to be fair its a chinese brand from amazon. https://amzn.eu/d/01p8j1cL

but it worked with win 10 on my hp notebook from work and its still working with my other devices including a phone. i dont own another win 11 device to test it with. since its not my own device im also not that keen to troubleshoot it.

yes i know all that.

no the ports work just fine with other devices. also my device isnt the only one in the company that has some issues with certain devices after the upgrade.

yeah, tell that win 11 because theres no driver missing, everything is up to date but the only thing my docking station does is power delivery.

true. but its a chicken egg problem. no users. no software. no software. no users.

yes. thats why it isnt priced as one, but still gets compared to a console because it wants to compete with thwm in the living room.

soo fun story regarding drivers. my notebook from work doesnt support my docking station at home anymore after a upgrade to win 11 from 10. My linux pc works just fine. its a tablet though and has some unsupported hardware like gyro sensors.

but thats not the point. the point is, that valve still updates its distro for the steamdeck and keeps improving it years after the launch.i expect the same for the SM. compare that to the asus ally: 1 year after release and asus dropped its support if i remember correctly.

yes. softwaresupport is a feature in every pc but not for consoles. this thing dies once its hardware dies or is so outdated you couldnt run a game anymore.

a ps5 dies once the newer console releases, because there are no games coming anymore.

but yes. i hoped that it would be more than that, but it seems like valve hoped for more too.

what about devices that dont run on ios/android like ubuntu touch or sailfish os?

you wouldnt play most of these games on a htpc though if you have to compete with keyboard and mouse on a controller. also its still possible to install windows on it, if its such a problem.

that being said the price for the performance is still too high and i wouldnt recommend it to nom tech people. (i commented before comparing the specs to the ps5 pro)

I compared it to the yearly plan that showed up first. i was honestly not aware that there are different subscription tiers. when i used ps+ with the ps4 there was only one + as far as i know.

the power of the machine is dissapointing and i commented before comparing the ps5+ specs with the SM.

on the other side could it be a ok device if you want that formfactor, long softwaresupport and still have a pc that can be used for more than just playing games or watching tv. Especially if youre not into AAA-gaming and more into Indie or Emulators. There you‘ll get a bigger Library than from a regular Console.

the price is also arround 7% more if you choose the SM over a comparable DIY according to gamers nexus so it seems fair i guess?

that being said i think the current SM is more a niche product and not for the masses.

is it really that more expensive? because unlike a console the steammachine doesnt require a subscription to play online. PS5+ is 150€ yearly just for that. granted, you get a game per month but the games you get are often games you wouldnt buy anyways. so with the current price of 900€ for a 2tb ps pro youll pay 900€. after 3 years the steam machine is cheaper.

if youre from europe you could give jolla (sailfishos) a shot. another alternative would be volla (ubuntu touch). no idea if they sell globally tho.

keep in mind that both operating systems are not widely adopted and you may have issues with banking apps or government id-apps. but theyre the best bet to get out from big tech without using a dumb phone.

they drop into negatives. its hard to find valuable infprmation because ai written articles make it hard to find correct sources.

Yes, but i‘m not willing to give my money to worse companies. Valve may not be perfect, but as someone who only uses linux, its the only company that offers and improves compatibility with my systems.

I dont care if a store gets a bigger cut, as long as the bigger cut improves customer service and dont pocket it only for themeselve like ea, ubisoft and epic.