this post was submitted on 25 Feb 2025
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[–] _cryptagion@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 day ago

There’s a reason for that, and it’s more than the usual Valve fanboyism. The Deck is objectively a better user experience than the alternatives, Steam Input is a masterpiece, Linux runs games better than Windows now (thanks, Gabe), and the community around it is friendly and super helpful to everyone.

Even a device with better specs will have trouble surpassing the Deck if they can’t cover these areas as well.

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 13 points 1 day ago

Steam deck is awesome.

With the Desktop mode, a monitor, mouse, and keyboard it's also just a computer.

Its been awesome playing games on it then flipping on my VPN and downloading movies and stuff that I can then watch on it.

The future is now

[–] frezik@midwest.social 27 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They got the formula right on this space:

  • Linux, not Windows--Windows provides little that can't be done on Linux in this space
  • AMD, not Intel--AMD just has better products at this level (any level at this point, really)
  • 720p--going higher doesn't provide much at this size except suck battery life and requiring a more powerful GPU
  • Price

Now, price is partially because Valve can afford to subsidize the cost and expect to make it up on Steam sales. I'd be remiss to ignore how they're making their money. Still, they're also able to have a good price because they didn't try to make it as powerful as it could be, but as powerful as it needed to be.

[–] orize@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

I wonder how many people, like me, who really use their Steam Deck as a Pirate Deck.

If I see a game I like on Steam Store I simply go to STEAMRlP and grab it pre-installed. Then I run it through Wine/Proton. Installing dependencies is very easy, thanks to steamdb.info + Wine-/Protontricks.

Now, some games I do buy afterwards. KCD2 is one example. The Last Flame another. When I know that I enjoy it, I know what I get for my money, then I can make the decision to buy it.

[–] shawn1122@lemm.ee 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Is there a guide you'd recommend following?

[–] orize@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

I am currently editing the guide, will finish tomorrow. but you might have luck following it already. Check out https://lemmy.dbzer0.com/post/38810596

[–] orize@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 17 hours ago

I'll reply tomorrow with a guide. Gotta create a Lemmy community for it and then I'll make a post-guide on how to!

[–] ventusvir@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

Well, while probably not universally true, but I'm guessing that if you can afford to buy a steam deck, you can probably afford to buy games

[–] Star@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I’d guess not many. We’re a bit more Linux/tech savvy here but most users would hear “Wine/Proton” alone and freak out. I bring up my terminal and people somehow think I’m “hacking”. With all the convenience with buying and playing games on Steam, their model works (even on PC, with competing platforms and unlimited piracy potential).

Edit: They also have a really great refund policy.

[–] polysics@lemmy.world 39 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They are, in almost every way, taking the console model approach. Updates when there is a significant generational leap and not just yearly updates because AMD made a slightly faster APU (though they did the switch to switch OLED thing but no one complained about that because they kept the LCD models for sale and the OLED really is nicer), selling at a loss (and making up for it in game sales) and of course, the ease of use that a console interface offers over a traditional PC interface.

Then they step it up beyond that by making it as open as possible (software/emulation, games from any source, it's really a PC) and making the hardware repairable (making parts available and easy to fix in the first place,) and of course, cheap games and practically every game you'd ever want.

What the other handheld PC companies are lacking is (with some exceptions) repairability, that console experience, and price. Us nerds that can do whatever with technology will do it, so a legion or an ally or a gpd will sell just fine to that demographic, especially for the frame rate chasers. But for most of the rest of people, they would just get a switch or a PS5 or Xbox because it's just plug in and game, and at least in the case of a Switch or Xbox S, the cost of entry is way lower than a PC, be it a gaming desktop/laptop, or even many of the handheld PC competitors. Yes you can build comparable cheap PCs to an Xbox or PS5, but that means building a PC, and most people don't want to do that (I'm not talking to you, I know you have a sweet rig.) Yes I know games on PC are usually cheaper especially Steam sales or key seller/bundle sites, but console gamers often don't consider that, and initial cost of entry is very important to non-enthusiast type people in any given hobby.

There's a reason why Nintendo consoles sell so well despite being behind the competition in raw horsepower. It's the console model (and in their case aggressive exclusivity of their famous IPs)

The things keeping Sony and Microsoft in the competition are basically the console ease of use, and their all you can eat subscriptions. Even they both realized that they can get more sales putting their games on PC, but that still means forking over MSRP for a single game, so those ps+ and gamepass subs are keeping them afloat at this point.

