5 ms·
The Ally's single strongest selling point for me is its dramatically quieter fans. Small high pitched fans like get put into devices like laptops and the Deck a
by kitsunesoba 3y ago
The Ally's single strongest selling point for me is its dramatically quieter fans. Small high pitched fans like get put into devices like laptops and the Deck are grating.
While the increased resolution is nice, I could live without that. You don't need a ton of resolution at that screen size. On the other hand, its better colors and contrast as well as adaptive sync are nice. Adaptive sync especially is a no-brainer given how many games will have their framerates jumping around on a pogo stick due to power limits.
I really hope that the Deck gets improvements in these areas before I make a decision on buying a handheld gaming PC, because the rest of the Deck is more compelling than what Asus is offering here.
- bhaney 3y agoThe Steam Deck is very user-repairable. You can buy a quieter fan, open up the Deck, and swap out the stock fan very easily. It's probably one of the simplest parts to replace.
- ChuckNorris89 3y agoEh, most people don't want to start taking their console apart and look up fans to buy online. They want to start to playing games on it and be satisfied with what's out of the box. The repairability and hackability is an asset, but not the main selling point why so many buy it.
- pjmlp 3y agoThat isn't the target audience of game consoles.
- bhaney 3y agoI'm responding to an individual's personal complaint posted on a forum called "Hacker News," not defending a product's fit with its target audience in general.
- geraldwhen 3y agoNo one should have to immediately modify a product to use it. A steam deck is a gaming device; it’s meant for games. Doing hardware repair is not a game, it’s work.
- Karunamon 3y agoThe fans are not preventing anyone from using the product. And, quite honestly, if a bit of tinkering bothers you then you are not the target audience for the steam deck
- kitsunesoba 3y agoThis depends on a suitable replacement fan (correct size and shape and quieter without sacrificing performance) existing though, unless I’m also creating a new case/backplate to allow for radically different fans. To my knowledge this does not exist. If you have an older model using a fan from the manufacturer that was dropped you can buy a fan from the other manufacturer which isn’t as whiny, but it’ll still be a lot more noisy than the Ally’s fan system.
- c-hendricks 3y ago> To my knowledge this does not exist. Your knowledge might be a little shallow then, https://ifixit.com/products/steam-deck-fan https://ifixit.com/products/steam-deck-fan
- kitsunesoba 3y agoThat's the same fan they're shipping in Steam Decks currently and won't change your Deck's sound profile unless you had one of the earlier units with a "bad" fan. I was talking about third party replacements that are less noisy while performing as well or better than the stock fan.
- lawn 3y agoFor what it's worth I find the fan on the Deck to be very quiet. Rumors are Valve is silently making updates, although it's impossible to see what version you'll get.
- kitsunesoba 3y agoWhat do you usually play on yours? Everything I’ve seen indicates that the Deck is reasonably quiet for less demanding games, but sounds like your typical (noisy) gaming laptop when running more demanding games.
- lawn 3y agoThat's true, I haven't played the really demanding AAA titles on it yet. Mostly emulation, Lego Star Wars and indie games.
- izacus 3y agoWasn't the whiny fan fixed on the Deck awhile ago by replacing the manufacturer? (Mine doesn't have the issue, but it's a pretty new unit.)
- kitsunesoba 3y agoFrom what I’ve seen the new fan isn’t as whiny, but it’s still loud when the system is being pushed even moderately.