VizionEck

Steam Deck (https://store.steampowered.com/steamdeck)

Steam Deck is coming December 2021 https://t.co/k3U9h0YDkq pic.twitter.com/lWQpjb1YNk

— Wario64 (@Wario64) July 15, 2021

Looks kinda bad?

(https://i.imgur.com/PSQiIMB.png)

AMD APU
CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
APU power: 4-15W

16 GB LPDDR5 RAM (5500 MT/s)


64 GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2 x1)
256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
512 GB high-speed NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
All models include high-speed microSD card slot


Resolution
1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio)
Type
Optically bonded LCD for enhanced readability
Display size
7" diagonal

Input
45W USB Type-C PD3.0 power supply
Battery
40Whr battery. 2 - 8 hours of gameplay

lol

Haha I couldn't resist my first response.

It could be cool and I value that Steam takes risks, but this looks like an inferior knock off switch. The button placement looks horrible. How is pressing B comfy? The duel track pads are also funky.

Steam controller felt pretty good so maybe this will surprise me.

This was so bizarre.

The Era thread (https://www.resetera.com/threads/steam-deck-valve-handheld-gaming-pc-revealed-in-steam-db.457465/) literally started out as a random leak.
Then 5 minutes later, someone posts an official link.
Then 5 minutes after that, someone posts the official press release.  

So that was just weird.

The button placement on this is so bad. Why is the B button falling off the side?

In theory, this should have been a rich man's Nintendo Switch, but it doesn't look that way at all.

Having a small part of my steam library like this, seems really cool, but I don't know.

Haha I couldn't resist my first response.

It could be cool and I value that Steam takes risks, but this looks like an inferior knock off switch. The button placement looks horrible. How is pressing B comfy? The duel track pads are also funky.

lol.
I was beaten. :(

IGN came by the Valve office to try Steam Deck. Check out the first of their coverage below, and learn more about Steam Deck at https://t.co/ZOTx3KUCVK! #SteamDeckhttps://t.co/VGDPI8ysmI

— Steam (@Steam) July 15, 2021

1280x800 screen

Who is this made for?

1280x800 screen

Who is this made for?

It's on the low end, but how high of a resolution do you need for a handheld?  

It's on the low end, but how high of a resolution do you need for a handheld?  

Switch is 6.2 inches verse this at 7.

Switch is 1280x720.

So the pixels on steam dock are seemingly larger and people complain all the time about switch's pixel size.

Steam controller felt pretty good so maybe this will surprise me.

Seeing lots of folk say the controller layout looks uncomfortable, which is what I thought when I first saw it too.

But when I actually held the thing, it feels shockingly natural and comfy. This is not a Steam Controller repeat where "I swear your just have to get used to it." https://t.co/hpU41c5bVg

— Tom Marks (@TomRMarks) July 15, 2021

Switch is 6.2 inches verse this at 7.

Switch is 1280x720.

So the pixels on steam dock are seemingly larger and people complain all the time about switch's pixel size.

I feel like people complain more about the docked resolution that the screen itself, but I don't follow that much.

Looks and sounds pretty good! Some interesting technology and you can use it as a normal pc as well.

Way too expensive. I can get a ps5 for this

Way too expensive. I can get a ps5 for this

Steam sales though, and portability though.

Steam sales though, and portability though.

Yeah psn sales are quite good. Yes, not steam sales level yet, but they are pretty awesome.

Portability is awesome, but it just too expensive IMO. For me to consider this it should be cheaper.

Is this powered by Windows? Should we expect MS games to be on this?

Yeah psn sales are quite good. Yes, not steam sales level yet, but they are pretty awesome.

Portability is awesome, but it just too expensive IMO. For me to consider this it should be cheaper.

Is this powered by Windows? Should we expect MS games to be on this?

STEAM OS which is Linux based but shares some similarities with Windows. You can also install anything on it just like a normal Pc. Which means you can use it with Windows if you want to.

too expensive.  too big. 

also i don't have a steam library which i feel undercuts their main selling point.  i can maybe see existing steam customers to be excited but this won't bring in new customers. 

