Glad to see more handhelds picking up Steam OS! So many portable competitors have been hampered by their OS sucking down limited resources while providing an inferior UI and UX.
Glares at Armor Crate
I have it for fan/led management on my pc and it has so much potential, but overall is just so bad and has so little support.
Nice, now I finally have an upgrade path. I’ve loved my Steam Deck, but have wanted something I can have a “docked mode” with high performance and a “mobile” mode with the TDP locked to save battery.
So for you non portable gamers like me who didn’t know what TDP was and had to look it up…
TDP, or Thermal Design Power, is a crucial concept for devices like the Steam Deck. It refers to the maximum amount of power that the device’s System on Chip (SoC) or APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) is allowed to consume. On the Steam Deck, TDP is measured in watts and directly impacts performance, battery life, heat generation, and fan noise. So limiting the amount of power it uses when not plugged in makes the battery last longer.
You can quickly set/remove a TDP limit on a Steam Deck whenever you want, though. Right?
You can, thanks to SteamOS. That’s why I am looking forward to this device. It’s got a much higher performance ceiling than the deck, so I can throttle it down and have the option of performance or battery life. The deck wasn’t a powerhouse to begin with, so unless I’m playing a 2D clicker I never throttle the TDP.
Yes, but can you add CPU and GPU cores on demand tho? If you have them you can set tdp limit on portable mode and remove limit in docked mode, but how about steam deck, how do i add GPU and CPU cores?
While I like the concept… isn’t that a bit of what killed the initial steam machines. IE they basically encouraged everyone and their grandmother to release one… and the end result was the name was dilluted down so badly that no one knew what a steam machine was.
I think the messaging is clear this time: Steam Deck is the defacto and flagship SteamOS device that represents the platform, and it has a strong established mindshare already, while other options are now available as well. It had a headstart of three years that gave it plenty of time to shine, and the handheld form-factor still stands out as something the competition (Windows) treats as an afterthought at best with poor UX.
The Steam Machines effort tried to position Alienware Alpha as its focus but the press coverage including all of the other options at the same time confused people. Steam Machines also had awful timing and pricing, with the Alienware being outdated hardware whose Windows version had already been out for a year for the same price or lower by the time the SteamOS version released, and the SteamOS version offering absolutely no advantage in pricing, power, features, or UX for most gamers. All of those factors are different this time. Plus game compatibility was much worse than it is now.
I think it’s fine.
The first party device has existed over a year now, proved its worth, and become more widely understood by gamers.
Android suffers from fragmentation, sure, but it being used by a variety of manufacturers hasn’t stopped people from understanding that android is android, and can do similar things whether you buy a phone/tablet for 200 bucks, or 2000.
Pricing starts at $500 USD with availability beginning in May.
That’s incredibly tempting. I’m a little worried about the “up to” language here, which makes me think that this $500 unit won’t be as attractive as I’m hoping for.
This is fucking insane wtf holy shit
And only for $120! That’s crazy considering I just made that number up and it doesn’t mention an estimated price point.
Pricing starts at $500 USD with availability beginning in May.
Quote from the linked article. Why spread bad info?
I didn’t. I clearly stated that I was not serious. That was not in the article when I posted my comment.
I was ready to justify the lack of trackpads at that price point.
