True, I agree.
Edit (mid-November): There are rumours that it could be north of 600.
In my head, unless it’s in the 400-600 range, a gaming laptop makes more sense. I suspect generally other prospective buyers would too.
Steam OS whilst great, still doesn’t run as many games as Windows. Particularly certain popular multiplayer ones with kernel-level anti-cheat.
At the moment all we have is Valve’s theory that if the Steam Machine becomes really popular, Devs might update their games to work on Steam OS/linux. But equally they might not.
In a world where everything is getting more expensive (apart from TVs), I’m not sure the average person has the spare income to buy another single-purpose machine (yes, Steam OS can do more, but it’s designed to be used for gaming). A Windows laptop is more flexible.
I can see this hardware appealing to a lot of people, regardless of price though. Kid’s first PC for example.
I really want this machine to be a success. I would love to ditch Windows completely, as soon as possible.
I don’t doubt that.
I think familiarity is also important, maybe more so than ease of use.
A lot of people know Windows and how to use it (at least for the basics.)
Steam OS is still extremely niche.
That’s why I think the Steam Machine has to have price on its side to push people to consider buying a gaming-focused PC rather than a more general purpose gaming laptop. Particularly when everyone is struggling with rising costs.