Yeah psn sales are quite good. Yes, not steam sales level yet, but they are pretty awesome.

Portability is awesome, but it just too expensive IMO. For me to consider this it should be cheaper.

Is this powered by Windows? Should we expect MS games to be on this?

It's really just a pc

Valve will let Steam Deck owners install Epic Games Store, Windows OS - Polygon (https://www.polygon.com/22579033/valve-steam-deck-handheld-epic-games-store-windows-os)

Reddit is in love with this but I don't know if that's a good or bad sign. It's at least being talked about.

Reddit is in love with this but I don't know if that's a good or bad sign. It's at least being talked about.

Era has several large threads about it.
Preorder thread - 3000 posts
Announcement thread - 3000 posts
Impressions thread - 1000 posts
Probably another 1,000  posts across the digital foundry thread, another preorder thread, a couple of threads comparing to the Switch pro/2. 

I saw a post on Reddit, wasn't much context, but it sounded like from the reservation numbers, there were 100k preorders.

Reddit is in love with this but I don't know if that's a good or bad sign. It's at least being talked about.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's popular. Sounds sweet. Also, I don't know how 399 is too expensive for a mobile gaming PC

too expensive.  too big.

also i don't have a steam library which i feel undercuts their main selling point.  i can maybe see existing steam customers to be excited but this won't bring in new customers.

Do you have any PC games?

Well after letting it brew some.  

Still bulky and ugly.  

As a device, I'm not sure if I would want to play on this. Games like Age of Empires, I can't imagine would be great to play on this. A lot of other games I already have elsewhere.

The prospect of playing Starfield or remote playing off a PS5 though, is kind of cool.  

Do you have any PC games?

not really.  my PC gaming days pre-date the rise of steam so what I have is not tied to a service/account. .  I still have my discs for WoW, WC3, riven, exile and a few others but I"m  not sure I could successfully install them today. 

my only game on steam is I claimed the original portal when it was offered for free one time. 

I wouldn't be surprised if it's popular. Sounds sweet. Also, I don't know how 399 is too expensive for a mobile gaming PC

From that perspective it could be sweet. A relatively cheap way to get into pc gaming with all the advantages of the switch form factor.

How many tflops is the GPU?

How many tflops is the GPU?

The spec sheet says 1 - 1.6 TF.

Performance could be a concern.

Cons:
- less than half the performance of the Series S in the best case, a quarter in the worst case
- not likely to get hardware level optimizations.
- a lot of games will likely run through the Proton layer which will cut down performance even more.

Pros:
- low resolution
- PC games are very adjustable

The spec sheet says 1 - 1.6 TF.

Performance could be a concern.

Cons:
- less than half the performance of the Series S in the best case, a quarter in the worst case
- not likely to get hardware level optimizations.
- a lot of games will likely run through the Proton layer which will cut down performance even more.

Pros:
- low resolution
- PC games are very adjustable

1-1.6 is a bit too low IMO.

If you want to get this to play PC games, it won't support the high end games for long. When I buy a console I know I will get 99% of games for the 7-8 year lifespan it has.

What should I expect out of this? 4-5 years, then games that aren't really all that technically demanding.

Still its a nice concept, and I hope its a success, since future models can be even better.

I have a GPD Win 3.  I use it every day.  If I didn't have that, I'd buy this in a heart beat.  Will probably by this thing's second revision.

2.8 million views (https://youtu.be/oLtiRGTZvGM)
1 million views (https://youtu.be/-S5_MQH9jDA)
800k views (https://youtu.be/0yVDsEUyOf0)
500k views (https://youtu.be/h8p_myiqGP4)

Likely over 10,000 posts on Era about the Steam Deck.

And it all seems very positive.  

