GamerNexus found out that an equivalent DIY machine would cost $979 in parts only to give a perspective on the pricing. It would probably be bigger too due to the discrete GPU.
The comment I replied to... replied to the comment about GamerNexus. They estimated a comparable build (to the $1049 Steam Machine) based on their benchmarks would be about $979.
It's not a great look. Cheaper and significantly more powerful. Unless that form factor and SteamOS are particularly important, I just don't see it. It can't compete with consoles because traditionally consoles are an easy way to save money on the initial hardware purchase, and it can only lightly compete with comparably priced PC's unless the smaller form factor is considered, which even then is not that impossible to build if you're patient. And every year it'll be cheaper to beat it, and you can upgrade your machine if you need. The steam machine is not really built for hardware upgrades, which is a big con from to the console experience.
I think if they could've squeezed this to $900-$950 I'd be less skeptical but crossing $1k without even giving you the controller...that's a big mental barrier for folks, you can see it everywhere. As I've said in other comments, I REALLY want it to succeed and I hope I am wrong. But this one is hard to feel optimistic about. I saw a Costco pre-built today that smoked it at $1399 (32gb DDR5 ram, 2TB nvme, better GPU/processor). It's just a really hard price to get people excited for. Still, I'm rooting for them.
