I am happy about the raise of popularity of the new handheld PC consoles, but still Windows on handheld device is a deal breaker for me.
I know Steam Deck is not perfect, but the proton compatibility layer, the OS and the console-like experience is something I would pay extra money for, if other manufacturers adopted it.
Yeah, I 100% agree, I have been an exclusive Linux gamer for a few years now. It helps that I do not really play online. Just the other day, it kind of blew my mind when I thought about how far gaming on Linux has come. I think most gamers could switch over to Linux and be just fine.
On the contrary, you should be paying less, since you don’t have to pay for a Windows 11 license. And while Steam can charge whatever they want for their Steam OS license, it shouldn’t be as much since they haven’t had to develop a full fledged OS.
Windows, ad delivered by OEM like Lenovo and Asus, comes with additional third party bloat/spyware that eat resources but gives extra money to the OEM. These money are used by OEM to either cut the price of the windows license key or cut the overall price to the customers if Microsoft has already a special agreement with the OEM to provide free keys.