Steam Machine: Here's how gamers want to use Valve's living-room PC

The most obvious use case is living-room gaming. The Steam Machine brings a user’s Steam library to the TV without requiring a bulky desktop PC in the living room, long HDMI cables, or potentially unreliable streaming solutions. As the Reddit thread shows, however, many fans have much more specific ideas in mind.

Reddit user u/Adventurous-Cattle53 asked how the high price, the pre-order lottery, and the expected delivery times have affected interest in the Steam Machine. While many users say they have lost interest and plan to look for alternatives, others remain interested in Valve’s living-room PC – and see it as more than just a traditional console for the TV.

The original poster describes the Steam Machine as a kind of “time machine” for his personal game library. Favorite titles could remain permanently collected in one place, regardless of whether he later switches back to another PC or console. He also sees the Steam Machine as the ideal home for a dedicated couch co-op library, making it easy to keep a collection of local multiplayer games ready to go – games that might otherwise have little room between AAA titles on PlayStation or Xbox.

Many users can also imagine using the Steam Machine beyond gaming, for example as a media server, multimedia hub, remote desktop client, or for smaller game development projects. If you have another idea for how the Steam Machine could be used, feel free to share it in the comments below.