Why My 6 Year Old Gaming Laptop Is Still Better Than The Steam Machine

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If you’re a PC gamer and a fan of Valve, which makes the Steam Deck, you’re probably excited about the Steam Machine. For those who don’t like PC gaming, Valve says the Steam Machine is “a powerful PC game packed into a roughly 6-inch cube.” This makes it a great living room PC console, where you can finally play your entire Steam library on your TV without worrying about building a small form factor desktop (which could get expensive). You can also easily plug it in and play it on your TV, which is probably the biggest advantage of this device.

The PC gaming company announced the Steam Machine in late 2025, and many have been excited about its imminent arrival. That’s because it uses the same SteamOS found on the Steam Deck, but pairs it with much more powerful hardware. This is especially important for gamers who are tired of the bugs and bloat provided by Windows 11, and several tests have suggested that the former is much better when it comes to gaming.

However, that doesn’t mean the Steam Machine is a generally superior product for everyone. In fact, as much as I want to get the console, I’ve realized that my six-year-old gaming laptop is still a better device for my use.

The biggest downside to the steam engine is that it is quite expensive for what you get. The base model console, which only includes 512GB of storage, starts at $1,049 and you have to pay $79 more if you want to bundle a Steam controller. If you need more storage, you’ll have to pay $300 more to get the 2TB version. For over $1,000, you get a semi-custom AMD Zen 4 CPU and a semi-custom AMD RDNA3 GPU with 8GB of GDDR6 VRAM paired with 16GB of DDR5 RAM.

Unfortunately, that’s not much when it comes to PC specs. My current gaming PC, which I purchased in 2020, has an Intel Core i7-10870H CPU and an RTX 3060 laptop GPU with 6GB of VRAM, 32GB of DDR4 RAM, and 2.5TB of storage. The Steam Machine has better performance than my gaming laptop given its newer hardware. However, the console’s CPU and GPU aren’t that new – AMD released Zen 4 and RDNA 3 architectures in 2022, which means you’re getting four-year-old hardware – and the difference from my current hardware isn’t worth the $1,049 price tag.

If you’re willing to spend that much money on a new gaming device, you’re better off buying something like this Asus V16 gaming laptop, which comes with an RTX 5060 laptop GPU, an Intel Core 7 240H processor, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Its regular price is $1,299.99, making it close to the more expensive 2TB version of the Steam Machine, but it is sometimes on sale for around $1,099.99. If you miss this sale price, you can find other models with similar or even better specifications at a discount.

Valve’s Proton compatibility layer has allowed tons of games designed specifically for Windows to run seamlessly on SteamOS. But despite this, SteamOS (hence the Steam Machine) has several limitations – the most important, when it comes to gaming, is its incompatibility with several anti-cheat applications. So if you like to play games that require it, like Fortnite or Battlefield 6, then the Steam Machine is automatically out of the question. On the other hand, this won’t be a problem with my old Windows gaming laptop.

Other than that, the Steam Machine is primarily designed for gaming. While you can potentially use it for desktop productivity, you’re bound to encounter limitations that wouldn’t otherwise be a problem with Windows. This is especially true if you prefer apps that aren’t natively available on Linux, like Microsoft 365 or Adobe Creative Suite. While you can rely on web versions of these apps or use free, compatible alternatives, sometimes you just can’t avoid using essential Windows software that isn’t available on Linux.

If I really intend to play with a controller, I could just get the Steam controller and connect it directly to my computer. And since I have a gaming laptop, I can simply move it under my TV and connect it via HDMI cable to play on a bigger screen.

The biggest advantage I can say about my gaming laptop over the Steam Machine is that I can use it virtually anywhere. Even though its battery is already quite old, I could still play for a few minutes away from a power outlet on my device, which is almost impossible on the Steam Machine unless you bring a battery with a built-in AC outlet. Aside from that, a Steam Machine doesn’t have a built-in screen, which means you need to bring a portable monitor if you want to use it outside or at least an HDMI cable if you want to play games in your hotel room.

A gaming laptop is also much easier to carry around than the Steam Machine. Although its small form factor means it doesn’t have the bulk of other desktops, the thin panel of a gaming laptop is still more ergonomic to slip into a bag or luggage than the cube-shaped console. Additionally, if you prefer to play on the go, you’re better off getting a Steam Deck than a Steam Machine. But since I find the handheld screen too small, I usually end up playing on the 15-inch screen of my gaming laptop.

Many gaming laptop models offer a simpler upgrade path than the Steam Machine. Note that not all gaming laptops are equal and some models don’t come with upgradeable RAM and storage, but my old laptop has two SODIMM slots, two NVMe M.2 SSD slots, and a 2.5-inch SATA drive slot. This means I could easily upgrade it by simply removing the back panel and inserting whatever memory and storage I want. In fact, that’s precisely what I did in 2024: I upgraded my computer from 16GB to 32GB of RAM, replaced the 2.5-inch hard drive with an SSD, and added an additional 1TB of NVMe storage. It took me 30 minutes to do this.

Unfortunately, this is not the case for the Steam Machine. The console has an easily accessible M.2 slot, which means you’ll need to transfer the operating system to the new drive if you want to upgrade the included 512GB to something even larger. Accessing SODIMM RAM slots is also quite a complex process, and you need to remove several components before you can reach them.

The only advantage for those looking to install more RAM on the Steam Machine as soon as they get it is that it comes with a single 16GB stick. This means you can simply buy a compatible 16GB and place it on your console to increase it to 32GB. However, users who don’t want to mess with the console’s innards would find themselves stuck with single-channel memory, which limits performance.

If you already own a pretty good gaming PC and have fallen in love with Steam’s gaming interface on the Steam Deck, you actually don’t need a Steam machine to enjoy it on your desktop. You can simply use Steam’s Big Picture mode by going to View > Big Picture Mode; you can even set it as your default view by clicking Steam Menu > Interface, then selecting Start Steam in Big Picture Mode. This way, you can easily use Steam with your controller as soon as you launch it.

As I said earlier, the Steam Controller also works well on PCs. So instead of spending $1,128 on a Steam Machine and a Steam Controller, why not just buy the $99 Steam Controller outright and plug it into your gaming laptop? The Steam Machine’s only real advantage over an already existing gaming PC with decent performance is HDMI-CEC, which allows for a seamless experience with your TV.

Since I’m not a big TV gamer, the Steam Machine doesn’t really appeal to me. When I occasionally feel like gaming on my 55-inch TV, I can either just plug my laptop into it directly via HDMI, or use Steam Remote Play for convenience.

The Steam Machine isn’t necessarily a bad product, even given its relatively high price (which isn’t Valve’s fault anyway). It has advantages over a traditional desktop, such as providing a seamless experience with your TV or not requiring you to build an SFF PC yourself. You also don’t need to pay a subscription for online games, unlike PlayStation and Xbox, which require you to pay a monthly subscription.

However, it’s a niche product designed for specific types of gamers: those who already own a Steam Deck and want to play games on a larger screen while sitting on the couch, those who have a huge Steam library and want to enjoy it on their TV, or those who want to add a small gaming PC alongside their PlayStation or Xbox.

If you’re like me and prefer to game with a mouse and keyboard on a desk, you should just save that $1,049 and spend it on a new gaming PC that will last six years or more once the memory shortage is over. If you’re a console gamer with an already extensive library on PlayStation or Xbox, you’re better off sticking with your current platform, unless you want to try PC gaming with a controller and are willing to repurchase your favorite titles on Steam.