It'll be interesting to see how it fairs against the Steam Deck. Given the option, I'd still take the Deck hands down because Linux + Valve customer support. I would dread the moment I have to try and contact Asus support.
Proton was the missing piece that makes Steam Machines viable. Valve should be making SteamOS 3.0 available to hardware companies like ASUS. The Ally should have been a SteamOS device, IMO.
ASUS is getting a little bit better with their Linux support, but Zenfones for example were great little devices with atrocious software support.
Why not? They develop it. They can also release it.
In the meantime, there's HoloISO [0], but it's unofficial.
I tried it out on my GPD Win Max 2 and it ran great, until an update borked it. That was a while ago, though, so I assume things have only improved.
Windows 11 on a small touchscreen sounds like an awful idea to me.
The problem that still remained, and ultimately killed the platform, is the lack of third party apps also optimized for small screen and touch. These days, it doesn't matter how good the base UX is if the OS doesn't have a good YouTube app, for example.
Indeed. The flipside of Windows 8 Metro being fucking horrible on desktop is that it's awesome on actual tablets and other mobile devices.
>The problem that still remained, and ultimately killed the platform, is the lack of third party apps also optimized for small screen and touch. These days, it doesn't matter how good the base UX is if the OS doesn't have a good YouTube app, for example.
Windows's value lies with the Win32+x86 ecosystem, and every single iteration of Windows that failed to practically implement them (I'm looking at you Windows RT and Windows XP 64-bit Edition) has failed miserably to the surprise of noone except for Microsoft themselves.
Win32 has singlehandedly slain and foiled every single one of Microsoft's plans for expansion.
Everyone buys and runs Windows because we want to use our favorite Win32 programs from today to thirty years ago.
Windows XP 64-bit Edition. This runs specifically on Itanium only and was wholly impractical due to steep performance overheads emulating x86.
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition. This runs on x86-64 and is the direct predecessor to the 64-bit releases of subsequent Windows versions including the latest which is Windows 11. This was impractical due to a lack of drivers, it was essentially too advanced for its time.
In my parent comment I am specifically referring to the former.
WinRT 8 => WinRT 8.1 (UAP gets introducted) => WinRT 10 (UWP gets introduced) => WinUI/XAML Islands/XAML Direct => Project Reunion => Back to Win32 with WinAppSDK/WinUI 3.0
In the process, .NET Native and C++/CX get deprecated, Native AOT and C++/CX are not at the same feature parity level, there is no designer, hardly any updates, Github issues keep growing exponentially.
Except for WinDev with Windows 11 UI updates, and everyone that has gotten too deep into WinRT, everyone else went back to classical .NET and Win32 frameworks, or Web alongside "Azure OS".
Even the XDK has dropped WinRT support and refocused on Win32 with the new GDK.
For windows itself they also abandoned their style guides. So now you get random levels of win3.1 to win11 GUI popping out with different amounts of how does this work. Nothing is consistent and sort of half 'we are a tablet' and half 'we are a desktop' motif.
Them 'abandoning' win32 was a serious misstep. They should have built that up and had any of their new fancy frameworks building on that.
If only Microsoft had come up with a new kind of UI that was suited for use on touchscreens... oh well.
https://www.windowscentral.com/software-apps/windows-11/micr...
Brief summary - more recent APU so if you're plugged in to power, the Ally can play games at higher settings. If you're not plugged in, reviewers found that the minimum power draw is high so your battery life is worse (both have the same battery capacity). The best case scenario for the Ally is 4 hours while it's closer to 7 for the Deck.
On the software side, the Deck benefits from a large community of folks creating control mappings for older games. Windows handicaps the Ally - it's just clunky to use in this form factor.
But you don't want to play that long on a portable device anyway, position is just terrible for your posture/neck and I don't think it is really healthy. What you want is alterning occupations: video games, reading, sleeping, drawing, card games, listening to music, making music, chatting, eating, moving in the main aisle, etc.
The ally is much less efficient with the same battery capacity. I've seen reports of like 40 minutes of battery life when running high power draw games.
But would you want to spend that time playing with an undocked 700gram device in your hand, in a bad posture looking down at a screen? Even my much lighter Switch I would not play more than 45 minutes straight in portable mode.
The ally just seems to be chasing 'look how high the specs can go' instead of practically improving on the steam deck.
ASUS runs normal Windows which doesn't seem to behave all that well on such a small screened device so that's going to be a massive compromise.
Ally works with Asus' proprietary eGPU enclosure, theoretically can expand horsepower even more. Again though only so much you can do with the form factor. I get using a dock but dedicated accessories seem like they'd provide diminishing returns versus conventional PC hardware. Especially at the price point. Base model Deck blows this thing out of the water value-wise.
The Verge at least found it's battery life claims lackluster and windows a real impediment to mobile gaming.
But for emulators... yeah I' imagine it'd be quite good if you don't mind a lower battery life.
While the steam deck is an expensive tinkerers device that’s usually sold out.
Mostly I play steam games I already own, although I have picked up a a double handful of inexpensive platformers during various steam sales.
I suppose if you're trying to get it to run the latest and greatest games that may require some tinkering, although it seems like an increasing contingent of games seem to be launching steam deck aimed updated and setting configuration.
I would guess my relatively anccient desktop i7-7600k and gtx 1080 is still a more capable gaming PC but doesn't fit as nicely in my backpack or in bed.
