Valve Announces Steam Deck As Portable SteamOS + AMD Powered Portable PC

[grigi]

Yup, this is probably number #1 on the charts of the top idiotic things system integraters can do with PC's, they ship it with a single stick of RAM. Even if you have a low amount of ram like a single 8 gig stick its always better to instead ship 2 4 gig sticks.

This was a 32G system.

[Vistaus]

What I find most interesting is that it will ship with Plasma. I thought all the big ones only cared about GNOME “standard desktop”, according to 144Hz and a few other fanboys around here.

[Mike Frett]

As a pessimist I must tell you, like the steam console, this will have low sales and people will just install dirty windows. If I had made this, it would've been using an ARM CPU as we all know it's the future. I appreciate Valve trying though they are beating a dead horse.

[chocolate]

Another concern is Steam itself. They say it will run the same Steam with new UI cut specifically for the device. Steam on Linux (or maybe Steam client in general) is buggy and clunky.

Disclaimer: everything I say here is anecdotal, naturally. The Steam client on Linux is, in my experience, the most stable and reliable out of all platforms. I've had recent experience on macOS and Windows. The macOS client is the worst by far, while the Windows client works OK but then the underlying system does not remember e.g. window placement or maximized preference. But then again, "works OK" is not enough given that Windows does not offer anything more than that. Steam on Linux, for example, is infallible with most controllers.
I stress the Linux client quite a bit through Proton and third-party compatibility layers (wrappers for native emulator such as ScummVM, etc.) and there are literally zero problems with the client itself. In recent memory, only some users have encountered a network configuration quirk such that Steam interfered with the host system (perhaps useful on SteamOS, not so much on a generic host).
This means that, objectively, Steam on Linux is better suited for retro gaming because, after installation, wrappers are integrated in Steam and users can choose them via GUI. The only thing missing is discovery&installation of such third-party wrappers via Steam itself, just like it already offers the option to choose different Proton versions.
Cheers and happy gaming.

[Alexmitter]

What I find most interesting is that it will ship with Plasma. I thought all the big ones only cared about GNOME “standard desktop”, according to 144Hz and a few other fanboys around here.

Valve needed a Windows clone for its desktop mode to be an easy entry for people who do by this as their first GNU/Linux device, that's all and KDE does work well enough for that. While it does run on a different compositor, most likely gamescope when it is not in desktop mode. Switching to a better desktop for desktop mode should be a easy thing to do. The same is true for the original SteamOS, also running a specialized compositor when in steam big picture mode and Mutter in desktop mode.

That does not change the fact that for a Workstation OS, KDE is simply to broken, to heavy and too buggy for being the default. No reputable workstation linux distro ships KDE by default. Thats not fanboyism, install plasma, test it, compare it and every sane person will come to the same conclusion. A poorly executed windows clone with questionable software design and licensing issues.

[mbrf]

Who in the actual hell wants to hook up a big honking eGPU to a portable console, even when docked? This must amount to < 5% of the target market. Again, sometimes the things we want are super niche and make zero sense from a business perspective, but it's hard to see that because they would be cool as hell to ourselves.

Also, if this even reasonably successful it will build momentum for future iterations, or even a line of devices, including some higher end and more expensive ones that will probably have all the things you want. Not to mention it's a nice way to directly fund Valve's investment in Linux gaming, when nobody else seems to give a damn.

I actually thought about it. I was considering that it would be an easy way to replace a PC, so you can have high performant games when docked at home, and when you're out and about, you can use it like the switch. Also, chuck a battery in an eGPU case, that you can dock the steam deck in, and boom - cordless VR, baby!! 😂 (I have no idea what's required of VR, so there's probably a couple of thousand reasons that that doesn't make sense).

Aye! Agreed! It would also be amazing if these machines were targeted by more gaming platforms, to get more Linux traction.
But it is kind of amazing - with this little machine, you can tinker all you want, and if the extension ports allows, it can be anything you want, regardless of how niche one's wishes are.

Also, I wonder how many normal consumers are even aware that something like eGPU exists. And if they were, would they reliably be able to figure out if their device with a USB-C port, is actually compatible with an eGPU. I know that there are the small icons showing what type of port it actually is, but I'd imagine that some might just look at the USB-C plug on an eGPU, and think "USB-C!! Great! I can attatch an eGPU to my phone/AMD laptop!" - especially because USB historically has been so "universally" compatible with basically everything that fits in the slot... If I fits, I supports! Now you have maybe 3 ports on a laptop that *looks* identical, yet the external monitor only works in a specific one, the eGPU only works in another specific one, yet the USB-C storage media works in all of them.

[user1]

That does not change the fact that for a Workstation OS, KDE is simply to broken, to heavy and too buggy for being the default.

Uhm no, sorry, but that's complete bull****. First of all, KDE 520mb vs Gnome 1.3gb on cold boot. Yeah, KDE is too heavy.. Regarding bugginess, Gnome is the only DE on which I experienced user experience breaking bugs. For example, I recently experienced a bug when I opened the app grid, but I saw only the animation and the app grid itself didn't open. This required a restart to fix. A long time ago I experienced something equally bad on Gnome. On KDE, I only had occasional crashes with some KDE apps, but literally nothing user experience breaking. I really wouldn't call KDE buggy, unless you use a very early major version (Like the first versions of Plasma 5).

[CochainComplex]

Arch and KDE Plasma

Looks like Valve doesn't read Phoronix Qt FUD

Just to start steam into big picture mode

[JackLilhammers]

What I find most interesting is that it will ship with Plasma. I thought all the big ones only cared about GNOME “standard desktop”, according to 144Hz and a few other fanboys around here.

You waited a good 71 posts before lighting this match!

...and the bitterness of the response did not disappoint :'D

[bladerunner]

Disclaimer: everything I say here is anecdotal, naturally. The Steam client on Linux is, in my experience, the most stable and reliable out of all platforms. I've had recent experience on macOS and Windows. The macOS client is the worst by far, while the Windows client works OK but then the underlying system does not remember e.g. window placement or maximized preference. But then again, "works OK" is not enough given that Windows does not offer anything more than that. Steam on Linux, for example, is infallible with most controllers.
I stress the Linux client quite a bit through Proton and third-party compatibility layers (wrappers for native emulator such as ScummVM, etc.) and there are literally zero problems with the client itself. In recent memory, only some users have encountered a network configuration quirk such that Steam interfered with the host system (perhaps useful on SteamOS, not so much on a generic host).
This means that, objectively, Steam on Linux is better suited for retro gaming because, after installation, wrappers are integrated in Steam and users can choose them via GUI. The only thing missing is discovery&installation of such third-party wrappers via Steam itself, just like it already offers the option to choose different Proton versions.
Cheers and happy gaming.

I have the same experience.

The aggressive price of this device is amazing. I plan to use it also to watch movies, listen to music, and even browse the web since I can just use a BT kb/mouse. Wonderful.