Anker's USB-C Hub Has Been Working Out Well With Valve's Steam Deck

[Quackdoc]

Could you share some of your sources on this? I have seen many Youtube video reviews but not much on topics such as trying to sustain 30W when plugged in or changing the resolution to 1080p when docked. All of the reviews have been mostly focused on the new Steam big picture mode and the percentage of verified games; except maybe a more detailed GamersNexus hardware review video.

Just doing a quick search it seems a YT channel called "theterk" made a video on it, but looking at previous benchmarks and knowing how similar hardware preforms you can get a good idea on how it will preform across various games if you are familiar with how they act on various hardware. and preformance is about as I expected.

Most Switch games upscale nicely? I thought that has not happened yet. Perhaps, you are using an emulator? Either way, FSR should be a lot better than the checkerboard upscaler that the previous console generation used to output "4K".

Thats not what I am talking about, regardless of scaling algorithm, some game styles just upscale better than other do. thats why i compared BOTW to Doom, both are native games on the switch, but IMO the experience between playing them is quite a lot different.

(using an emulator at "console resolution" is a great way to capture accurate lossless footage and test various upscaling algorithms yourself though you are limited to post processing scalling.)

To be clear, there will be a lot of games that work fine at 4k, both with gamescope, and games that will play native 4k60, but there will also be a lot that don't. and gamescope is a marvelous peice of tech that I have fallen in love with, but it's not magic. (but can certainly feel like it for oldschool games)

[arun54321]

People always find ways to get disappointed, expect all bells and whistles on a device that doesn't cost much.

I wish it had 12bit, OLED, 2k, 240 Hz display. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 1000hz touch sampling rate. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 80Whr battery. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had wireless charging. I'm disappointed.
I wish it weights less than 300g. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had LTE modem. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 32gb RAM 16core cpu, 4TB SSD. I'm disappointed.

[Quackdoc]

People always find ways to get disappointed, expect all bells and whistles on a device that doesn't cost much.

I wish it had 12bit, OLED, 2k, 240 Hz display. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 1000hz touch sampling rate. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 80Whr battery. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had wireless charging. I'm disappointed.
I wish it weights less than 300g. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had LTE modem. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 32gb RAM 16core cpu, 4TB SSD. I'm disappointed.

it's a little bit different when it's going to preform fairly poorly at an advertised function. without a way for the user to overcome the issue

[bibaheu]

Hi Michael,

Have you tried the dock to output 4K over HDMI? Does it reach 60hz?

Thanks!

[M@GOid]

People always find ways to get disappointed, expect all bells and whistles on a device that doesn't cost much.

I wish it had 12bit, OLED, 2k, 240 Hz display. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 1000hz touch sampling rate. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 80Whr battery. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had wireless charging. I'm disappointed.
I wish it weights less than 300g. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had LTE modem. I'm disappointed.
I wish it had 32gb RAM 16core cpu, 4TB SSD. I'm disappointed.

And, when the holly device that includes all the above is launched, the whiners will not buy it, because "is too expensive, it should cost X(one digit) dollars".

[Khrundel]

will be a lot less niche when people go to plug it into their TV's and it preforms like, crap. valve advertised plugging the machine into their TV. people will compare it to the switch, except now the common TV being sold is 4k and not 1080p. not to mention most switch games upscale fairly well using simple algorithms. even with FSR. A lot of people are gonna be dissapointed with the preformance or looks of the games.

eGPU won't look so bad then.

You've got it all wrong. eGPU support is a terrible idea. First of all, before copying "switch" feature you should think about why it is present. Switch feature is a compromise to make their portable console to work as stationary at least somehow. They had to do this to make sure their customers will be able to play games on TV. If you've bought mario cart you will want to play it with somebody sitting on a sofa and they don't have another device for it. Steamdeck is different. When you at home, you won't use it in stationary mode, you will play on your PC. When you're on a road you will play mostly some lightweight games to make sure battery will last. Later that evening, you will be able to plug it to hotel tv using cheapest cable/hub, and these lightweight games will work nice even on 4k tv. You will not bring big heavy hub to travel, you will stick to cable or you will get gaming laptop instead.

And last, about some user who believed advertisement and thinks deck can replace PC. If someone will tell him he must buy expensive hub with GPU, he still will be disappointed, so why bother?

