People complaining about the Steam Machine price don't seem to understand that: Valve is not subsidizing the computerThe computer is not locked down like a traditional console. You do not need to pay a monthly or yearly fee in order to play your games onlineThe Steam store consistently has the best sales on the marketThe computer has access to every game in my library that can run on the hardware, as does any computer that runs SteamValve will not charge you an upgrade fee per game when the Steam Machine 2 is releasedThe cost to build an equivalent PC is slightly less, yes, but you literally cannot build a PC that has the same form factor as the Steam Machine. Mini-ITX is still bigger than the Steam Machine. The difference is huge. I could not fit a Mini-ITX computer in my TV room, I could fit a Steam Machine in my living room If you consider only points 2 & 3 above, the lifetime cost of owning a Steam Machine is probably on par with the lifetime cost of owning any other console.