Xbox Series... M?

All I'm saying is that "I know people who" is not a proof of "many people". All of those examples, including mine, are anecdotal evidence at best.
No need for proof, many people see the Steam Deck as a console, that's the general opinion on the forums. Maybe you should look around and ask people who have one.
 
All I'm saying is that "I know people who" is not a proof of "many people". All of those examples, including mine, are anecdotal evidence at best.
that's all I know and I know of other people that mentioned that people purchased the Steam Deck because they think it's a console. If it behaves like a console it's a console, with hybrid features.

People obsess about how it's going to find its niche, and imho, the key is that they're competitive in the components they use. If they're not, it won't matter what differentiates them or who they're targeting. The PC ecosystem is the toughest. There's much more competition than there is on consoles.

If it allows you to install emulators, and DoSBOX -charging 1€ for a "rom" of a game- and play any Windows game, it'd be the ultimate gaming machine.
 
I'm curious how the marketing/messaging will go with this year's third party 'not Xbox M'. Putting an Xbox button on Windows device that can't run Series S titles too is a recipe for confusion.

I'm assuming it's too early to have something powerful enough to run Series S titles, even at the high end of portable Windows PCs.
 
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No need for proof, many people see the Steam Deck as a console, that's the general opinion on the forums. Maybe you should look around and ask people who have one.
In classical debate, it's the person presenting the opinion that needs to present the evidence to support it rather than the other guy having to go looking for evidence of someone else's argument- evidence that might not exist and wastes their time.

That some people think of SteamDeck as a console can be taken at face value. That forums might have a sizeable number of people who think it is a console can also be quite comfortably taken on faith, although that's better supported by someone who thinks that collating the data and saying, "in this forum, a quick look reveals about 30% think..." or whatever.

That wouldn't prove 'many people' think of SteamDeck as a console though. Forums are self-selecting subsets of people, rarely representative of the wider community. To prove 'many people' out of the millions of SteamDeck owners think of it as a console, there'd need to be better evidence than anecdotal forum messages.

This doesn't necessarily need to detract from the argument. All that needs to happen is either evidence is presented, or the argument downgraded from 'fact' to 'my opinion'.

Many people who wouldn't touch a gaming PC with a stick have bought the Steam Deck because they think it's a console, and it acts as such.

...becomes...

Seems to me from forum posts that many people who wouldn't touch a gaming PC with a stick have bought the Steam Deck because they think it's a console, and it acts as such.
No-one needs the burden of evidence, but the argument also isn't authoritative and doesn't establish a fact to steer the discussion.

Personally, I'd be shocked if a large number of SteamDeck users aren't aware it's a computer running Steam as it's not advertised (AFAIK) outside of existing Steam users as a general entertainment device. But I can definitely see people who wouldn't want a PC be willing to play on a gamified PC like SteamDeck as it operates like a console. I also expect Steam users to refer to it as a console as it's a more like a console in operation than their PC, but that wouldn't mean they think it's closed hardware without other OS options. You might have some owners who saw a Steam gamer showcase SteamDeck and see it as a portable console and buy. I think this will be a small subset of the millions of owners though. I have zero data on this so it's just an unqualified opinion and discussion point. ;)

More relevant of XBM, a consolified OS would definitely help Windows reach a different audience. If operating an XB requires engaging with Windows like it's a desktop, plenty of people would be discouraged from owning.
 
on the offcial Steam Deck page it's defined as such:


"Your games, everywhere​

Powerful, portable PC gaming, designed for comfort and a console-like user experience"​

 
In classical debate, it's the person presenting the opinion that needs to present the evidence to support it rather than the other guy having to go looking for evidence of someone else's argument- evidence that might not exist and wastes their time.

That some people think of SteamDeck as a console can be taken at face value. That forums might have a sizeable number of people who think it is a console can also be quite comfortably taken on faith, although that's better supported by someone who thinks that collating the data and saying, "in this forum, a quick look reveals about 30% think..." or whatever.

That wouldn't prove 'many people' think of SteamDeck as a console though. Forums are self-selecting subsets of people, rarely representative of the wider community. To prove 'many people' out of the millions of SteamDeck owners think of it as a console, there'd need to be better evidence than anecdotal forum messages.

This doesn't necessarily need to detract from the argument. All that needs to happen is either evidence is presented, or the argument downgraded from 'fact' to 'my opinion'.



...becomes...


No-one needs the burden of evidence, but the argument also isn't authoritative and doesn't establish a fact to steer the discussion.