I'm a huge tech nerd and have been deep in related industries for over 20 years. I know how to do whatever I want with any pc hardware or software, I own a steam deck, and a rog ally, a proper beefy gaming desktop, a gaming laptop, a Switch, and a PS4. Despite all that, in the past 2 years, easily 90% of my gaming has been on the Steam Deck. It does everything I need it to and more, and it does it anywhere, anyhow. If I want to tweak and tinker with it I can, but more importantly, I can just PLAY GAMES with almost no friction. At home, on a break at work, at the airport waiting for my flight, cozy in bed, wherever, whenever, and fast, and easy.

The Steam Deck is the swiss army knife game device that childhood me always dreamed of, and now it exists. That is why it's outselling it's competition, and genuinely making PC gaming a viable thing for the masses. No it won't beat Nintendo anytime soon, but it's gaining steam on them and other consoles faster than any other attempt ever has before, and it will only get better.

[–] lorty@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

The ease of use of the Steam Deck cannot be overstated. Yes you can tinker with it a bunch but if you just want to play your games, you download and play. The windows handhelds will never be as easy since windows is just crap for this (and MS is not interested in improving).

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[–] garretble@lemmy.world 8 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Now that it has been three years, while I'd like to have one, I feel like I'll just wait until whatever the next version is - even if that means waiting another year or so.

I don't need one, particularly, and I don't want to be caught at the tail end of this hardware.

[–] odelik@lemmy.today 3 points 1 day ago

I was on the fence of asking for one for my birthday late last year for exactly this reason.

What tipped me over was that I took a look at my Steam library and realized I literally have hundreds of indie and AA games that I've never played or have less than 4 hours in that I always meant to go back to. And that was it, I decided the Steam Deck was going to be my indie gaming experince platform. It has been amazing at doing this, and I've been chewing threw my indie game library like crazy, and have picked up so many more that I'm loving gaming again! I can see myself keeping the current steam deck around and will be used regularly for at least the next 5 years.

If you're looking for a portable machine that'll tackle most modern & higher end games, either look at the alternative SteamOS portables or wait for the next Steam Deck (the touch screen, D-Pad, Sticks, and dual touch pad make it the best choice for best I out options for game compatibility).

However, if you want a great machine for indies, AA, older AAA titles, and console EMU, the current hardware is amazing and worth the price

[–] Lootboblin@lemmy.world 13 points 2 days ago (2 children)

It’s easy to dominate when you were only one in the market for so long time.

[–] frezik@midwest.social 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They're not, though. There's quite a few other offerings in this space, and the Steam Deck appears to outsell all of them combined.

[–] HappyStarDiaz@real.lemmy.fan 13 points 2 days ago

Use a competitor like the ASUS ROG for 30 minutes and you’ll understand why the SteamDeck is king.

[–] kassemmel@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Handheld PCs have been on the market for 20 years. Comparable to steam deck (x86_64) at least since 2016 GPD Win

[–] Lootboblin@lemmy.world -1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Basically just read and write emails handheld pc’s but they were not made for gaming.

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[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 62 points 3 days ago (1 children)

If you're just looking for sales numbers, which we haven't had much of for a long time, the long and short of it is:

4M Steam Decks since launch, 2M of all of its competitors combined; expected that all handheld PCs sharing this AMD tech will sell about 2M more this year.

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 44 points 2 days ago (14 children)

To put it in perspective there are 150 million Switches and 75 million PS5s out there. And 15 million Wii Us, if anybody is counting. This puts PC handhelds some ways ahead of the N-Gage and well behind the Game Gear.

I'm less concerned about who's ahead in the handheld PC market and more interested on whether it'll ever become a mass market space. I think a lot depends on prices for integrated GPUs not skyrocketing like their desktop counterparts and their performance stepping up a notch or two. We'll see.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago (7 children)

It's worth keeping in mind what's different here though. If the Steam Deck came out in the early 90s, it wouldn't be analogous to the Game Gear; it would be competing with the Nomad. It plays the same games as a PC but handheld, so it's capturing specifically the market that wants to extend that library to be handheld as well. Every Switch sold is handheld, but outside of the Switch Lite, we don't know who values that system for its handheld capabilities (I basically never used my Switch handheld back when I actually used it). There was also literally no competition for it when it launched, so it will be interesting to see how many opt for a handheld PC instead when the handheld part is what they're looking for.

