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Exclusive: Valve is making a Switch-like portable gaming PC
Video game and hardware studio Valve has been secretly building a Switch-like portable PC designed to run a large number of games on the Steam PC platform via Linux—and it could launch, supply chain willing, by year's end.
Multiple sources familiar with the matter have confirmed that the hardware has been in development for some time, and this week, Valve itself pointed to the device by slipping new hardware-related code into the latest version of Steam, the company's popular PC gaming storefront and ecosystem.
[...] In recent years, the "Switch-like PC" category has exploded. In early 2020, Alienware revealed its first Switch-like gaming PC, but the "concept" device has not yet turned into a commercial product. If you want to buy a similar device today, you're largely looking at products from Chinese OEMs like GPD, One-Netbook, and Aya, who have slapped ultramobile PC processors and parts into a Switch-like chassis.
Rumors point to an AMD "Van Gogh" APU (Zen 2 quad-core with RDNA 2 graphics and support for LPDDR5 RAM), 7/8-inch screen, at a $400 price point for a Q4 2021 release.
Also at Wccftech.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 26 2021, @07:02PM (10 children)
Am I the only person on the planet who wants a 7 or 8" screen Linux tablet with reasonable performance?
There are so many potential applications beyond gaming starting with: media playback, dashboard instrumentation, network sourced info display, touchscreen control of you-name-it, security camera monitoring, and above all: multi-function selecting from all of the above.
$400 isn't prohibitive, would be nice if it were closer to $100 like the Chinese 7" Android phones, would be nicer still if at least some of those phones ran Linux, but I'm pretty sure the powers that be are afraid of an easily reprogrammable phone.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by NateMich on Wednesday May 26 2021, @07:14PM (1 child)
You're exaggerating by quite a large margin, unless you're looking at several years old devices that would have horrible specs in every way possible.
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 26 2021, @07:27PM
I don't know that I would call this one hopelessly outdated or unacceptable:
https://www.banggood.com/UMIDIGI-A11-Global-Version-Android-11-Helio-G25-5150mAh-3GB-64GB-16MP-AI-Triple-Camera-6_53-inch-HD+-Smartphone-p-1848456.html?cur_warehouse=HK&ID=63076766246444 [banggood.com]
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday May 26 2021, @07:17PM
Oh I bet there's a larger market than you might expect. I use old iPhones as tablets around my place. If those suddenly grew to 8" slates I'd smile much bigger. I just wish they'd come with a port (pref usb-C but I'm open to suggestions like mini-HDMI) so that an obsolete phone could be used as a screen. Hell my iPhone 6 runs at full HD. I have a similar fantasy about laptops working that way, too.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Wednesday May 26 2021, @07:46PM (3 children)
Nope, I'm intrigued.
I don't actually care much for tablets, though I did finally get a larger phone since I don't carry a computer, and a small tablet is a lot better than nothing.
But put a full fledged PC on the thing, and give it handheld console controls so it's actually good at something? Now that starts having potential.
And hopefully, without the perverse incentives that plague dedicated console makers, they'll actually let you access a desktop OS, and hopefully even include some standard ports. Give it USB and HDMI so it could double as an ultra-compact desktop on demand, and I'd be *extremely* tempted. Especially if it included upgradeable storage. I know RAM is probably too much to ask, but I'd be absolutely delighted if it had an internal M.2 port.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 26 2021, @08:54PM
I remember being intrigued with Android Linux. The problem there is, who has root. Unless you hack your device, you don't have root. The phone manufacturer shares root privs with the telcos, they don't readily hand over root to the end user. And, that is the root cause, shall we say, for so many of the exploits on Android.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday May 26 2021, @10:37PM (1 child)
Assuming the thing is running SteamOS, you could have access to a desktop. It could be a nice Linux handheld or a locked-down console like experience, but with Steam. Here's hoping it's more along the lines of a nice Linux handheld. I would love a portable way to play Master of Magic, other DOSBox supported games, GOG games, and the vast majority of my Steam Library. In the event that it could run Space Engineers, I might could take it to my brother's and we could finally play some Space Engineers together! My internet may suck a semi-truck load of awful, his internet is like going to the dump and trying to find that receipt your threw out last week.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Immerman on Thursday May 27 2021, @12:25AM
Yeah. I'm hoping that Valve is more interested in creating additional markets (and some independence from Microsoft with their creeping store) than an operating system empire. The device would likely be far more interesting that way.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Wednesday May 26 2021, @08:25PM (1 child)
I haven't used one myself, but this should fit your bill once it is in stock:
https://pine64.com/product/pinetab-10-1-linux-tablet [pine64.com]
(Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Wednesday May 26 2021, @08:34PM
I want to like the Pine products, but any time I've come close to buying one horrible driver support issues turn me away.
🌻🌻🌻 [google.com]
(Score: 3, Interesting) by DeVilla on Wednesday June 02 2021, @05:41PM
I'll say yes, but only because I've limited my max screen size to 7". I'm leaning toward the GPD Micro PC, but it's a little dated now, lacks touch screen (but has a touch pad) and I can't decided if the low resolution is a good or bad thing.
I'd like to get the GPD Win 2 (yes for Linux) but I think they're dead now, replaced by the win 3. I prefer the clam shell design of the win 2. It doesn't have a "mouse"-like thing, but there's a switch to make the game controller act like a mouse. That worked ok on the pandora. The power button might be in a dangerous place.
The pocket 2 is a thing. I'm just not as interested in it for some reason. It looks harder to fake a 3 button mouse for one thing. I had the pocket and the max battery life dropped almost instantly from 8 hours to 15 minutes one day. I may still be sour about that.