Valve's new Steam Machine - PC gaming giant Valve unveils new console and it looks great

littleclaude

Valve just announced a brand new Steam Machine, their latest attempt to take on Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation. This new version is being called a “powerful gaming PC in a small but mighty package,” and it’s designed to bring the full PC gaming experience right to your TV. Unlike the 2014 model that never quite took off, this one looks much more refined and is expected to cost around $799 (£630) when it launches in early 2026. It’ll run on Valve’s Linux-based SteamOS and use AMD graphics, supporting 4K resolution and 60fps — so it sounds like they’re going for serious performance this time.

Valve’s also revealed a new Steam Frame VR headset, which is fully wireless and apparently smart enough to only render ultra-detailed graphics in the parts of the screen you’re actually looking at — pretty wild! Analysts say it’ll probably appeal most to dedicated Steam players rather than casual console gamers, but it definitely feels like Valve is trying to carve out its own niche again. Personally, I think this could be a cool option for people who want PC power without building a full rig. What do you think — could this finally be Valve’s big console moment, or will it just end up as another enthusiast-only gadget?

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmKrKTwtukE

littleclaude

poopipe

The price of the cubey console thing isnt bad at all - you'd struggle to build something equivalent with new parts at RRP
 The closest pre-built mini-pc competition is probably Ryzen hx395 based, those are at least double - if not triple the price and I'm pretty sure the GPU performance is inferior (far better computers for doing computer stuff though)

It's a shame it couldn't be more in line with ps5 /seriesX but that's 2025 memory prices for you. 

I approve of that .  

Don't give a toss about the other stuff 

iam717

For those interested that haven't seen it or do not know about Steve from g.n. "an interview to more steam things".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3NSjvJDe6Ic

I myself am not interested in these techs, seems strange to want to live in a "digital world", i can see some appeal but in the end its still fake, entertainment is trying to hard i think to be "real-life".  I.e. and has lost itself from being fun and exciting to being dull and precautionary to approach, as in what are these tools really for, kind of "vibe", for a lack of a better word atm..

With the so-called hubbub about being laid-off, i wonder who is left to purchase all these new "tools".

MikeF

All over that steam frame, ive about run my index into the ground as a daily devkit

sacboi

SteamOS (Arch Linux) is probably the biggest drawcard for me but caveat is price, here in AUS hardware is usually hiked at 20% so we'll see. 

poopipe

Gabecube (love that) is still going to be cheap relative to anything equivalent

Personally.. probably won't buy one because I have a better PC for gaming and while I have a couple of Linux mini-pcs they only get used for coding/browsing etc. 

If you want steamOS and have a decent gaming machine  just dual boot your PC .  I'd run it if I didn't want a tiling window manager/hyprland

sacboi

In the new year If discretionary funds do allow purchasing one, then this cube thing will serve as an authoring platform mostly, really not interested playing games on it tbh and haven't touched linux since redhat at uni or indeed written OOP scripts (JAVA) as well, It's just I've had a gutful of MS.

Lamont

This would be a sweet device. I would like to get into VR development sometime soon, and I think this might be the kicker.