I dunno about this. On one hand, I do like Valve. Steam's pretty useful as a gaming platform, and even if I'm not a fan of all of their games, Valve is a pretty good company over all, compared to their competition. That, and I'd love a computer that small that would take up less room in my house.

On the other hand, I don't want to use Linux. I really don't. The only thing that would get me to switch is if I had to choose between it and Windows 8, because I hate Windows 8 more. That, and I'm still wondering if this is going to be able to run Steam and ONLY Steam.

The price point, I'd say, is what's going to be the make or break for this. If it's over $400, I can't see it working out.

I'm not sure I know what you mean by not wanting to "use Linux". The SteamBox will probably boot straight into a bespoke distro based on Big Picture mode and won't resemble any current Linux desktop distro in any way. Drawing on the tradition of "roll-your-own" distros in the Linux world, they'll be able to build a slimline gaming OS streamlining what libraries are loaded so that only those that are needed to support the games need be loaded at start up. Perhaps there'll be an option to go into a desktop, for those users who want to access the desktop for game-related things such as modding and development.

Anyway, I doubt that I'll be in the running for one of these - I'm not really interested in the ultra-small form factor, I'm not blown away by the specs, and I already have 3 PCs that can play modern games. I'm more interested in the development of the OS - as it's Linux-based the Steam distro will have to be open sourced and will be available to install on any PC. I will probably install the Steam distro on one of my current PCs and dual boot.

This is way to expensive.. simple as that.

Is anyone planning on getting this? 

If we're talking one of these, no.

For those that don't want to follow the link, this is the Xi3 Piston "console" that Valve are backing. Prices, as hinted at before, go from $1,000 upwards. Furthermore, these won't be the sort of gaming behemoths you'd usually expect at that price. Okay, maybe not a behemoth, but you can get yourself some decent kit for £6-700 ... for now. I think the landscape has changed now that the PS4 has been announced. No longer can we PC gamers luxuriate in the many advantages over current consoles, particularly memory. As the Xi3 Piston is prioritising form factor and low power draw over gaming power, I am not sure who it's trying to get on board really.

Not to mention that the Linux side of things, gaming wise, is still in a state of inertia. For me, if what comes out of the Steam box experiment is Linux gaming and the opportunity to choose Linux for gaming instead of Windows I'd be very happy, but I can't see a niche product like this helping to get the ball rolling.

EDIT: Ooh, there's been an update to the story I linked above in just the last few minutes. Seems as though Valve are distancing themselves from the Xi3 Piston. Mmm. I think they would be better getting on board with someone like Alienware, myself. I'd really like an Alienware X51. A (fairly) powerful (for now) PC in a console-esque form factor. Nice ...

The Alienware X51 does look very nice.  I am thinking of getting one for my new gaming PC.  But as a Wintel machine. 

It does look like it will be better suited for the Steambox.