Console or PC Gamer: Steam Deck Pre-Order Survey

I understand that you can install Windows 11. But I wanted some limited ediition with bunch of tools and features disabled.

 

Steam Deck could very well be a successful product, in special in todays market. I wonder if Valve has any plans on releasing more powerfull variants down the line.

 

Sure a "lite" version of Windows would be nice with many things disabled or removed entirely, but that would likely require some kind of partnership between MS and Valve to ensure that Windows was still fully functional within the requirements for the device. While it could happen, I don't currently see it happening.

That said, I'm sure there are quite a few people on the internet who will release unofficial "lite" versions of Windows for use with the Steam Deck. If you use one of those distros, just be careful that you don't inadvertently pick on that has author installed malware or just as bad, didn't fully test to ensure that all key functionality was intact.

Regards,
SB

 

Just out of curiosity what battery life would you consider to be good for such a device and what device do you own that is capable of it.

My phone playing games on it I'm lucky to get a few hours
My launch switch would get slightly less than 3 hours with Zelda
My surface pro would get 2 hours gaming.

 

Considering that Xbox OS now is Windows 11 based, I wonder if they could release it separately.

 

I don't know, I really got no opinion. I don't do any mobile gaming at all. I don't game on my phone and I've never owned a hand held before.

Nothing against mobile gaming, it's just usually when I'm out it's because I'm doing something. When I game I like to zone out and really get in to it so I just do it at home.

That's just me, and I'm pretty sure I'm a weird outlier.

I do get your point, and most people will be playing it while close to a charging point I'd wager so it's not bad compared to others or anything. I guess in my mind I'm comparing it to a gaming laptop as that's the only way I'd consider mobile gaming, but even then I'd be planning on gaming while having the laptop plugged in so it's a moot point.

 

Not interested but I can easily see why others are. Handheld version of your favorite PC titles and Steam sells a ton of games that fit the portable format. But any portable device that I don't use for work or isn't a smartphone, ends up collecting dust somewhere (I am looking at you Ipad)!

I don't why know it is necessary to add an exclamation mark on the end of my choice. I'm rather indifferent and I don't see why anyone would be excited, angered or surprised about not being interested. Is that a choice for people where portable devices are the bane of their existence or are they portable junkies who are surprised by the lack of appeal of the device? LOL

 

I was just wondering what your battery life expectations were.

For me I don't game when I'm out with friends but previous to the pandemic I had a 3 hour round trip commute and I would fly out to Washington monthly for a few days.


but battery doesn't seem too bad to me. I already keep a beefy battery back up in my work bag for my phone. Now my steam deck can just run off it or charge while its sitting in my bag.

 

Didn't see an option for "waiting on portable Xbox Series S".

Tommy McClain

 

Getting close Ryzen 7 6800u is Zen 3+ 8/16 at 2.7-4.7ghz with 20MB of l2+l3 cache and 12 Cus at 2.2ghz. Series s has 20 Cus but only clocked at 1.565 ghz. Wonder in practice what would perform better. If not 2023 will see Phoenix which should be a 5nm version of that chip but with zen 4. Perhaps you'd be able to keep the chip at series s speeds for the cpu with no throttling and fit another 4 cus and have a nice mobile series s.

 

I've pre-ordered the 512GB version, but I know it will just end up on the shelf next to the Nokia N-Guage, PSP, Vita, and Switch. I'm just a hoarding collector :/

 

If MS wants to support the Steam Deck they do not need any special partnership with Valve, all they have to do is to write drivers (and maybe customize the UI).

 

Sure, but there's little incentive for them to do that without reaching some kind of deal with Valve. That could be anything from cross promotion to lower licensing fees for their products that are sold on Steam to whatever.

Writing drivers, testing drivers, removing components, testing to ensure that functionality isn't somehow compromised on the device, etc. comes with a cost.

Additionally, if they officially release a "lite" version of Windows for the Steam Deck, then they will need to also support that version of Windows on Steam Deck. Support isn't cheap. They may or may not want to use existing support services to handle that. If they do, that requires additional training for support staff to support another version of Windows. If they use existing support staff that also increases the potential for errors in diagnosing and fixing potential problems that may arise not only for the Steam Deck but their mainline consumer version of Windows (they won't put this into the same support queue as the corporate versions of Windows). At which point it may be safer, albeit more expensive, to have a dedicated Windows support queue for Steam Deck similar to how their support queues are structured for MS products that are availble on multiple platforms.

Having done support for Microsoft back in the 90's, it's not cheap and if you go cheap then support suffers. I was there when MS attempted to move some support services to China. That didn't go well and they quickly reversed course on that experiment for many of their consumer products.

Regards,
SB

 

why do you need a light version on the steam deck ? Windows 11 should run just fine on it. Windows is on the aya and onexplayers already. This is just a zen 2 + rdna 2 apu from amd. They will already exist in the windows ecco system and so drivers and everything will also exist.

 

I want to wait for revision 2 (or lite). So I voted "not interested" for the current steam deck.

Currently its simply too wide and heavy. My vanilla switch is already too heavy to be used comfortably without my hands / arms resting on something

 

Maybe even an Xbox os with 2 stores : windows store and steam.

Complete with the ability of steam to launch windows store games, thus taking advantage of steam controller wrapper and steam overlays.

A true collaboration.

 

I am definitely leaning towards not following up on my day-one pre-order for the 512Gb NVMe version. It's a fascinating device but realistically, the type of Steam games I play the most will be arse on a tiny screen. It's mostly RTS and other strategy games.

 

Civ works really well on the switch. So i think it would be fine on the deck too. I'm not a big rts gamer mostly turned base. X-com is going to be awesome on this

 

It's great to see some more performant devices coming to the handheld space.

But not a PC gamer so likely won't buy, unless games more along the lines of Uncharted and some Japanese games are available.

I find that even the Switch (original version ) is too bulky to take on the go all the time or even on trips. Poor battery life doesn't encourage much usage without being tethered to the power adaptor.

(BTW, can you now use some third-party USB-C PD chargers to charge while playing the Switch? I recall conflicting reports about whether you could use other chargers besides the Nintendo ones. I'd have similar concerns about the Steam Deck as well)

However, handheld gaming devices appear better on paper to me than traditional consoles these days.

 

Uncharted is available on the steam deck as are a bunch of Japanese games .


I've charged my switch from a battery bank while traveling and playing. It wasn't enough at the time to charge it but only to keep the battery from decreasing. The switch can charge from a bank too. Not sure there are many banks that will be able to increase battery life while playing however