Quoting: damarrinHeh, good point on covid vaccination... I was perhaps to general with the "general public" statement. It's probably more "Windows power users" who are proficient there and don't even consider anything other than Windows is to be used and particularly don't want to learn anything new. These are the people who go around on- and offline telling everyone who'll listen (insert "general public" here) Windows is the way to go. They are sizeable and very vocal and do MS's marketing for them.

The term for it is cognitive dissonance. If you've built up your image of yourself as being exceptionally competent in a particular field, say, being shown that you're actually clueless is deeply uncomfortable. Lashing out at the perceived cause of that discomfort is a means of (temporarily) resolving the psychological stress.

Plus some people just like punching down.

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Quoting: LoftyIt's a momentary relief that it cannot be installed on a screen size lower than 9", but windows 10 is still going to be 'technically' supported until 2025. And maybe people will find a way to install windows on a smaller screen, although the more complex the procedure the less likely the average windows user is likely to try.

I don't think many people will bother. It's going to be a hassle, and they're likely to get a worse experience as a result.

But let's say that the device sells like hotcakes (if it doesn't sell, it's not going to move the needle in any way) and 50% of people install Windows on it (I don't think it will be anywhere near that high). People have still bought the device and are going to buy games on Steam to play on it, so it's a success from Valve's point of view. And that's 50% of people that aren't using Windows on it; they're now Linux gamers. And games developers that see the sales and want to target those Deck customers are going to target the Deck, which runs Linux and Proton. So it's a success from our point of view, too.

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Quoting: Lofty

Quoting: CatKillerFWIW, you can't install Windows 11 on it; the screen's too small.

What do you mean by this, is there a minimum limitation on resolutions available to Windows 11 ? Or are you talking about physical screen size comfort ?

One of the minimum requirements for Windows 11 is a 9-inch screen.

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Quoting: sudoerInitially I was excited about the opening opportunities for Linux, but after reading... I'm a bit sceptical...

You're in the Trough of Disillusionment.

FWIW, you can't install Windows 11 on it; the screen's too small.

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Quoting: LoftyBut the biggest question i have is at what cost is EAC / Battle-eye being integrated ? AFAIK these are extremely invasive pieces of software that many consider to be basically spyware.

It's not going to be integrated into the kernel. There isn't time between now and December to get that done, even if were an uncontroversial thing that everyone agreed was a great idea. EAC already works on Linux, it's just that it erroneously detects Wine as a version of Windows that's been tampered with. It basically just needs to stop doing that. It might mean that it only ends up working in officially-from-Valve Proton using pressure vessel.

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Quoting: peta77It all sounds interesting but the pricing is a bit high, considering the display isn't even 2K...

It's already 215 DPI. Higher resolution doesn't make any sense unless you make the screen bigger.

QuoteBut the ability to installing anything else on it makes it very charming. Like replacing KDE. That has become just a giant memory hog from v4 on. And a bit unstable (at least in a 24/7 scenario).

It seems you haven't tried KDE for a long time. KDE 4 had some severe growing pains, yes, but Plasma 5 is solid. And is one of the lighter desktop environments. It's also the best choice for this kind of device (unless they were rolling their own); it's very Windows-like by default, and is massively customisable just by poking around in the Settings menu.

What I want to know is whether they'll have Wobbly Windows turned on by default. Because I really really think they should. If you want a perfectly unobtrusive way of demonstrating the freedom to have fun, and blow the minds of all those jaded Windows users that are seeing it for the first time, that should do it.

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Quoting: denyasisOn a different note. I wonder how many reservations stream has gotten? Obviously it's not indicative of sales, but can at least show how much interest is there.

They had 110,000 reservations in the first 90 minutes before they plugged the information leak.

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Quoting: PublicNuisanceThe storage is soldered on and can't be replaced.

https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech

QuoteAll models use socketed 2230 m.2 modules (not intended for end-user replacement)
All models include high-speed microSD card slot

Pierre-Loup Griffais has said that the socket is particularly fiddly to get to.

Quoting: PublicNuisanceThe battery isn't listed as removable so I will assume that can't be replaced either.

Batteries, as a blob that takes up most of the space in a mobile device that only need a single connection, are generally quite modular, and Valve haven't shown any inclination towards wanting to deliberately lock these down. Sony are quite control-freaky about their hardware, but I could still replace the batteries in my PS3 controllers.

Wait for the inevitable iFixit teardown.

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Quoting: mylka

Quoting: Purple Library Guy

Quoting: mylkai think they should make it more clear, that they do not sell a WINDOWS PC and you may not be able to play some games and you wont be able to install windows software like you do on windows

Nobody expects a thing like a Nintendo Switch to be a Windows PC. I don't think they need to sweat that a whole lot.

but switch owners expect to play their switch games
steam deck players wont be able to play all their steam games

I agree with you that it's something that needs to be addressed head on, but it seems clear that compatibility will be indicated in some fashion (that's how the rumours started in the first place). I think that Valve's aspiration to remove all barriers without specific game dev intervention is unrealistic.

However, the fact that not all PCs can play all PC games has been known to PC gamers for decades. My current desktop can play every game I can throw at it, but my ultrabook, my NUC and my now-retired Sandy Bridge machine simply can't. It is a pain that there are additional technical barriers if game devs don't make their products work on this machine, but the existence of titles that can't be run shouldn't be a surprise to anyone.

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Quoting: musojon74I've not heavily looked at Linux gaming for a couple of years. However I've a: already reserved the 256Gb one of these and b: as they are showing Jedi Fallen Order and other aaa games, I will be reinstalling Linux on a spare mini PC to see what the current status of Proton. Exciting times!

Welcome!

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