Steam Deck - SteamOS, Zen2 4C/8T, RDNA2 1.0-1.6 TF, 16 GB LPDDR5 88 GB/s, starting at $399 [2021-12]
- Thread starter BRiT
- Start date
In my home it works fine. Outside of the home I'm subjected to the same limitations of a service like xcloud if not more so since my home upload speed isn't as fast as microsofts upload speed lol.
If they wanted they could have turned the Windows Media Center certification program into a windows console program too and avoided the massive distraction of the xbox too. The last platform specific windows they tried to launch failed, it might be possible but it's likely not easy for Microsoft.
Steam OS isolation of win32 games isn't perfect, but it's still miles better than what Microsoft can offer at the moment. They have the infrastructure in theory, but only in theory.
AppContainer for Win32 apps · Issue #219 · microsoft/WindowsAppSDK
Proposal: AppContainer for Win32 apps Summary This proposal attempts to bring the advantages of app containers (limited permissions and file system access) to Win32, by documenting how a packaged W...
github.com
A new awesome feature has been added to the Steam Deck and Steam itself. We now have the ability to download and install games over a local network instead of having to download them separately for each device (or copying from one to another using a USB), this is a massive quality of life feature, and pretty much a godsend for Deck users, families with multiple machines, and people who have data caps.
food for thought.If they wanted they could have turned the Windows Media Center certification program into a windows console program too and avoided the massive distraction of the xbox too. The last platform specific windows they tried to launch failed, it might be possible but it's likely not easy for Microsoft.
Steam OS isolation of win32 games isn't perfect, but it's still miles better than what Microsoft can offer at the moment. They have the infrastructure in theory, but only in theory.
AppContainer for Win32 apps · Issue #219 · microsoft/WindowsAppSDK
Proposal: AppContainer for Win32 apps Summary This proposal attempts to bring the advantages of app containers (limited permissions and file system access) to Win32, by documenting how a packaged W...
cheapchips
Veteran
Head of Microsoft packs the wrong device to travel with due to Twitter optics?
what do you mean by Twitter optics? sry, I didn't get the meaning.
Tbh I find the photo quite sad, too forced, too unreal
cheapchips
Veteran
Literally as you say. "Here's my cobbled together corporate gaming travel experience" for the Twitter audience , rather than playing on the Deck, which is clearly what nature intended
(Not that I generally find Spencer particularly forced most of the time)
I mean, it’s that’s fairly small. Not much bigger than travelling with a pair of shoes in your backpack. Though. I would also rather have a steam deckLiterally as you say. "Here's my cobbled together corporate gaming travel experience" for the Twitter audience , rather than playing on the Deck, which is clearly what nature intended
(Not that I generally find Spencer particularly forced most of the time)
arandomguy
Veteran
Literally as you say. "Here's my cobbled together corporate gaming travel experience" for the Twitter audience , rather than playing on the Deck, which is clearly what nature intended
(Not that I generally find Spencer particularly forced most of the time)
From what I can tell it's a portable display and stand solution designed specifically for the Series S by a third party company. It's not a self "cobbled together" solution.
Likely just a friendly cross promotional marketing post that helps out that company.
xScreen - Designed for Xbox Series S - 11.6 1080P FHD 60Hz IPS Portable Screen Attachment - Unique CABLEFREE Design
The power and performance of the Xbox Series S can now be taken anywhere. xScreen™ is a fully integrated folding screen that seamlessly attaches onto the Xbox Series S. This transforms your device into a laptop form factor that can be easily transported and used anywhere there is a power...
upspecgaming.com
This new feature is fantastic news!
cheapchips
Veteran
From what I can tell it's a portable display and stand solution designed specifically for the Series S by a third party company. It's not a self "cobbled together" solution.
Likely just a friendly cross promotional marketing post that helps out that company.
xScreen - Designed for Xbox Series S - 11.6 1080P FHD 60Hz IPS Portable Screen Attachment - Unique CABLEFREE Design
The power and performance of the Xbox Series S can now be taken anywhere. xScreen™ is a fully integrated folding screen that seamlessly attaches onto the Xbox Series S. This transforms your device into a laptop form factor that can be easily transported and used anywhere there is a power...
