Phil is already calling Gabe to integrate Game Pass PC + Cloud on it.
https://twitter.com/IGN/status/1416072894917095438?s=19
Hell yeah!
Iâm not sure what you expect here? In order to have this amount of power in a portable form factor of course it has to be this expensive, and yes, the 399 price point is not realistic for most users because of a lack of storage, the machineâs true price point is 530 dollars. But even considering that price, for this machineâs capabilities, I still think it looks really good on paper.
In order to be less expensive than this you would either need to make just a handheld to play cloud games, or you would make an underpowered portable console like the Switch that couldnât run the games anyway.
Because they know the buttons will break long before the sticks do
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Wait to see how much it thermal throttles before buying.
Also, the base model is a joke. 64GB and itâs EMCC too. In 2021. It only exists so they can say âstarts at 399$â, like the 360 Core. And the SD card slot tech it has is only as fast as the original Xboxâs hard drive, so that version isnât going to feel good on games that are also on the PS5/SX.
Unless Valve is rewriting huge parts of the Linux kernel, itâs actually likely that Windows will perform better in games than SteamOS will. Windows 10 was the one where they streamlined it so it could work on phones and netbooks without murdering the battery, and while Linux is a great kernel itâs still a server OS first and a desktop OS second. Thereâs also specific issues with power saving on AMD which I believe are still unfixed. And thereâs the fact that if youâre running Windows the game will also be able to use DirectStorage.
Additionally, there is power drain because of the WINE/Proton translation overhead, and a lot of developers killed their native Linux versions after Valve said âfuck it, no more proton whitelistâ so thereâs actually even less major Linux native games than when they started their Linux initiative on Steam 
Anyway I implore people to wait until real word units are shipped before committing. Feels like a Rev 1 a bunch of people will beta test and theyâll do a rev 2 right afterwards. Iâd be more convinced if the nvme was an easily accessible slot and not soldered, as well, so that you could upconvert the base model.
They say installing Windows on this may actually improve performance because of the Proton overhead that would exist when playing through SteamOS.
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Looks like you can just buy the 399,- model and upgrade the SSD yourself!
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Storage is soldered on and not user upgradeable according to statements on launch day.
So now itâs confusing based on this other statement.
I put the deposit down on one. Not sure whether Iâll hold onto it or cancel.
Does this emulator work well?
Not well enough to make that meme make any sense. Youâd be lucky to get Switch performance, let alone âSwitch Pro.â
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I also donât think many people know how unintuitive and just complicated it is to get yuzu and cemu to run on Windows let alone a handheld. Just way too much hassle to get it to work.
I think there also a lot of misconceptions on the type of games the steam deck will be able to play, even the Series S drops below 1080p often and then combine that with next gen games and youâll have an underpowered device for games in 3-4 years. It will be a good secondary device.
How well will it run those games? Look at the CPU. Its gonna bottleneck so many games. This thing will struggle to run Cyberpunk at 720p 30 with minimal settings
And thats fine. I donât think anyone is going to get this to play next gen games on the go. Its basically a lower tier PC for older games and emulation. Thats fine.
With that CPU Switch emulator will run like a sideshow. It wouldnât even run Wii U games well.
If itâs not even close to technically correct, then itâs a dumb meme that is not worth spreading. People at my job saw that same meme and were thinking it was something they could do lol.
Got a preorder in for the 512GB model. Not sure if Iâll keep it but if I do Windows 11 will be one of the first things I put in there. Seems like a no brainer with its gaming enhancements like Direct Storage etc⌠and being able to run Android apps which are already better suited for mobile.
This device has me wondering if a few years from now (with inevitable die shrinks) we might get an actual Series S handheld. We shall see.
For newer games, at lower settings, for sure. But bear in mind that there are plenty of four core CPUs in gaming PCs out there and developers make settings to accommodate them.
Add ontop of this that PC gamers are usually targeting 1080p, 1440p, sometimes even 2160p and most of the âcan it runâ conversations cente on hitting those pixel counts. Reduce the load to 800p and things get easier.
The screen is basically 720p but 16:10 rather than 16:9 (720p is 720x1280, the steam deck is 800x1280).
Yeah there will be a point that the rubber hits the road and it wonât be able to keep up. But on day one I would guess there is a settings config that will allow any game in anyoneâs Steam library to run on the thing.
The one thing that confuses me is why they went with a constant refresh screen. If theyâd built VRR into it, it would have a much easier time going forward.
The biggest bottleneck is the power draw, as DF point out in their article. 15-40w is going to see some serious throttling in modern games and thatâs only going to get worse - the device doesnât seem future proof, or even present proof, at all.
I honestly have no idea who these devices are marketed to. The ergonomics and heft, coupled with seemingly dismal battery life (DF reckons ~2 hours would be the norm) mean itâs not really portable at all.
The docked mode is a complete wash as this thing is not running games optimised for it (see, Nintendo Switch) and thus will fall apart on resolutions above 720p.
On top of that, people thinking itâs the portable Xbox of their dreams seem to have somehow forgotten that xCloud is an actual thing and you can use it right now with the phone you already have. Heck, Razer Kishis are on sale on Amazon, do yourself a favour.
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Gameranx said Valve charges 5 dollars to combat scalpers, seems that might not be helping.
Itâs more bots rather than scalpers. There will still be scalpers who manually buy it and resell them for these ridiculous prices, of course.