I'm not trying to hate on the steamdeck. I think it's super cool and would love to have one. But it's too expensive for me and I'm not sure they even ship it to my area. While the switch is super affordable and a just more out of the box works experience. I know every game I buy for the switch will work great on it, meanwhile I can expect most games I have on steam will not have great controller support or may not run well on the system so its a bit more of a "at your own risk" platform.
I paid $350 canadian for a 64gb steam deck and paid another $100 canadian for a 1tb 2230 format ssd (thats only $80 now). I think the canadian dollar is slightly more valuable than aussie bucks right now but not double as valuable. 1 canadian dollar is $1.12 kangaroo bucks.
So your evaluation of the cost of the steam deck is just wrong. Its way cheaper than you imagine.
Also, valve has put literal years into Steam Input, which lets developers set up controller support, and also lets you load community sourced controller setups for your games. The Steam decks touchpads also let mouse driven games work pretty amazingly in a way that an xbox controller or switch can't.
You're just kind of wrong about the input situation. steam has basically the most sophisticated input software you can get and most of the time it just works, and when it doesn't you just load a community setup and play.
Also there was a queue for the first few months, but now you can order it and get it shipped right away.
Also you can tinker if you want but you don't have to. Just play verified Steam Deck games and it's as simple as a Switch.
Why some people are so hell-bent on seeing the Deck fail is a mystery to me. Either they are simping for some company in competition with Valve/Deck, or they are bitter about people having fun. I could understand the criticisms of it, of which there were many upon initial release, but overall it's a pretty good experience these days.
Name any other gaming platform where you can legally and conveniently share almost all available games with friends.
And even if you do have a physical copy of a given game content for it may require paying for extra DLC. That can't be shared.
I fully expect Nintendo to do away with game cartridges on their next console. They are not consumer friendly.
For multi-device multiplayer, you need multiple copies anyway, so might as well go digital.
Admittedly, this may be a niche concern, but OTOH I don't think Nintendo wants it to be a niche concern, since they're pushing the Switch as both a TV-connected console and a Gameboy replacement.
There's also the matter that you can recover a fair bit of the value of a cartridge by selling it, while you can't do that with digital games, and you can buy physical copies used. Between those, digital is effectively quite a bit more expensive, since they sell them at the same price as physical.
The Deck's wider capabilities (emulators, Minecraft) are also harder to setup and use for kids. The Switch is way more limited but little kids perhaps deal better with a flat "no" than a "maybe, you'll need to work for it".
I think GP's point holds. I'm loving my Deck but my kids are more drawn to their Switch, the Deck intimidates them.
(Keeping in mind it's still super early version)
After all, most of the games being played on Steam Deck do so via Proton, no need for emulating[0] an OS when the real deal is available.
[0] - Yes I know that Proton technically isn't really an emulator.
Linux is free as well, and runs 99% of games you want to play on a handheld pretty well. It's not going to be that 1% that love Gamepass or really want the Windows UI on a gaming device to overthrow the Deck.
Lastly, first mover advantage. The Deck was very well received, Valve have just to eventually upgrade the hardware in a Steam Deck 2, and it'll sell like hot cakes again.
Thanks for making me laugh.
How is that whole Year of Desktop Linux going?
Had SteamDeck not been released wihtout Windows and DirectX "emulation", the usual 2% folks would be the ones using it.
MS has been like this for a long time. Just ask all the PlaysForSure music owners.
So for the very few people who bought them, I'd imagine they're unlikely to be all that upset.
None of the Steam Deck competitors have trackpads either which make games not designed with controllers in mind so much more playable without hooking up a KB/M. I think it would be kind of a wash with Windows and no trackpads, yes you can play anti-cheat but strategy and other games are off the table or super clunky.
"OS/2 runs Windows applications better than Windows"....
With Wine, all of these functions can be mapped to their modern counterpart. Tray icons and fullscreen behavior can be updated to work as they should in x11, Quartz and Wayland. Breakage can be worked around in the same way Microsoft does with registries, but by the community. The end result is good enough that entire portions of Microsoft's customer base could just move over to Wine without knowing what happened.
Honestly, the best thing Microsoft could do right now is turn DirectX into a useless Metal-style API, and send the game devs running back to Vulkan. Would certainly make porting to multiple consoles easier.
At least for myself and two friends I just asked, none of us have ever used the trackpads aside from on the desktop and rapid-fire typing. On the desktop you can make do with joystick mouse relatively well, and typing with sticks or perhaps gyro is a bit slower but works fine. None of us has ever used the touchscreen.
For the Deck 2 they should honestly strip out the touchpads and touchscreen.
By taking out the touchpads they claw back real estate that can be used for battery or slimming down. No touchscreen means a little bit more money can be diverted to screen quality, and the screen itself is more likely to have smaller bezels.
I know stating this will ruffle some enthusiast feathers and probably send me into the deep grey, but I honestly think the trade-off would be worth it.
The touchscreen can go though.
I want real estate for a bigger D-pad. I find the Steam Deck's D-pad less comfortable than even the Joy-Con's.
The touchscreen is useful at the very least for the virtual keyboard.
Games like minecraft (java, not bedrock) make no concession for controllers but are flawless experiences due to the track pads giving precise, accurate mouse controls for the crafting interface. They can also be configured as flexible rotary menus or button grids directly in Steam.
They're great for emulators too, which have a lot of complex controls for things like save states. I've played a bunch of PS1 games through and found having all the controls for the emulator I would ever need in one sub-menu on the left trackpad.
They're IMO the real selling feature of the steam deck. The rest is just a computer to run the trackpads.