Dcubed Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 Just now, Ike said: It’s Steam OS so it’s library is going to be limited to what is supported with Linux. Battery is going to be limited as well (site says 2 - 8 hours). You can install Windows on it if you want to…
Ike Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 1 minute ago, Dcubed said: You can install Windows on it if you want to… I mean, sure. But do you want the overhead of running Windows as well?
Dcubed Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 4 minutes ago, Ike said: I mean, sure. But do you want the overhead of running Windows as well? Could always dual boot. Best of both worlds then!
Kav Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 I love that the Steam Deck has back-buttons. Looks an amazing bit of kit. They should really be standard on controllers going forward.
Dcubed Posted July 15, 2021 Posted July 15, 2021 Jesus. The more I hear about this thing, the more impressed I am with it and its price! It would even make for an awesome portable desktop PC with a USB-C Dock! Shit… I want one now!
Happenstance Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 I’m tempted to put a reservation down today when they start but haven’t decided yet.
Dufniall Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 Going to paste in the specs just for convenience: It looks to be an impressive piece of kit, and I'm glad they chose to go for a 1280x800 resolution and not force a higher resolution on the 7 inch, probably would have been bad for the battery time. It's on the heavy side, about double the weight of a Switch so train up those muscles 12 hours ago, Dcubed said: Ahh… THERE’S the Switch Pro! Glad to know I wasn’t the only one who thought that I’ll probably get this. It’s crazy cheap! Can’t believe that it’s less than £50 more than an OLED Switch, for a handheld system that’s roughly half as powerful as an Xbox Series S!! Take into account that the base model only has 64GB eMMC memory. Plenty of PC games already go over the 64GB, plus eMMC is slow compared to the other options (256-512GB NVMe SSD). So I wouldn't even consider the base model. There is quite a price gap to the middle one though, and the most expensive option also comes with a non-glare screen. 12 hours ago, Ganepark32 said: Nice to see Valve announcing the Switch Pro for Nintendo It looks like a Game Gear, so ugly as sin) but with it supposedly having a chip that's modelled on the PS5 then at that price its an absolute bargain. Or at least I think so. Its essentially a portable PC that you can take your entire Steam library with you then plug in to a monitor and when you get home and continue playing there. Don't know how the track pads will work as they were supposedly awful on the Steam controller. Nice that they've thought about scalpers with the caveat that you need to have bought something prior to June 2021 on Steam to be in with a chance to reserve a unit. Should help a bit but this will still be another piece of hardware thats hard to get hold of. Very tempted to put in a reservation if I can as that entry price is too good not to miss out on. Don't have a gaming PC and this is a great way to do it and be able to play your PC games from the couch. Hmmm, doubt I'd be able to nab one anyway but something I'll keep me eye on. The savings on PC games would be a nice upside as I've not bought many PC games so plenty of discounts still to be had by me that most will have already taken advantage of. Also immediately thought about the Game Gear I have the Steam controller, and while the track pads are a clever invention, I find it really tricky to work with them. I can see the right one here working though as a more accurate option for FPS games instead of the stick, but it'll never be a mouse. The thing does look crammed though. Buttons pretty close to the edge, and the sticks are very close to the buttons as well. Wonder if it's ergonomic, combined with the weight. Rear buttons are great though! I'm curious if this will be a hit. There have been Windows-based handhelds before, but I don't think they ever took off. Valve and Steam are well-known so that may help, but I wonder if PC gamers are interested in a handheld, and running games on a lower resolution. And if you're going to stream a game to it from your PC, a phone+controller is the cheaper option. I think would it have been Microsoft or Sony releasing it, there would have been more leverage behind it. I can imagine a handheld XBox with GamePass would be the dream. But Microsoft is focussing on streaming so you wouldn't need these specs. And Sony, well, games like Horizon: Zero Dawn and Death Stranding are already on Steam so basically this is already an unofficial Sony handheld. 1
Cube Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 Looks like they're targeting heavy PC gamers who want to take their games elsewhere. Seems like it would be a good device for people who want to get into PC gaming, but it will be impossible for a lot of that audience to get one. But at least lootbox farmers can use their gambling money to buy one.
