I don’t doubt that.

I think familiarity is also important, maybe more so than ease of use.

A lot of people know Windows and how to use it (at least for the basics.)

Steam OS is still extremely niche.

That’s why I think the Steam Machine has to have price on its side to push people to consider buying a gaming-focused PC rather than a more general purpose gaming laptop. Particularly when everyone is struggling with rising costs.

True, I agree.

In my head, unless it’s in the 400-600 range, a gaming laptop makes more sense. I suspect generally other prospective buyers would too.

Steam OS whilst great, still doesn’t run as many games as Windows. Particularly certain popular multiplayer ones with kernel-level anti-cheat.

At the moment all we have is Valve’s theory that if the Steam Machine becomes really popular, Devs might update their games to work on Steam OS/linux. But equally they might not.

In a world where everything is getting more expensive (apart from TVs), I’m not sure the average person has the spare income to buy another single-purpose machine (yes, Steam OS can do more, but it’s designed to be used for gaming). A Windows laptop is more flexible.

I can see this hardware appealing to a lot of people, regardless of price though. Kid’s first PC for example.

I really want this machine to be a success. I would love to ditch Windows completely, as soon as possible.

If it’s more expensive than a entry-level gaming laptop, then I doubt the average user would buy a Steam Machine, when a laptop is far more flexible.

It has to be cheaper and more convenient than what’s currently available.

I might be way off the mark, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see it priced like the OLED Steam Deck. At least at launch.

With a later price increase due to RAM and SSD shortages.

I know this is just my tiny view on things, but I’ve been testing code from a very experienced Dev, who was recently instructed to use AI coding tools in their work (Cursor, maybe some Copilot).

Functionality in our product is now breaking in weird and wonderful ways. Completely new ‘WTF!’ moments. It’s hard to describe.

Core behavior that I’ve taken for granted - things I didn’t realise could go wrong, are.

It reminds me of when after particular iOS update many years back, (for certain scenarios) Apple’s own calculator wasn’t doing addition correctly.

For me, it’s both fascinating and unnerving. Like some unfathomable cosmic horror.