TL;DR: Antec is going to be selling a Steam Deck competitive device, based on the Ayaneo Slide. The device has a slide up screen that reveals a keyboard, which is good because using desktop windows is much easier with a keyboard. However the device’s lowest estimated power draw at low/no load is 15w, meaning it will use comparable power to the deck running at max power. This means the battery life will probably be pretty rough when compared to the Deck. It will also likely have a much higher price point.
I’m no fanboy but Windows just sucks for anything portable. At first I was exited to see how manufacturers would pivot to adopt linux for their portables. Now it’s just watching flop after flop.
Same. I just can’t imagine using anything other than Linux for this kinda handheld. Like, I’m mainly a Windows user and I can’t imagine trying to use windows on my steam deck. When you want to make a gaming-focueed handheld like this, you want as much performance as you can squeeze out of the hardware. You’re not doing that with windows.
I understand what you’re saying, but that doesn’t have to be true. Many of the games are made to be run on windows, windows is still a effecient os, it’s just a lot of bloat, which can be disabled. Also a lot of optimizations in nt has been done for gaming, features which are missing in the linux kernel, but there are RFCs to add nt like synchronization primitives, in the linux kernel.
windows is still a effecient os, it’s just a lot of bloat
I like that contradiction.
which can be disabled
Pretty sure it can’t, especially not “officially” by the device manufacturer and certainly not in a way that keeps those debloat settings in place over the next few large updates.
Many of the games are made to be run on windows, windows is still a effecient os, it’s just a lot of bloat, which can be disabled.
A) as someone else pointed out, “bloat” and “efficient” are exclusive to one another. Now, you can argue that windows is efficient in some areas and bloated in others, but “bloat” and “efficiency” are mutually exclusive when applied generally.
B) yes, most, if not all of it, can be disabled through registry edits and 3rd party hacks. However, in my experience, the more you try to debloat windows, the more unstable it gets. Then, it will all come back eventually via updates, which means you get to disable it all again. Finally, again in my experience, the more you try to debloat windows, the less stable it gets, and this carries over even when the OS reinstalls/reenables bloat you tried to get rid of. Seriously, my experience is that even after windows updates rebloat everything, the OS remains unstable, and becomes even more unstable after you debloat again. Granted this was with windows 10, but I imagine the same is more or less true for windows 11.
Also a lot of optimizations in nt has been done for gaming, features which are missing in the linux kernel, but there are RFCs to add nt like synchronization primitives, in the linux kernel.
C) and yet, iirc, recent Linux vs Windows 11 benchmarks show Windows games running on Linux via Proton/Proton-GE anywhere from slightly slower to slightly faster than Windows, despite requiring translation layers to run; while the Linux-native games typically run faster than their Windows counterparts.
Windows is just that bloated.
I think AyaNeo was going to ship a device with HoloISO and then just…changed their mind. They make 100 new devices/year but can’t even try a Linux version to see how it might go…
I’m following Bazzite’s development closely because I feel like that’ll be the saving grace for all the gaming handhelds that are windows-only at the moment. If Bazzite matches or supplants SteamOS then I might consider a device like an ROG Ally.
I would definitely consider Bazzite as a good upgrade for those devices, but until Asus fixes their warranty issue, hardware issues, and adds track pads, I’m not really interested in their hardware.
I really appreciate knowing that valve will fix any issues that come up.
but until Asus fixes their warranty issue,
Since before 2011, I don’t think this is happening anytime soon.
Especially with their responses over the last ~5 years/ So many controversies. So many horrible responses. I wish so dearly that people would stop buying from ASUS because they do not deserve our business.
I used bazzite on my ROG Ally for a couple of days before I went back to windows because it didn’t reliably work. Crashes abound and some games that work fine on my Steam Deck just refused to open.
Hopefully one day it gets ironed out.
How long ago did you try this?
I’ve been keeping up with Bazzite and Chimera, and it looks like they’ve made some progress.
