Might as well get a laptop???

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

Price, software, hardware quality, touchpads, gyro, and a decent sized community

What are they missing thst the steam deck has? Price?

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.

Native. Streaming doesn’t seem to work smooth enough on my home WiFi.

Are you using it's native power or streaming?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’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?

I think I made it clear why this reminded me of bad reddit posts.

You clearly have more knowledge about portable gaming laptops than I have. So my opinion might be based in ignorance. I am hardly whining though.

I feel like having several items (laptop plus controller) to carry around is a bigger dealbreaker than having a bigger device. Though I agree that an increase in size and weight can be problematic.

I also never wanted to imply that this community has no value and I am sorry I gave that impression.

Push you out of a community? Could you be anymore dramatic lmao.

Pretty sure they just wanted you to stop replying to them or something stupid like that. All they said is “go away”

That sure is one way to handle criticism. I'm not going to let you push me out of a community though.

You're a flog

My brother in Christ. You've literally created an issue out of nothing. out of bitterness? Bored? I don't want to deal with you. Go away.

I never said it was set in stone.

I'm not being bitter. I just feel that the wording of the original post is pretty baity. You're unhappy with size and weight, and that is a valid point worth discussing. But making the jump to laptops? Hyperbolic engagement bait. I don't like it. If others do, that's fine. But I feel this trend of engagement bait is bad for platforms in general. And I want to keep the illusion up that lemmy is better than this.

If it isn't, then I still feel it's worthwhile to point out that discussions can be had without the hyperbole.

Your post is also subjective and your opinion.

Subjective and your opinion, which is ok. This is not a shitpost. Don't be bitter, take part in the discourse without being bitter, my friend.

At what point does the screen become too big and it’s cumbersome and not very mobile, requiring you to hold this large heavy thing in your hands as the big screen is also the controller?

You’re whining about needing to lug around a controller as if that is some big task that kills portability but you’re still lugging around a big ass fucking screen that you must hold the entire time to use.

You say laptops aren’t really made for portable play but that is entirely false, SO many laptops are built exclusively as portable gaming solutions (and guess what, they work!)

Also, I don’t see how this relates to Reddit at all? You left Reddit because of shitposts like this? It’s just an opinion post about 3rd party evolutions similar to the deck in a deck community… what is so awful about this? It clearly spurred multiple discussions.

You don’t have to agree with every opinion/discussion post for a community to have value.

I'm stoked about the removable controllers, though. I'm gimpy AF so even the steam deck is too heavy. I ended up with a Legion Go and love that I can use it with wireless controllers and the kickstand.

Thank you <3

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.

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.

Nice, thank you so much for confirming. I'll be getting one hopefully soon

I also own a legion go and yes. Yes it does.

I'll confirm what they said, everything works fine. I actually get better performance in some games versus windows.

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

Install bazzite! I have a Legion Go and I love it with Bazzite.

Some people have been running linux on surface tablets I think?

This is also a killer tablet, actually

Linux tablets when?

I'm always a fan of companies making something *new* rather than the same old same old (identical black rectangles being the classic example). Yeah a lot of them are terrible but I think they get points for trying!

Someone was always going to do an XL version for people who want something thats more "portable gaming station" than "handheld". I dont know why people seem to be *removed* about having options.

Even completely empty my arms will get tired after a few short minutes, much less several hours.

Sound like a *you* problem /s

I've doing bezels play an additional role of protecting the screen. My most fragile monitor is the one with almost no bezel-- a tiny bump and kaboom, fucked monitor. I'm sure that plays a part in the design decision.

I'm surprised about this - phones, monitors and tvs have this figured out.

I'd have to assume it's a cost thing.

ipad mini is 9 inch, this device is 11 inch

Oops my b

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.

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.

It depends what you play. Strategy games benefit from the touchpads as mice.

Also I sometimes use the touchpads for touch menus.

"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.

nah babe just COVER your screen in fingerprints! everyone loves touch screens right??

Gotta be honest, i hardly ever use them on the Deck.

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.

I'd even settle for a Lenovo-style nipple for mouse control.

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.

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.

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.

Agreed, sometimes I even wish there is a "Deck Lite" model.

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

Makes sense. I can see me doing that. Lol

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 🤷‍♂️

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.

A couchheld?

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 device is basically a windows tablet with detatchable controllers. This will probably me more portable than if the controllers were always connected.

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?

Absolutely, I’m definitely not criticizing the devices, I have an iPad Pro and the thing is very impressive in terms of computing capability for such a thin and light device and especially considering its battery life.

My only gripe is with the restrictions on the OS. I’d love to be able to use Darwin on iPadOS the same way I do on Mac for local development tasks.

