The problem is most steam machines are too expensive for the hardware they offer (even if they offered better hardware most of them are out of budget for most people).

Theres a good reason for it though, the companies making these have to make profit from them. Sony and MS can take a loss or break even when need be and make it up on game sales. Unless Valve want to absorb some of the cost when cutting prices on these Steam Machines they will never be at a viable price to find real success.

I don't think Steam machines have a chance. Not with the possibility of building a better rig at the same price. And they are releasing so many variations for such an uncertain market too......

Price is my biggest concern. Vulkan is a deliberate attempt to make the hardware have console level efficiency, as well as bring better AAA support and drivers to Linux.

I have to disagree, mods are still supported as is the workshop, 1100 games ported so far (100 in the last month alone) and you have full access to the linux software catalogue (SteamOS is debian based...so it all runs even if you do have to add another repository see a short list here https://packages.debian.org/stable/allpackages?format=txt.gz ).  You can even edit the source code of the OS itself.  It supports a huge array of controllers already (I have used standard gaming controllers, a wacom intuos, and even a wiimote on mine) and will have the steam controller built especially for it.

As far as choice goes you can also run a Steam Machine on other flavours of linux (ubuntu, arch, and so on) and many currently do because they are put together better as a desktop.  SteamOS is stripped down a bit by default (but that can be changed at will) and uses the Steam Big Picture interface which is standard controller friendly.  So the average user will still get mods and workshop features without PC complexity.

It is already a lower overhead system with most developers quoting a 10-15% boost in frame rates when they do a native port, but will be getting Vulkan (https://www.khronos.org/vulkan ) support for bare metal performance.  (DX12 is a windows only thing and not all versions of windows will support it).

I built my own because I could not wait till november... it is pretty sweet cost under a grand and blows the doors off a console fits nicely where the dvd player went in the living room (240 x 207.4 x 398.5 mm / 9.4 x 8.2 x 15.7 inch).  I like that there are multiple prebuilt models, not everyone has deep pockets.

I still like my console, but the Steam Machine gets most of my attention.  I am waiting for someone to hack together full wiiu gamepad support for the Steam Machine though... (one such project is here http://libdrc.org )

How do you feel about taxes? 

No thanks, i'll stick to my normal consoles.

Bingo, Newell, former Microsoft employee, is waging a high risk high potential reward againts Windows and DirectX.  His customers are requested new games, like Half Life 3, but instead he is spending company resources on a new OS and other tool.  It's could work out very well for them, but doesn't seem likely.  Seems even less likely with all their latest blunders - and the controller might be interesting, but I haven't tried it yet.

And as ktay95 said, these Steam Machines are PC's, they aren't being subsized like an Xbox One or a PS4.  So we aren't getting a same price giant performance bump or any other huge reason to get the SteamBox.

Short Answer: No

Long Answer: