Path: news.eternal-september.org!eternal-september.org!feeder3.eternal-september.org!border-2.nntp.ord.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!Xl.tags.giganews.com!local-1.nntp.ord.giganews.com!news.giganews.com.POSTED!not-for-mail
NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2025 14:36:42 +0000
From: Spalls Hurgenson <spallshurgenson@gmail.com>
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action
Subject: Re: Now Even Microsoft Is Making a SteamDeck
Date: Wed, 11 Jun 2025 10:36:35 -0400
Summary: Copying or reuse for AI training or data sets not allowed
Message-ID: <tj4j4kldf07qp3c8flfk4dfed0evsd8g95@4ax.com>
References: <a3p0tjt11u5mncavud5o65rre6edb5daqa@4ax.com> <aukg4k5r28di3msp3nb8ustbendkvib57k@4ax.com> <102bfod$1sfr3$1@dont-email.me>
X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 2.0/32.652
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Lines: 58
X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com
X-Trace: sv3-1OeCeMROydt/cn3gsrXs8+65cTzvJGVZyKDT0H6T+VG+P6oEVVPLNglXw4dsJxE1g4pS7sjm+p6YU6W!GRfyxxRaanBLr5lRVnLTFj23gY5gViH4KoUQ4bNYz9XB9reFtlj3YpWvQ0eHegx635kDS0w9
X-Complaints-To: abuse@giganews.com
X-DMCA-Notifications: http://www.giganews.com/info/dmca.html
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers
X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly
X-Postfilter: 1.3.40

On Wed, 11 Jun 2025 09:46:04 +0100, JAB <noway@nochance.com> wrote:

>On 10/06/2025 16:57, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
>> 
>> So the first Microsoft Steamdecks are out*. Well, they're not actually
>> SteamDecks and, they're not really out (all we're getting is the first
>> official announcements and specs for the new devices) and,
>> technically, they're not even Microsoft devices.
>> 
>> In actuality, these machines are handheld gaming PCs with XBox
>> branding being made by third-party OEMS... but they sure as hell look
>> like a SteamDeck. Like Valve's own device (and its licensed clones),
>> the Asus ROG XBox Ally is features AMD processors/chipsets and has
>> button placement remarkably similar to Valve's machine. The higher-end
>> model (the XBox Ally X) comes with 24GB too, as opposed to the 16GB on
>> Valve's hand-held.
>> 
>> But basically it's just another fairly-standard hand-held PC with the
>> native XBox app featured front-and-center.
>> 
>> Me, if I were Valve, I'd be working hard to make sure the SteamDeck OS
>> was 100% compatible with the new XBox Ally on its release day. I mean,
>> c'mon, you know that's what most people are going to be putting Steam
>> on there anyway. ;-P
>> 
>
>I have seen some reviews of whatever Windows handheld it was that can 
>now ship with Steam OS. The were a couple of interesting takeaways. 
>Performance (FPS) was better on Steam OS although if I wanted a handheld 
>raw performance just has to be good enough and not the best. The biggy 
>though was battery life, it is a portable after all. It depends on which 
>game was played but there were some dramatic differences in how long the 
>Steam OS version lasted.

I suspect whichever model of SteamDeck-clone out there, they will all
be inferior to Valve's design. In part, because Valve was able to
customize their hardware and OS to work perfectly in tandem, whereas
the competitors are just slapping OEM chipsets into a reasonable
fascimile. But also, SteamDeck is a flagship product for Valve,
designed a much to push the idea of Steam as a mobile platform as it
is to make Valve some dosh. Wheras for ASUS and Lenovo and the rest,
this is just a small subset of their overall market, and they'll cut
the hardware to the bone to make it affordable (and profitable).

As for performance, that probably has as much to do with whether or
not the game is running on native code or through Proton as anything
else. Still, the fact that it's possible to get reasonable performance
through (semi-)emulation says a lot for how powerful modern processors
are these day. (On the gripping hand, it helps a lot that SteamDeck
runs at  1280x800, pushing less than half the number of pixels per
frame than even a regular "HD" screen!)

Regardless, it's impressive that Valve has almost single-handedly
created the new "handheld PC" market. Pretty good results for a
side-product developed by a company that's primarily focused on
digital retail!