Gee, a whole whooping %4.3 of folks have a RTX3060 so it is deemed 'most popular' and the GPU to equate or beat? LOL!!! (only 8GB of VRAM to boot!)
Sure, while the box I use THE MOST is powered by a mere GTX1650, I do have MUCH MORE capable GPU's & systems available. (why bother with them if they are not needed?)
It was a bit surprising that a 6C (assumed 6C12T) configuration was also the most popular however 8-12T appears to be 'enough' for 'most' games even in 2025.
It would be interesting to see how the available RAM plays out across the board - with 16GB being the most popular what percentage of folks are LOWER or higher at +32GB?
While it is hard to imagine that the Steam Machine is as good or BETTER THAN ~%70 of systems in Steams hardware survey but actual numbers don't lie.
Most PC Gamers ARE using fairly meager rigs to play games on.
People buy cheap PCs because they CASUALLY play games on them, don't want to invest in graphics cards/other components that take $ (premium) time and effort to install. They probably do other work/browse/etc on the PCs, so gaming isn't a priority.
So Valve making an assumption and gamble here that people just have ~$600 to invest in a gaming machine (at lower performance and functionality than current consoles) is quite the stretch. Not putting Netflix or other Streaming apps on it also limits the market here, many people that have consoles want those options.
It's an interesting gamble, especially because it's being released presumably within 2 years of a XBOX/SONY console refresh.
I have a Steam Deck, and even with Deck compatible games, there is somewhat of a learning curve for every new game versus the same experience on a console. It's enough to not bother. The battery life is also kinda meh, I ended up playing a few Deck games and then put it in my closet and play my PS5 Pro instead.
Steam has Cheaper games as it's bread and butter. Quite the gamble for them.
Wish they had a second version / option that was a bit more expensive but on like 5070ti level.