AMD and Valve are developing an improved Linux CPU driver that will benefit the Steam Deck

[Bamda]

2-8 hours of battery life quoted. We all know what that means, 2 hours of intensive gaming. On top of that this thing is enormous, nearly 2 inches thick and more weight than 1.5 iPads.

Software and drivers still need optimising and they still need a compatibility layer. They don’t need windows. So why did they go with X86 CPUs? Mobile solutions would be able to deliver similar performance in a much smaller device with a longer battery life for less money.

Il be watching. I would absolutely love a handheld gaming pc that I could travel with. This thing is too big and heavy by far, weighing more than all the electronics I travel with combined but it may spawn smaller more powerful devices further down the line.

It's so obvious they wanted to make a COMPUTER, not a mobile device. This is what the Steam library runs on, not that hard to figure out.

 

[Bamda]

The battery life is currently 2-8 hours, 2 hours for 3D gaming, so if that’s a trade off then it’s a pretty sorry position. And yes there is comparable hardware in the mobile market. Mobile GPUs can be quite impressive, the iPad Pro has a GPU that can technically push more data than an Xbox one GPU.

Every successful mobile gaming device in history has had bespoke hardware and software. Nvidia have their Tegra X1 solution which is used in the shield and Switch and there is a new one coming probably next year for the successive Nintendo switch (switch pro? Switch 4K?), rumours include that it will bring ray tracing and DLSS to Nintendo’s line up. If the rumours bear true it’s likely to be considerably faster than this RDNA2 solution from AMD. But it’s worth noting that the rumour mill did predict it to come out this year when all we are getting is an upgraded display to OLED, no upgrade to the chip on the switch this year (probably a smart decision with the chip shortages)

But I don’t think there is anything in the form factor of the steam deck on existence that we can compare to (Sega game gear maybe? But that was smaller and lighter still). It’s enormous, more than twice the weight of most modern mobile game systems, 2.4 times the weight of the switch lite which sports the ageing Nvidia Tegra unit. Laptops bear the closest resemblance in terms of weight, hardware and footprint.

And yet none of them can run X86 games, your point is mute.

 

[Shadowboxer]

It's so obvious they wanted to make a COMPUTER, not a mobile device. This is what the Steam library runs on, not that hard to figure out.

I think you don’t understand what a computer is. Mobile devices are computers. Start by typing ”computer“ into google. you will begin on this wonderful journey of knowledge. Maybe by the end of it you might have some idea of what you are talking about…

 

[Danny101]

In the grand scheme of things, this can only be good for Linux gaming and Linux in general, if this takes off. My main concern about Linux is Linus Torvalds integral role with the kernel. If something was to happen to him, is there a replacement at the ready? Better yet a team? What happens to Linux? It's a lot of responsibility on one person.

 

[tomas42]

In the grand scheme of things, this can only be good for Linux gaming and Linux in general, if this takes off. My main concern about Linux is Linus Torvalds integral role with the kernel. If something was to happen to him, is there a replacement at the ready? Better yet a team? What happens to Linux? It's a lot of responsibility on one person.

It's not like Linus Torvalds is sole responsible for what goes into a new kernel or not. Well, in theory he still is, but in reality he puts his trust in a small team of sub-system maintainers that sends him git pull requests for new versions that should go into the next official release of the Linux kernel. He hardly does any actual programming nowadays, mostly it's about reviewing others work and reading and writing emails. And to oversee "the bigger picture" of the Linux architecture. If he were to leave tomorrow there would be a bunch of people that would be able to step up to the responsibility. For example Greg Kroah-Hartman:

Greg Kroah-Hartman - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org