I don't know if I'll get one as a primary gaming rig - price is going to be a major factor on that front; I can't really afford a new machine but take out the Windows licensing cost and give me a decent, quiet form factor and I could be convinced - but I'm very interested in the streaming capabilities of the lower-end devices, and the controller. I might look into dual-booting our (ageing) PC to SteamOS at some point, but I can't see myself using it as the primary operating system on our box.

Not sure at the moment, but I really want one of those sweet controllers though.

I already have a loungeroom machine in addition to my desktop one, could always put something small in the bedroom though and use the streaming if it was cheap enough.

no I wont buy another device just to play my pc games on tv

If it comes out and people say it's good, it seems good, and my wallet says we're good, then maybe.

No silly... I have a Steam box already. Its called my pc. Also I have a spare pc that I can use if I wanted to... and I don't.

How do so many people not know who this is for? It is super pretty explicit: This is a machine for the living room. If you have no interest in that or already have a TV next to your computer I don't know what to tell you, this machine isn't for you.

There are a lot of people who have PCs in one room and a TV in another. Sometimes you look at this giant TV and think "Hey, it would be great if I could play a game on this thing but I'm too invested in Steam to want/need a console". Your options thus far have been pretty involved not to mention expensive and would require a bunch of new hardware.

For me a steam machine is the perfect solution. Buy box, connect box, play games.

It has many advantages over building a 2nd PC for the living room. I'm not paying for any more hardware than I actually need since it's leveraging the PC I already own. It's generation-independant since I'd only need to upgrade one machine every couple of years (and not both). The idea that this thing will be designed around the speed and reliability of linux while still being able to get windows-based games onto a TV is a huge plus. I have multiple ways to get Netflix (or Pandora/Hulu/whatever) onto a TV but not having to switch away from the steam machine in order to do it is a nice touch.

Not enough information is available for me to say yay or nay at this time. I am certainly interested.

What people are confused about is the existance of "higher end" of Steam Machine hardware. Valve has already said that Steam Machines will have a "good, better, and best" range of specs. The "good" hardware choice makes sense and has a believable market. A low cost set-top box that can natively play indie games, can stream full retail PC games, and has video and music playback is a good complementary device for current PC gamers and a desirable stand-alone product for the mainstream crowd that wants an Apple TV-like product with some gaming functionality.

The creation of a Steam Machine that has the power and cost of a regular gaming rig just doesn't have a feasible market to sell to.

I voted yes because I'm more for the movement from Windows to Linux for gaming. Since I don't know anything about the machines, it's impossible to say if I'll get one or not. Same kind of goes for the controller. If it's a decent price I'll definitely get one. What I'm thinking is to support the movement, I'll just dual boot and exclusively use the steam controller. The Steam platform may be closed but the OS will never be. That's the nice thing about it. Even if I don't use Steam OS, I still might use my favorite flavor of Linux with the Steam controller. I guess we'll see how it turns out. Here's hoping for an option for gamer's that are tired of the Windows ecosystem.

@andorski said:

I'm curious why you think that. It's basically just going to be a high-end PC that ships with SteamOS (and no monitor); what's the difference between that and any other high-end PC that will cause the market to lose interest?

I just want to find out if SteamOS will run on a Raspberry Pi so I can get my PC onto a TV in another room super cheap. That'd be dope.

I have a computer machine, so no.

If you have a PC already, I feel it's kinda pointless. Maybe if you had a PlayStation or Xbox.
Having said that, the controller looks tops.

I'm pretty sure this will come down to old fashioned commerce, in 5 year if it's cheaper to buy a 'steam box' than build a new PC for the express intent of playing games, you'll have your answer.

im building a new pc today, im not looking to buy another console-ish box that doesn't do anything my pc cant do and will have lower specs than my pc

yes, but with a heavy increase in skepticism. Steam hasn't update Big Picture mode in over a year since it's been released. It's sluggish and crashes often, valve games on launch are LOADED WITH BUGS and get heavy updates. I mean I want a steam machine more as an interest seeing how it performs, the specs given sounds like they could run Assassin's Creed 4 easily without any problems but then Linux games are a minority on Steam. Plus also there's the odd third party interfaces, like for example Final Fantasy 7 comes with odd square Achievement and "Cloud" saves.

I already know there are problems and I want to see what happens next.

Nope. I'm certainly interested to see how it'll all be received, but I don't see myself buying one until I have tangible info on it.

This poll lacks a "I'm getting one for free" option.

Damn... you got into the beta? If you did, do you know what configuration you are getting?

