It is getting absurd at this poin. Just get a laptop and call it a day
Not big enough. I want to carry a 55’’ “mobile” gaming device with me. Make it bigger!
I find it absolutely hilarious that every single company has a “Steam Deck killer” yet not a single one of them have any idea what made the Steam Deck popular, all they understand is PC handheld with controller (Lenovo is starting to catch on tho).
What are they missing thst the steam deck has? Price?
The steam deck the absolute most ergonomic handheld I’ve ever tried. It’s so fucking comfortable to game on. I love how they put the joystick the same level as the buttons where my thumb moves very naturally between the two. It has amazing touchpads. Great battery and performance. It’s just an amazing device.
Once I got a Steam Deck, going back to a Switch (for ToTK) feels super awkward for my right thumb. Like I have to hold it funny to adjust the camera and then shift to hit the buttons. Never noticed it before I got my Deck.
100%. I have a onexplayer and it’s very hard to play on it with the joystick directly under the buttons. I’m having to move my hand up and down constantly.
Price, software, hardware quality, touchpads, gyro, and a decent sized community
I mean in a lot of ways they literally can’t compete on these things. Price/quality are difficult cause valve can sell their product at a loss (cause theyll make it back on steam sales), software is weird cause who is investing a whole OS to just sell hardware (valve can cause it’s directly tied to their marketplace).
Id give you TouchPad, but I don’t know what the patents are on those, cause I’ve only seen that design on valve products.
I don’t believe Valve is selling them at a loss, but they definitely have less pressure to profit because they are not a publicly traded company.
It’s not even about being publicly traded. I suspect they’re taking the console approach where you count on the attach rate (people buying steam games) to make you money.
Not people publicly traded or having to answer to investors is important because you don’t have to maintain forever increasing profits. You can take more risks and focus on your users needs. Most brands put out lame products because they are trying to keep a certain margin of profit.
In short, Steam Deck was made so that the people at Valve would want to use the Deck. Meanwhile most of the competition is operating on “bigger numbers mean better product”.
even with the tiny switch screen we played smash ult on it in kickstand mode with controllers in the break room. turns out if everyone uses dual joycon you get mad input lag before reaching max players. surprisingly playable if everyone can see.
with a bigger lug like this that would be a nicer experience with less squishing together
Nah the steam decks are laptops but cheaper
Just get a little usbc > usbc/hdmi/usb and you can plug in a keyboard and mosue and then you have a gaming linux laptop for like $350
Show me another capable gaming laptop you can get for $350
You’re missing the actual point, at what point does it become cumbersome to hold a big ass screen in your hand that is also the controller?
The Steam Desk isn’t cumbersome tho, at least not more cumbersome than any laptop would be. I really struggle to see how any of the concerns in this thread are legit.
If there were competative gaming laptops that had the samr power as a Deck then people would be buying those instead of Steam Decks, that’s why they’re so popular.
TBH this thread sounds like a marketing campaign that idiot c-suies would assign to a troll farm instead of actually competing with their competitors.
You started your point by saying get this extra thing, to use extra things. It’s cumbersome.
It’s not a laptop, and the hardware sadly has been unreliable in my experience. It’s just a hobby piece of hardware, just less cool than the dedicated stuff like the Vita.
It’s cool that it has that flexibility, but it sadly isn’t a computer someone can regularly dedicate to unless they have all the extra time to sett it up on the go.
My Steam Deck has largely replaced my laptop, so there is some overlap, but I wholeheartedly agree with your assessment. If you are carrying a keyboard & external screen to work on spreadsheets with you Steam Deck, you would be happier with a laptop.
I have a 60% Bluetooth keyboard and a relatively compact mouse that I can carry with me, but by that point a compact laptop would be more portable with a larger screen.
Using the on screen keyboard and built-in screen to edit spreadsheets would constitute a crime against humanity. Don’t do it, there’s so much more to live for.
The reason it’s replaced my laptop is that I mostly use my laptop for gaming, and the Steam Deck excels at that. Most places I would use a laptop for something else, I have ready access to surplus keyboards and mice. At my parents there is an old TV with HDMI, and I stashed a basic USB mouse and keyboard there over a decade ago. My Steam Deck and a small hub is all I need.
Because of the need of external devices, I kind of consider the Steam Deck a combination of a handheld and a really portable desktop tower.
Honestly it’d help if they switched to a touch friendly desktop interface like gnome. Yep! Its definitely a nice way to have your game on the go.
Sadly I notice that’s the 2 types of use cases. Commuter vs traveler. I take public transport often and I’d care too much about the steam deck being taken. Back when it was just me traveling to a place I’d be at for a while, like my fiancee’s it was nice.
