MysticGon
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I'm going to wait a little longer to see if they do something about that subpar screen. But if no tumblings come out by Fall I'll pull the trigger.
Steam Deck has crossed shipments of 1 million globally, per new report
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I'm going to wait a little longer to see if they do something about that subpar screen. But if no tumblings come out by Fall I'll pull the trigger.
Mekanos
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Is the screen that bad? I haven't really heard much about it.
master94ga
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I'm waiting to a new revision with better screen or battery to buy, or a discount of the current version will be nice too.
Mekanos
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It's still not available in a lot of territories.
MysticGon
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It's not the worst. People say it's "fine" but it's a common complaint next to battery life and fan noise.
You can tweak the resolution and frame rate to get better battery life and wear headphones to avoid the fan noise but with a monitor being the only answer to the screen it sort of defeats the purpose of being portable.
Valve already talking about upgrading the screen makes me want to wait.
RDNA3 is a bust. Gotta wait for RDNA4 for a big jump now. Or hope things get better on 4nmDidn't want to make a new thread so I'll bump this one.
"The community continues to blow our minds": Valve talk the Steam Deck, one year on
With the Steam Deck hitting its one-year anniversary, we chat to Valve about the handheld's first 12 months in an exclusive interview.www.rockpapershotgun.com
Mekanos
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Yeah, makes sense. I'd honestly like to get my hands on a Deck and try it before committing to dropping some quid. We'll see.
This makes no sense. Valve spends next to zero on marketing for the Steam Deck. You understand that, right? Saying "this amount of marketing" when they don't even have an advertising campaign beyond their own platform is absolutely nonsensical.
Mekanos
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Sure, but it's pretty much for enthusiasts only, especially with that pricetag. Hopefully this gets supported for a good long while.
Vena
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It likely will but the device is too cumbersome to really leave that niche. What I am unsure is how much Valve values it if sales stagnate but it does give them buzz and a differential factor in ever increasing online store fronts.
Mekanos
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Yeah, the important thing with the Deck is it would lock people into Valve’s ecosystem, so I feel like they’re okay with selling it as a novelty item, especially if they can get it launched in more territories.
RDNA3 is an incremental performance improvement like everything in GPU's forever. How is that a bust? Just a odd thing to say. What would you expect from RDNA 4 or "4nm" that would make it not a "bust"?
I'm more specifically talking about the 780m with doesn't look like a worthwhile improvement over the 680m at the same thermal limit. this gpu is well above what's in the Steam Deck, but the results would be similar down the stack. unless something happens with a move to 4nm in a refresh, Valve would be waiting until 3nm chips/RDNA 4 (whichever comes first) for that upgrade
AMD Radeon 780M RDNA3 iGPU sees 4% improvement in new leak - VideoCardz.com
AMD Radeon 780M has again been tested in 3DMark Moore’s Law is Dead has new score for power capped Radeon 780M integrated GPU. Exactly one month ago, the first 3DMark scores for Ryzen 9 7940HS Phoenix integrated graphics processors have been shared by Chinese media. As we get closer to the...
videocardz.com
master94ga
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The article that you posted say 30% increase at the same wattage, non bad.I'm more specifically talking about the 780m with doesn't look like a worthwhile improvement over the 680m at the same thermal limit. this gpu is well above what's in the Steam Deck, but the results would be similar down the stack. unless something happens with a move to 4nm in a refresh, Valve would be waiting until 3nm chips/RDNA 4 (whichever comes first) for that upgrade
AMD Radeon 780M RDNA3 iGPU sees 4% improvement in new leak - VideoCardz.com
AMD Radeon 780M has again been tested in 3DMark Moore’s Law is Dead has new score for power capped Radeon 780M integrated GPU. Exactly one month ago, the first 3DMark scores for Ryzen 9 7940HS Phoenix integrated graphics processors have been shared by Chinese media. As we get closer to the...
that's not bad, but I can see why Valve wouldn't bother with making an updated SoC with a mere 30%
You guys expecting an upgraded model need to keep in mind that Valve are still losing a big chunk of money on each Steam Deck unit sold (especially the $399.99 model).
The reason why it has a "bad" screen (it's not even bad at all, just not top-end) is to cut costs. Valve aren't going to be taking on even more hardware losses any time soon, so I wouldn't expect an upgraded model for another couple of years at least (probably about 6-12 months after Switch 2 comes out). It's still half the price of its competitors within the handheld PC space, so that gives you an idea of just how much Valve are subsidising the cost of the unit.
Steam Deck is not a mass-market product, it's a niche device that appeals to enthusiasts. It's never going to compete directly against the Switch, but it's carving out a nice little niche for itself in the fledgling handheld PC category; and it's also helping Valve's long-term goal of reducing their reliance on Windows/Microsoft.
The reason why it has a "bad" screen (it's not even bad at all, just not top-end) is to cut costs. Valve aren't going to be taking on even more hardware losses any time soon, so I wouldn't expect an upgraded model for another couple of years at least (probably about 6-12 months after Switch 2 comes out). It's still half the price of its competitors within the handheld PC space, so that gives you an idea of just how much Valve are subsidising the cost of the unit.
Steam Deck is not a mass-market product, it's a niche device that appeals to enthusiasts. It's never going to compete directly against the Switch, but it's carving out a nice little niche for itself in the fledgling handheld PC category; and it's also helping Valve's long-term goal of reducing their reliance on Windows/Microsoft.
You have a source for this statement?
That plus the massive gulf in price between the Steam Deck and other competing devices like the Aya Neo...
