Hi, this is Wayne again with a topic “Is the Steam Deck Still Relevant?”.
Hey lentil lungs and door, I’ve noticed the last few. These are getting really weird. I’Ve noticed that the last few handheld PC videos haven’t mention the steam deck. Much. Is that, because it’s not a good comparison because of price or performance, what it isn’t is an Apples to Apples comparison.
The steam deck is an incredible console, but for the same reason that I wouldn’t necessarily talk about the Nintendo switch in the same breath as every new handheld PC. I also am beginning to view the steam deck in a bit of a Different Light. It excuse me is priced very aggressively, which is amazing. It offers a very console like experience where instant wake, instant sleep um are are integral to the experience uh. It’S a it’s a fantastic console, um, but much like a console.
Its library is a little bit more limited and a lot of that’s it’s not valve’s fault. It’S due to um. You know whether it’s the developer of the game or the developer of the anti-che, it’s it’s down to developers uh either refusal or or unwillingness to build Linux support into their games. Um I mean yeah. I guess it’s. I guess it’s mostly that uh, but it’s it’s. Just a different product: it’s an amazing product, the OLED version, Oh man, the screen on it is just incredible, but I also have a tendency to lean more toward lean on my own experiences when I’m evaluating products and the reality of it is that Rog Ally won. I I don’t daily drive a steam deck because for me, the tradeoffs, the the things that I give up for being on windows are not worth what I gain by being on a steam deck. Of course, you know these are devices that you know.
One of each is sitting in the warehouse, so I don’t have to necessarily consider the price I was just going to say if, if yeah you’re covering it now, but the steam deck is significantly cheaper, yeah the steam deck is an amazing piece of Hardware. It’S also not as performant as the latest handheld PCS and that’s that’s again. That’S part of the tradeoff. When did it launch? It’S been a minute. Dude yeah, it’s been a few years at this point I think cuz it was what 2020 2020. I know it when, when it was announced we were doing W, show remotely um it it.
It did not launch in 2022. Did it, I, oh my goodness. It’S 2024 okay yeah, oh wow, okay! So my problem, there wasn’t that I didn’t realize how long ago the steam deck launched I didn’t realize, what year it was. What is time it’s current year anyway, wow, that’s scary, so um Noki asks. Do you feel proton OS has M matured enough to be competitive as an OS? I I don’t know, maybe if Ste ever actually fuing released the bloody thing we’d be able to have a conversation about that. Sorry, sorry, you’ve just you’ve touched a bit of a nerve because I’ve been putting off the Linux challenge, V2 for the release of Steam OS and every time I ask those guys: hey how’s it going they’re like we’re on it and I’m like right, but that’s not What I asked I asked is it: can it be on my computer? Not are you on it um and, and it just keeps not appearing and I get it valve’s a well.
I was going to say busy company, but they’ve got some stuff going on. No, they got stuff going on making lots of money yeah, and you know what I’m willing to bet that they have some wild skunk work stuff. Probably, who knows if they’ll ever release it well, not yeah, I, I suspect they’re just too busy making tons of money. I don’t know anything and evaluating the Absurd more money than they make than all the other companies. I don’t know anything about the internal workings of valve than that they make disgusting amounts of money. I’Ve never worked there, but what I suspect, based on everything I’ve seen out of these guys, is that they probably build more products than they actually release. I’M sure they’d be bored they’re, making all this money they might as well do something by a significant margin. Mhm.
I mean: did you see the rig that they built for that steam deck OLED commercial, where they built that sphere out of steam deck OLED screens? No, I don’t think so. Yeah, it’s it’s wild! It’S! It is Peak because we can oh yeah for sure 100 %. They might as well spend all that money on something there was absolutely. There was absolutely no reason, no reason whatsoever for them to do that, practically like that.
They could have come up with any other concept for a commercial, but they did that because somebody was like that’d, be cool, that’d be neat, can we afford it easily, just send it man? I really wish those guys would hurry up and get a Flippin get a Flippin index to going here, because there have been some advancements in lens technology and in screen technology that I’m sure valve has been doing stuff with they just won’t. They just won’t give me my new. They won’t give me my new headset, really want it more. Please um, so yeah, yeah steam deck super cool it’ll definitely be back in the conversation around steam deck 2 um. We definitely will you know bring it up. I mean the oh, the r Ally x, uh people are talking about that, apparently there’s a leak or something yeah.
I think I think that’s that’s a topic in here. Actually the rgx um. I don’t think it’s like a huge jump, though a little bit more battery life. I think it’s like a. I mean to be fair, their name naming it fairly properly for this, but I think it’s like kind of like a pro model, not a generational leap. If that makes sense yeah should we should we jump into that and then we’ll do the other merch message.