That did make ponder when the first clip on screen appeared. The PS2 certainly had one. It's never been an elegant solution to portable gaming.
it's good news indeed. I'd like the Steam Deck to have full support for Windows too, that would be awesome news. Steam Deck is nothing but a Windows emulator, and because of that I don't want one.
Windows drivers are not polished, dual boot wasn't available at launch, and there is no Valve driver so that the integrated controller recognizes it as another gamepad.
It is absurd to emulate Windows in a system that allows you to install Windows. But hey, I can understand why there's a business reason not to, if there is. But even so, starting to sabotage Windows is a bad sign. That Steam OS would not be bloody necessary, come on, and people would end up realizing it. Fix the drivers Valve.
MS can write the drivers for Windows if they want to sell more Windows licenses. Why should Valve help MS?
I'm a pretty solid WIndows / MIcrosoft fanboy moron, and I too fail to see why I would demand Windows for a Steam deck in preference to the "emulation." If I'm going to play games on the deck, specifically those games which have native support for the Steam OS, then screw Windows being in the way. Now, having a dual boot capability to pull in those games which may not be natively supported, whatever those are? Maybe, sure.
None of this should be viewed as "starting to sabotage Windows", it's more of a "Why would a business burn the cycles?"
And as for Steam OS not being needed? I guess you could create an argument where Steam OS isn't strictly necessary, but why? Windows costs money, Linux doesn't. Linux allows remarkably more low-level customization, Windows doesn't. Windows is the swiss army knife approach, versus a custom-rolled Linux image with the precision of an X-Acto knife. Steam can very specifically manage configuration and patching on their devices using their own secured upstream repo; you can't do that on Windows without a lot of crazy licensing and backend infrastructure which all runs a paid-for Windows server licenses. I know, because we run most of that for my day job, and it's expensive.
Sure, they could've used Windows. Instead they decided to save the customer a lot of money for arguably no loss in capability (from a non-nerd standpoint.)
None of this should be viewed as "starting to sabotage Windows", it's more of a "Why would a business burn the cycles?"
And as for Steam OS not being needed? I guess you could create an argument where Steam OS isn't strictly necessary, but why? Windows costs money, Linux doesn't. Linux allows remarkably more low-level customization, Windows doesn't. Windows is the swiss army knife approach, versus a custom-rolled Linux image with the precision of an X-Acto knife. Steam can very specifically manage configuration and patching on their devices using their own secured upstream repo; you can't do that on Windows without a lot of crazy licensing and backend infrastructure which all runs a paid-for Windows server licenses. I know, because we run most of that for my day job, and it's expensive.
Sure, they could've used Windows. Instead they decided to save the customer a lot of money for arguably no loss in capability (from a non-nerd standpoint.)
arandomguy
Veteran
I feel this is going to depend on your perspective if you're purchasing a Steam Deck as a stand alone hardware device or as a platform device. Obviously from a business standpoint Valve is looking at the latter but some people might be hoping to get essentially a value purchase general device (due to the cost model), especially as the device would be also leveraged for something other than gaming.
I'd be in the former camp, so full on Windows support would be more important to me. If I was solely a Steam gamer (not just a PC gamer, I feel there should be a distinction here), than I wouldn't care.
I am in the former camp as well, but I don't really care about Windows support.
Fair enough, but Valve is selling it as a platform device and, as such, will prioritize development cycles to their core platform -- which isn't Windows. And as a cost management measure, Windows doesn't make much sense at all in terms of a platform user experience, which includes manageability and lifecycle management.
Folks on Beyond3D always seem to forget: we're the niche players, not the mainstream. Some of us get pretty nerd-core with our expectations of new products, only to then forget we're the scant few. And of course, "oh but lots of other people are asking for this too!" becomes the rallying cry, except in the grand scheme of things, it's still a niche ask.
Steam deck isn't a Windows mobile platform; it's (exactly as you phrased it) a Steam Gamer platform. And in that vein, Windows didn't make fiscal (and thus, business) sense.