I've had mine since Monday and so far I've been very happy with it. Because of my work schedule, I've probably only played about 2-4 hours but the convenience of how quickly it boots up or even just being able to pause/resume a game like on the Steam Deck has been amazing.

I got the 2TB Machine so I got the 2 extra faceplates, both are really nice and I've opted to go with the wooden one. All 3 (2 extras and the normal black one) feel very well built (each is slightly different due to the variation in materials) and are extremely easy to swap due to the magnets.

Setup was a bit tricky though. I'd gotten my Steam Controller when they initially came out so it was paired to my desktop PC. I tried to follow the setup video that Valve posted but even with the puck connected to my Machine, it just wouldn't work. If I wired the controller directly to the Machine, it would work for a couple of inputs then it would stop. That being said, I plugged in an Xbox controller, which immediately worked. Then after running the various firmware updates, the Machine actually recognized that the Steam Controller wasn't paired properly and it walked me through how to pair it with it. Since doing that, I've not had any issues with it and the controller has been able to turn on the Machine from sleep or even from a power off state every time I've tried. CEC has also been hit or miss, it's really convenient when it works but sometimes it won't switch the input or turn off my TV after shutting down. That being said, I'm pretty sure it's more an issue with my TV than the Machine since I've had similar CEC issues before.

Happy to test anything (non destructive of course) or expand on anything I've said if anyone is curious.

I will not call it overpriced because the current PC market is crazy because of AI. Even Valve isn't happy with the price.

Overpriced would mean that Valve would be making a significant profit. They will not.

At this point I’d be surprised if they are doing better than breaking even.

I got mine yesterday. Copying my thoughts from a comment in another thread:

Don't mind my essay here. TLDR: I love this thing.

I got mine yesterday. It's the 512GB with no controller since I already got the controller separately and the 2TB version felt like an especially bad deal.

I was initially on the fence about the price and reserved just to get into the queue to make the actual buy decision later. I was expecting more people to have thoughts on it out before my spot in the queue came up, but I ended up getting my purchase email very quickly on 6/30. I let the email sit for a day but ended up deciding to pull the trigger for a few reasons:

One, I've owned every first-party Valve device so far, and all of them have been more than the sum of their parts. Two, I wanted a HTPC, travel, and LAN party PC that's a bit less restraining than a laptop. Three, being a bit of a performance snob has been distracting me away from actually gaming and I wanted to get back into the no nonsense side of PC gaming again. And four, I don't mind spending a little extra money advancing Linux, repairable hardware, etc.

I feel like I have to acknowledge reviews from the PC space have been largely negative, but they seem to be undervaluing a lot: the form factor (a 6" cube is still tiny compared to almost all other SFF builds), performance per volume (almost the entire cube is a heat sink), and the benefits of more standard performance targets we've already seen with the Deck.

As for first impressions, the device is packaged well, and unboxing was very satisfying. I did have some trouble getting my controller paired since it was already paired to my existing desktop PC and plugging it in directly wasn't enough to get around that like I expected, but looking up how to pair it to multiple PCs got me past that.

I spent a few hours testing a mix of light to demanding games, and I'm more than happy with what it can do. I haven't tried gaming beyond 1080p yet, but I'm going to be very selective about when and how I do that. 512GB is proving to be plenty of space for what I'm playing at any one time, and I think that would still be true if I didn't have other devices acting as additional storage.

I feel like all my expectations above have been validated, and now I'm really looking forward to getting the Frame. I want to make a travel backpack or suitcase with foam cutouts for the whole set.

I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3, as it crashes my desktop so I've not been able to play it for the last year or two.

Skip avocado toast.
Haven't they told you?

This was mine:

You're officially in the reservation queue for Steam Machine 2TB

I assume if you do not put the 2TB, you'll hit any of the variations you have selected... unless they change it.

I passed on the reservation. 2TB is the worst variation because you're paying the $300 extra for a 2TB nvme drive, and you don't get the controller for $80 that retails for $100 and ebays for $300 (not that i've ever sold anything on ebay.. but if i'm getting f'd by memory prices I want my purchase to be worth it vs the value. 2TB nvme drive for $300 more than a 512gb one is absolutely not worth it even with modern prices.

edit: another one you should probably look for is the 72 hour timer email

Please confirm your Purchase Information for Steam Machine 2TB

is the second email I got letting me know I had the 3 days remaining.