Comment on [Discussion] What are you're thoughts on a Steamdeck with a PSP Go form factor?
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 4 months ago
I think the main factors for the size of the Steam Deck and other similar handheld PCs are the size of the APU and heat dissipation. You’d get some serious performance degradation if you went much smaller. Even the Nintendo Switch is a similar size.
I agree, but maybe it’s time for a Linux based Nintendo DS / PSP sized device? I mean, Nintendo has abandoned these truly pocketable consoles. Maybe with a die shrink they could fit something 70% as performant as a deck into that form Factor?
I personally know a lot of people who miss the DS and don’t game anymore now that the platform was dropped. Casual gamer types.
Those already exist based on Raspberry Pis or similar SBCs. I once sold some pretty cheap (cheap, not low cost) ones with the intention of making enough money to be able to afford one for myself. Until I realised that it’s much cheaper to slap a controller on my phone and call it a day.
youtu.be/WdHF1x-jK4I?si=yZhogz0lVxeY3Nqw
This thing is larger in size but is a similar form factor. For PC gaming and I don’t see anything getting much smaller than this for another few years at least. This thing is really cool though, this to me looks like the most viable handheld for on the go PC gaming I’ve seen. Really short battery life tho.
I think once arm starts to become more common, and/or other RISC based platforms gain mainstream traction, more games will work on ARM based processors, and in turn we’ll start to see smaller and longer lasting PC gaming handhelds. Or at the least, handhelds with PC graphic quality.
But it will happen eventually, you’d blow someone from the 90’s mind if you showed them a 3Ds, it all just takes time.
I agree. I didn’t think it would end up anywhere near the size of a PSP but I thought the sliding form factor would help a bit with compactness. It would help with portability too as you wouldn’t need a custom case or those sticky things to protect the joysticks.
As someone who has a Steam Controller, you’d still need to protect the joysticks and touch pads. They both wear out over time due to abrasion and the oils on your fingers.
I’d much rather have some kind of mechanism built into the shell that improves ergonomics but can go compact for storing in the case.
lol at the sliding form factor for a keyboard you can't reach.
Looks pretty useable to me
Those keyboards are designed to be used with your thumbs while holding it from the side. They don't really function any other way. You can't reach the keyboard from the side because of the width of the controller. There's no possibility whatsoever that the device will balance if you hold it from the bottom where your thumbs could theoretically reach, ignoring that your thumbs also don't bend that way.
It's quite possibly the least ergonomic device ever made.
Darorad@lemmy.world 4 months ago
The switch is quite a bit thinner, but it’s running decade old arm silicon, so less heat to get rid of.
And you’d lose that slimness if you had to put the controls on another layer behind all the components.
bjoern_tantau@swg-empire.de 4 months ago
That’s my point. The Switch still is relatively big compared to a PSP or DS despite being relatively low powered (compared to the Deck). For now you have to sacrifice a lot of computing power to hit the form factor of a PSP.
helenslunch@feddit.nl 4 months ago
I don’t even think you can call it “relatively low powered”. It’s VERY low-powered. The Switch is about 6 years old now and the chip was about 3 years old when it first released.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s obviously been wildly successful and it still pumps out very playable games.
I expect the new platform to have a similar passively cooled low power (but much higher than current) chip.