Additionally, there's this rising market segment of mini PCs that are powered by the same tech that's in these handhelds. I've got one that I like to bring around for local multiplayer games, and if you only ever intend to use a computer at a desk for basic documents and web browsing, they can undercut low-end laptop prices for the same level of power and run the same operating system. Based on recent rumors, this tech could wind up in a new crop of Steam Machine-esque consoles very soon but with the library problem more or less solved compared to ten years ago.

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[–] Anivia@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Well, with low-end gpus (like the integrated APU in the Steam Deck) there is still competition. The main reason high-end gpus are so expensive is that there are no alternatives to Nvidia, so they can ask for any price they want

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[–] shortrounddev@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

I almost always plug mine into my dock and run it with a controller lol, rarely use it as an actual handheld

[–] 58008@lemmy.world 19 points 2 days ago

pls to meke stem controller 2 🥲 😻

[–] ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml 16 points 2 days ago (7 children)

Personally, I think the Deck is too big for my tastes, but the beauty of the ecosystem is that anyone can make one while still having almost all the Deck features.

I'd love to have a Vita or even PSP sized Steam handheld with a great screen for smaller titles, but that comes with its own problems

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 days ago (3 children)

At some point you're going to struggle to put a capable x86 machine in a device that small.

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[–] SabinStargem@lemmings.world 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I would like Gabe to with the EU to make a EULinux. They both have respective reasons to get away from Microsoft's control over software, and I would very much like to daily drive a Linux without worrying about game compatibility. Unfortunately, I am stuck with Windows because I play many obscure or old games, and simply hate dealing with technical hassles enough as it is. Here's hoping that Linux becomes good enough within a couple years from now.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I think the biggest hurdle against transitioning away from Windows to Linux for most government offices isn’t the OS itself - but rather the MS Office suite!

You’d honestly be surprised how pervasive Excel is amongst white collar workers; and I think the biggest hurdle is the uncertainty of compatibility (of formulas, macros, workbook links etc.) from Excel to Open/Libre Office alternatives.

[–] JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 7 points 2 days ago (4 children)

My understanding is that Libre Office is the closest to actually being a good replacement to Excel. Having used Libre Office's Excel equivalent, it does not feel good to use (then again, neither did Excel).

I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to replace the Microsoft office suite - Microsoft owns the rights to those softwares' workflow paradigms IIRC, and people who have been taught those workflows are not going to abandon them. I mean, we've not even managed to move away from the staggered qwerty layout that was established for typewriters in the 1870's. I think the only options are for schools to either adopt new paradigms (using opensource software as teaching tools) over mass adoption in industry.

[–] orize@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago

Try ONLYOFFICE, it's FOSS and looks very much like modern Office Suit yet more modern looking than Libre Office

[–] Minnels@lemm.ee 3 points 2 days ago (3 children)

I tried dworak for awhile and just like switching from windows it is a bit rough sometimes. Every game you play have to change keybindings as a person who play a lot of different games it became too much. But writing was so good. So much easier and intuitive. Only took like a week or something to get into it.

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[–] ohshit604@sh.itjust.works 8 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Here's hoping that Linux becomes good enough within a couple years from now.

I jumped head first into Linux without any prior knowledge a year-ish ago, I went and chose what seemed to be a simple distro (Debian) and later found out it’s one of the more difficult distros out there (also most native packages are outdated) and some how made it work day to day.

Basically every game on steam is Linux compatible and a good handful of popular anti-cheats have partnered with Valve to ensure proper compatibility.

Now the problem is, game producers (like Ubisoft & EA) have been pushing this rhetoric that Linux users are all cheaters & hackers and intentionally prevent users from connecting to their servers or even launching the games.

I think the switch isn’t as bad as you make it seem. Hope I provided some insight.

Edit - dropping ProtonDB (fixed the link)

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[–] Raiderkev@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] wax@feddit.nu 13 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] samus12345@lemm.ee 8 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Yes, you've got a nice deck, okay??

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[–] SplashJackson@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 days ago

I love when my hands get dominated

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 8 points 2 days ago (4 children)

Until more recently when they started getting competion, what other handheld gaming PCs even existed?

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