Valve Confirms Steam Deck Customers to Receive Their Devices Within 2022

[R-T-B]

Only with an external drive

I really don't see that in the guides I'm reading. You are free to install to the internal drive you just lose the dualboot ability. Not a big loss if upset about "steam drm" tbh.

It's really just a standard UEFI PC.

 

[Imouto]

What is this "Steam DRM" the difficult one is talking about? You have a fully functional Plasma desktop along with Gaming Mode. Besides that is a damn PC and you can do whatever you want out of it. You can install other stores and standalone games. You can install Windows in the internal drive or an SD. In fact if DRM is your concern Linux is leaps and bounds better than Windows will ever be. He's not done the research needed to talk abut the topic.

I have a 200+ games Steam library and only two of them gave me trouble to play on Linux. Even then I could just buy a 512GB SD and play them on Windows whenever I want. I also have some games on Battle.net that run quite well. I've had mine for 4 months and couldn't be happier with it.

 

[lexluthermiester]

I respectfully disagree, with the exception of the Loki Max (with Rembrandt + 680M iGPU), all of these devices should be slower than the Steam Deck at gaming.

It's not comparable, it's running 8vega2 core's not rdna2 core's.

You should take a closer look at the specs for both the Steam Deck and the others. The numbers say the Steam Deck is not the performance king...

I really don't see that in the guides I'm reading. You are free to install to the internal drive you just lose the dualboot ability. Not a big loss if upset about "steam drm" tbh.

It's really just a standard UEFI PC.

Really? What I've read is that the onboard storage is locked to SteamOS. IF you can indeed install Windows to the unit itself that would be a plus and make the unit a much more attractive device.

 

[Frick]

What is this "Steam DRM" the difficult one is talking about? You have a fully functional Plasma desktop along with Gaming Mode. Besides that is a damn PC and you can do whatever you want out of it. You can install other stores and standalone games. You can install Windows in the internal drive or an SD. In fact if DRM is your concern Linux is leaps and bounds better than Windows will ever be. He's not done the research needed to talk abut the topic.

I have a 200+ games Steam library and only two of them gave me trouble to play on Linux. Even then I could just buy a 512GB SD and play them on Windows whenever I want. I also have some games on Battle.net that run quite well. I've had mine for 4 months and couldn't be happier with it.

In his mind Steam is garbage because it has any kind of DRM and he sees it as a fact and when he has made up his mind nothing can change it.

 

[Imouto]

In his mind Steam is garbage because it has any kind of DRM and he sees it as a fact and when he has made up his mind nothing can change it.

Even Steam allows DRM free games and it's up to the publisher to implement Steam's, something else or nothing at all.

The big list of DRM-free games on Steam - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

www.pcgamingwiki.com

 

[R-T-B]

Really? What I've read is that the onboard storage is locked to SteamOS. IF you can indeed install Windows to the unit itself that would be a plus and make the unit a much more attractive device.

The guides I've seen all feature an "Onboard" storage option but warn you you lose dual boot.

 

[lexluthermiester]

In his mind Steam is garbage because it has any kind of DRM and he sees it as a fact and when he has made up his mind nothing can change it.

Even Steam allows DRM free games and it's up to the publisher to implement Steam's or something else.

The big list of DRM-free games on Steam - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

www.pcgamingwiki.com

You seem to be missing a few points: The fact that, by default, only Steam Games can run on the Steam Deck AND only those games that have a compatibility profile for SteamOS. That leaves out GOG, Epic and everything else that runs on Windows. Those are some very serious limitations that are NOT experienced on a Windows based device.

 

[R-T-B]

Even Steam allows DRM free games and it's up to the publisher to implement Steam's, something else or nothing at all.

The big list of DRM-free games on Steam - PCGamingWiki PCGW - bugs, fixes, crashes, mods, guides and improvements for every PC game

www.pcgamingwiki.com

Yeah, steam needs to document DRM better, could really help their service be more usable for users who won't tolerate DRM.

 

[lexluthermiester]

The guides I've seen all feature an "Onboard" storage option but warn you you lose dual boot.

