Linux, not Windows--Windows provides little that can't be done on Linux in this space
AMD, not Intel--AMD just has better products at this level (any level at this point, really)
720p--going higher doesn't provide much at this size except suck battery life and requiring a more powerful GPU
Price

Now, price is partially because Valve can afford to subsidize the cost and expect to make it up on Steam sales. I'd be remiss to ignore how they're making their money. Still, they're also able to have a good price because they didn't try to make it as powerful as it could be, but as powerful as it needed to be.

[–] SabinStargem@lemmings.world 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I would like Gabe to with the EU to make a EULinux. They both have respective reasons to get away from Microsoft's control over software, and I would very much like to daily drive a Linux without worrying about game compatibility. Unfortunately, I am stuck with Windows because I play many obscure or old games, and simply hate dealing with technical hassles enough as it is. Here's hoping that Linux becomes good enough within a couple years from now.

[–] thatKamGuy@sh.itjust.works 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I think the biggest hurdle against transitioning away from Windows to Linux for most government offices isn’t the OS itself - but rather the MS Office suite!

You’d honestly be surprised how pervasive Excel is amongst white collar workers; and I think the biggest hurdle is the uncertainty of compatibility (of formulas, macros, workbook links etc.) from Excel to Open/Libre Office alternatives.

[–] JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

My understanding is that Libre Office is the closest to actually being a good replacement to Excel. Having used Libre Office's Excel equivalent, it does not feel good to use (then again, neither did Excel).

I'm not sure if we'll ever be able to replace the Microsoft office suite - Microsoft owns the rights to those softwares' workflow paradigms IIRC, and people who have been taught those workflows are not going to abandon them. I mean, we've not even managed to move away from the staggered qwerty layout that was established for typewriters in the 1870's. I think the only options are for schools to either adopt new paradigms (using opensource software as teaching tools) over mass adoption in industry.

[–] Minnels@lemm.ee 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

I tried dworak for awhile and just like switching from windows it is a bit rough sometimes. Every game you play have to change keybindings as a person who play a lot of different games it became too much. But writing was so good. So much easier and intuitive. Only took like a week or something to get into it.

[–] JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

It is still a mystery to me why no one ever created software that can automatically pull videogame input config files and rebind for other layouts. I guess it is somewhat niche. At the same time, input config files are all pretty similar and it sounds fairly straightforward as a project.

[–] vorpuni@jlai.lu 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Lutris has an option to switch to US QWERTY. Also doesn't take much effort to do manually but it's buggy with X.org (sometimes it insists on keeping the previous layout for no reason).

[–] JayDee@lemmy.sdf.org 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

It's not really ever an issue to rebind keys manually, it's just time consuming. The point of auto-rebind would be time saving for nonstandard keyboard users.

[–] vorpuni@jlai.lu 1 points 1 week ago

I use BÉPO AFNOR and some games don't like É instead of W, autorebind only works for me in games that actually have modern keyboard management and use key codes and/or understand Unicode, dead keys, etc. I'm better off setting the keyboard to US QWERTY

[–] garretble@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Now that it has been three years, while I'd like to have one, I feel like I'll just wait until whatever the next version is - even if that means waiting another year or so.

I don't need one, particularly, and I don't want to be caught at the tail end of this hardware.

[–] odelik@lemmy.today 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

I was on the fence of asking for one for my birthday late last year for exactly this reason.

What tipped me over was that I took a look at my Steam library and realized I literally have hundreds of indie and AA games that I've never played or have less than 4 hours in that I always meant to go back to. And that was it, I decided the Steam Deck was going to be my indie gaming experince platform. It has been amazing at doing this, and I've been chewing through my indie game library like crazy, and have picked up so many more that I'm loving gaming again! I can see myself keeping the current steam deck around and will be used regularly for at least the next 5 years.

If you're looking for a portable machine that'll tackle most modern & higher end games, either look at the alternative SteamOS portables or wait for the next Steam Deck (the touch screen, D-Pad, Sticks, and dual touch pad make it the best choice for best I out options for game compatibility).

However, if you want a great machine for indies, AA, older AAA titles, and console EMU, the current hardware is amazing and worth the price

[–] Wooki@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

handheld pc gaming

Sounds impressive until you see the qualifier

pc

Not that impressive.

Compare it to the whole handheld gaming market!

[–] TheresNodiee@lemm.ee 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The whole handheld gaming market is pretty small. There's the Switch which outsold the last couple gens of Xboxes and PlayStations. Good luck beating that. Besides that you have smartphones which just about everyone owns and only a handful of brands being especially popular. Then you have dedicated Android having handhelds and handheld emulation machines which are extremely niche.

So either you're looking at extremely popular and widely owned handheld devices with extensive histories and customer loyalty or extremely niche devices. Not really a great comparison.

[–] Wooki@lemmy.world 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

the whole handheld gaming market is pretty small

Wat!

Sourced from wikipedia: switch has sold over 150 million units.

150 million

small

[–] TheresNodiee@lemm.ee 0 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Small as in not a lot of competitors...

[–] Wooki@lemmy.world -1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Its no different to the console market. Essentially a duopoly

[–] TheresNodiee@lemm.ee 1 points 1 week ago

Ok and? What's your point?

I'm just saying there's not much competition in the handheld space. Either you have massively popular products with an extensive history or extremely niche devices. The handheld PC market is still fairly nascent and Steam Deck dominating it and popularizing it so much (even if it's not that much compared to, say, the Switch) is still significant.

[–] ampersandrew@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

If you're just looking for sales numbers, which we haven't had much of for a long time, the long and short of it is:

4M Steam Decks since launch, 2M of all of its competitors combined; expected that all handheld PCs sharing this AMD tech will sell about 2M more this year.

[–] MudMan@fedia.io 0 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

To put it in perspective there are 150 million Switches and 75 million PS5s out there. And 15 million Wii Us, if anybody is counting. This puts PC handhelds some ways ahead of the N-Gage and well behind the Game Gear.

I'm less concerned about who's ahead in the handheld PC market and more interested on whether it'll ever become a mass market space. I think a lot depends on prices for integrated GPUs not skyrocketing like their desktop counterparts and their performance stepping up a notch or two. We'll see.