Valve/Steam do a handheld thingy

[Crazy_Ivan80]

The 10 percent  of is mightily tempting, though it's still expensive. And I'm not sure I actually would use it that much.

Edit: the biggest pro would be what monk mentioned: sitting in the same couch as my better half

[Josquius]

The whole not having to wait for the computer to boot up and getting out of my computer room for once thing would be nice for me.

I bought a nvidia shield for the latter but the setup each time I want to play means I generally don't.

[FunkMonk]

I'll just come out and say that the Steam Deck has completely changed the way I play video games. I never sit down at my desktop or laptop to play games anymore. Everything is done on the Steam Deck. It's incredibly flexible. Hell, I'm playing the PS4 version of God of War on my Steam Deck via streaming Remote Play. And last weekend I installed the Diablo 4 beta on the Deck and it played great after Blizzard's servers got their act together.

It's very good and I'm considering never having to build or buy another desktop pc ever again.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind when I consider this some more.

[FunkMonk]

For some games it's less ideal. Paradox games can be difficult to read because the screen is small compared to a normal monitor, though this isn't an issue if you use a dock to connect it to a full monitor or TV. Sometimes game launchers, like Paradox's or EA's, break the game they're supposed to run and they won't run until the studio patches it or some intrepid Linux power users fix it. You have to be able to deal with the extra few steps that are sometimes required to get a video game to run on a Linux box. It's a tinkerer's device, with the good and bad all that entails. It's often just plug and play but sometimes it just isn't. And of course you have to relearn how to interact with some games using a controller and gyro/trackpad control system, though Steam Input is extremely powerful and there are lots of user-made control profiles that are easily downloaded over SteamOS.

[Josquius]

Seeing a lot of reporting lately on the ROG Ally and other Steam Deck immitators.
Anyone encountered them in the wild?

Have to say I'm not tempted. I've a habit of going for alternative brand versions of the market leader and usually suffer for it. A big problem a lot of them seem to have is that the deck allows for very efficient sleep state and resume like the switch whilst they don't.

[FunkMonk]

Seeing a lot of reporting lately on the ROG Ally and other Steam Deck immitators.
Anyone encountered them in the wild?

Have to say I'm not tempted. I've a habit of going for alternative brand versions of the market leader and usually suffer for it. A big problem a lot of them seem to have is that the deck allows for very efficient sleep state and resume like the switch whilst they don't.

As someone with a Steam Deck I'll say that the pause/resume function of the Steam Deck is incredible and I can't imagine a proper handheld gaming device without it. It's perfect for a parent of small kids. 

I don't think the ROG Ally has touchpads, making it impossible to play games requiring mouse input, like CK3 or Stellaris. Both are perfectly playable on Steam Deck.

[Crazy_Ivan80]

saw a comparison today:

going by memory:

- the ally has a nicer screen
- is more powerful
- can by connected to GPU (useful for casting to bigger screens)
- is windows 11 from the get go
- iirc, it's memory is a bit faster too

however:
- it's quite a bit more expensive (700 vs 300 for the base model)
- battery life my not be that good due to it using more power
- less buttons/touchpads
- no way of knowing if a game will run on the machine (steam deck has the verification thing)

I'm probably forgetting some stuff though.

[The Minsky Moment]

Ally does seem to have better specs but I haven't run into any performance issues with the Deck and I think the superior controls are significant benefit.

[FunkMonk]

Ally does seem to have better specs but I haven't run into any performance issues with the Deck and I think the superior controls are significant benefit.

Yup. Steam Input and the ability to download anyone's community steam input profiles is really good QoL and makes otherwise daunting control inputs a breeze.

I'd say, if I were only interested in playing the latest graphics-intensive AAA games on very high settings via a controller on PC, then I'd buy a ROG Ally. Otherwise the SD is probably the better buy.

[Grey Fox]

Doesn't the Ally support Steam natively?

[Crazy_Ivan80]

the deck is between 10 and 20% off during the summer sale. fyi

[mongers]

the deck is between 10 and 20% off during the summer sale. fyi

Thanks. 

[Josquius]

But sold out and unavailable. Think it went quick.

[Josquius]

I am increasingly tempted to get one and their sale price is heavily promoted on the steam front page... Yet they remain out of stock for the past week