[Quackdoc]

You've got it all wrong. eGPU support is a terrible idea. First of all, before copying "switch" feature you should think about why it is present. Switch feature is a compromise to make their portable console to work as stationary at least somehow. They had to do this to make sure their customers will be able to play games on TV. If you've bought mario cart you will want to play it with somebody sitting on a sofa and they don't have another device for it. Steamdeck is different. When you at home, you won't use it in stationary mode, you will play on your PC. When you're on a road you will play mostly some lightweight games to make sure battery will last. Later that evening, you will be able to plug it to hotel tv using cheapest cable/hub, and these lightweight games will work nice even on 4k tv. You will not bring big heavy hub to travel, you will stick to cable or you will get gaming laptop instead.

And last, about some user who believed advertisement and thinks deck can replace PC. If someone will tell him he must buy expensive hub with GPU, he still will be disappointed, so why bother?

well that "compromise" was a massive selling feature. I most of my peers who got the switch got it because of that feature. I know at least 5 people who traded their consoles because the switch had this feature.

No I wont play lightweight games. I do not enjoy those. I enjoy playing the games I have. so I will play them. I will bring a "heavy hub" to travel, because I can easily fit it into my luggage case. and I won't use a gaming laptop.

No I wont use my PC. because TV PC gaming sucks balls. ill use my console, because I don't want to set at a desk when I get home to play on mouse and keyboard, I want to play games and spend time with my family. Not only do computer still provide a poor experience in this regard, im not about to go out and buy a dedicated gaming PC that can handle 4k gaming, because consoles can do it for way cheaper.

now if the steam deck had eGPU support, that would be a justifiable upgrade. an upgrade that can carry on into the future.

most of your arguments as to why you shouldn't use an egpu are contradictory. It would cost to much, instead buy a dedicated PC and a dedicated gaming laptop

No. I want one system, steamdeck had the potential to be that if it had egpu support which it does not.

They advertised a feature that they give no way to make a better experience for people willing to pay extra for.

[mdedetrich]

I love that this doesn't require a proprietary dock. I can reuse my USB-C hub!

Why would it? The steam deck is basically a standard AMD ryzen PC which has a USB-C port. Its just in a very different form factor.

[Khrundel]

well that "compromise" was a massive selling feature. I most of my peers who got the switch got it because of that feature. I know at least 5 people who traded their consoles because the switch had this feature.

No. This compromise is inevitable because without it user wouldn't be able to play these games on big screen at all. This feature fixes a problem which doesn't exist in case of steamdeck.
And, by the way, deck already have more powerful GPU than switch, so it outperforms switch in stationary mode too. There are two features of switch steamdeck lacks: an ability to unplug controllers and ability to automatically underclock APU when in portable mode.

No I wont play lightweight games. I do not enjoy those. I enjoy playing the games I have. so I will play them. I will bring a "heavy hub" to travel, because I can easily fit it into my luggage case. and I won't use a gaming laptop.

You are adding one condition after another and rejecting suggested solution. There is no rational reason to act as you are suggesting. Deck + hub with GPU will weight and cost more than laptop.

No I wont use my PC. because TV PC gaming sucks balls. ill use my console, because I don't want to set at a desk when I get home to play on mouse and keyboard, I want to play games and spend time with my family. Not only do computer still provide a poor experience in this regard, im not about to go out and buy a dedicated gaming PC that can handle 4k gaming, because consoles can do it for way cheaper.

You can't get everything at once. You can buy a console, it will be cheaper, but quality will suck and you will be locked to console's store where prices would be higher. Steamdeck offers ability to play games from your Steam library with relatively cheap portable device, and you can play these games with superior graphics with your PC. Best offer possible.

now if the steam deck had eGPU support,

It would cost 10 bucks more and nobody would use this feature.

most of your arguments as to why you shouldn't use an egpu are contradictory.

No. Steam deck is just portable device to play games from your steam librarty. You don't have to pay more to play while on road, that is the point.

It would cost to much, instead buy a dedicated PC and a dedicated gaming laptop

For 95% of steam users this is not issure, they already have some gaming pc. They just can't get it when they are traveling.

No. I want one system, steamdeck had the potential to be that if it had egpu support which it does not.

Well, can you name single other product which will offer something comparable? If you can, you can just buy it. If not, what the point arguing? Deck offers best possible experience for your money,

They advertised a feature that they give no way to make a better experience for people willing to pay extra for.

Their advertised feature works great, you can plug deck to tv and play a game. You must be insane to offer customer to buy expensive eGPU hub to use an "advertised feature".

[chithanh]

Michael does FreeSync work if you connect the Steam Deck to a FreeSync capable monitor with this dock?