This could actually be fairly successful, unless something comes up

It will be interesting to see the sales pattern of this. How the market will respond. And the long term future of steam and hardware

2.8 million views (https://youtu.be/oLtiRGTZvGM)
1 million views (https://youtu.be/-S5_MQH9jDA)
800k views (https://youtu.be/0yVDsEUyOf0)
500k views (https://youtu.be/h8p_myiqGP4)

Likely over 10,000 posts on Era about the Steam Deck.

And it all seems very positive.  

This could actually be fairly successful, unless something comes up

i mean,.. what is the success criteria?   i doubt this is a loss lead hardware.  games are all from steam anyways as this is just a pc in a funny form factor.  is it a success at 5-10 million?  

I'm locking in my uninformed hot take.

This will sell ok and have a dedicated group of fans, but it will be abandoned very quickly. It'll be remembered somewhere between NVidia shield and PS Vita.

I believe the concept of Steam Deck is more desirable than the final product. It's very similar to Ouya in that sense. People want improvements to their current systems so they are propping up a device that maybe just maybe will push the industry in that direction. Regardless of what Switch 2 ends up being, I think it'll quickly kill most Steam Deck interest.

For pc players that genuinely don't care about Nintendo, I think it'll have a tough job convincing enough of them to jump aboard. Dedicated PC players who build expensive desktops may enjoy Steam Deck as a bonus but the lower spec hardware could get in the way. I personally would rather wait to get home and play most of my steam games at max settings on my computer.

The price and form factor however could be a dark horse. With smartphones and tablets being so versatile, there are millions of people who do not own PCs. Steam Deck could be an incredible way to onboard new people into the Steam ecosystem that have previously only gamed on consoles. A PS4/5 only gamer could buy a Steam Deck and get a serious amount of millage out of it. If Steam Deck ends up being successful, I'm almost sure it will be primarily because it's a super accessible pc with lots of publicity.

i mean,.. what is the success criteria?   i doubt this is a loss lead hardware.  games are all from steam anyways as this is just a pc in a funny form factor.  is it a success at 5-10 million?  

It's whether or not it surpasses expectations.  

I would imagine a "measly" ~5 million would be considered a success in this case.


I feel like this could appeal to:
- people who like the Switch concept
- people who have PS4/PS5, this could be a good way to get Bethesda/MS games
- people who are on the go a lot.

I'm locking in my uninformed hot take.

I believe the concept of Steam Deck is more desirable than the final product. It's very similar to Ouya in that sense. People want improvements to their current systems so they are propping up a device that maybe just maybe will push the industry in that direction.

I don't think it'll be an Ouya.  

I'm locking in my uninformed hot take.

This will sell ok and have a dedicated group of fans, but it will be abandoned very quickly. It'll be remembered somewhere between NVidia shield and PS Vita.

I believe the concept of Steam Deck is more desirable than the final product. It's very similar to Ouya in that sense. People want improvements to their current systems so they are propping up a device that maybe just maybe will push the industry in that direction. Regardless of what Switch 2 ends up being, I think it'll quickly kill most Steam Deck interest.

For pc players that genuinely don't care about Nintendo, I think it'll have a tough job convincing enough of them to jump aboard. Dedicated PC players who build expensive desktops may enjoy Steam Deck as a bonus but the lower spec hardware could get in the way. I personally would rather wait to get home and play most of my steam games at max settings on my computer.

The price and form factor however could be a dark horse. With smartphones and tablets being so versatile, there are millions of people who do not own PCs. Steam Deck could be an incredible way to onboard new people into the Steam ecosystem that have previously only gamed on consoles. A PS4/5 only gamer could buy a Steam Deck and get a serious amount of millage out of it. If Steam Deck ends up being successful, I'm almost sure it will be primarily because it's a super accessible pc with lots of publicity.

sure, i'll lock in my opinion as well.

