I am a person who will look at the Steam Machine and cry

I have no hot take, but I did post this last year:

Another Valve hardware announcement: the Steam Machine is back. I am immediately and predictably on board for it. -- me, November 2025

So I owe you a followup post, which is, TLDR: "too rich for my blood."

512GB: $1049 512GB w/ Controller: $1128 2TB: $1349 2TB w/ Controller: $1428 -- Valve's Steam Machine page

I would guess that, back in the Devonian epoch of 2025, Valve was aiming this product at $600-$800, which would be an insta-buy for me. But obviously that's not the 2026 we're living in. In this 2026, I am quite sure that Valve has priced the new Steam Machine at break-even. They'll sell a tiny number and be thankful the damage wasn't any worse.

I like that they've made SteamOS available. That will be good for the hardcore hardware crowd, but I'm just not in that ecosystem. If I tried to homebrew a Steam Machine from parts, I'd undoubtedly spend $2500 and be lucky if it ever booted up.

Maybe things will ease up in 2027, in which case Valve (and Apple and a lot of other companies) will undo their price hikes. That would be nice. No bets right now.

Could I afford $1400 for a new toy? Enh. I have that much in my bank account. I have what passes for a stable job in this economy. But that's the hitch: in this economy. Nothing is safe, nothing is reliable, and I am looking at the extremely real possibility that I am already unemployable if I have to go back on the market.

Given that, big impulse purchases don't feel super-good.

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