The ROG Ally is listed at gold level compatibility, denoting it requires a few workarounds and has some caveats. I would not be able to get over having no control over the LEDs, so I’ll keep an eye out for a bit later as well.
I just tried installing Bazzite on a desktop, and its installer is a hot mess. The most I could get out of it was an error screen at the end, and an unbootable OS. Grub’s config file was just an error message. I couldn’t make heads or tails of how its ostree mess was ever supposed to boot, so I moved on to Debian.
I run Bazzite on my laptop, and have no complains other than getting confused sometimes on the terminal, but that’s on me for forgetting it’s not Fedora per se. The installer, while a bit slower than Fedora (and only by a couple of minutes, if that) worked as intended for me.
Every single one of the competitors I’ve seen makes at least two of the following mistakes, each of which means they don’t stand a chance:
- Windows
- Display resolution > 720p
- No trackpads
- Awful layout
Maybe you could, but the whole point of the steam deck is the ability to play any PC game, and most require mouse input to play well. Most people would be unwilling to make that tradeoff
That depends on what they bought the Deck for. Not everyone has much of an interest in playing games that require the trackpads, so there’s still a big market for handhelds that cover the rest.
Unless it runs Linux it doesn’t stand a chance. The moment you decide to sell a handheld gaming console running Windows you doom it to failure. It’s the worst OS possible for that purpose.
Nope, there are plenty worse…
z/os, Temple OS, OpenBSD, React OS and others.
Sorry, I am just feeling pedantic, it is late and I am about to get some sleep…
To be honest I was recently forced back into Windows by my employer recently and I don’t get it’s good for :p
Honestly just shows how dialed in the steam deck is, it’s why I won’t ever buy one of their competitors.
Honestly just shows how dialed in the steam deck is
I don’t understand how so many competitors are just making rhe most obvious, braindead mistakes. Who the fuck thought using Windows was a good idea?!?
You’re right, of course. But there’s still a few games that don’t run on Steam Deck (looking at you, Henteko Doujin), that run fine in Windows. I’m able to play these games on my Ayn Loki Zero with Win 11 install, via Steam. Of course, I’m talking about playing indie shmups on a US $250 device, so I’m a bit of a niche case. So… situationally it’s a good-ish idea? For, like, three people? Not enough people to make a product worth selling, anyway.
The thing is, none of the competitors and rivals are competitors and rivals to Valve. Every sold device that can play Steam games, is a win. Unlike traditional consoles, Valve only benefits from competition. The Steam Deck kicked off a trend and made handheld PCs popular for the “masses” (relatively speaking off course).
Besides that, any handheld PC with Windows is just not at the same level of Steam Deck. The few more games that are playable is a plus, but the entire system is such a downgrade for a gaming first device.
Valve has a larger goal though of making Linux a viable alternative to Windows for gamers. The whole reason valve has made some much effort on Linux gaming is because Microsoft scared them when Microsoft started making plans to block software installs from anywhere except the Microsoft store.
Microsoft has backed off from that plan some since, but many new new computers running windows are in “s mode” by default which limits software to Microsoft store only. It can be disabled if you have administrator privileges and know how, but it’s still an example of Microsoft trying to shift towards a future where all PC games have to be bought through their store.
This is also why steam jumped at the chance to work with Google on getting steam on Chrome OS.
Is S mode really that popular? I’ve never seen that in an enterprise setting. End users won’t want S mode because it will limit functionality.
Basically all cheaper laptops come in S mode now, and a lot of people don’t know that they can turn it off. They also made it where the only option for disabling it requires you to first create a Microsoft account and use the Microsoft store, so you’re required to use their preferred method for software distribution before you can choose to use something else.
It’s a lot better than Microsoft’s original plan for S mode, originally it was going to be a completely separate windows build, and end users would have to buy a new windows key and reinstall windows if they wanted to use steam.
I don’t think any of the enterprise builds of windows use S mode right now, but I’m not sure.