Gonna have to read more into it, still not likely that prospect of losing dual-boot. Seems a needless limitation.

 

[R-T-B]

You seem to be missing a few points: The fact that, by default, only Steam Games can run on the Steam Deck AND only those games that have a compatibility profile for SteamOS. That leaves out GOG, Epic and everything else that runs on Windows. Those are some very serious limitations that are NOT experienced on a Windows based device.

While true, as usual, life/experienced users find a way lol.

Gonna have to read more into it, still not likely that prospect of losing dual-boot. Seems a needless limitation.

It is a bit silly. My guess is they just don't share their bootloader which shouldn't be closed at all IMO.

Could be wrong, don't own one.

 

[lexluthermiester]

My guess is they just don't share their bootloader which shouldn't be closed at all IMO.

Agreed. There's no need for that kind of limitation.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

You should take a closer look at the specs for both the Steam Deck and the others. The numbers say the Steam Deck is not the performance king...


Really? What I've read is that the onboard storage is locked to SteamOS. IF you can indeed install Windows to the unit itself that would be a plus and make the unit a much more attractive device.

I have, your wrong, post a link to a better performance handheld for this price, you won't be able to, actual reviews stating your points.

Trust me I have definitely looked into any and all alternatives over the last 5 years, on release it was beyond anything else that was out, now there are Finally better ones but they're 6th gen AMD and higher priced by far, anything near this price is not as good.

And again you Can put windows on it and use as a pc so DRM be gone if you want.

 

[Imouto]

You seem to be missing a few points: The fact that, by default, only Steam Games can run on the Steam Deck AND only those games that have a compatibility profile for SteamOS. That leaves out GOG, Epic and everything else that runs on Windows. Those are some very serious limitations that are NOT experienced on a Windows based device.

You have to do A LOT more reading then. Like a metric ton more.

There's this thing called Proton that Valve forked from Wine to tailor it around Steam. The marvelous fact about it is that it is open source and anyone can use it so Wine itself benefits from it and other software like Lutris and specific community launchers like Heroic (for your free EGS games). There's even this madman that goes by GloriousEggroll that implements experimental patches and lets end users try the development down the road.

So by default everything runs on the Steam Deck except for some anticheat software. You just have to go to the desktop mode and install anything you want and then run it on the desktop mode or launch it through Steam in the Gaming mode. I've been playing D2R (battle.net launcher) in Gaming Mode since day one.

You should stop talking about this because you are dead wrong about everything. To the point of feeling insulted just by talking to you.

 

[Dr. Dro]

You should take a closer look at the specs for both the Steam Deck and the others. The numbers say the Steam Deck is not the performance king...

I don't see how any of these devices except the ones equipped with a Rembrandt APU would beat the Deck's performance in any game or benchmark, the only one I can see being competitive is the Radeon 660M on the Ryzen 5 RMB SKUs provided they are running at high frequencies (unlikely given TDP constraints on this form factor), but even then it has exactly half the configuration of the 680M (which is practically = to RX 6400 on desktop).

The Deck's configuration is in the middle of these two (6 CU/3 WGP on 660M, 8 CU/4 WGP on the Deck's GPU 12 CU/6 WGP on 680M) though the CPU side is closer in nature to Renoir on the Deck. However, given the objective is to primarily run triple-A games at 30 fps on this system, the CPU side weighs a lot less than the graphics on the vast majority titles, so the Deck's configuration comes out as rather balanced, and easily the fastest for the money. Mobile Renoir (and thus the Deck) will run any low-spec game such as Stardew Valley, Terraria or Source engine games at a 60 fps target within a 10W budget.

Anyway, there are other merits to the other devices, for example, despite still using Cezanne, the new Aya has an OLED screen, which is much better than the screen used on the Deck. The device also seems to be more ergonomic and imo pleasing to the eye, so that's also a reason to consider it.

The one thing I can assure you though: No Vega-based configuration is going to beat any of these RDNA 2 options, be it the 660M, the Deck's or the 680M, even on an H-series processor and ample power available to the graphics engine. My laptop's 5600H (Vega 7, 1800 MHz on DDR4-3200) has a 54 watt power budget in comparison, and it will still be slower than the 660M in any game you can possibly test.

