LiquidMetal14
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TC pipi's the bed at night and needs to let the stress out.
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Why the Steam Deck is still better than all the 'more powerful' PC handhelds
- Thread starter 64bitmodels
- Start date
- Opinion Cringe
ChoosableOne
ChoosableAll
ChatGPT, could you please write a paragraph praising the Steam Deck in a 64bitmodels style?
"Hey, did you hear about the Steam Deck? It's like the rebel of handheld consoles, strutting around with its own operating system like it's the coolest kid on the block. While other consoles are stuck with Windows, the Steam Deck is like, 'Nah, I've got my own thing going on.' It's like a party where everyone else is dancing to the same old song, but the Steam Deck is over there, busting out its unique moves. It's like a rebellious teenager who refuses to conform. And you know what? It's working for them! Who needs Windows when you can have your own snazzy OS? It's like being the captain of your own gaming spaceship, exploring uncharted galaxies while the other consoles are stuck in their mundane Windows world. So, yeah, the Steam Deck is definitely in a league of its own, and it's making the other handhelds look like they're playing catch-up. You go, Steam Deck!"
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
honestly, this is flattering. Thank you
Hudo
Member
Word. In terms of picture quality, the Switch OLED runs circles around the Deck.
Syphon Filter
Member
i like that steam deck uses Linux.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
It’s true. There’s no Valve to help optimize the gaming experience for the handheld. Lord knows the scumbags at ASUS don’t care.
MidGenRefresh
*Refreshes biennially
Hahahah, true. I'm using my tower PC with 4090 in it to stream fucking Oblivion to my M1 MacBook Pro.
I'm getting too old for this gaming stuff.
joeygreco1985
Member
Is it though? Setting up the Ally was no different than setting up a gaming laptop or desktop from my experience, so I don't see why the form factor suddenly changes expectations. You're not setting it up on the road. This thing is clearly not aimed at Switch owners, you're getting Windows you know what to expect.
Thaedolus
Gold Member
From what Gerstmann was saying, whatever bloatware solution Asus came up with sucks, and using a mouse and keyboard is pretty much the only efficient way to go about it. Now, if I’m using desktop mode on my Steam Deck, I prefer to use a mouse and keyboard too, but it’s not hard to use it without one, and desktop mode isn’t at all necessary to get going on it. I didn’t tinker around with that stuff for months. I could download my entire library and play it out of box without any headaches. And my Deck has never heated up to the point it ejects the SD card like Ally seems to do. All I’m saying is: that easy and fairly seamless experience isn’t nothing. Valve clearly put more thought into their device.
But if the Ally is working for you, great. More competition is a good thing. I like Asus products by and large, but this one doesn’t sound too compelling to me.
CleverCaviar
Member
I just recently had the pleasure of setting up Dolphin on the Steam Deck. It's not impossible (I managed it), but christ on a bike it's a schlep. Moving between desktop mode and Deck mode and I still need to get the resolution sorted - I left it as a minor accomplishment that I got the motes working.
All of the above is to say I really appreciate the UX effort Valve spent on this device. I'm quite happy that for the overwhelming majority of the time I don't need to go "low level" at all, and can just play games. I think the only config fiddling, aside from Dolphin, was to remove the launcher from FIFA20-something.
To those that enjoy configuring Dolphin etc, great. I don't, and I suspect it's a big reason why others bought the device. The more I use the Deck, the more I think the Steam Machines idea might be worth revisiting.
All of the above is to say I really appreciate the UX effort Valve spent on this device. I'm quite happy that for the overwhelming majority of the time I don't need to go "low level" at all, and can just play games. I think the only config fiddling, aside from Dolphin, was to remove the launcher from FIFA20-something.
To those that enjoy configuring Dolphin etc, great. I don't, and I suspect it's a big reason why others bought the device. The more I use the Deck, the more I think the Steam Machines idea might be worth revisiting.
Sleepwalker
Member
Did you use emudeck? Dolphin was mostly plug n play for me after using it
joeygreco1985
Member
I've listened to Jeff's impressions, I think he had a defective unit. My SD card has been fine and none of the reviews mentioned SD card issues either, although there has been some chatter about corruption issues on Reddit which could be driver related.
poodaddy
Member
I've seen the Lynx a thousand times and every time I see it I'm once again surprised at what an unholy abomination of design it was. Impressively awful.
Unknown?
Member
Technically even a laptop is portable.I have to laugh at those bulky ass things being considered a portable console like a gameboy sp
CobraAB
Member
Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about performance. It has a May 2015 chip in it. First debuted in the nVidia Shield TV.
Minsc
Gold Member
Strangely enough the nVidia Shield TV is still king of the kill for HTPC stuff. Even the new Apple TV with M1 or whatever chips won't do (true high bitrate) Atmos + Dolby Vision together. It would be so sweet if they refreshed the Shield TV one year though. It's not slow, but not exactly zippy either.
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CobraAB
Member
No real competition in that space. It is amazing how many Android upgrades it has gotten. No other Android device has ever gotten the upgrades like the Shield TV has.
CobraAB
Member
Ts got to be a software issue. The A16 chip in the latest Apple TV destroys the Tegra X1. And its $50 cheaper with 128 GB storage
It is a good device though. Lots of hack-ability.
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Hudo
Member
True but what does that have to do with the screens that the Deck and the Switch are using?
