Why? Look at how many people here say they want Steam OS, and Lemmy skews heavy toward Linux users. This is that, but OOTB.

I don't think it'll sell anywhere near as well as the Steam Deck, but it's also a less exciting form factor. I do think it'll sell a fair number of units though.

The cheapest equivalent prebuilt I can find with similar specs (RX 7600 is slightly better than the Steam Machine) is $850, and a DIY build is more like $900 (lots of corners cut), so there's probably not much margin on the prebuilt. Valve is probably saving some cash with their custom CPU, and they're probably shipping it with a Steam Controller, hence the $800 target. If component prices rise significantly before launch, I could see $1k.