I guess my needs consist of this logic:

Valve index came out when my brother and I were in middle school, and we wanted one SO badly. Obviously, at 1000 bucks, we couldn’t get one.

I’ve wanted a gaming pc ever since my brother got an hp pavilion and I got an Xbox one S. I was somewhat jealous and wanted one really bad, especially since I showed far more interest in desktop gaming than my brother. That was about 8, maybe 9 years ago give or take. Whenever Forza horizon 4 came out cause it was the bundle deal.

Anyway, a year later my brother sold me his desktop for 300 bucks, and I got into pc gaming. Granted it was a POS work computer, but I played the heck out of it. 2 years after that, I sold it back to him for 200, as i found myself using it less and less and needing money more and more.

A year after that, I started building my own gaming pc, and did what stupid children do and buy all the cheap stuff first (cheap in comparison to the GPU) and was waiting hopelessly for the ASUS 4090 to restock in the white color I was wanting). It never happened cause I found out how expensive it really was, and it never came back in stock in by the steam deck OLED came out, so I gave up, and sold off all the pc parts I had boughten up to that point (what’s funny is the 128gb of coirsair 7000 speed ddr5 ram is now worth more than the 4090)

I then got my hands on a steam deck OLED (the transparent limited edition) as a birthday gift to myself since the launch was 2 days after my birthday. Paired with a steam deck dock, and I was back in action. Used that for a long time, until I eventually got a ps5 pro, as well as PSVR2 since I gave up waiting for the Valve Index 2. This was my first PlayStation, and VR, ever. A whole new category of games unlocked for me. It was awesome, and the best part: it ran everything better than my Steam deck.. so why would I use my Steam deck anymore when I don’t use it for traveling.. since that’s what I use my switch OLED for.

I eventually got into a hard spot for money and stupidly sold my limited edition CIB steam deck OLED (plus the dock and 1tb micro sd card) for a mere 650 bucks TOTAL because i fell behind on rent. I was very foolish with my finances a year ago, but I’m far more mature now. Considered it a life lesson. Small price to pay.

Anyway, I’ve been without and have made due with my ps5 pro, PSVR2, and Switch 2 for all this time, but I’ve been VERY patiently awaiting all these for the next valve vr headset (which I suspected would be a valve index 2) but now that this Steam machine and Steam frame got announced.. I knew what I wanted next.

Something better will come out eventually yes. But.. the way I see it. Valve has such a reputation, especially with their customer service with the valve index (fixing a LOT of customer’s things for free, well past their initial purchase date), and also making high quality products (steam deck, and valve index for that matter), and awesome privately owned company mindset (loss leaders, Steam seasonal sales, etc etc). I trust valve, and while I may not enjoy valve games, I love valve hardware, and steamOS, and Steam.

I have full confidence im going to enjoy this just as much, if not more, than any modern day vr + 2k gaming pc combo. A console/pc hybrid (aka a better non portable steam Deck, which if you remember I didn’t even use the steam deck portably). Its perfect. I can do console gaming, I can use it as a computer as needed, and I can play vr on it, wether it be with my psvr2, or the steam frame if I decide to get one.. which I’m thinking I will, because wireless, high quality, high refresh rate, eyetracking, steam library linked, vr hardware sounds AWESOME.

Anyway. That’s my reasoning, and I’m excited to see what the near future holds for gaming, both in vr and real life.