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The worst thing about the Steam Machine isn't the price, it's how little I get to use the Steam Controller's snappy magnetic dongle thingy

Puck's sake

A Steam Machine, Steam Controller, and Steam Controller charging puck all on a TV stand together.
Image credit: Rock Paper Shotgun

Talk of the new Steam Machine’s living room PC bona fides usually come down to its size or its noise, both of which could be described as "very little." In third place, I’d argue, must come its tidiness. Whereas my big-lad Windows PC has enough wires spilling out to strangle the Colossus of Rhodes, I rarely need to add to the power and display cables hidden behind Valve’s SteamOS cube; in particular, its integrated Steam Controller antenna means I get gamepad and (near enough) mouse input without so much as a USB receiver.

In a lounge environment, this is appreciated cable-cutting. But I’ve also discovered that it denies, or at the very least discourages, one of the Steam Controller’s most gratifying interactions: magnetically snapping on its cabled charging puck.

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James Archer avatar
James Archer: Dep ed James has been rattling around RPS in some way, shape, or form since 2015. As the site's former hardware editor, and owner of the tiniest screwdrivers out of anyone on the team, he writes about both games and the beep-boop stuff you play them with.
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