Julius Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 Yeah, any semblance of interest I had in the Switch OLED got thrown out of the window after seeing this. Someone needs to edit the Switch OLED into this image I think I'll be looking out to reserve the 512GB one later today when the reservations drop, fingers crossed I guess. There are a fair few games I have access to on PC but not elsewhere (some of which are on Xbox through backwards compatibility), but I struggle to use my PC for gaming at the moment as it's heavily integrated into my work set-up, and once my workday ends, I want to be as far from that thing as humanly possible (in practicality, the next room over). Adding a dock into the equation so I can play these games where I play all of my other games - on the TV my living room sofa - immediately makes this something I want to sit alongside my other consoles. Making this essentially a portable PC gives it so much room for modification, and while I'm not one for emulation (I try to avoid it as best as I reasonably can), this thing seems like it could be an emulation beast. For what it is, the price is awesome, and I honestly doubt that a hypothetical Nintendo Switch Pro would have got/will get anywhere near this sort of power or speed. And fair play to Valve for actually trying to do something about scalping, because the console manufacturers have been absolutely useless when it comes to finding a counter to it. While it excludes non-Steam users from the opportunity to get one on Day 1, I don't think they care much from what the team said in their IGN interviews: they don't have any specific sales targets in mind with this (and if they do, at least, they aren't answering to shareholders and so the pressure is very much a self-imposed one). It's pretty much what we all said the next-gen pre-orders should have been like -- maybe not for all of them, but if you assigned a good chunk of those to your existing market and the rest to new people entering your ecosystem for the first time, I think it's a much better narrative than "well, now I either keep following this daily and drive myself insane, or fold and pay sometimes double it's normal price". I don't think they would be aiming to launch this year if sales were their main goal anyways, what with the chip shortages. Anyways, yeah, this will make a nice early birthday present for me if I can get a reservation in and it does land in December 1 1
Ronnie Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 Looks very cool, and actually I feel like those button placements will be more comfortable than what we normally see on controllers. Personally I'm not really into Steam gaming (and especially not on the go) but if I was I'd definitely pick one up! It's pretty huge though, 298 x 117 x 49mm vs the regular Switch's 239 x 102 x 28mm
Will Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 Quite intrigued by this thing. I’ve posted before about wanting to get a PC and I think this will tide me over until components are a little easier to get hold of. Thinking I’ll go for the top end model, stick windows on it and then use it for emulation and a few media bits too. With the dock I think it will be a great option for a living room PC. Definitely doubting my Switch OLED now.
Scratch Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 I think it looks cool, is a good combination of price/specs, and I really like how they're sort of bringing a "console experience" to a ton of Steam games. Plus it lets you install your own OS, so there's a lot of opportunity for gaming, but not JUST gaming, it's powerful enough that you could probably install Windows (or a Linux distro), attach a mouse/keyboard/monitor and use it as your main PC. I'd probably dual boot myself, use Steam OS for the most part and have a Windows on there for anything that wasn't compatible. I think it's gonna sell well. If I had money coming out of my ears, I would buy one, and probably also see a doctor. But, in the end it's not for me because it doesn't really give me anything new. I already have a PC decent enough to play the games I want, and I don't really bother with handheld gaming. Even during the GB/GBA days, I'd rather use my Super Gameboy or GameBoy Player, so yeah. I also think the button placement looks really uncomfortable, and the console is quite large, even quite a bit larger than the Switch. So that's a bit off-putting. Maybe in the real world it's not so bad. In conclusion, Steam Deck looks really good and I like it, I think it's gonna do well, but in the end it's not for me. Also it can't hurt for this to be on the market, might keep Nintendo on their toes a bit. xD 2
bob Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 I'm always a bit skeptical of Valve's hardware offerings, because they are making so much money from Steam I don't really see why they keep releasing things. There's no way their hardware department makes any money, and yet they keep coming out with these oddities. Leads me to conclude that it must be a tax dodge or something; funnelling all profits through their hardware department because the rate is lower for physical products than software....or something. And they have to produce something every few years to justify it.Anyway, looks like a beefy Switch.
