While other vendors continually push out new handheld pc models, sticking similar internals into different shell designs and gradually bumping up RAM or the Processor, the Steam Deck just keeps selling like hot tasty cakes.
Windows on a handheld is just bad. It's that simple. A Steam Deck competitor needs a handheld friendly controller focused interface that is at least as good as Valve's. Our just straight up ship with Steam OS and use Valve's.
SteamOS still has many instances of awkward UX and some frankly broken behavior, especially while trying to use community features, it's just that every other offering has been worse.
It's heavily rumored that Microsoft is working on their own handheld, and it will be interesting to see how that shakes up the market. If microsoft just makes windows controller/handheld friendly, it will greatly improve all the windows handhelds.
However I strongly suspect that we'll instead see the microsoft handheld be locked down, only able to run microsoft store games. It'll still probably do better than all the other non-deck handhelds that way, but won't really be a handheld "PC" if locked down that way.
Third possibility is that Microsoft might do both, release and locked down handheld and release some lesser improvements for navigating windows with a controller. This outcome would make sense if they have different teams working on both at the same time.
Considering Microsoft is dropping support for Windows Mixed Reality devices with Windows 11 24H2, effectively sending millions of otherwise perfectly fine VR headsets to landfill with no recourse. I can see them releasing a handheld with a "custom" version of Windows that allows users to install Steam, GOG, Epic, etc... then bait and switch with a future "feature update" that makes compatibility "too hard" to support or a "security risk". Maybe the desktop mode is a "developer only" option that gets disabled, or you have to enable third party apps like in windows 10 S and that ability gets taken away. I wouldn't put it past Microsoft.
Maybe I'm just peeved at Microsoft for deciding that my VR headset will be E-waste even though the hardware is fine, or ignoring the concept of user consent by enabling OneDrive cloud backups for local folders by default while basically forcing you to create a Microsoft account to install Windows if you don't know the right sequence of arcane f-ing rituals to create a local account. But I don't trust them...
Despite how good the steam deck is, any competition is good. With MS hardware track record I don't have the highest hopes, but again: any competition is good.
Don't get me going on the way the soft keyboard doesn't always work or that you can't use the thumb sticks when you have it up. I'm here to enjoy the Steam Deck gangbang but sometimes you get a random dick in a place you weren't expecting it.
It's really funny to see how out of touch those companies are with the portable consoles. They clearly don't understand what makes the Steam Deck a good console. They focus on the hardware specs and that's it, minimal work on the software side (ROG Ally is at least trying).
Valve nailed it with the Steam Deck in various aspects: hardware is good, CAD files are available so it's highly customizable, but the cherry on top is the software integration, it is amazing and it's always improving.
IMHO software is the real reason for Deck's success (OS, Proton, compatibility badges, etc).
I bought it specifically because it directly and indirectly supports the Linux community at large. I'm now working on moving away from Windows for gaming, because they've made it possible with what they've done with tools like Proton and gamescope.
Me too :)
I'm gaming exclusively on Linux for more than 5 years now. The Steam Deck was a blessing for this already amazing Linux gaming ecosystem, so I had to buy one (actually two now, I really wanted the OLED version 😁)
I agree it is just silly and it really shows how far up their own ass a lot of high power business people are, they have no idea what the hell they are doing. The place to compete with steam is the slickness and polish of the software not the raw power of the hardware, that is the stupidest basket to put all your eggs in here as a steam deck competitor.
I think it speaks to a much bigger dysfunction in the video game hardware and software development world, people that get their dream job at a AAA game studio or hardware maker like ROG I think end up developing and testing with dream hardware setups and then totally lose sight of the importance of developing games and hardware that prioritizes accessibility in a cost sense but also in a usability sense.
I think these people pick up a steam deck, try to play Elden Ring at max settings, think "this is intolerably bad performance and graphics compared to my $3000 gaming rig, no one will play this" and don't realize the kind of betrayal that represents to the rest of us who can't afford much more than a steamdeck anyways, and have always gamed this way mainly focusing on indie games and extremely crunchy minimal graphics strategy games and playing a cool Battlefield 2 mod like Forgotten Hope 2 while we look at the latest battlefield and think "how much time could they have spent making that game good instead of making it graphically impressive for people that can afford $3000 gaming computer?".