i also think it will sell ok and have a dedicated fan base.   i don't think this will convince console gamers to migrate to this.   i also don't think most pc gamers will want this.   in both cases it kind of comes down to performance.   this is basically ps4 performance or perhaps a bit worse.   i don't want that downgrade.  i can't imagine too many will want that downgrade just to be able to game on the go.   especially in the current environment where "work from home" is broadly accepted i have less reason than ever to want a portable device.    still,.. there are a hell of a lot of pc gamers out there (and specifically 120 million "active" steam accounts).   if only 5-10% of them want this then it could sell a few 10s of millions.  i really can't see this doing less than 10 million LTD.  i could see 20-30 million if "popular".  maybe as high as 50 million?!?   i don't really see this breaking 100 million though,.. i really, really think this will do nothing for people not already invested in steam.  for those invested in steam i think the tinkering (mods) and performance are the main reason one chooses pc over console.   steam deck is kinda contrarian to those priorities.

i don't think steam will be abandon quickly.   once they put it out there there will be little to no reason to remove it.   it's just another pc really.  why abandon it?  maybe it won't get a new revised model but honestly i doubt they won't at least give it a second go in a few year.  again, this is just a pc in a funny form factor.   it can't possibly been much of an investment by steam.  the hardware priced to be at-cost or profitable off so they won't be losing money.   at worst they'll stop investing in the platform and as such it will have a nice 5+ year runway to being sunset.  this is a very low risk approach for both steam and customers.  this is not a ps vita or ouya.   games will come because games will still come to steam (and thus steam deck) regardless of how unpopular it may be.

this is basically ps4 performance or perhaps a bit worse.  

It's basically PS4 performance at worst.  

CPU is much better.
GPU is lower in raw numbers, but it's a much newer architecture. And it's targeting a lower resolution.
RAM/IO are better.  

Barring a likely CPU limitation any XSX games that runs at 4K, should run on this at the same settings.

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E6e-nXlUYAEsKZL.jpg)

It's basically PS4 performance at worst.  

CPU is much better.
GPU is lower in raw numbers, but it's a much newer architecture. And it's targeting a lower resolution.
RAM/IO are better.  

Barring a likely CPU limitation any XSX games that runs at 4K, should run on this at the same settings.

i dunno man,.. if you watch this video you'll see a fair amount of gameplay.   



..you're not going to convivence me that those bits of gameplay are better than ps4.   it's very samey to noticeably worse.   better framerates probably but less detailed graphics.

i dunno man,.. if you watch this video you'll see a fair amount of gameplay.  

..you're not going to convivence me that those bits of gameplay are better than ps4.   it's very samey to noticeably worse.   better framerates probably but less detailed graphics.

Lol.
Like 60% of the gameplay there is Portal 2, which is a decade old.
With some death stranding on a monitor which goes against running at a lower resolution that I mentioned.  

I think that solves the problem with why I hate gyro.  being able to recenter without making the screen go crazy is great. 

I think that solves the problem with why I hate gyro.  being able to recenter without making the screen go crazy is great.

I'm not sure how that method would feel in practice.

Uncharted Golden Abyss was one of the first games with gryo aiming and it nailed it imo. Gryo only works when aiming down the sights. Wow! Feels super natural and recentering happens without you thinking about it. I loved the sniper rifle in that game.

I'm not sure how that method would feel in practice.

Uncharted Golden Abyss was one of the first games with gryo aiming and it nailed it imo. Gryo only works when aiming down the sights. Wow! Feels super natural and recentering happens without you thinking about it. I loved the sniper rifle in that game.

i mean, i'm not saying i'm suddenly a fan of gyro.    just that currently i had gyro for the reason they said they were combating.

i didn't have gryo on for uncharted.   i tried playing gravity rush while on a train and had to turn gyro off because it was literally unplayable with it on.  the train has too many bumps in the track and every bump made me flail widely.  also tried gyro in whatever ps3 game i had,... killzone?   again it made play much worse not better.  the necessity to hold my hand absolutely motionless at times proved too much for me.

They really don't want you to open it up, but here's how to open it up.