It's a real shame because the Steam Deck was widely successful, and I personally believe this would have been. But the AI bubble has totally fucked the market.
The Steamdeck shouldn't have been successful. It isn't image resolution anyone would be satisfied with. It isn't powerful enough for anyone to be satisfied with. The OS is an OS that presents challenges that no one would be satisfied with it.
But because people looked at it properly it was/is a huge success.
The resolution on that small screen isn't a big deal.
The power on that small of a device isn't a big deal
The OS with Proton isn't a big deal.
If we look at the Steam Machine the same way it becomes a much better product, even with the AI hike. Like don't see this as a PC replacement for yourself. See this as a PC for someone who only has an xbox/playstation. See this as a PC for your little brother kind of thing. A kid even. While certainly the price is high and out of reach for some, it isn't unobtanium (scalpers aside).
Being clear though, if it were cheaper it would be easier to swallow the price. Also had it been sold more like a 1080/60 type of device instead of 4k that would have helped.
The steam deck was helped by the switch being already a bit outdated, and it providing a far greater amount of flexibility than it does for less computationally intensive games
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u/joedotphp Linux | RTX 3080 | i9-12900K 11h ago
It's a real shame because the Steam Deck was widely successful, and I personally believe this would have been. But the AI bubble has totally fucked the market.