I honestly wanna know what people find so appealing about this device.
> "It's a full-fledge PC. You can install anything you want on it."
You can also do that in a laptop.
> "It's the ergonomics. You have to carry an XBOX or PS controller with a laptop if you wanna use one on the go."
And that's less convenient than carrying around a mouse and a keyboard if you wanna do literally anything other than gaming?
> "It's $400. No laptop that can game will be that cheap."
A laptop with a Ryzen 3 APU for $450 can do a decent job when gaming If you drop in-game settings.
It can also do more than just gaming. You know? The thing that makes portable PCs so useful that not even tablets with keyboard and trackpad covers can replace?
> "It's a Switch that plays your entire Steam library. How's that not exciting?"
It offers literally no advantage over just taking a laptop and a controller with you. In fact, it's even less useful.
It's neat. But unless all you do with it is exclusively gaming, it's a machine for those that think a laptop is just too convenient and useful.
Yours is the same mindset that the people that thought the Switch was DOA because of all the smartphones and tablets had.
Granted, the Switch has more going for it than the form-factor, so the Steam Deck has a much steeper uphill battle to fight, but it could well substitute exclusive killer app
games with some good old-fashioned features instead.
I'll go over your points.
> You can also do that in a laptop.
And you can do it with on a tablet. Tablet PCs running Windows exist (I'm using one at the moment), and objectively they're nothing but truncated laptops with a touchscreen - yet somehow they coexist.
> And that's less convenient than carrying around a mouse and a keyboard if you wanna do literally anything other than gaming?
Objectively? Yes. A laptop with all its paraphernalia is already a hefty thing to carry around. One of my eternal struggles was finding a gamepad for my laptop that I could actually fit into the thing's carrying case without tripling its thickness, and without jamming the protruding analog sticks on the gamepad so it doesn't meet an untimely demise. Compared to that, a slim bluetooth keyboard/trackpad combo, or even a slim bluetooth keyboard and mouse set, will combine far better with the Deck's carry case.
Plus, again - tablets. Tablets somehow work for productivity even without keyboards and mice. It's not ideal, obviously, but browsing the web and watching videos is not going to be any harder on the Deck as it would be on a tablet - or a TV with a set-top box and controller.
> A laptop with a Ryzen 3 APU for $450 can do a decent job when gaming If you drop in-game settings.
And how much larger will that laptop be? How much heavier? How much harder to play games with on the go, especially without searing a hole in your pants with the bottom of the laptop? Price is always a tradeoff with portability. Desktops are cheapest, laptops cost more, tablets cost even more for comparable specs. You're looking at a gaming UMPC and lamenting the price compared to a laptop?
> It offers literally no advantage over just taking a laptop and a controller with you. In fact, it's even less useful.
For productivity? Sure. Smaller screen, fewer controls, need for more accessories to properly do work.
For gaming? Excellent controls, streamlined UI, ability to play regardless of having a surface to put the device on (be it a table or your legs), far better ergonomics for long play sessions.
For entertainment in general? Same deal, fully featured with no detriment in any capacity, and much more compact and easy to carry around.
Compared to a tablet, it's just a little smaller screen size than usual, a good deal cheaper than you can find with anywhere near the same specs, and comes with integrated controls and a full PC suite under the hood. Gaming PC handhelds were always attractive, the problem always was the cost to power ratio. Valve solved it.
>It's neat. But unless all you do with it is exclusively gaming, it's a machine for those that think a laptop is just too convenient and useful.
It's a machine for those that think a laptop is just too cumbersome and restrictive. There's a reason why I went for the Samsung ATIV tablet hybrid I use now, despite already having a more powerful laptop. Smaller, handier, packing more features. So what if I have to fumble with the keyboard dock to do any serious typing? I can actually pull this thing out of the bag on a bus ride and check the news, or watch Youtube. The integrated Wacom digitizer that lets me draw and not have to carry the Intuos around is also a welcome bonus. A laptop would never give me this sort of functionality. I'd imagine the Deck is the same thing - just for gaming, rather than extra work features.
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