 

[Just Some Noise]

Those are some very serious limitations that are NOT experienced on a Windows based device.

Well, you want to make it as easy for the end-user as possible, don't you?
And this is a Arch Linux install. You can install all the gamelaunchers you want to. Just learn to use and maintain Linux, then all the doors are open on the device.
In fact, you can install Arch Linux on your day to day computer (obligatory: I use Arch btw), install KDE Plasma with the Steam UI icons and themes on top and then try it for yourself.

Valve does a really good job in helping the linux gaming community, just by using a Linux Distro as OS, let alone developing Proton and helping with Wine development.

BTW: I bet you can dual boot on the Steam Deck, just looked into the last bios extract. It is just a simple Insyde H20 Bios with normal UEFI DXE. So the the same BIOS core many laptop manufacturers use.

 

[Nordic]

My objections are practical in nature. Why should I limit myself to one single gaming platform that suffers from serious incompatibilities and can access only one gaming library when there are MANY similar offerings that can access all of my libraries without limitation and is much more compatible with my existing Steam library?

The reality of the Steam Deck is that it is woefully limited and just can't do what all other competing offerings can. The Steam Deck, when given an objective look, is just not an attractive device.

Steam Decks incompatibilities are in practice lesser than what Valve says. The Steam Deck Verified list is at most a basic guide for what games work well. A better list of games that work with the Steam Deck is the proton database. Between Proton and Proton GE there are very few games that do not work with minimal tweaking. Some users have been able to get games marked as incompatible working but those usually take some serious tweaking and is not recommended.

Valve does not limit you to just your Steam library. Other game launchers are easily installed and functional. Lutris or Heroic Game Launcher are both examples of this. One shouldn't expect the same hand holding Valve does with steam games, but those other game launchers are very functional.

On performance, very few games have unacceptable performance on the Steam Deck. Running games at low settings, 40 fps, 40 hz, and at the native 720p resolution can make even performance heavy games like Control feel smooth. I prefer 120 fps ulmb when possible on my desktop as well. 40 fps on on a handheld device feels fine.

Most your objections are not practical in nature. They are misinformed. You seem to have an absolute opinion on DRM. The rest of your objections are not what you are making them out to be.

 

[sam_86314]

Only with an external drive attached and only in a special boot mode.

I've installed Windows onto a microSD card.

I just turn off the Deck, swap the SD card, turn it on while holding the volume down button, and boot into Windows.

While the controls are clunky, Windows itself runs surprisingly well off of the SD card I have.

You seem to have an absolute opinion on DRM.

I even share his opinion on DRM. And yet, I've been running pretty much all DRM-free games on my Deck with minimal to no issues.

What you do is throw the DRM-free game on your SD card or internal storage (I use Warpinator to transfer files from my main PC to my Deck), and then add the game as a "non-Steam" game. Set it to use the latest Proton version, maybe install DirectX dependencies if you have issues, and it should work.

Then, you can just keep your Deck in offline mode. As long as you don't go back into online mode, it'll never prompt you to log back in. And as I said before, client and OS updates still work in offline mode.

 

[SomeOne99h]

Basically put lex, It is just like any PC with Linux OS installed. Things are getting easier: Just install (1) Bottles and (2) ProtonUp-Qt

Easily run Windows software on Linux with Bottles! ⋅ Bottles

Run Windows programs on Linux.

usebottles.com

You know when there are too many things to do and download and things gets lengthy and tiring? then someone steps in to make things simple and easy, especially for someone who just want to use/play a Windows app/game or won't bother spending much time tinkering?
There comes Bottles!
It will install and manage mostly if not all the needed stuff for your PC Linux to run apps/games (even fonts), whether it is just downloaded single folder of a game or for a launcher. Just look at the screen shots of Bottles in the main web page.

