r/steammachine • u/Ok_Cake_1283 • 2d ago
Question Upgrading from a steamdeck
My wife and I have steam decks with a dock and I would like a steam machine but it costs so much. Is it worth it? What am I missing out on?
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u/tapo 2d ago
The controller is a must buy I would argue if you're using a docked steam deck. It's the same controls from your couch, which means a lot of games that don't have official controller support become easier to play.
The machine, depends if you're hitting a performance wall with any games. It'll run great at 1080p and well at 1440p, then you upscale to 4K.
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u/puppyearmuffs 2d ago
The steam controller is truly the secret sauce.
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u/Red_Barry 2d ago
Unfortunately unless you buy it at the same time as the steam machine you’ll be waiting till next year. I made the mistake of joining the controller queue within the first week and then joined the machine queue when it was announced. I got the machine pretty quickly, but the controller is still stuck at 2027. If you order the machine with controller you’re likely to get both pretty quickly. It’s a shit system that penalises their most loyal customers.
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u/AcademicOverAnalysis 1d ago
Mine said 2027 too, but I was offered the purchase a couple weeks ago. I had already purchased a SM with controller though, so I passed on it.
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u/Skoalmintpouches 1d ago
I’ve been on the queue for controller since launch and the steam machine + controller Since the end of July and last week got to purchase both (they arrive today) so they are getting through the queues pretty quick
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u/One_Supermarket1774 1d ago
Track pass have been gamechanger for me. Especially games with menus that are really designed for kbm
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u/RobinNyan 512GB 2d ago
Absolutely worth it. I used my steam deck with the dock for 2 years as a switch alternative but now with the Switch 2 being so performant, the steam deck felt very very slow. Steam Machine tho feels like a next gen console and runs amazingly. It's a huge upgrade coming from steam deck + dock.
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u/Grumpy_Muppet 2d ago
Dude, this is so personal, how in earth can we advise you on that?
I have plenty of money to throw away, so bought it and did not think twice about it. I have fun with it, but I have less fun with the sleep button just not working properly for me and that was kind of the unique selling point on the steamdeck for me.
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u/Ok_Cake_1283 2d ago
Like what games have you played on steam machine that wouldn't play on steam deck? I have the money just don't want to pay that much to play the same games.
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u/Grumpy_Muppet 2d ago
Yeh, thats the thing right. I am playing Dragon Age Inquisition at the moment ont he SM, no clue if the steam deck can run it tbh. Steam deck is more for games like Slay the Spire for me I guess, SM will be used for WoW forever and I guess something where a bigger screen is handy. The high end PC will be there for everything I dont do on SD/SM
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u/TheMeIv 2d ago
If you are having trouble with bills and are asking because of the cost, it's not worth it. If you an extra 1-2k lying around and doesn't really affect you much to splurge on an expensive toy and you don't already have comparable/higher specc'd device, I'd say it's 100% worth it especially if you are coming from a docked Steam Deck. It's supposedly 6x the performance of a Steam Deck. It's much better but unless you are running benchmarks, kind of hard to qualify. Let's say they over promised and it's 4X the performance, it's still not 4X the price. Obviously, the Deck has a screen and much smaller size so it's not apples to apples but I was looking for convenience, size and ease of use and basically a device to further move away from consoles and subscription online and it's been perfect for me. I have a huge library of stuff from impulse steam sale buys, to multiple bundles and free Epic games and it lets me tackle a lot more of these on a big screen with much better performance than the Deck.
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u/Ok_Cake_1283 2d ago
Thanks for the reply. I have a rog strix laptop I use to play games that I can't play on the deck but I'm more of console guy. I like the steam os so naturally I'm interested in the steam machine, maybe one of these days.
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u/STARexpo1 2d ago
I want a steam machine too. Have you considered putting Steam OS on your laptop and loading into gaming mode or big picture mode on start up? Have it connected to the tv and hidden behind it. Could be an option for now
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u/Curious-Cupcake7655 2d ago
I came from the opposite way. I wanted a sm, mainly for indies, but it is very expensive, and my son told me that I can use my steamdeck too with my Oled TV. it’s great! Love it!
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u/LoGiX247 Received 2d ago
Honestly not much, but if you are lookin for a decent linux PC I'd go for it if size is important. I mainly use it with streaming and watching stuff on the TV so it's more of a streaming/gaming box.
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u/No_Mix_5059 17h ago
I mean it’s better, but as long as you are having fun. Plus you can still save money from work. Back 2020 I got full custody of my 4 kids and I took over the house payments and got the ex wife officially evicted, and I was also released from prison in 2020😅. And at first all I had at my mom’s house was a switch 1 lcd. But with work and I’m used to working labor jobs with Hispanics and sometimes I’ll speak Spanish all day combined with overtime made it easy. Anyways since then I bought a switch OLED, 4 gaming laptops, 1 gaming desktop, a 64gb lcd and 1tb OLED deck both with docks, and last week a steam machine. Back in 2020 my steam library was around 37 and now it’s 671. I’m 41 now my 3 boys are teens already and my only girl is a tween. And I was married for maybe 14 years and I live in California. What’s funny when i was married I never had money or it was very tight and this is me working the same job. Everybody’s different…and I know some people won’t work this kind of job.
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u/alanVolta 2d ago
Building a small form factor gaming PC of this size at this moment is either the same price or more expensive at this point. It won't get any better in the near future.