• Joanie Parker@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Best $400 I’ve spent on a console by far. Including my PS4 and 5. Haven’t touched my switch, PS5 or any other console since my deck came.

    • instamat@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      The zelda sequel lured me away for a little while and spider man 2 for a lesser extent, but I spend more time on my deck than anything else. Hey that reminds me, I should dust my consoles.

        • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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          1 year ago

          That TotK runs at all on the Switch is nothing short of a miracle. That’s Xbox 360 era GPU power, running a massive game at 30fps for the most part. Super stable as well, especially after a playthrough of the very crashy, other GOTY contender, BG3.

          • Anomalous_Llama@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Really?

            ToTK ram so poorly on my (launch) switch that I stopped after a few hours. Constant usually massive dips in frame rate put me off of it.

            Returned my switch to a MarioKart/Smash machine for when my friends are over.

    • sheogorath@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Sadly this is not applicable in my country. If you want to get a Steam Deck unfortunately you’ll need to shell out more money compared to buying a PS5 or an Xbox Series X.

  • Corroded@leminal.space
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    1 year ago

    It’s pretty much as powerful as the gaming PC I made several years ago and is a decent price. I’d be happy to recommend it to someone even not taking into account how versatile it is

  • Derin@lemmy.beru.co
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    1 year ago

    My laptop’s SSD died a while back, so I sent it away for repairs (yay, MSI’s warranty).

    In that brief period without a PC, my Steam Deck was a god send - used it as my main machine for 4 days. Was even able to work on it.

    That’s such a crazy addition to the value proposition, for me - totally makes it worth it.

    Also, being able to play PS5 games in bed via Chiaki is delicious.

    • Scio@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      I’ve been using it as my main (and only) machine for the whole year. Work included (dev, illustration, graphic design, cgi)

    • Blisterexe@lemmy.zip
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      1 year ago

      I mean, that makes sense, because its just running (a slightly restricted) version Linux of under the hood, which I is what I run on my gaming and work pc

      • msage@programming.dev
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        1 year ago

        It’s an immutable version of stripped Arch, dunno if that counts as ‘slightly restricted’. You can disable the read-only mode if you want to and know what you’re doing.

          • msage@programming.dev
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            1 year ago

            I mean for average console user, you can do a whole lot. Even for your average Windows user.

            And if you drive Linux… I’m not sure why you couldn’t handle SteamOS?

            • Blisterexe@lemmy.zip
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              1 year ago

              I can, what I am saying is the way the steamos is built, its a bit harder for new users to do more advanced stuff, not that its that limited. I so admit I could’ve phrased IT better though

    • aubertlone@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      How is your latency on Chiaki?

      I have pretty decent home wifi and honestly…

      It’s just not a great experience.

      Although tbf I installed it once on a macbook and the experience was not great. Didn’t do hardly any finagling to improve latency

      • Derin@lemmy.beru.co
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        1 year ago

        The latency is so low I don’t notice it at all. Weird that you’re having problems.

        My ps5 is hooked up to the router via an ethernet cable, and I use a 5 Ghz network to play on. Never had any issues and never required any tweaking (played most of Jedi: Survivor with this setup).

  • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    Why hasn’t anyone else made one to compete that’s cheap? Because, Mr.Author…No one else can make their money back by selling software.

    • Telorand@reddthat.com
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      1 year ago

      The Switch certainly predates the Deck, and they definitely make their money back on software, but being forced solely into the Nintendo ecosystem is off-putting. Only Microsoft is a likely candidate to make a handheld that uses their Game Pass, and I would bet they aren’t really needing to push subscriptions at the moment.

      • Waldemar_Firehammer
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        1 year ago

        The Switch isn’t that expensive to make, the chip, memory, and storage are all budget af.

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          I just looked it up, and it looks like Nintendo likely makes $40-$80 per Switch (estimated based on part costs). A decent profit, considering software (a big money maker) is just gravy at that point.

      • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        Why are you trying to compare a computer to a walled garden Nintendo switch? Hell, you’re making my argument for me.