The fact that it is a open linux device and I can launch in to KDE is the reason I got it. If it was some proprietary OS like other games consoles or Windows, I wouldn’t have bought it. The Steam Deck is such a breath of fresh air compared to how hostile other consumer electronics have become.
NONE of them have touchpads either. I dont understand why these high end computer companies are trying to sell a laptop that doesnt have even a single touchpad
Steam deck feels like a product people at Valve would use while the competition is making products they think would sell well. Turns out the product that feels good to use is much better than the product that looks better on paper.
Some of that reflects poorly on the hardware too. With a few exceptions, they've shipped a mouse-based operating system on hardware that lacks a good way to control a mouse. If they know that the hardware is running windows ahead of time, wouldn't it make sense to give users some good options for using windows?
There's also more obvious hardware issues like the ROG Ally burning up MicroSD cards.
NONE of them have the dual touchpads the steamdeck has either. Fucking seriously... Even if having to deal with windows wasnt a dealbreaker for me, having only thumbsticks to control a computer with is a hard pass for me
Other companies are fools for not almost directly copying the steamdecks control scheme, it should be a standard, that is what the deck is, a standard setter.
I think the Windows thing is spot on. You're going to be using a handheld gaming device for gaming mostly (if not entirely). You don't need to run Excel.
I think the justification for Windows on a gaming device though is kernel level anti-cheat. The problem is that you are chasing a pretty select audience. People who will play one of those games on a handheld, and will also only buy a handheld that can pay those games. Also won't install Windows on a Deck either.
An aside, I probably use Desktop mode more than average, and I have LibreOffice installed on my deck. Jokes on Microsoft though, I've been using Linux primarily for ages anyways, so I don't even need Windows for that.
Only reason I have overclocked Raspberry Pi 400 for net, office and bank stuff are those shitty spyware anti-cheats. This way I don't have to worry what kind of monstrosities are installed on my deck, because it's only used for gaming, but you are right, you can manage with just the deck, unless you need some high end proprietary windows software for your self-employed work.
They're all still amd64 tho, so it's fairly trivial to install linux on them. For the full Steam Deck experience you could get one of those SteamOS isos or just configure it to launch the steam console UI inside gamescope at boot
The big thing is that the Deck uses Linux which allows Steam to provide an amazing interface
For most people, i think it's just that it has a good UI. They don't bother whether it's linux-powered.
Maybe it's possible to create a good UI in windows as well, but it will be bogged down by 100s of unwanted processes.
Thats hardly the big thing because it also restricts what can play on the deck. The user experience is nice, for the 50% of the games that might run on it.
I'm all for competition and they are getting better but they just miss the mark. While some of them are faster than the Steam deck, their frame rate lows and averages don't get close to how stable it can be. Plus the touch pads, joy stick functions, 4 rear buttons. It's everything you need and the price is better than theirs. I had the original LED since launch and have since upgraded to the OLED model and it was absolutely worth it. The improvements they made to the touchpads, reduced weight and a gorgeous screen are fantastic.
It baffles me how people get the ROG Ally over it. Maybe because they hear that some games may not run on Linux? Those are usually competitive FPS' that I wouldn't want to play on a handheld anyway and if you really wanted to you could just install Windows 10/11 onto a MicroSD and boot to Windows.
I got the ROG Ally over it because Bazzite feels mature enough to compete, I like the smaller footprint and higher resolution, but above all because the ROG Ally has a shit 2nd hand market and I could scoop one up for $300
Ah, buying it used also prevents having to rely on ASUS for dealing with a warranty when it breaks. This is smart since ASUS will screw you over the first chance they get.
It would have to be game changing! Get it?!? “Game” changing?!? Ah, whatever.
Awful puns aside, it really would have to be a major step up in hardware. The Steam Deck is a platform developers (plus accessory makers and open source devs for emulators and stuff) seem to care about. Even modern AAA game devs will often try to make their games playable on it even if they have to compromise. (It may not be technically possible or economically feasible but devs seem to all want to support the Deck even if their bosses have other plans.)
At some point, it’ll be impossible for the Deck’s hardware to handle recent games and then we’ll all upgrade to something that sets a new baseline and strikes a better balance — whether Steam Deck 2 or a competitor. But my guess is that it’s going to be more about hardware generations than something Microsoft does. (Proton might be nearly perfect by the time Microsoft makes a decent controller interface and they seem to be focused on shoehorning AI into Notepad and Paint instead of doing useful things.)