With Apple opening up restrictions so we can use things like https://apps.apple.com/us/app/utm-se-retro-pc-emulator/id1564628856 for emulating other OS’s it’s certainly a step in the right direction, but I do wish they would consider the other “pro” side of potential mobile computing users, one side is creative professionals (photo/video/audio/writing), but they don’t have that same support for the development side of the pro world.

Hell, I’d buy an 11 inch MacBook Pro or Air with an M series chip in a heartbeat, but it’d probably be easier if they just opened up the iPad to a local dev environment

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.

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 dedicated GPU hardware like on these handhelds.

https://gfxbench.com/device.jsp?benchmark=gfx50&D=Apple+iPad+Air+6th+Gen+%28M2%29&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.

iPads have been overpowered for a long time. Long before Apple Silicon came around.

That’s why it is so frustrating, the OS sucks for many things and is very limiting but admittedly what it can do it does solid. Gaming isn’t one of these things

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+)

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.

Edit: It would be really interesting to see an Apple-made portable game console, featuring it's M-Series chips.

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 squeezed into this thin sleek and light thing are pure insanity

You're probably right on the battery, as this thing has a tiny (compared to its screen and res) battery of 55wah

Faster in what way?

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.

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.

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.

mazel tov. enjoy.

edit: lol. i missed the "not" cause I read too fast. enjoy what you're playing regardless.

I'm not holding a laptop in front of my face while lounging on a sofa

compared to a laptop, I would. even a small one.

Try the onexplayer and you'll call it extremely light then. Lol

Just get a beer belly and rest your deck on it 👍

Idk if I'd call the deck light.

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.

😂

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 *hand*held imo.

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

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).

My hands are tired just looking at it

Hot take, but I see it having a market for people who just want to play on a tablet dedicated to gaming without futzing with peripherals. During break I stole my daughter's tablet to play Gameboy games and it was possibly better than my deck (lighter weight, bigger screen, and shaders that give it a pixel grid w/ a GBC border frame).

This big thing is still not for me, though, as I'd prefer the versatility of going portrait mode because I would likely use it as a 3DS emulator depending on how good the touch is. DS screens fit quite comfortably on tablets in portrait mode. (Assuming I even have the disposable income, which I do not).

Yes, but how can you train your beautiful gamer biceps then? You can have all that beautiful extra train and stay in shape while playing your favorite games. A double win!


My issue is power consumption. Where I live, I rely on solar panels and batteries, and the steam deck is less power hungry than a laptop with graphics card.

I agree. So big screen and controllers that Nintendo Switch looks like a lilliputian. Not so portable.

I don't think 11 inch is _absurdely_ big. That's the screen size of the current iPad air.

Give it one of those detachable cardboard keyboards and it it would be an overgrown Surface competitor.

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.

Smart move. People keep buying ridiculously oversized phones. Smaller ones somehow do not sell. So why not apply the same concept to tablets

A laptop does not support attached controllers for hand-holding. Seems pretty obvious.

I cannot hold my hands in the air indefinitely. Even completely empty my arms will get tired after a few short minutes, much less several hours. My Steam Deck gets held on my lap or on a table or something like that.

OneXPlayer has something similar that I actually considered buying (but ultimately didn't for several reasons) that includes a keyboard and (laptop) trackpad and a pen. If I can buy 1 device that can do both handheld gaming and also laptop productivity, I can save a whole lot of money...

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

This is far too big, but still preferable over laptops if you just wanna game

this is basically the oversized razer kishi pro with an ipad mini.

ive got that rn and it's pretty amazing as a steam link device.

steamos really needs to fix their steam link code, it's a mess.

Not big enough. I want to carry a 55'' "mobile" gaming device with me. Make it bigger!

You know the fun thing? If they managed to reduce the roughly 3+ centimeters of useless bezel on all sides the size wouldn’t be so unreasonable.

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 love the joycon aspect.

Tbf, the Steam Deck shows up as device type: laptop in the Steam Deck Hardware Survey.

Everyone's hating on this but I can't wait to get one used in 5-10 years. Looks pretty cool to me personally.

Even SD is too big for me after all. Would be nice to have a handheld with the exact power as SteamDeck, but compact

Finally, something I can read VN text on

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

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

As much hilarious as smartphones, increasing screen size bit by bit over 6", but never reaching 7" cause that would make them tablets, I guess?

Aren't you missing the point? The portability and formfactor (controller) is what makes handheld pcs like this worthwhile. A laptop is a laptop, it's not really made for portable play and you'd need to lug around a controller.

I stopped using Reddit because of shitposts like these and here we are again.

if it doesn't fit in my pocket it's not a hand held

1x 27” laptop please.