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          I can’t believe I have to rehash this again. A Switch is a computer. My point wasn’t that it’s somehow better, but Nintendo already did exactly what you said: made a handheld portable computer with built-in screen that can play games locally and is sold at a loss only to recoup those losses with software sales.

          The Deck can do more than the Switch, but that doesn’t make the Switch less of a computer.

      • dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        You say it’s off putting as if the Switch doesn’t have dozens on dozens on dozens of quality 1st and 2nd party titles. Also, no one is being forced into the Nintendo ecosystem. It’s a Nintendo product, and you buy a Nintendo console to play Nintendo games. It’s not anti-gamer. That being said, apples and oranges to compare the switch to the deck.

        • Telorand@reddthat.com
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          1 year ago

          Right, but the original statement was whether other companies have made a competing and profitable “Deck,” and the Switch is already such a device. Portable, plays games locally, has a thriving software ecosystem…

          Whether those games within that ecosystem are “quality” or not is irrelevant. Both platforms have examples of good and bad games. My point was that if you buy a Switch, you are forced into their ecosystem. On the Deck, you do not have such a limitation (with a bit of effort, you can access anything a regular Linux machine can). Nobody is coerced in, sure, but that wasn’t the point I was making.

          So where you see apples and oranges, I see a small, dry apple vs. a big, juicy apple. A better analogy might be Apple vs Windows.

    • kryllic@programming.dev
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      1 year ago

      Bingo,I think people forget Valve went out of their way to make their profit margin razor thin, or at a slight loss because they know the benefit of having a device that basically assures a new paying user will be added in their Steam ecosystem. It’s based on Nintendo’s walled garden philosophy after all, just refined really well on PC.

      • SeriousBug@infosec.pub
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        1 year ago

        It’s not a walled garden though, Valve made no attempts to lock anything down. You can install something like Heroic Game Launcher on the Steam Deck and play Epic Game Store or GOG games too.

        • baduhai@sopuli.xyz
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, it’s based on the philosophy, but it doesn’t strictly follow the philosophy.

              • DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml
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                1 year ago

                It’s really not that hard and there are plenty of guides available. If you are unable to visit the “store” (discovery), download a program and finally run it, then maybe you should just keep using Steam and not complicate things.

                I feel like if you are smart enough to know that Heroic Launcher exists then you could figure out how to do a google search on how to install it. It’s not like Windows “just works” every time

        • ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
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          1 year ago

          While this is true and works out that way, it’s either put in a bit of work to get a game to run (I have epic games borderlands 2 handsome Jack collection and it crashes a lot on me) or use the store that has all the games and controller settings set up specifically to the deck. Having the option is great, but using steam is still easiest and makes any deck owners default purchase store choice for a game as steam. To the point where if I had to pay $25 for a game on steam vs $20 on epic or any other, I’d just go ahead and get the steam version if I intended to play it on my deck.

      • DaTingGoBrrr@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        Valve also made a really thought out and well designed product, which I think is pretty rare these days. The instant hibernation feature is just one example of why the Steam Deck is so much better than the competition

      • smeg@feddit.uk
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        1 year ago

        “I rate it” is a pretty common phrase used to mean “I rate this thing positively”, isn’t it?

        • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPM
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          1 year ago

          I’m assuming it is from how it was used, I just don’t think I’ve ever heard the phrase before. It must not be popular where I live or in my usual internet communities.

          Maybe it’s a British thing, or maybe I’m just old and out of touch.

          • smeg@feddit.uk
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            1 year ago

            Author of the article is from Wales so it could well just be a British thing. I’ve heard it used plenty so it’s not youth-speak!

    • limeaide@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      Unrelated, but LowSpecGamer on YouTube has some great videos about the Gameboy’s story and they are great. I recommend them to everyone

      • NabeGewell@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        Great channel, I’ve seen his doc vids

        Very glad he rediscovered his passion with those vids

        And yeah if you don’t know what I’m talking about go check out his gameboy vid if interested, tldr the cheaper and more energy efficient tech in the gameboy is why it sold this good even though there are way more impressive products in the market

  • Overzeetop@sopuli.xyz
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    1 year ago

    My only real gripe is that the SSDs aren’t being refreshed as component prices drop. There’s no reason for the entry level not to be 256 now, with 512 mid range and 1TB top end. Retail - and I presume wholesale - prices on the parts have dropped by half or more since the deck was launched. There may be contractual issues involved, but - for Valve - it would make sense to make these machines as self-contained as possible. Yes, you can by a SD card, but at this point you probably shouldn’t have to. And, lets face it, 64GB on a gaming device is pretty limiting. Just start slotting in larger drives as the inventory breaks the previous price floor and inventory is cleared.