While other vendors continually push out new handheld pc models, sticking similar internals into different shell designs and gradually bumping up RAM or the Processor, the Steam Deck just keeps selling like hot tasty cakes.
There's multiple other devices out there now that are in a few ways more powerful than the Steam Deck, but that hasn't seemed to matter a whole lot to Valve.
Especially since the release of the Steam Deck OLED, which was a pretty huge upgrade, it's constantly a global top seller for Valve.
When compared with other vendors like GPD, AYANEO, ASUS and all the others, Valve of course have the Steam store to back it up.
Other vendors don't really have anything like that, so Valve are in a more unique position to stick to one main model.
You only have to look at the new built-in Game Recording feature to see, and the upcoming SteamOS 3.6 that recently moved from Preview to Beta that again brings in some big additions.
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I think sometime in the next few years an ARM based portable gaming PC could challenge the Steam Deck. ARM is a more efficient architecture, so it could have significantly more battery life, the only hurdle is getting x86 emulation performant enough.
Yeah, I'm hoping to see better Linux support for x86 programs on ARM and RISC-V hardware. I think the future of computers, and especially portable computers, is there.
This is an entirely different segment of gaming but recently I have been reaching more for my AYN Odin 2 Pro. I love the size and battery life and how I feel like I can pick it up and jump into a game quickly.
Android isn't perfect and emulation is in a funny spot right now with the switch emulators pivoting what feels like every few weeks, but it's an incredible device.
That said, the Deck is quite a bit more capable with a higher quality library of games. Valve killed it with the Deck and the Odin is not nearly a full replacement.
Very cool 😎 what a time to be alive for a handheld gamer. The Turnip drivers seem to have very active development, and even in the months I've owned the Odin 2, the updated drivers have solved several minor problems on Yuzu/Suyu/Sudachi.
If Linux or Steam Deck OS ever comes to the Odin 2 I will probably wait a long time before I consider trying it out. At this point in my life I don't have as much mental energy after work to tinker and when I pick up the Odin 2 I really just want it to work. When the Retro Game Corps guide for Steam OS on Odin 2 drops I'll know it's time.
I think so. But it would be hard and I would be surprised if anyone besides Valve could pull it off.
I have a second batch steam deck and still play it often. I wish it had a slightly bigger OLED screen. I think the 16x10 8inch equivalent is a good size.
There would also need to be a fairly decent CPU and GPU upgrade. As well as either an efficiency upgrade or a bigger battery. I think with enough time if we could get a decent arm CPU with good GPU performance, but that is likely not going to happen anytime soon, this could theoretically hit all of these requirements.
I would like to see hall effect sticks and triggers by default.
That could dethrone the steam deck. Especially if it had good linux support, either steam os or bazzite would be good for me.
the only thing i'd like more than a steam deck is for a portable ps5 (which would be everything the switch should have been) because i want to play rebirth and ff16 again on my steam deck but i don't wanna wait until pc release)
With the current rise of PC ARM processor (Apple silicone, Snapdragon X), anyone feel like Steam missed the opportunity when developing Deck with x86 and now they have to stick with it?
I tried Apple MacBook Air M2 with a bunch of games and emulators and it runs amazing while being extremely efficient.
I can run Switch emulator Ryujinx with Mario Kart Deluxe 8 at 60FPS and it only need 12Wh, compared to my PC (i5, 1070) need ~150Wh to do the same thing.
I do think that the future of handheld devices is ARM or RISC-V, but the software support isn't there yet and would severely limit what could be played.
I agree. First we need to solve the Linux compatibility issues, then we can start thinking about new CPU architectures. It would have been too much to deal with at the same time.
The fact that almost no PC games support ARM is stopping them. When lots game developers start releasing ARM or RISC-V versions, then Valve may consider an ARM or RISC-V Steam Deck. They will still have to have an emulator to run the older x86 games though.
Someone on Lemmy said that would require Valve to completely rewrite the Proton layer (which they've invested tons of time and money in) and probably the SteamOS would require significant overhaul too. And all the backwards compatibility would be thrown out the window.
Or in other words, that would require Valve to completely redesign the Deck from scratch.