Steam Deck

[Demon Cleaner]

[QUOTE=Demon Cleaner;56634]

I'm assuming that increases performance but also drains the battery quicker (and makes it get warmer). Does it make much noticeable difference?

Exactly. I didn't try yet.

[Demon Cleaner]

So far so great with the One XPlayer, I'm running Forza Horizon 4 perfectly in 1280x800, and GTA V runs even smoothly in 2560x1600. I showed it to some friends at work and they were quite amazed, and also think that it is not overpriced, considering its built quality and performance. One even said it looks nicer than the games on his PS5

I didn't try any other games yet, but I guess they will also run fine, most of them having even lower specs than Forza. Didn't try Cyberpunk yet though, as I didn't start it up once yet, plus I will not consider playing that on the handheld. Although the advantage of having cloud saves makes a lot more sense now

[Harrison]

https://youtu.be/SElZABp5M3U

This video has been out for a few days now but it's the best hands on I've seen yet for the Steam Deck.

The Vlogger is one of the few to so far ne invited by Steam to try out a pre-production unit, and it looks impressive. Innitially they seemed aprehensive to allow him to do too much, but he somehow managed to convince them to allow him to test it quite extensively. Including a tbermal camera, screen colour and lighting tests, as well as connecting an array of devices and testing it connected to external displays, and yes it can output 4k 60pfs on a monitor, which is cool.

The fps on the Deck itself seemed quite impressive. And the screen looked impressive in games. I dunt think we need to worry about the 1280x800 resolution. He run The Witcher on Netflix and instantly noted you could tell the resolution want 1080p, but as he also said, are you likely to actually watch video on the Deck? Most of us have a smartphone with a higher resolution (mine is higher than 4K) or a tablet for that on the move.

[Harrison]

There is going to be a slight delay on the Deck shipping from what I've heard. Sometime in Q2 or just after. That's ok with me.

Problem is I'm also now tempted by the Ayn Odin Pro. But I don't need one, just it looks really nice in both design and spec for its price.

[Harrison]

Now the Steam Deck is released development on the Steam OS has seen a fair few updated. They already fixed many teething issues with OS updates, and the OS interface works really nicely for any form of input and control. Especially like rhe pull up control panel to adjust system performance and also monitor fps and other stats in any game.

And surprisingly, this week Microsoft posted information on how to run Xbox Gamepass on the Steam Deck. It's not yet quite directly supported. I was expecting them to say you would need to sacrifice Steam OS and install Windows 11 to run it. But no. They have detailed instructions on how to install Microsoft Edge on Steam OS, and then launch Gamepass through it. Apparently it works pretty well. But they also mentioned a proper Steam OS app is in development. That says a lot because it means Microsoft have noticed how big the potential is with the Steam Deck and direct support for Xbox Gamepass will instantly open up their subscription service to a new handheld gaming market.

This is great news because installing Windows on the Steam Deck was something I wanted to avoid. Currently games running in Steam OS have massive performance gains compared to Windows on the system. Elden Ring for example runs smoothly at 60fps, whereas in Windows 11 it chugs along in the mid 20s and drops into the teens when mignon quickly, so is unplayable. Mad when you consider Steam OS is running a Windows game in an abstraction layer in Linux. Shows the work Value have put into this system.

Just have to wait now for my pen Steam Deck the preorders have been put back to Q3 now. Not one of the lucky early receivers of the system. That has mainly been reviewers, content creators and developers. And some even have multiple systems such as the Youtube guy Linus Sebastian. But then he is rolling in money and is a really good reviewer and did the best Deck preview I saw by some margin.