Quoting: peta77It all sounds interesting but the pricing is a bit high, considering the display isn't even 2K...

It's already 215 DPI. Higher resolution doesn't make any sense unless you make the screen bigger.

But the ability to installing anything else on it makes it very charming. Like replacing KDE. That has become just a giant memory hog from v4 on. And a bit unstable (at least in a 24/7 scenario).

It seems you haven't tried KDE for a long time. KDE 4 had some severe growing pains, yes, but Plasma 5 is solid. And is one of the lighter desktop environments. It's also the best choice for this kind of device (unless they were rolling their own); it's very Windows-like by default, and is massively customisable just by poking around in the Settings menu.

What I want to know is whether they'll have Wobbly Windows turned on by default. Because I really really think they should. If you want a perfectly unobtrusive way of demonstrating the freedom to have fun, and blow the minds of all those jaded Windows users that are seeing it for the first time, that should do it.

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Quoting: denyasisOn a different note. I wonder how many reservations stream has gotten? Obviously it's not indicative of sales, but can at least show how much interest is there.

They had 110,000 reservations in the first 90 minutes before they plugged the information leak.

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Quoting: PublicNuisanceThe storage is soldered on and can't be replaced.

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech [External Link]

All models use socketed 2230 m.2 modules (not intended for end-user replacement)
All models include high-speed microSD card slot

Pierre-Loup Griffais has said that the socket is particularly fiddly to get to.

Quoting: PublicNuisanceThe battery isn't listed as removable so I will assume that can't be replaced either.

Batteries, as a blob that takes up most of the space in a mobile device that only need a single connection, are generally quite modular, and Valve haven't shown any inclination towards wanting to deliberately lock these down. Sony are quite control-freaky about their hardware, but I could still replace the batteries in my PS3 controllers.

Wait for the inevitable iFixit teardown.

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Quoting: mylka

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: mylkai think they should make it more clear, that they do not sell a WINDOWS PC and you may not be able to play some games and you wont be able to install windows software like you do on windows

Nobody expects a thing like a Nintendo Switch to be a Windows PC. I don't think they need to sweat that a whole lot.

but switch owners expect to play their switch games
steam deck players wont be able to play all their steam games

I agree with you that it's something that needs to be addressed head on, but it seems clear that compatibility will be indicated in some fashion (that's how the rumours started in the first place). I think that Valve's aspiration to remove all barriers without specific game dev intervention is unrealistic.

However, the fact that not all PCs can play all PC games has been known to PC gamers for decades. My current desktop can play every game I can throw at it, but my ultrabook, my NUC and my now-retired Sandy Bridge machine simply can't. It is a pain that there are additional technical barriers if game devs don't make their products work on this machine, but the existence of titles that can't be run shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

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Quoting: musojon74I've not heavily looked at Linux gaming for a couple of years. However I've a: already reserved the 256Gb one of these and b: as they are showing Jedi Fallen Order and other aaa games, I will be reinstalling Linux on a spare mini PC to see what the current status of Proton. Exciting times!

Welcome!

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Quoting: alka.setzerBattery runtime also has me worried, 2h is what you will get playing games. So you will get a warm device which is not great.

That's going to depend on the game. Indies, which you say are a good match for this device, and which we have the most of available for Linux, should fare perfectly well.

IGN: Battery life? That's a big one in any handheld device. What are we looking at there?

Pierre-Loup Griffais: Well, there's a wide variety of experiences there. It's about 2-8 hours, depending on what you're doing. You can play Portal 2 for four hours on this thing. If you limit it to 30 FPS, you're going to be playing for 5-6 hours.

https://www.ign.com/articles/steam-deck-valve-faq-big-questions-answered [External Link]

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Quoting: MohandevirQ2 2022 for the top tier... They must have sold a lot of them.

Q2 2022 for the middle one, too, now.

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Quoting: MayeulCAnybody knows what 6.js could be?

It's the file that contained the SteamPal strings, which got noticed, which let the cat out of the bag about their hardware plans.

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Quoting: ObsidianBlkI'm excited by this device and am very tempted to put that $5 for the option to buy one! I'm opposed to pre-ordering, they're not asking for the full bank up front, so, if, as the months go by, warning signs start cropping up, I haven't wasted much money at all.

It's a deposit. If you buy it, the deposit gets taken off the price and, if you don't buy it, the deposit gets refunded. Back to the initial payment method if the refund is within 30 days, or into your Steam wallet if it's later than 30 days.

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Quoting: dubigrasuI can easily imagine that many will just strip SteamOS out of it and install Windows

I'm not sure they will. Installing an OS is a pain in the arse that most people don't do - it's one of the reasons why it's important that more vendors are pre-installing Linux. For non-gaming use cases you're not going to spend £500 on a device to use as an ebook reader or media device when there are way cheaper devices already available that will be better at those tasks (higher resolution screen, better battery life, no massive buttons), and for gaming use cases the experimental similar devices have had Windows being a detriment to the experience.

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