Uploaded July 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
As much as I love Steam, I do agree that the value being offered on the Steam Machine is incredibly difficult to swallow in terms of price to performance. Can you really have a PC that can match the performance or even beat it around that price? Absolutely. I can build this PC with only slightly over that budget by just using one store here in Bali, and that's factoring the insane RAM prices. I mean Rp 4.1M. That's $232 for a single stick of 16GB RAM. Thank you, AI companies.
There are also others that have made mini-ITX builds that utilize a small form factor. The problem with mini-ITX builds, or at least in this economically bankrupt country Indonesia, is that the motherboards and the cases are way more expensive, which would absolutely destroy the many sacrifices that I already made for the micro-ATX build. So, in this regard, the Steam Machine absolutely wins for being compact enough and playable enough within that price range.
If you're willing to have a compact or even portable gaming PC, from the same store where I buy these parts, this laptop, the COLORFUL EVOL P15 is a gaming laptop that costs way cheaper. It outperforms the Steam Machine, and you can carry and plug it almost anywhere. That is if you're willing to take the risk of a new player like COLORFUL. They usually make GPUs, but they make laptops now.
The problem with a gaming laptop is that if you want to turn it into a compact console like the Steam Machine, you have to close it and closing the laptop while having it running games will absolutely burn the screen. So, in this regard, while the gaming laptop wins in terms of performance as they draw way more power, the Steam Machine still wins in terms of compact form factor and power efficiency.
There are also mini-PCs with integrated graphics with a fraction of the cost. They are not as powerful as the Steam Machine, but with the right games and the right mindset, they would absolutely rock in the living room. This is my mini-PC that I use for my office, the MSI Cubi 5. Core 5 120U. Honestly, pretty good for office works and playing some older titles.
The Steam Machine absolutely fulfills a specific niche market in the PC gaming community that wants a small form factor PC that can game like a console, but that niche market comes with an absolutely monstrous price that ultimately wasn't Valve's fault.
As much as I love Steam, I do agree that the value being offered on the Steam Machine is incredibly difficult to swallow in terms of price to performance. Can you really have a PC that can match the performance or even beat it around that price? Absolutely. I can build this PC with only slightly over that budget by just using one store here in Bali, and that's factoring the insane RAM prices. I mean Rp 4.1M. That's $232 for a single stick of 16GB RAM. Thank you, AI companies.
There are also others that have made mini-ITX builds that utilize a small form factor. The problem with mini-ITX builds, or at least in this economically bankrupt country Indonesia, is that the motherboards and the cases are way more expensive, which would absolutely destroy the many sacrifices that I already made for the micro-ATX build. So, in this regard, the Steam Machine absolutely wins for being compact enough and playable enough within that price range.
If you're willing to have a compact or even portable gaming PC, from the same store where I buy these parts, this laptop, the COLORFUL EVOL P15 is a gaming laptop that costs way cheaper. It outperforms the Steam Machine, and you can carry and plug it almost anywhere. That is if you're willing to take the risk of a new player like COLORFUL. They usually make GPUs, but they make laptops now.
The problem with a gaming laptop is that if you want to turn it into a compact console like the Steam Machine, you have to close it and closing the laptop while having it running games will absolutely burn the screen. So, in this regard, while the gaming laptop wins in terms of performance as they draw way more power, the Steam Machine still wins in terms of compact form factor and power efficiency.
There are also mini-PCs with integrated graphics with a fraction of the cost. They are not as powerful as the Steam Machine, but with the right games and the right mindset, they would absolutely rock in the living room. This is my mini-PC that I use for my office, the MSI Cubi 5. Core 5 120U. Honestly, pretty good for office works and playing some older titles.
The Steam Machine absolutely fulfills a specific niche market in the PC gaming community that wants a small form factor PC that can game like a console, but that niche market comes with an absolutely monstrous price that ultimately wasn't Valve's fault.
