The goddamn system is only a year and a half old, and is finally seeing a wider adoption. If they added a new SKU into the market, it would only confuse and piss off the people who already bought one. These stories about Steam Deck “refreshes” and “upgrades” are fucking stupid, and I hope the shithouses that put them out don’t get any review units when the real one finally does hit the market.
It’s how the Chinese handhelds (Retroid and Anbernic, etc) do it they release a new model every few months. I guess they expected Valve to take that approach instead of a console generation approach.
Personally I’d hate it if they did that. Do one every 4-5 years and let the upgrade be significant.
@GreenMario @chemical_cutthroat how long do you expect wide adoption to occur? Also, anyone know of libre software sites?
The Steam Deck adds something incredibly valuable that the PC market has never had: a consistent target spec for minimum hardware requirements. Upgrading every couple years would create confusion for which version for developers to focus on. They are treating it like a console, not a PC.
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We all know there won’t be a Deck 3. So I hope they take their time on making the second one perfect.
What about Deck 2 Revision 1 & 2?
Steam Deck: Alyx
Rofl
They just call it “4” just to fuck with people
Steam Deck ][
- 2025: Steam Deck 2
- 2045: Steam Deck 3
- 2050: Steam Deck Eternal
2048: Steam Deck
Steam Deck: Alyx
And it’ll be a pre-built desktop, or something.
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It’s in reference to Valve being unable to count to 3
Valve only releases two games in a series and stops before a third.
On everything, it’s basically a meme at this point about valve not being able to count to three.
I’m glad they are not rushing a new one out until there is some genuine leap in the tech. I think we have become accustomed to pointless upgrades every year which offer nothing substantial other than lining some shareholders pockets.
In my case the longer they take the better 😊
The console approach of 3-4 year refreshes
7840u is a substantially better apu though
Yes I get that but personally I have a huge backlog to get through and there are lots more games the current one can run that have to come down in price too so I’ll be busy for a long time before I start looking for a new one.
I think this is healthy. People (including myself) are easily sucked into consumerism instead of sustainability.
Better to have a good device that is highly repairable, upgradeable, and modable. That way you can make small improvements and add some high quality accessories without just trying to force everybody to buy the newest shiny device every 18-24 months.
Unless you’re only playing the latest AAA games, the Deck will perform great for many years to come.
I got sucked down the hype/consumerism hole for many years after college, and I blew so much money on buying every new PC part and accessory even though I didn’t need any of them.
Apple has a new event and a new phone and a new watch EVERY YEAR. aren’t we obligated to buy all this shit every year?
And for some reason Gucci keeps making new belts. It’s weird because it’s like, doesn’t that older belt work just fine?
i learned when i was maybe 16, 17, you can just ask a guy who works with leather – “can you make a belt that will hold my pants up” – the dude was so confused and so happy to help me and it did not cost very much. that guy was so nice.
Username checks out
Nope, my phone is 5 years old and it is nice to be able to wait for the latest release to get something brand new instead of a year or two old.
That’s good. A Steam Deck 2 might make sense once there’s an APU with double the performance at the same 15W.
Current APU’s are faster per watt, but only at higher power consumption. This means either the battery life sucks, or the handheld is too heavy and expensive with a giant battery.
The current handhelds by other manufacturers are faster, but only a bit. 120Hz are nice, but I don’t even reach 60fps on most titles and it consumes too much power. Games might perform a bit better but everything is still also playable on the SD, so there’s no real point in releasing a second generation. All these devices fill the same niche.
What I expect is a refresh of the SD with an OLED display. Maybe even with VRR and HDR, now that SteamOS has support for it. Farther down the wish list are hall effect joysticks.
I’d like similar things to you as well, which is for the the Deck to get more efficient per watt. On my wishlist:
- VRR
- better display
- lighter and thinner
- better airflow / cooler and quieter (but keep the new fan smell)
- better battery life without compromising size / heat
5a. alternatively, make the battery detachable so we can carry multiple around.
I want long lasting fan smell as well, i was like a feline on catnip the whole first months
However the size is fine for me, but the battery needs a serious buff
Better screen will impact the battery unfortunately
Give us a little tank that we can fill with liquid so the fans stay smelly.
High refresh rates and VRR go hand to hand, so you’d still want that if you want VRR. You just limit the framerate to 60fps or lower if you don’t want the hit to battery life.
