I suspect the Frame, with its x86 to ARM recompilation layer, is a trial balloon for higher-performance ARM hardware in more traditional form factors. More concisely, the Steam Deck 2, when it appears, will be a high-performance ARM device, with similar performance/efficiency characteristics to Apple Silicon MacBooks rather than phones/tablets. Of course, this depends on a vendor producing suitable CPUs.
Steam Deck
A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
As Lemmy doesn't have flairs yet, you can use these prefixes to indicate what type of post you have made, eg:
[Flair] My post title
The following is a list of suggested flairs:
[Discussion] - General discussion.
[Help] - A request for help or support.
[News] - News about the deck.
[PSA] - Sharing important information.
[Game] - News / info about a game on the deck.
[Update] - An update to a previous post.
[Meta] - Discussion about this community.
Some more Steam Deck specific flairs:
[Boot Screen] - Custom boot screens/videos.
[Selling] - If you are selling your deck.
These are not enforced, but they are encouraged.
Rules:
- Follow the rules of Sopuli
- Posts must be related to the Steam Deck in an obvious way.
- No piracy, there are other communities for that.
- Discussion of emulators are allowed, but no discussion on how to illegally acquire ROMs.
- This is a place of civil discussion, no trolling.
- Have fun.
I fully expect to see a STEAMPhone in the next 5 years
I wish!
I honestly hope so.
A lot of people talk about running smaller indie and older games on their decks, if the translation becomes efficient enough we could have a Steam Deck 2 with serious battery gains!
I can see a Snapdragon X Elite Steam Deck in the future...
I think all of these are nice, if priced correctly
Steam Frame needs to compete with quest, so prices over $800 are a really tough sell.
Steam Machine needs to compete with consoles, PS5 (non-pro) and Series S, so prices over ~$700 will become really tough.
Prices start becoming really good, if they manage to come it at ~$600 for Steam Frame and ~$500 for Steam Machine.
But with current hardware prices, Valve being valve and no-one can know if they want to make money on the hardware, or if they are willing to sell at cost, or if they are willing to subsidize, who knows where we will land.
To your last point, back when the Steam Deck launched they described its price point at the time as "painful" but felt it was necessary. Turns out they made the right call and it was wildly successful, so hopefully they stay the course on "painful" pricing.
Also pretty much all modern consoles have been eye watering my expensive on launch save the switch. Even the switch 2 was very pricey.
Early adopters will jump on at the higher price point and everyone else will get on board when the price falls.
Honestly the thing I REALLY care about here is the steam controller 2. I LOVED the original. Gimme gimme gimme
I think you misunderstand. It was painful for Valve to cut the margin so thin, assuming they kept one at all.
According to Valve's messaging at least the Deck launched at the lowest price they possibly could manage.
Ahhhh I did misunderstand. Thanks for clarifying.
when the price falls.
No longer a given, but Valve did lower the price of the Deck while every single other console got a price hike, so there's hope.
Their goal with the first iteration of Steam Machines (RIP) was explicitly to provide an alternative to Windows and to reduce dependency on Microsoft. I'm pretty sure that's why they priced the deck so competitively, to make a dent in the market as a loss leader.
To that end, I would expect them to be taking a large hit on these in order to get them into people's hands. It's not even about steam sales per se, it's about platform commoditisation.
I personally expect that they will want to cover hardware cost, while being willing to subsidize development cost with the steam store.
So I think the low storage models will make a slight loss for valve in the beginning, while the higher storage models will get that back to even overall for valve.
Of course Quest will always be cheaper because it's not their end-product.
Steam Frame I've seen reported will be like $1,800 aud, so just over 1k US probably.
I'm buying it regardless as long as it doesn't launch to be shit
They've already said the Frame will be cheaper than the Index, which is $999
I doubt it's going to be much cheaper, but that's the ceiling from Valve's statements
Still at least 1500 then because I'm in Aus. Not sure why the article I saw listed it well higher but I don't mind spending less
Depends, index alone (no trackers, no controllers) is Quite a bit cheaper
Steam Machine looks quite intriguing, as well as the VR set. Depending on the pricing and specs, I could see myself using these.
All 3 new announced hardware looks good to me! Although I would probably have less need for the Machine because I already have a (old) gaming PC. I'll have to compare benchmarks. I'm most excited for the VR set.
dont expect much from the machine performance wise given its specs (basically assume about ps5 performance)
the vr headset though is actually the more interesting product when it comes to effort put into it.
curious to see how much the snapdragon 8 gen 3 handles linux arm to x86 performance. ive seen the same chipset for android arm to x86 performance (see arm based chinese handhelds like Ayn Odin, using game native/game hub)
pitching the headset as both a vr device and what is essentially a monitor/all in one is a choice.
Been hoping for the controller for so long. The other stuff looks amazing too, I have an OG vive so I'll probably get the VR headset as well. Very hyped! Just hope it's all available in my region in launch, they sell the steam deck here so fingers crossed.
That's funny. I could have written your exact comment. I, too, have been hoping for this controller and have the original HTC Vive.
The more I think about it the more I want to get a Steam Machine. My computer is around 15 years old now I am starting to wish for some more performance. I think the Steam Machine could last me many years to come.
I love that every single time I see someone mention the older "steam machines" from way back when they lable them as horrible. I own one. It was amazing. I had to download custom software to overclock it because the software limited me more than the hardware. And it wasn't even an i7. For the form factor and the price I paid for it, it was total worth it and not crappy at all.
I'm looking forward to seeing what steams actual hardware will do.
I need all of these asap (but have to win at the lottery first)
Hype hype hype hype. I am getting a steam frame and putting it om my shelf!
I mean I already have a gaming Pc but there’s something about that box that I crave. It reminds me of my previous PC which I preferred (current one is too big but necessary for extra card slots)
I hope they price them as good as the deck.
