I really wish more PC handheld devices would come out with SteamOS instead of Windows. It'd make them a lot more appealing to me over the Steam Deck. The Windows experience on handhelds is a bloated and kludgy mess.
They haven't released the installable ISO, but there's no reason why hardware vendors and Valve couldn't work together to build a Steam OS image for specific devices.
Allegedly MSFT took notice and is working on it…. But there are some good 3P apps that make it usable to launch games. Installing them is still a chore without a Bluetooth keyboard.
@echoplex21 Why the hell would anyone want a Windows PC gaming handheld - Steam Deck through Proton is the future. Sure, innovate on hardware but building something for windows systems is just paying license fees for shitty experiences. #brokenwindows#proton#steamdeck
I have an Aya Neo, and honestly running Windows on it (after doing a reinstall without all the bloat), is pretty enjoyable. I get to run all my PC games no problem, emulators, and use it as a portable computer for other things (managing flipper zero files, that sort of thing)
Steam Deck os is pretty nifty too though, that's for sure.
@null@echoplex21 for me personally I got the ROG Ally because of GamePass which I already had with my Xbox. Being able to play a bunch of PC games native has been great especially if they sync saves. Also the sheer amount of free games I got with Epic Game Store was also nice. Sure the UI isn’t the best (we really need a big picture mode for the Xbox app) but being able to play all these games without additional purchases was a no brainer.
Personally I just got a big SD card for my steam deck and now I can duel boot super easily between windows and SteamOS. Probably the best idea I've ever had.
The notion that "Steam Deck through Proton is the future" just showcases that you wouldn't be in a position to judge how to configure such a device in the planning phases of a multi-million company project.
It's a nice enthusiast attitude, sure. And don't get me wrong, us enthusiasts are important. But it's also entirely delusional to think that you can have true mass-market appeal of these handhelds without them running Windows on them.
Why buy a console when you can play the same games but at worse graphics for 45 minutes on a windows PC handheld?
I actually had a clamshell GPDWin2 that I used to play out of park baseball on in bed and it was perfect for that but I can’t image wanting it for real games. Inhome streaming is not worse than that unless you’ve cheaped out on your Wi-Fi and don’t wire in your main Pc/console.
The steam deck controls are honestly too important for me to consider anything else. The fact that I can play mouse and keyboard games with no issues is huge.
For me, it's being able to sleep and wake the device with games still running without worrying about a crash or running out of battery because Microsoft broke sleep on W11
To be honest it goes beyond that. The steam input customization is major. Like the fact that I can take a mouse and keyboard action RPG and assign the left stick to move around just like it had controller support.
Maximum compatibility? Windows is the de-facto gaming OS, whether you personally like it or not.
It makes sense as a creator of such a device that if you have the knowledge in your team to do it, running Windows on it is a good proposition to buyers. It's not like they couldn't install Linux on it if they want to, but to off-the-shelf buyers Windows is much better sales pitch.
There are a few games I can't play on my steam deck yet but I'd much rather have its great, functional ui over those few games that I could just play on pc instead.
The off the shelf user experience is so much worse though, it doesn't feel like a finished user ready product if you're having to navigate windows UI on a tiny screen with a thumbstick mouse.
Not to mention that running windows ruins the ability to play low power games at low power draws. A game like Stardew on the steam deck draws 5-7w, while the ROG Ally pulls about 15-17w to run it with the same settings. Disabling everything you can through task manager can reduce that power usage difference by maybe half, but there's still a lot of unnecessary power draw just from it running windows.
It’s cool to see the handheld PC market taking off, but MS needs to offer a purpose-built version of Windows for these devices. Without something more console-like that compete with DeckOS these devices are doomed to have a disjointed and janky experience.
I actually hope that Microsoft doesn't do that. Because I like that stuff like the SteamDeck improves the Linux-based Ecosystem.
If everyone now builds and buys Windows Handheld devices, it probably goes the same route as mobile phones, where a standard Linux or custom ROMs are second class citizen (if you are even allowed and able to use those) and you have to disable or downgrade security mechanisms if you want to install your own operating system.
I would really like if those hardware vendors would come together and improve the Linux gaming experience for their devices.
Nah, it's greatly improving game compatibility on Linux.
I love my steam deck. I'm okay with not being able to play some games on it yet if it means my gaming experience on pc keeps improving too because of it.
Game companies will also be incentivised to add native Linux support if the handheld pc market gets big enough and it's clear the experience is better on a custom Linux distro than something from ms
Agreed, but I imagine there's hesitancy at MS to try again.
MS tried their hand at purpose built mobile OS during the Palm Pilot era, then again during the Blackberry era.
Windows hasn't historically ported to small devices with great success.
Edit: I think there's also likely some awareness (and fear) that the unified mobile PC gaming platform race is nearing it's end, and already has two strong contenders in Linux and Android.
I love seeing more competition in the PC handheld market. I personally have an ROG Ally and it’s been working great (I don’t have an SD card though).
I feel like at this point Microsoft needs to create a big picture mode setting for their Xbox app. I have GamePass so it’s been a struggle to navigate using handheld controls. Then I switch to Steam and it’s big picture mode is great to use and smooth. Shame Microsoft doesn’t have something similar on their own OS. Armory Crate isn’t bad but doesn’t hold a candle to Steam either.
I love seeing more competition in the PC handheld market.
Yes! It's so great to see this one play out in the exact opposite way from Steam Machines and VR. In all these cases, Valve made noise about how they wanted to kickstart a category with their own thing and then sorta leave it in third-party OEMs' hands (less so with Machines, I suppose, since that one they just went straight to the OEMs). Fun watching the Deck take off like it did and sorta launch the entire form factor into the mainsteam.
I love seeing more competition in the PC handheld market
Yeah it's pretty great to see, especially since in the beginning there were a lot of people saying handheld gaming PCs are very niche and the development won't last long
Interesting take. I actually think the PC handheld market is being opened up by the Steam Deck. I think companies are seeing its admittedly early success and want a piece of the pie. Time will tell how big the market grows.
Calling them imbeciles is quite a stretch, but I agree that this is a crowded market that is likely to remain pretty niche. I predict some vendors will end up pulling out within a couple of years.
So many talking UIs are not intuitive on windows on these handhelds, but one can still install steam and use it in big picture mode to get a steam deck like UI.
Also, there are launchers like playnite with many themes.
No thanks. We don’t need more closed and bloated spyware, what we need is more open and privacy respecing OSes like GNU/Linux and devices using it like Steam Deck.