Personally, I'd be shocked if a large number of SteamDeck users aren't aware it's a computer running Steam as it's not advertised (AFAIK) outside of existing Steam users as a general entertainment device. But I can definitely see people who wouldn't want a PC be willing to play on a gamified PC like SteamDeck as it operates like a console. I also expect Steam users to refer to it as a console as it's a more like a console in operation than their PC, but that wouldn't mean they think it's closed hardware without other OS options. You might have some owners who saw a Steam gamer showcase SteamDeck and see it as a portable console and buy. I think this will be a small subset of the millions of owners though. I have zero data on this so it's just an unqualified opinion and discussion point. ;)

More relevant of XBM, a consolified OS would definitely help Windows reach a different audience. If operating an XB requires engaging with Windows like it's a desktop, plenty of people would be discouraged from owning.
you might have a point.... that's the only people I know who are hardcore console gamers who has the Steam Deck. That couple I'm talking about are kinda nerdy in every aspect, even in the way they talk, although they have a "classic" look to them, like "average" people, but they aren't. I guess they got the Steam Deck to add a new gadget to their collection, but I remember the girl said once, talking about the most recent Sonic game on Steam, that the compatibility was good, that she consulted that info, which indicates a bit of interest in what she got.

Steam Deck sold like 6 million units until now, who know how many hardcore console gamers got it. Imho, it's a great start point for those who dislike pc gaming but are curious about the advantages, but just the easy tweaking, the Hz and upscaling features, mods via Workshop, etc.

If MS could help to integrate itch.io, Steam -my favourite now after years of wanting to hate it but couldn't-, Epic Store, GoG, all Windows and DOS games, etc into the machine, and also integrate Nexusmods and other mod sites files into the ecosystem, so adding a mod is totally transparent for the user, they could have a winner.

I don't think that the proposal of a hybrid handheld OEM device alone is going to make the cut, if the pricing and proposition isn't good and don't have something else to break away from the competition.
 
Yeah, I can see console gamers wanting a Vita device, but not wanting a Switch with its alternative library, picking up a Steam Deck because it's been successfully consolified. I question whether these are in large numbers, and whether there's a large audience for expensive, powerful handhelds.
 
As I understand it, Steam Deck is around 60% of the GPU power of a PS4. So for something that costs around 550€ it should be possible to get to a full PS4.

When LPDDR6 comes out, things will change. Until then, memory bandwidth is a major bottleneck.
 
No need for proof, many people see the Steam Deck as a console, that's the general opinion on the forums. Maybe you should look around and ask people who have one.
I see it as a portable console like a gameboy. I think that is how everyone sees the steam deck and these windows handhelds. They are secondary machines that complement their main console/ pc and we all mostly play older games that run well on the steam deck.

I think a series m would be the same thing. I would personally be less interested in the machine if they make compromises to more easily connect to a tv. Esp if it ends up in the Series S performance range.
 
As I understand it, Steam Deck is around 60% of the GPU power of a PS4. So for something that costs around 550€ it should be possible to get to a full PS4.

When LPDDR6 comes out, things will change. Until then, memory bandwidth is a major bottleneck.
Rog Ally X is more powerful than the two-year-old Steam Deck, and that's already a year-old technology. Much more powerful new hardware is possible.

With AMD's new data compression technique, even LPDDR5 could be quite good.
 
Two important factors are price and specifications.

What can be achieved in the specifications of a handheld device in 2025?

Zen 5 + rdna 4 could be very compelling.

IF we want series s performance

8 core zen 2 @ 3.6ghz.

Rdna 2 20cu @ 1.56ghz

8 gigs @ 224gb/s
2gigs @ 56GB/s


A mobile zen 5 8 core should out perform the zen 2 in the series s at this point.
1741808099652.png

While these are not mobile chips as you can see the performance per generation has really increased

For the gpu rdna 2 is really lack luster in terms of raytracing.


The rdna 4 cards esp the 9070 is really efficent and offers much better ray tracing performance


The real issue will be bandwidth. The 225GB/s of bandwidth is the real question for me. I know they can do it but I don't know if they can do it at a reasonable cost and power usage.

At the end of the day a zen 5/rdna 4 handheld could in a lot of tasks come out on the better end of the performance battle with a series s. Lock it at 720p-900p and use fsr 4 for a 1080p or 1200p screen and I think you have a compelling portable and will likely be able to easily compete with a switch handheld and other windows / steam os portables
 
Zen 5 + rdna 4 could be very compelling.

IF we want series s performance

8 core zen 2 @ 3.6ghz.

Rdna 2 20cu @ 1.56ghz

8 gigs @ 224gb/s
2gigs @ 56GB/s


A mobile zen 5 8 core should out perform the zen 2 in the series s at this point.
View attachment 13302

While these are not mobile chips as you can see the performance per generation has really increased

For the gpu rdna 2 is really lack luster in terms of raytracing.


The rdna 4 cards esp the 9070 is really efficent and offers much better ray tracing performance


The real issue will be bandwidth. The 225GB/s of bandwidth is the real question for me. I know they can do it but I don't know if they can do it at a reasonable cost and power usage.

At the end of the day a zen 5/rdna 4 handheld could in a lot of tasks come out on the better end of the performance battle with a series s. Lock it at 720p-900p and use fsr 4 for a 1080p or 1200p screen and I think you have a compelling portable and will likely be able to easily compete with a switch handheld and other windows / steam os portables
I think 540p native rendering + FSR is enough for a 1080p image on a 7-8 inch screen. You don't even need FSR4, FSR3.1 is enough. Due to the size of the image, the artifacts are not so visible.
 
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