Agreed 100%, I’m happy with my 4th quarter 64gb Deck (after the ssd upgrade XD ), however choice and diversity is good. If Windows is considered a selling point, and a Linux version would have to be a separate SKU, reducing availability? Giving the option to buy the single Windows SKU, and maybe downloading an official tool that installs Linux with all the necessary drivers would be better than having to justify a separate, likely less popular SKU. Plus while neither of us is interested in the Ally, other people will have different tastes. Let companies make all shapes and performance/price options for everyone :D

I pointed out that the OS, trackpads and ergonomics are my main focus. Honestly, more Linux devices would be a win! Even if it ships with Windows but there’s an easy, official way to get Linux on the thing that’d be great.

I say “”””yes”””” you might disagree. Here’s my findings https://startrek.website/comment/13646875

Thanks! I’ll have to find a way to “pitch” this but that’s interesting.

Makes sense! And it does track with my own observations of new indie games being more likely to at least court the Deck platform. Do you have an article with those numbers? I’d like to share it with a small developer that might be interested in this knowledge.

On the other hand, it’s a lowest common denominator they can target. “It runs well on the Deck! We’ve done our job.” and the fact that it sold a lot means it’s a market that it’s probably worth the investment (can’t imagine it’s that much) in making a game work. After all any optimization for the Deck also translates into similarly modest hardware being able to run the game…

Not that I complain! Completely gave up on Windows a few months ago lol

Funny, juuuust when they limit the service to 100 hours monthly.

Boosteroid has Linux apps, too. Maybe not too elegant for the Deck…

As I mention always whenever this topic comes up, it might be my specific setup but don’t leave it off and plugged into a dock for long periods of time: it seems to discharge the battery and not realizing it’s happened. In my experience as long as you unplug it after shutting it off, there’s no downside.

What happens if you leave it plugged in for half an hour or more? After that, can you unplug it? Because at least for me, the dock can drain the battery (slowly) over time when the Deck is off, all the while the battery thinks it’s full. I would try keeping it on and plugged for a while, then unplug while it’s on.

A thing about the official dock, maybe it’s just my setup BUT: it drains the battery. It doesn’t look like it, but if it’s off or suspended, the Deck loses charge while connected to the dock, then you grab it to use it (and the battery is like 97%!) but within 5 minutes it’s completely dead. Again, it might be just my setup, but now I unplug the Deck from the dock once it’s off.

The main thing IMO is to get some hands on time with it. Figure what you want, what you like, and most importantly what you would like to see improved… and go from there. See if you prefer to use it as a console, or if you want more of a gaming computer and use regularly the desktop. Maybe you’ll want a dock and how you want it will depend on your needs. You get my point :D

Anyway for the laptop see if you like https://nobaraproject.org/download-nobara/ specifically the Nvidia one so it has the drivers pre installed. I use it “everywhere”