      • Overzeetop@sopuli.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Well I’ll be damned. TBH, I didn’t even know about the refresh - I enjoy mine enough that I’m not really in the market. Also, I snagged a TB ssd for $50 last month and installed it so, aside from the OLED I’m happy where I am. Besides, I’m such a casual I just can’t get bent about that last 5% of black.

  • Sho@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    I just wish it ran Hunt showdown, its my only gripe about it, otherwise I love it.

      • SunRed@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        The game runs and is supported with its anti cheat for a while now but I assume the performance isn’t great.

        • woelkchen@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Performance optimization is also on the developer to do. Proton isn’t magic. Developers need to treat Steam Deck like any other dedicated platform.

    • Goodvibes@lemmy.cafe
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      1 year ago

      Good news! It does! My desktop was out of commission for a while due to a hardware issue, and I used my Steam Deck exclusively as my PC during that time. Hunt ran fine, with anti-cheat working, and I even racked up some kills and wins (with mouse and keyboard and a monitor ofc and at 720p). The handheld experience would be rough but obviously playing Hunt against PC players with a controller would be nearly impossible in 3 star and up.

    • Pacmanlives@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Linux also runs better on lower spec machines due to its better resource management. Reason a lot of people started using Linux back in the day so they didn’t need to spend 10-15k on a Sun Spac box and could use a 1-3k desktop

    • Blackmist@feddit.uk
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      1 year ago

      They pay nothing like that.

      You wouldn’t really want it on the Steam Deck though.

  • cordlesslamp@lemmy.today
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    1 year ago

    Guys, would it be wise to buy a Deck now (almost end of 2023)? Since rumors about Deck 2 has surfaced. I’m afraid the Deck 1 will reach end-of-life soon.

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPM
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      1 year ago

      I don’t know if you saw it, but they just announced an OLED Steam Deck earlier today.

      Should have the same motherboard/specs based on leaks, just a much better screen.

      I’d probably wait and see how much it will sell for, and I’d they discount the non-oled decks.

      • cordlesslamp@lemmy.today
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        1 year ago

        LOL, I literally wrote that comment and went to sleep. Just to woke up the next morning to see the internet exploding with news about the refreshed Deck :)))

        Definitely gonna get a 512GB OLED now. If I hold off till Christmas, I may even be able to get the 1TB. The SSD upgrade is overpriced but the anti-glare should be nice.

    • ILikeBoobies@lemmy.ca
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      1 year ago

      Being that it’s Linux, it shouldn’t have an end of life even if they stop selling it

      Your disadvantage would be hardware

    • ekZepp@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      This aged well 😄👌…

      Just kidding. Steam just blow my mind with the new model announcement.

      • theskyisfalling@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        1 year ago

        It does what I “expected it to do” I think it comes down to the fact that I thought I would use it more but I find it uncomfortable to use.

        In general I don’t get on so well with handhelds, I just hoped that this one would be the change in that, I loved the vita and used that all the time but every other handheld I’ve ever owned I never really used bar the aforementioned vita and the neo geo pocket colour way back when.

        • grooving@lemmy.studio
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          1 year ago

          Mine is mostly hooked up to my lounge tv via a dock and using my steam controller. Gets me out of my work room.

        • Squirrel@thelemmy.club
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          1 year ago

          You called it an expensive paper weight. Insulting something that people like will often prompt them to defend it. It’s perfectly fine to not like something. It’s fine to point out objective flaws in it. However, don’t call something bad (which is essentially what you did) just because you don’t like it. That starts arguments.

          To be clear, I don’t want to argue here. I just want to point out an observation that has impacted how and when I state my opinion.