ProtonUp-Qt

Install and manage Proton-GE and Luxtorpeda for Steam and Wine-GE for Lutris with this graphical user interface. Based on AUNaseef's ProtonUp, made with Python 3 and Qt 6.

davidotek.github.io

ProtonUp-Qt​

Supports Bottle. Manages and install various community builds of Wine and Proton like GE-Proton or Wine-GE.​

 

[Nordic]

Basically put lex, It is just like any PC with Linux OS installed. Things are getting easier: Just install (1) Bottles and (2) ProtonUp-Qt

Easily run Windows software on Linux with Bottles! ⋅ Bottles

Run Windows programs on Linux.

usebottles.com

You know when there are too many things to do and download and things gets lengthy and tiring? then someone steps in to make things simple and easy, especially for someone who just want to use/play a Windows app/game or won't bother spending much time tinkering?
There comes Bottles!
It will install and manage mostly if not all the needed stuff for your PC Linux to run apps/games (even fonts), whether it is just downloaded single folder of a game or for a launcher. Just look at the screen shots of Bottles in the main web page.

ProtonUp-Qt

Install and manage Proton-GE and Luxtorpeda for Steam and Wine-GE for Lutris with this graphical user interface. Based on AUNaseef's ProtonUp, made with Python 3 and Qt 6.

davidotek.github.io

ProtonUp-Qt​

Supports Bottle. Manages and install various community builds of Wine and Proton like GE-Proton or Wine-GE.​

Bottles is new information to me. I will have to look into that. I am currently satisfied with SteamOs but I like being aware of alternatives.

 

[lexluthermiester]

Wow. Dogpile much? Context is important and many of you are missing some. But hey, if you're happy with the Steam Deck, more power to you.

 

[Imouto]

Wow. Dogpile much? Context is important and many of you are missing some. But hey, if you're happy with the Steam Deck, more power to you.

No, we're not. It's you who's missing all the context because you don't know the first thing about the device or the Linux gaming scene. None of what you said in this thread is true or makes any sense. In fact if you were guessing it's actually hard to miss that much so it must be prejudice or outright hating everything involved.

 

[lexluthermiester]

To the point of feeling insulted just by talking to you.

That really says more about you than it does me..

None of what you said in this thread is true or makes any sense.

And fanboys always make that claim. Either you failed to read or you failed to context. Either way, the failure is yours. Good luck with that.

 

[Imouto]

And fanboys always make that claim. Either you failed to read or you failed to context. Either way, the failure is yours. Good luck with that.

And yet the burden of proof is on you to prove wrong any of the answers you got. Because you didn't prove or refute anything, you just posted your nonsense and then played the victim while literally everyone else provided sound argumentation.

 

[Arcdar]

Right-o, what about worldwide availability then? Most of the world didn't even get the ability to order one on nationality alone.

I got mine (here in Germany - I got it in the first batch even) .... and as I'm not 19 anymore by a long margin am slightly disappointed.

It runs well and everything (for those games optimized for it at least) and extremely well if you use it to stream from your local PC to it. So in general nice to have besides the Steam-Box I still have when my wife blocks my TV and I don't want to be gaming downstairs alone but be beside her on the couch without having to watch "her series-es" .... but this also shows how often I'll actually use this and besides the first excitement about the possibilities it's like so many gadgets .... really nice, but hell, how much money did I blow on this thing? ...

still thinking about selling it (as I'm past the return time) though. Like I said. I like it. Just not "enough" for the price range. But mostly out of personal reasons / usability point of view, not the hardware itself (and yes, I could have known that earlier, but hey .... what don't we do when we're excited even though we SHOULD know better )

 

[defaultluser]

Why in the world would I pay this premium to carry around another windows Linux console, when newer games are getting castrated by that 2x2 dual CCX zen 2 3100 part ( with half the cache of the 3100).

This has twice as many cores twice the cache per-core; Zen3+ also offers faster GPU:

AYANEO2 handheld: Ryzen 7 6800U APU + GPU is 2x faster than Steam Deck

AYANEO2 announced: AMD Ryzen 7 6800U 'Rembrandt' APU + RDNA 2 GPU that's twice as fast as Valve's portable Steam Deck console.

www.tweaktown.com

Its telling when valve is adding SteamOS support for the 6800u ( but very likely wont be shipping it until 2024 at the earliest - they still haven't released this first-gen worldwide, so add another year for full release, then another to implement the refresh. )