Minsc
Gold Member
Yeah, I'm sure it is software, held back by Apple (it does decode the low-bitrate streaming Atmos + DV stuff like Netflix etc), and if not for that one thing I'd have switched. But my UHD rips need their Atmos tracks, it's unbelievable how much better they sound - at least running through a surround Sonos Arc setup. The channel separation and clarity is just day and night compared to the regular 7.1 DTS HD tracks. I know they sorta wing it when mixing together Atmos tracks in some regards, but whatever happens through the Arc in the decoding process for Atmos just blows away the regular encodings. Louder (which I know isn't always better) but also all the sound effects have much better separation and voices are so much clearer and it just delivers a life-like experience in terms of audio. So I will not give up my Atmos playback.
Dream-Knife
Banned
Had no interest in handheld PCs until the Deck came along. Windows does not work well for that type of stuff, and with a handheld I just want to play games easily and move back and use sleep mode.
Power argument is nearly irrelevant since the Deck can play pretty much anything I would want to play on a handheld. Again, this isn't a replacement for your main rig.
Ally needs armory crate. Nothing more to say. Don't install that trash on your PC.
Power argument is nearly irrelevant since the Deck can play pretty much anything I would want to play on a handheld. Again, this isn't a replacement for your main rig.
Ally needs armory crate. Nothing more to say. Don't install that trash on your PC.
Deck has higher build quality. It's also not first gen, it's just the first anyone has cared about due to the OS.
It's actually pretty nice. It's the first handheld that feels like an actual controller.I have to laugh at those bulky ass things being considered a portable console like a gameboy sp
Crayon
Member
Fuckin deck was $360 in one of the store sales. Do you know how hard it was not to buy that.
Price aside, because that's just the reality of the scales involved and arguably justified for anything more boutique, I'd still take the deck. Mainly for the trackpads and it being a device that is designed and shiped with a desktop Linux. Very sweet when that happens. If I could fucking get a proper iso for steamos that can pull off the sleep mode on other handhelds, that would shift things and I'd be more easily swayed by the uniqueness of an alternative.
Price aside, because that's just the reality of the scales involved and arguably justified for anything more boutique, I'd still take the deck. Mainly for the trackpads and it being a device that is designed and shiped with a desktop Linux. Very sweet when that happens. If I could fucking get a proper iso for steamos that can pull off the sleep mode on other handhelds, that would shift things and I'd be more easily swayed by the uniqueness of an alternative.
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64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
Decksbox $360
Of course it's a first gen product, it's their first attempt at making one.
Tams
Member
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
That’s the thing; it shouldn’t be like setting up a desktop or a laptop. That’s where these companies get it wrong.
Nah, they pulled some shit recently putting an unstable Bios up for their motherboard customers they wasn’t meant for public use. When it turned out it was fucking up their motherboards they tried denying them warranty for using resizable bar - which is a long known and promoted feature of motherboards.
It was a shitty move on their part. Can’t say their on my list of companies I trust these days.
64bitmodels
Reverse groomer.
on the topic of bios updates
the newest bios update as i recall actually decreased performance of the Rog Ally. By quite a bit too
CleverCaviar
Member
no... but I might give that a whirl as it looks less of a schlep. Thanks for the tip.
Ron Mexico
Member
I have a Deck. I also have an ROG Flow X13 that uses the same proprietary port as on the Ally so there's also weighing the idea of the XG Mobile and having multiple avenues towards a true desktop replacement, just without quite as much upgradeability.
Not a fan of Windows for Windows' sake but that is what it is. In a perfect world, there would be the ease of use of the Deck coupled with the universality of Windows without the bloat mentioned elsewhere.
The good news in all this is, while there were others before (i.e GPD Win and the like), the 1-2 punch of Steam's distribution platform and the Ally being available at retail has demonstrated there's excitement in the space and it sure feels like the form factor is here to stay. Not only is there room for a device that "just works", there's room for a device for those that like to tinker with there being a level of irony that "it just works" and "it's for those who like to tinker" could refer to both devices in different contexts. And there's room for even more iteration in the space.
The true "competition" isn't the Deck vs. the Ally or even the handheld PCs vs. consoles. It's the concept of the handheld form factor vs. reaching a critical mass. Gaming-specific context aside, netbooks hinted at there being a desire for different form factor but it clearly had too many compromises. These are substantially more powerful, add a whole gaming aspect and a look towards multi-functions with docks, etc.. They could all use more in terms of battery but the same could be said for any portable device. Going to be an interesting space to watch as it evolves.
Not a fan of Windows for Windows' sake but that is what it is. In a perfect world, there would be the ease of use of the Deck coupled with the universality of Windows without the bloat mentioned elsewhere.
The good news in all this is, while there were others before (i.e GPD Win and the like), the 1-2 punch of Steam's distribution platform and the Ally being available at retail has demonstrated there's excitement in the space and it sure feels like the form factor is here to stay. Not only is there room for a device that "just works", there's room for a device for those that like to tinker with there being a level of irony that "it just works" and "it's for those who like to tinker" could refer to both devices in different contexts. And there's room for even more iteration in the space.
The true "competition" isn't the Deck vs. the Ally or even the handheld PCs vs. consoles. It's the concept of the handheld form factor vs. reaching a critical mass. Gaming-specific context aside, netbooks hinted at there being a desire for different form factor but it clearly had too many compromises. These are substantially more powerful, add a whole gaming aspect and a look towards multi-functions with docks, etc.. They could all use more in terms of battery but the same could be said for any portable device. Going to be an interesting space to watch as it evolves.
joeygreco1985
Member
There's been quite a few benchmarks comparing both bioses and the performance was the same. Anecdotally I haven't seen a performance drop on mine either. The most recent update from this past week also increased the fan curve and brought a small performance uplift even since the APU isn't throttling as much.