $800. They don't have to have it cost console prices, but it does need to be at least somewhat within spitting distance. If the price is the cost of an Xbox or Playstation plus, say.....a year of their online service subscription, I think that could be marketable.

If it's closer to a grand, it'll be a flop like the first Steam Machines.