Doesn't take a genius to work out that Steam Deck is a huge loss-leader for Valve.
The Aya Neo isn't being manufactured in anywhere near the quantities that the Steam Deck is. That itself lowers the price extraordinarily. Maybe there's a slight loss on the cheapest version, but the other two I wouldn't expect any loss at all.
Internal discussions within the semiconductor manufacturing industry have pegged the approximate original Bill of Materials for the Steam Deck at $450.
It makes sense for a company like Valve to manufacture a loss-leading product. because Steam Deck exists primarily as a marketing tool for Steam. Let's say the average enthusiast who buys the Steam Deck also purchases an extra $300 worth of games to play on the Deck throughout the Deck's lifecycle. At a 30% cut off topline revenue, then 64 GB ARPU would be $490, breaking even for Valve.
So even though they would initially lose money with each 64 GB SKU sold, they would recoup enough to justify it through Steam purchases, and at the same time promote engagement with the Steam ecosystem. Given that Valve has persistent Epic Game Store and Xbox Game Pass competition in the PC market, Steam Deck provides needed value proposition to justify its brand and keep consumers loyal to Steam.
However, this has definitely declined since late 2021 when the original Steam Decks were manufactured due to economies of scale. And, I can guarantee you that the $529 and $649 SKUs weren't loss-leading as Valve followed the Apple playbook and charged an extra $130-$240 for a negligible bump in costs. But there is merit to the claim that the $399 64 GB SKU was loss-leading at launch.
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unkindlynice
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Yep. The screen right now is terrible. I have no interest playing on it and will happily pay for a better one. I do wonder if the reason is that the ‘amazing price’ doesn’t hold up when you start changing those aspects.
Worth keeping in mind that the BOM is just a part of the overall cost of production. Manufacturing, shipping, packaging, marketing etc all adds on top of that. Oh, and the 256GB model moves up from eMMc to M.2 SSD storage, which is a LOT more expensive to manufacture than eMMc...
I'd be very surprised if they were making money off of the $529 model... especially with the chip shortage raising the cost of components. The $649 SKU is probably the only model that is actually breaking even.
But this is all short-term loss for long-term gain. The real goal of the Steam Deck is the proliferation of Steam OS, and the breaking of Valve's reliance on Windows/Microsoft for their long-term survival.
I'm not sure about it being a "lot" more expensive, given these drives have small capacities. From a quick check on the wholesale market, I can find batch orders of EMMC 64 GB for $27 per drive, and a 2230 M.2 256 GB for $32 per drive. That's more expensive, sure, but not $120 per unit more expensive. Valve definitely recoups margin with the 256 GB's markup.
But your point is salient: Steam Deck has indeed been a loss-leader in some capacity, as it's a tool to help build the Steam ecosystem's sphere of influence.
EnergyDrink
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Valve knows that outside of Steam users there is not much interest in the device. They market Deck extensively on Steam. It may not cost them much, its their own platform, but the Ads are there everytime I open Steam.
And if the latest news are true that Valve does not want to replace that device in the next years, despite some obvious flaws, shows that Valves interest in the Deck is not big.
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Isn't this just speculation or was there some interview indicating that?
Valve has said better performance devices aren't happening, but they didn't rule out non-performance upgrades
fiendcode
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I think a Deck OLED would do really well tbh. Might improve battery draw a little too.
I do wonder how long they'll wait for a spec update though, even if just something like a process node revision, more RAM, improved storage, etc? Maybe Drake release will light a fire under Valve?
I do wonder how long they'll wait for a spec update though, even if just something like a process node revision, more RAM, improved storage, etc? Maybe Drake release will light a fire under Valve?
the problem is that Valve buys off the shelf and Van Gogh was a weird little project by AMD with some sketchy history. it wasn't a semi-custom part for Valve. so any sort of upgrade, they'd have to wait until AMD makes something comparable, and they don't yet do so. more ram is more of a space issue. where to they fit more ram chips? there's not much room to improve with storage. they can put in a faster nvme, but the APU's available lanes are limiting that, and it would consume a lot more power
Valve could always ditch Van Gogh and move to an 680M-based APU like many other handheld pc makers have, but that come with their own caveats
MysticGon
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An answer about the OLED from Steam.
www.pcgamer.com
Guess I may as well pull the trigger...
Valve likes the idea of an OLED Steam Deck, too, but says it isn't as simple as it sounds
Swapping to a new screen is "a bigger amount of work than people are assuming it would be."
www.pcgamer.com
Guess I may as well pull the trigger...
BassForever
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Especially since their now 10% offAn answer about the OLED from Steam.
Valve likes the idea of an OLED Steam Deck, too, but says it isn't as simple as it sounds
Swapping to a new screen is "a bigger amount of work than people are assuming it would be."
Guess I may as well pull the trigger...
Bomba confirmed
I'm mostly upset since I bought a deck last week
seems odd. in chinese handheld world i think they may only sell a few hundreds per iteration and yet come out with new revisions and new models more often than they change underwear. i suspect valve is just cheap and doesnt see sales to justify the work. remember valve is on a per employee basis one of the most profitable companies ever up there with nintendo.An answer about the OLED from Steam.
Valve likes the idea of an OLED Steam Deck, too, but says it isn't as simple as it sounds
Swapping to a new screen is "a bigger amount of work than people are assuming it would be."
it's probably because demand for these handhelds don't last long and keeping products for longer only really exposes the problems regarding long term support. they're not buying parts on the scale of even Valve so rather than repeat orders on old chipsets, they might see it better to spend that money on whatever's new