Size means I need to be near an outlet usually, since ideally the goal is play bit more demanding games. Again, I feel it’s still too early for it to be the multitool it can be.
I really wanted to like the steam deck. I’ve had one for nearly a year now and I’ve yet to find a use for it. It’s been unplugged and probably dead on my tv stand for at least six months now.
I’ve had the opposite experience, I almost exclusively game on it because I can use it lying in bed. So much more comfortable than sitting at a desk for me.
Are you using it’s native power or streaming?
This is far too big, but still preferable over laptops if you just wanna game
This is also a killer tablet, actually
Linux tablets when?
Some people have been running linux on surface tablets I think?
Install bazzite! I have a Legion Go and I love it with Bazzite.
Does everything work on it running BazziteOS? Including hardware like TDP and wattage limit and all that? I’ve been thinking of the legion go. It looks nice
I’ll confirm what they said, everything works fine. I actually get better performance in some games versus windows.
Thank you <3
I also own a legion go and yes. Yes it does.
Nice, thank you so much for confirming. I’ll be getting one hopefully soon
Be warned that it’s big. The screen is beautiful and I really like that aspect of it, but I’m more comfortable with the ROG Ally x because of the size. That being said, I have small hands and I know others didn’t have this problem with it.
I don’t mind its size that much, I have a onexplayer 8.8" screen. It’s massive and heavy, too. I hate one thing about it, though. The placement of the right joystick. It’s very awkward and very hard to play any game that requires the joystick. I’m having to move my whole hand up and down constantly. Other than that, it’s beautiful. I love the 2560x1600 resolution. It’s stunning.
i agree. the reason steam deck and other handhelds work well is because of the smaller screen/resolution.
makes it light and games run ok due to the smaller resolution. a chonker like this completely defeats the purpose of a handheld imo.
Idk if I’d call the deck light.
compared to a laptop, I would. even a small one.
I’m not holding a laptop in front of my face while lounging on a sofa
mazel tov. enjoy.
edit: lol. i missed the “not” cause I read too fast. enjoy what you’re playing regardless.
Try the onexplayer and you’ll call it extremely light then. Lol
Every other PC handheld runs at 1080+. And while I agree 800p is the ideal resolution there’s clearly a market for higher resolution. Especially for those of us running lighter games.
oh I’m good where I am with the deck. in future I’m sure it will get smaller, not bigger.
that, and competitors can’t seem to come up with a decent trackpad the way steam deck has. so competitors will need more than a higher resolution and a huge fat monitor.
just my opinion, anyway.
I agree, steam decks res is high enough. It’s ppi destroys 4k screens and yet people think they want higher res screens??? All while complaining about battery life???
Honestly the deck is already pushing how big a handheld can be and still be portable/handheld. I don’t think I would want anything larger
Agreed, sometimes I even wish there is a “Deck Lite” model.
Yeah if they could find a way to shave even 30-50 grams that would make a big difference
Yah, it appears that 650g is the maximum weight im willing to hold for more than 30 minutes. Even then I’d rather use my ipad as a steam link.
My hands are tired just looking at it
😂
Honestly, it kinda makes sense with the detachable controllers. It’s essentially a very powerful tablet. It’s less practical but it serves a different niche than the Steam Deck IMO.
I get it, but it wouldn’t be a handheld anymore. What’s a handheld if it makes your arm tired after a couple of minutes? Plus, the battery life on this thing is going to be abysmal with the 55wah battery they put in it.
This is the kind of thing you take with you on vacation in a motorhome at a campsite. Situations where a PC is not practical but you’re stationary enough to not have to worry about the size or the battery life.
Makes sense. I can see me doing that. Lol
A couchheld?
That’s what I said the second I saw it. Too big to be practically portable, for me anyway. So it’s basically a bigger steam deck that you only use at home. Not a bad idea, but not worth what they are charging for it, not for me anyway.
Lately I’ve been using an 8 year old 13" Chromebook and an old xbone controller to stream steam games from my PC to my couch.
No it’s not portable, but it’s all I would use it for anyway, and it cost me nothing but the parts I had laying around. Anyone else could probably do the same thing for just $100-200. Not $1000+.
I’m not against buying new stuff, and new technology. But it’s not always needed. For me anyway 🤷♂️
I don’t think 11 inch is absurdely big. That’s the screen size of the current iPad air.
The iPad probably weights less than half what this thing does, and probably takes up a lot less space.
Also it’s probably faster and almost certainly gets better battery life.