Julius Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 (edited) Did anyone manage to get one? I went to reserve, looped loading screen for a few seconds, then kicked me back. Added again, got through to my basket, went to checkout aaaaaaaand it started again, actually logged me out because of the servers going down for a second and the store crashing. 23 minutes ago, Ike said: Preorders are up now, if you can get on the page. Pretty sure it's already over, showing next round at 18:00 on Sunday. Edited July 16, 2021 by Julius
Happenstance Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 This isn’t preorders, it’s reservations to allow you to order later on when there’s stock. Anyway I got one. No idea if I’ll go through with it when the time comes but I didn’t mind paying £4 so I can get one early down the line if I choose to. 1
Sheikah Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 Looks very cool, and actually I feel like those button placements will be more comfortable than what we normally see on controllers. Personally I'm not really into Steam gaming (and especially not on the go) but if I was I'd definitely pick one up! It's pretty huge though, 298 x 117 x 49mm vs the regular Switch's 239 x 102 x 28mmAnd it weighs 669 grams! 70% heavier than the Switch. I don't know, I just can't quite see this having anywhere near the uptake of the Switch. It doesn't have exclusive games and I get the impression that people generally prefer to play full fat AAA games on their PC monitor or TV using their main system. And it's really expensive.
Julius Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 8 minutes ago, Happenstance said: This isn’t preorders, it’s reservations to allow you to order later on when there’s stock. Anyway I got one. No idea if I’ll go through with it when the time comes but I didn’t mind paying £4 so I can get one early down the line if I choose to. Nice! Think I got a bit overeager and probably dismissed my chances too early, the payment screen loaded up a minute or two later but I'd gone to get a drink and by the time I was back it wouldn't let me pay for it. Oh well. To be honest I'm in no real rush for one, would just rather get one of these reservations in than risk it after the fact due to the chip shortage -- will try again on Sunday!
Happenstance Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 5 minutes ago, Julius said: Nice! Think I got a bit overeager and probably dismissed my chances too early, the payment screen loaded up a minute or two later but I'd gone to get a drink and by the time I was back it wouldn't let me pay for it. Oh well. To be honest I'm in no real rush for one, would just rather get one of these reservations in than risk it after the fact due to the chip shortage -- will try again on Sunday! I just did a lot of refreshing every time it failed until it worked. Even then the message I received was that your order “may” have gone through and to check my account page 😆 1
Dcubed Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 1 hour ago, Sheikah said: And it weighs 669 grams! 70% heavier than the Switch. I don't know, I just can't quite see this having anywhere near the uptake of the Switch. It doesn't have exclusive games and I get the impression that people generally prefer to play full fat AAA games on their PC monitor or TV using their main system. And it's really expensive. It doesn’t need to sell anywhere remotely near the Switch to be a success. It’s a niche product with a killer USP for that niche.
Sheikah Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 It doesn’t need to sell anywhere remotely near the Switch to be a success. It’s a niche product with a killer USP for that niche.I expect they'll want it to sell pretty well, otherwise there's not much point of them making it. It's clear that they were going for a form similar to a Switch so comparisons with it are fair.
Dcubed Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 8 minutes ago, Sheikah said: 56 minutes ago, Dcubed said: It doesn’t need to sell anywhere remotely near the Switch to be a success. It’s a niche product with a killer USP for that niche. I expect they'll want it to sell pretty well, otherwise there's not much point of them making it. It's clear that they were going for a form similar to a Switch so comparisons with it are fair. There's a very big range between 100 million seller and 5-10 million seller... Valve would likely be over the moon if they got 5+ million sales with this thing!
Sheikah Posted July 16, 2021 Posted July 16, 2021 There's a very big range between 100 million seller and 5-10 million seller... Valve would likely be over the moon if they got 5+ million sales with this thing!But why? They're no doubt looking at the Switch and thinking they can do better to produce what is more or less a Switch Pro but for PC games.
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