We can do that sure RG allyx Asus has teased the RG allyx, which they claimed is somewhere between a sequel to the original Ally and a revision of It featuring a new black color the X. Will sport larger battery life allegedly way more than way more way? More than 30 to 40 % more capacity – I doubt it – it’s probably something more like that, it’s probably like 30 to 40 % capacity. I think this is written as allegedly way more like 30 to 40 % more capacity. That’S what I’m assuming is anyways SVP.
What does that mean senior? Vice president cool sha Yen hinted at The Verge that the new handheld would give at least 3 hours of battery life playing intensive games. However, the device will be slightly heavier because of said larger battery. Asus says the Alli X should have more than the 16 gigs of RAM uh the Ali non-x currently has, and it will apparently be repairable with redesign joystick modules that are more interchangeable, so just the joysticks repairable. That sounds pretty cool.
I mean that’s something: that’s a good thing: yeah yeah uh! It will feature an m.2 2280 slot, rather than the 2230 SD. So if you want to throw like an 8 TB SSD, because you enjoy having having a an SSD that cost three times as much as your Asus, still won’t admit that the Allies SD card reader had any fault. But the Ally X will have a rearranged. Motherboard layout, that will just happen to move the SD card slot away from the vents interesting.
However, the screen will be exactly the same, and so will the AMD Z1 or zed1 extreme um Apu the steam deck OLED. This is not um, so yeah. That makes sense more battery life, which is fair. I understand it a steam deck OLED.
This is not isn’t that what I said – yeah uh, sure kind yeah anyway, but yes so will it will apparently not be getting an OLED screen? Okay, coming on June, 2nd yeah um. Our discussion question here is what other upgrades would you have like to see uh I I can’t comment on anything other than what’s in here I mean I wouldn’t have minded seeing more performance, but I guess more battery life is also pretty good. I would have liked to see another USBC Port um there. Oh, I’m honestly surprised they have a revision.
Already on my trip to Japan, I had this brilliant idea that on the plane uh, my kids could play like multiplayer games with uh with this portable um. I I grabbed one of the one of the screens. It happens to be an Asus like Rog portable monitor uh. So I grabbed one of the ones out of my car and I brought it with me so that they could put it in the middle seat and sit three a breast and then play games together.
And I could run them off the Ally. And I was like man that would be sick, and so I brought a USBC cable and I plugged it between the Ally and the monitor went oh hold on a second. It’S not like this monitor supports power delivery.
How on Earth am I going to charge? This? Did I bring a micro HDMI to USBC adep? No, then I still couldn’t charge a so now. You need like a dock yeah, so yeah exactly exactly and I didn’t. I didn’t think – to bring a dock.
It’S completely on me, but the Difference Maker, the Difference Maker, would have been if it just had two USBC ports like so many other handhelds do um. So I would. I would love to see that that’s something that has affected me personally, but other than that.
I I don’t know I mean I’d love to see H effect, joysticks, um uh. I guess the repairability might help a little bit. No, no I’m just no I’m just.
I was asked what I would like to see. I can only comment on what written here cuz, who knows what I might or might not know faster, better stronger is cool. It’S a portable device. You could, you could hope. Basically everything would be better.
I’M just I’m surprised, there’s a revision already. That’S all because how long is the alies is quite a bit newer than the steam deck um. No, the steam deck is huge.
No, no! No! No more recently released! Oh, oh! Oh! Oh, oh, oh, oh um! So yeah it was released June, 13th. 2023. So it’s been less than a year in the Revis in it already that’s pretty fast on in the device realm. Well, I mean that’s the that’s the IT industry cycle, though, and that’s again, something that makes the steam deck feel a lot more console like to me.
Is it’s very clearly on a more conso like refresh cycle, I mean it’s still. The steam deck is still rdna. 2, isn’t it I think or rdna 2 excuse me: Zen 2.
I think so. Yeah yeah yeah, even though zen3 was coming and we’re already on Zen 4. Now, like they could, if they were just you know, using a a random Apu off of amd’s out of amd’s product catalog, then they could easily be revising it. But it’s clear that valve is serious about treating it like a console where they lock in the spec and they kind they. They build performance targets for various games. They build profiles and it’s not just a PC where you’re expected to just kind of Tinker around with your graphics sliders. You can, because man valve is pretty chill about that kind of stuff like here yeah. Why don’t you play around with your power profile and why don’t you? Why don’t you play around with all these settings but but they’re they’re, obviously trying yeah they’re trying to create a console like experience? .