Worried About the Steam Machine's Price? There's Already a Cheaper Alternative

Valve's recently announced Steam Machine is primed to put the PC gaming giant in direct competition with home console makers like Xbox and PlayStation. Since the Steam Machine boasts features that make it more like a living room PC than a traditional gaming console, it's likely going to come with a hefty price tag. For gamers looking for a way to play their Steam library on their TV without breaking the bank with a Steam Machine, there is a more cost-effective option out there.
Gamers might be hard-pressed to find a more powerful living room gaming setup than the Steam Machine, which includes some impressive specs:
However, this powerful hardware is likely to come at a price that may be too high for the casual gamer to consider taking the plunge. As Valve rolls out its new line of hardware alongside the Steam Machine, the existing Steam Deck handheld surprisingly makes a fantastic home console alternative when combined with a few peripherals.
Despite revealing the internal specs of the Steam Machine, Valve has been tight-lipped about its price. Speculation suggests that the Steam Machine could cost anywhere between $700 to $1000, making it closer to the price of a gaming PC than a home console. The only thing Valve has confirmed is the Steam Machine won't have a subsidized price, meaning it won't be sold at a loss like other console manufacturers who make up for the loss with profit on the games themselves.
For the 50% of Game Rant readers who aren't planning to buy a Steam Machine, a Steam Deck may be able to effectively achieve the same result at a fraction of the cost. Currently, the available Steam Deck prices include:
While the 1TB OLED Steam Deck is approaching the expected price point of the Steam Machine, players can still replicate a home console experience with the two cheaper models. With the Steam Deck primarily being a handheld device, these cheaper models are priced comparatively to the Nintendo Switch 2, which retails for $450 or $500 bundled with a game like Mario Kart World or Pokemon Legends: Z-A.
In order to make a Steam Deck compatible with a TV, users will need to get a separate dock for it. Valve sells an official Steam Deck dock for an additional $79, but there are compatible third-party options out there for cheaper. A dock allows players to use their Steam Deck similar to a Nintendo Switch, where an HDMI cable is used to connect the dock to a TV to display the Steam Deck's screen on it.
Additionally, players will need some kind of controller to use with their Steam Deck while it is docked. The newly announced Steam Controller hasn't received a price, but an Xbox Series X/S controller or PlayStation DualSense controller are also compatible with the Steam Deck. Both of these controllers can be found for around $50, especially with PlayStation's Black Friday sales ongoing.
This brings the total for this setup to around $530 with the cheapest 256GB LCD Steam Deck, official Steam Deck dock, and controller. While the Steam Deck is less powerful than the Steam Machine, players who care more about the experience of playing their Steam library from their couch rather than the raw performance of doing so can use this budget setup to avoid the price of the Steam Machine.