They specifically mention that the more expensive models use NVMe SSDs. I wonder if the storage can be DIY upgraded.
It looks like a very cool piece of tech. Makes me wish that I had a use for it.
hmm … love the idea of this. I’ve been mulling over getting a Switch because of all of the PC ports. And this would save me from actually rebuying stuff I already own on steam.
But I don’t go anywhere! So I’m not sure why I need portable versus just going downstairs and playing on the home theater PC. Would be nice when I get on a plane, but that happens once every few years at most. I need a life to justify portability, apparently.
from the other thread:
e: Reading through the article it’s still a big “well, maybe” with no official word given.
Steam has confirmed that you can install Windows and other OSs on the Deck. It should be able to play games on PC Gamepass, but not the console-exclusive stuff.
edit: for that matter, it could probably run games on EGS, GoG, etc. The controls may be a sticking point though, without Steam Input.
Yeah, they say it can run games from other stores right on the marketing site. They don’t say it can run Windows though, that’s pretty cool. Linux can run a truly surprising number of games extremely well through Proton, but that number ain’t 100%.
I want one! Even if it can’t deliver on the promise of performance, it’s going to be a tinkerer’s delight.
Also, ahem ahem, I’ll buy anyone’s Steam controller they were disappointed by. I love that thing.
I do kinda want one. I don’t $600 want one though.
It’s in the Youtube video:
I’m not watching a 7 minute YouTube video when I can read a website in 20 seconds. I hate modern times.
I watched it for you. 5:58 time mark. Not much more info though, just that you can install windows. (Or anything else you want, “it’s a pc, so you can install anything you want”).
Yeah, this is the kind of stuff I let run in the background while I work. It’s mostly just a Powerpoint presentation, and largely oriented towards developers. The Windows bit is in the back. The same info may be (or at least should be) in a FAQ somewhere.
This has my attention, but I can wait and see if this catches on.
Would be nice to play what I want on the go without chugging around a laptop.
Who wants a Dick Steam?
I wonder what the real-world difference for storage speed will be? a 256GB Micro SD card is quite a bit cheaper than the hardware upgrade options.
SD cards are SLOW.
Yeah MMC isn’t great. Also note the steamdeck has a SDcard slot so you can always add slow storage that way too.
It’s got a full 16 GB of shared memory though, while the Series S has 10 GB. LPDDR5 apparently? I didn’t even know AMD was going to have a chipset out in 2021 that supported DDR5. Maybe you need the extra RAM on unoptimized PC ports though, and they aren’t much different in practice.
I like the idea, but I’m concerned about putting games designed for full size monitors on this tiny screen. I just don’t think that’s going to work for me and my poor eyes. Really curious to hear some impressions when it releases but I’m gonna pass.
Does it dock for at home play, like the Switch? As someone who only owns Macs and doesn’t do much Steam gaming, I’m wondering if this could be a cheap, albeit limited gaming PC if plugged into a monitor somehow.
Consoles and GPUs use GDDR memory, which is vastly higher bandwidth but also higher latency. They really aren’t comparable, as they’re better at different things. So I would expect this device to be memory bandwidth constrained for the GPU compared to an XSS, while the CPU should perform much better. This is a poor tradeoff since games are always GPU-bound, but my guess is GDDR is pretty expensive right now.
It’ll still be fine for 720p gaming, though.