DAMN YOU! anyways, congrats.

No.

The only way I would buy one is if I suddenly got rich. But if I suddenly got rich enough to spend money on these, I'd just build my own top-of-the-line gaming PC. Or several of them, one in each room.

If I remember correctly, they're only shipping out one config, and I don't know if they ever said anything specific about the relative power of the box going to beta testers.

I barely even know what they are. I've seen one for $499 and one for $1500 so far. Both of which are too expensive for what I keep hearing is a streaming device. I'm a single male that has their computer hooked up to my 46" TV in my living room. I need to see more.

I'm definitely interested in finally learning what it does though. I think the ability to stream games to another place in my house is alluring but I was hoping the price would be more in line with the Apple TV.

Currently I'm looking forward to the Vita TV more.

@hoteldon: If this engadget article is correct, the worst you are getting is a i3 CPU and a GTX 660 GPU. The best you can end up with is a i7-4770 CPU and a GTX Titan GPU. Do you know if you get the keep the machine after the beta?

@andorski: No, the email very specifically said we had to burn the box and take the supplied cyanide pill after the conclusion of the beta.

hmm... sounds worth it.

It's for Xbox fans who are sick of Halo and/or Microsofts piss poor handling of their costumer relations and console infrastructure and buisness module

Which means it's probably not going to sell very many units.

Yep, I absolutely am. It seems far more exiting and fresh than both PS4 and XBone.

I'm excited to get mine on Tuesday. The box weighs 35 pounds though. I wonder what else is included for testers.

I really like the idea. I don't really game on PC so this might be an alternative. Though I'll need a lot more information to decide. Pricing (especially compared to self-built PC's), availability of games etc...

I'm going to fund the making and distribution of steam machines in cocktail table form.

Oh totally. The streaming one, anyway, not the ones with actual processing power. I would pay up to $100 including the controller.

I probably wouldn't use it terribly often, but it would be neat.

Yeah I will

I'm hoping my old timey laptop can handle steamOS for game streaming to a TV (I doubt it though). If that works I'll hook that into my TV and have it running all the time.

I'm not planning on getting steam machine, though, because I prefer playing games in front of a high density monitor. That's just me (and Jeff I think). God speed to those who enjoy their TV's too.

Nohohohohhh nope.

My PC is pretty killer at the moment and I just got a PS4 so no. But I won't say never. Who knows in the future, not really feeling that controller thingy they were showing off awhile back tho

Depends, I've been looking into building a smaller, dedicated machine for LANs and such for a while now and if any of the Steam Machines are priced competitively I'll definitely consider them.

Oh my god, I'm not alone!

If I had to take a guess, the box itself is probably most of the weight. The pictures make them look huge, and if they're prototypes, they probably made sure to add lots of airflow space to be extra safe. Don't expect it to be as tightly compact as a normal horizontal OEM PC (those are horizontal cases, aren't they?)

Aww man, that means I didn't get in. Oh well

Yes. I don't have time to build new hardware anymore. I just bought a gaming laptop, just so I wouldn't be bothered with putting parts together. As a teen, I never in a million years thought I'd buy a gaming laptop. I still like to tinker, but I just like having a fall-back, where I have a thing that is no hassle.

I'm gonna mess around with SteamOS too, but it looks like the price is gonna be good enough for these systems.

No. My computer is fairly high end, so I see no point in getting a Steam machine.

I'll get it because it looks cool, Its also a great addition to my collection!

I'm undecided as to whether I'll stick with my original plan of building a Mini ITX in one of those Silverstone cases or buy a Steam machine. Obviously I'm waiting on the specifics of the Steam machines before I make my decision.

Only if it has media streaming capabilities.

what sucks is, when Steam machine fails, Sony and MS are gonna run their mouths off over it. They'll say it didn't have Kinect, or that it wasn't curated for gamers, or w/e.

It will be like Valve is a female game developer and Sony and MS are male gamers.

No.

No, my PC is decent enough and I think I'm going to get a PS4 eventually. I might get the controller though.

Haven't decided, my tower PC is at this point ancient (the motherboard uses DDR2 RAM) but I got a MacBook Pro last year and barely touch my PC outside of games only available on Windows. So I am stuck on whether to buy a Steam Machine for just game purposes and forget about strategy games (even if that controller is great you're not playing a RTS on it) or buy/build an entirely new tower.

Nah. But I WILL be downloading the SteamOS and playing with that some. But I have no use for a separate box, nor would I have the money to indulge if I did.