> This is very interesting, I've wanted to play Alyx for a long time but could never justify the cost, assuming it needed a very expensive gaming pc. Maybe now I can afford it

Nope, no need for an expensive gaming PC, just an actual gaming PC.

As with cars, phones, etc. if your budget is tight you can always get so much more value by going for a used model from a generation or two back than you would get by spending the same money on something new.

> Would be a huge selling point for the steam deck if it could manage it on min specs

Steam Deck can technically run a few VR titles but it doesn't do it well. There is a lot of evidence that Valve has prototype standalone headsets running on Steam Deck derived hardware platforms (often referred to as "Deckard") but the hardware just isn't there for full quality PC VR.

I played on Legion Go. It's basically a Steam Deck with newer specs and native Windows support.

It ran, but barely. I probably spent half my playtime restarting the game, trying to find the happy coincidence of playability (because the other sessions were too rough). Being able to play Alyx was one of the reasons I chose the Go over the Deck.