As an Australian, I’m not expecting a Steam Deck at all.
If you can deal with the issues of grey import, it’s trivially easy to get one here now. I got a 64gb from Kogan, and since I’m rolling the dice with warranty - did a 1tb SSD upgrade myself.
Definitely happy with my purchase it’s an awesome machine
Putting in your own 1TB SSD is so easy I wouldn’t even worry about the whole warranty thing. Just follow along with a YouTube video and you’re done in 10 minutes.
It sure is! The only two things I mention for people thinking of doing it:
- Eject the micro SD card first!
- Get a decent small screwdriver and be careful with the screws as they have a bit of thread lock on them and I found it was pretty easy to strip. Nearly had one do that for me which was a bit stressful.
But other than that it’s a piece of cake and plenty of guides getting the os on the new drive.
Kogan provides a year warranty tho… so it’s not exactly a grey import (like fly by night eBay seller)
I think you might have to cover shipping for repairs tho if you don’t have their extended warranty.
I think they have to provide that warranty by law tho
It’s true but from what I have heard it can be a bit of a ball ache getting the warranty with them, but that’s par for the course for grey import so nothing really special about Kogan. They may have a better reputation than most, but with an import you accept it could be a hassle.
That said, I think going with the cheapest and upgrading the SSD is the best choice.
Also wouldn’t hold my breath that if/when a local steam deck is released, it will be at all competitively priced.
Dude, just buy one… pay the extra money and get one, I did and I cant put it down… kogan is where I got mine
It’s still fulfilling its role well. Meanwhile, the Index is getting pretty old compared to current-gen VR headsets. It’s still a fantastic headset, but it would be nice to have something smaller, lighter, and wireless.
Bigscreen’s Beyond headset should be looked at as something the next wave of VR headsets should strive for.
I think we are getting close to the Deckard being announced, the successor to the Index. Hopefully they do hand controller refresh/redesign, the joystick potentiometer they used in the Index Controllers were dog shit.
I think we are getting close to the Deckard being announced, the successor to the Index.
Hopefully it’s cheaper and more widely available than the Index. I’m waiting for it because I don’t want to deal with Windows anymore for anything, and VR is one of the last requirements.
True. Thankfully, it’s a common part, so I was able to replace mine relatively easily and it’s held up well.
If it is a Deckard coming soon, I’ll definitely be working out for one.
It makes total sense. Just a bit of a bummer when looking at the reality of devs being awful/not caring about optimising their games. The Deck is just barely hanging on with this year’s big titles.
Thankfully, there’s plenty of older and/or more lightweight options out there.
Many people are still playing with a PS4. And generally consoles last several years.
If we can move the optimisations more to the PC world that would be also nice to keep devices running in the longer term.
What I don’t think is going to happen is a future steam deck running a native resolution at 1080p requiring much more GPU PWR.
Maybe they’ll add 1080p or higher resolution screen and start using more the upscaling.
But running a future GPU bound game natively at 1080p will make any medium term upgrade more like a downgrade.
Mind if I ask something?
What is the origin of always wanting higher and higher definitions lately?
It comes to a point where it makes no objective difference between resolutions for the human eye.
And I’ve seen TVs advertised as being “sharper and brighter than real life”. The only thing the image made for me was getting my eyes sore after staring at the screen for a few seconds.
I’m still from the time when the graphics on the cover were better than the actual graphics and that is something I don’t miss but come on… when is enough enough?
The origin for me are the guys who generally demand that the SD should have higher resolution than 720p-800p (approximately).
I personally think the display PPI is good enough in the original Steam Deck. So I wouldn’t raise the resolution a lot. Especially when some games struggle to keep 30 FPS.
Of course, the eye to display distance matters a lot for this and that’s a bit more subjective.
I with you. With the exception of UI scaling and readability of some text, I have almost zero reason to want more than he resolution on the deck. Heck, it’s not even the res. Trying to squint at mini maps, even if the Deck were 4K, wouldn’t really solve the issue. It’s a little screen and unless I’m going to do that weird competitive gamer thing where you put your nose on the screen there’s no value in upping the resolution but still requiring that I resolve better than an arcminute to read it. My gaming PC is hooked to a 55" 4K HDR screen. I play in 1080 and, honestly, don’t notice any gameplay difference at 4K when sitting on my couch less than 10’ away. I don’t know why I would even want FHD on a 7" screen at a comfortable 18" distance.