Faster in what way?
iPads have ridiculously powerful cpus and gpus
If an iPad ran steamos and supported steam controller in some kind of wacky timeline it would clean up all the competition. This thing is like 400g for 13 inch oled m4 beast battery all day. The numbers are pure insanity
Yea? Are the graphics of the ipad that good? They have iphone level chips right (except for the pro ones, but those are like $1000+)
They have laptop level chips right now
There is no more iPad, just pro, air, mini, and the newest air has an M2 chip, though it’s a bit handicapped with one less GPU core
That being said, no, an M2 chip on an iPad Air is nowhere near dedicate GPU hardware like on these handhelds.
https://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benchmark=gfx50&D=Apple+iPad+Air+6th+Gen+(M2)&testgroup=overall
As you said, maybe once you get into iPad Pro ranges with the M4 chip, but at that price point it’s way more.
Still very cool that it is even possible on arm chips in such slim devices. The future of handhelds might just be a lot slimmer an energy efficient if ARM really catches on.
If an iPad ran SteamOS, it would choke on running out of memory before Steam was done loading.
Thats both true and not really relevant, considering the iPad’s game library.
That’s why it is so frustrating, the OS sucks for many things and is very limited
iPads have been overpowered for a long time. Long before Apple Silicon came around.
You’re probably right on the battery, as this thing has a tiny (compared to its screen and res) battery of 55wah
Such an Acer move to put a tiny battery in such a big (relatively) power hungry device. That’s what I hate the most about cheap PC manufacturers.
My next question is is this going to be built like an Acer as well?
True, but iPads don’t have inbuilt controllers, and packing one would inherently make it less portable than a deck. I think if you’re making a portable gaming system, your maximum screen size is sharply constrained by the form factor of the controller around it.
Im down with the screen size but it really needs 4 back buttons instead of 2 and at least 1 trackpad for me to really consider any handheld. I also really like the scroll wheel on my legion go but I can do without on that
Give it one of those detachable cardboard keyboards and it it would be an overgrown Surface competitor.
Smart move. People keep buying ridiculously oversized phones. Smaller ones somehow do not sell. So why not apply the same concept to tablets
If it’s not too too heavy, I’m not opposed.
Bigger screen will make touchscreen typing on a keyboard less of a PITA
Some games require rarely typing into the on screen keyboard, and as much as I like my ROG Ally, the small screen makes the onscreen keyboard a real pain to type on
Honestly what I’d like is a secondary N64 style center back handle that I can hold with 1 hand while I type with the other, to make the typing way more stable.
Awkwardly holding it out on the left side way off center fulcrums it as I type, which makes it less stable. You need some genuine wrist strength to fight against that lever action while typing.
So, instead, I usually awkwardly rest it in my lap while I try and type so it’s stable at least. But this moves the screen a lot farther away so now I gotta squint at the small ass letters as I aim and type. Makes me feel like a goddamn boomer having to adjust my glasses and squint at the screen.
So… yeah I dunno, I feel like this is something that could use a better solution.
I guess I could use my Tap XR… 🤔
I have a onexplayer and it’s freaking heavy as hell. I love the steam deck. It is better in every aspect, especially the ergonomics of it. I despise how all of these devices have the right joystick under the buttons. It’s so awkward
Absurdly massive and yet no space for some touchpads? 🤡
The steam deck has 2 touch pads that work better than laptop trackpads
The device in the OP is not the steam deck
Yeah, how is it that none of these so-called “rivals” have even a single touchpad? I personally wouldn’t even consider a device that forces me to use a thumbstick as a mouse.
Gotta be honest, i hardly ever use them on the Deck.
If I don’t have it docked I use the right one for anything first-person. I hate aiming with a thumbstick, so it gets used as a mouse. The left one usually gets used as a hotbar.
I’d even settle for a Lenovo-style nipple for mouse control.
The Legion Go has a touchpad. I think even the newer one that’s been announced has an (albeit much smaller) touchpad.
I’ve never used the touchpads on mine outside of desktop mode. The vast majority of games have controller support.
It depends what you play. Strategy games benefit from the touchpads as mice.
Also I sometimes use the touchpads for touch menus.
Yes it does, but as I said, the games that necessitate trackpads are a super minority. That’s why they’re not included in most devices. They take up a lot of space. The Steam Deck is significantly wider than most of it’s competitors.
nah babe just COVER your screen in fingerprints! everyone loves touch screens right??
“I appreciate covering my screen in fingerprints, obviously. But what really makes me happy is trying dozens of times to get my fat thumb to register on an interface designed for a mouse.”
- a quote by someone making hardware decisions at SteamDeck rival manufacturers, apparently.
Lmfao. I didn’t even notice that. Damn. They didn’t even put the joystick next to the buttons on the right side like the steam deck for better ergonomic, they STILL put it under the buttons.