At first it made sense because it gave you more detail but I think 1080p or 1440p is the perfect resolution for consuming media from a monitor or television.
For VR headsets I think it makes more sense because you need more pixel density
I don’t buy new screens but my work had a 4k in the break room and it gave me an uncanny valley type feeling.
Don’t play big titles on the Deck. That’s not what it’s good at. Play Fez or Tunic or something. There’s a near infinite list of great games that are not technically demanding.
I’m not sure the Steamdeck was created with the latest AAA games in mind.
BG3 co-op slows my PS5 to a crawl. People gotta be chilling with their expectations of what a £350 handheld can do.
good, I’m sick of companies being like “hey here’s the new version of insert product that worked in every category here, as such as are not supporting the old device anymore, but don’t worry the new version has sparkles on the menus!”
Too true
Good. Two years is too short of a time for a hardware generation.
I agree, and tbh everything I throw at my deck, it just handles it, a play things like oxygen not included and modded minecraft, I love my deck
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But what about that NEW BATTERY TECH that’s coming out soon…
They used the same definition of soon as this sentence: Fusion power will soon be available.
Idc about steam deck 2 because I’ve already got a steam deck I’m happy with.
The only thing I wish they had done is an OLED screen.
I heard they tried to buy some panels from Samsung but they wanted such a huge amount per product that it would’ve raised the steam decks price way beyond of most consumers product. You can make more money by selling a cheaper product to more people rather than a premium product to a select few.
I’m not familiar with the topic but couldn’t they cut straight to the source and directly contact Corning? Or alternatively, one of those Chinese high end OLED knock offs? I’ve heard they’re basically less than 1 generation apart in terms of quality.
edit: alternatively, I assume all cables/connectors are standard. What’s preventing Jim next door from starting a group buy to manufacture replacement OLED screens/upgrade kits?
is lg still in this space? maybe Sony they make camera lens I think
I wonder whether, when the faster Steam Deck 2 comes, it may have ditched the x86 architecture altogether and leapt to a high-performance ARM CPU, yielding more power per watt and generating less heat. If so, that would presumably require Proton to be supplemented with a Rosetta-style translation engine that can convert x86 machine code into ARM.
Currently, outside of Apple’s proprietary M/A-series CPUs, there don’t appear to be high-performance ARM CPUs that would fill such a role, though this probably won’t still be the case in a few years.
I’d say while it’s possible it’s unlikely, remember that they’re running PC games, all based on X86, the work needed to make Wine/Proton run all of that well on a different CPU set is significant, and would likely break compatibility in unexpected ways, effectively bringing all the recent wins moot and bringing Proton backwards. Definitely something that will likely happen, but more of a long-term goal (unless it’s already in progress and with advances, no idea, but we would all have heard of it already if it was a thing)
With the timeframe this is likely to happen over, it might be RISC-V instead of ARM since that’s an open source hardware platform and ARM seems to be joining enshittification trends (starting with worse licensing terms)
There allready is a transition layer that can be used so they wouldnt have to start from scratch. Box86/64
A few months ago I remember they hired a contractor for arm development, I think they were a member from the Asahi Linux project
That Asahi team have done some amazing stuff, especially on the graphics front. They’ve put out a fully conformant OpenGL driver for the M1+2, something even Apple themselves haven’t done for their own hardware.
there already is a project for x86 to ARM translation on Linux called box86, and there’s another one for x86_64 called box64 havent heard about them in a while but I remember seeing a video of someone playing doom 3 on a raspberry pi with it so it seems very promising
with a Rosetta-style translation
Apple fans before their favorite binary translator came out: qemur? Eww… ELBRUS with lintel? Ewwwwww, you suck in past century!
Apple fans after their favorite binary translator came out: We have the Never Seen Before™ technology that was pionered by company we mindlessly praise.
outside of Apple’s proprietary M/A-series CPUs, there don’t appear to be high-performance ARM CPUs that would fill such a role, though this probably won’t still be the case in a few years.
They exists for many years. There are HPC cores in Cortex-A, entire Cortex-X and super HPC Neoverse cores, but they are rarely seen outside of datacenters.
