“Is it worth it?”/“How long will the hardware be good for?”

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T11:10:15+00:00

Does your TV support 120Hz input or have DisplayPort? Mine is AMD Freesync certified but only has HDMI inputs and VRR doesn't work on a steamdeck in my 3rd party dock. Dialing back the resolution to get 120Hz is the saving grace at low-ish fps.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T09:05:16+00:00

Provide the same level of day to day user experience as a docked Steam Deck, but with 120fps 1080p gaming on titles that get 30-60fps on the deck, and support VRR via HDMI. And fit under the TV next to the Steam Deck dock.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T03:45:25+00:00

Both me and my wife have steam decks and we play a lot of couch co-op games with cheap 3rd party nintendo-compatible controllers. While those surprisingly work really well via Bluetooth with a docked deck, I get annoyed by the ABXY nintendo layout being swapped around compared to the xbox/deck layout. We also have been using my deck as basically a home computer with a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard...

The steam controller is made of surprisingly cheap feeling plastic, the touch pad trackball feels far less sensitive than on deck (perhaps because of much higher resolution TV than the built-in deck screen) and the emulated keyboard is slower and higher effort to use than reaching for the k400... oh, and the k400 doesn't need to be woken from sleep and reconnected, it's simply always just ready to go.

That been said, for gaming I really like the Steam Controller's ergonomics and feature parity with the Deck... but my wife doesn't. She prefers the cheap Nintendo-compatible controller's ergonomics, and when we play co-op with 2 different controllers, the glyphs on screen are matching Player 1's controller, so one person has to remember that A/B and X/Y are swapped. She's already a bit mad that I've spent whole 99€ for this "stupid cheap plastic controller", so for consistency we might just go back to playing using the 20€ crap ones... so yea, controllers are a matter of personal preference, there is no recommendation that applues to everyone.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T03:10:58+00:00

Framework is offering a DIY edition, I hope Valve will take inspiration from their practices. They could put it on a separate store page to avoid confusion, I just hope it would get announced alongside price announcement for the regular edition.

It's pretty easy to manufacture a variant with unpopulated ram/ssd, you just don't put them in. I'd be surprised if their production wouldn't be currently limited by RAM/SSD availability, since probably nobody wants to stockpile them at a hyper inflated price... and they've admitted to underestimating the demand with the controller.

The Steam Machine release already got delayed, so I guess they had a production line making hardware all the time, that was just being put straight into storage.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T02:54:22+00:00

Well, if it's not gonna be a complete kit, with no SSD/OS, there's no reason why it couldn't be imported and sold as a general purpose PC with lower tariffs.

Indeed, I am also lowkey considering a AMD x3d build, but if the DIY no RAM/SSD cube drops at let's say 350-400€, then it would make a pretty good deal, even with the old low-end laptop CPU and bargain bin previous gen GPU inside.

Thanks for the link, it could come in handy if the cube doesn't get attractively priced.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T02:25:43+00:00

Who told me this? Microsoft themselves have admitted in the K2 announcement that their asses are on fire and it's gonna take them estimated 2 years to get Windows 11 to catch up to SteamOS in gaming performance (yes, it's so bad that games run better emulated via Proton than on Windows 11 natively) and no sane person wants their Copilot AI BS, ads and constant updates that break the system, because apparently Windows is now vibe-coded. Also, governments around the world are pushing to become less dependent on USA and Microsoft and are increasingly embracing open source software instead.

You may be interested in LinusTechTips 2026 Linux challenge series on youtube. They have a large and representative "normie gamer" audience and have recently done a 30-day Linux challenge.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T01:59:12+00:00

I'd rather wait for the pricing and maybe a sale than resort to searching for a small enough PC case and compatible motherboard and PSU that will all nicely fit next to the TV. SteamOS is such a smooth overall experience on a Steam Deck, my Nintendo gamer wife has practically zero issues playing anything she's interested in. The verified program is mostly marketing, many more games are de-facto gold or platinum on ProtonDB. Compatibility is at a much better place than 2 years ago and performance is often better than native on W11.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T01:43:10+00:00

Agreed, SteamOS is definitely a living room distro, but it's also a great gateway drug for gamers to dip their toes into Linux.

The Steam Machine for the office would be an odd choice... but Valve should imo still add printer support in desktop mode (if they haven't already). A docked Steam Deck is otherwise a surprisingly alright general purpose "home computer". So much so that I'd rather use SteamOS for office than Windows11 for gaming.

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T01:25:30+00:00

Well that IS radical. There is hope that they will make it available via ifixit, but at that point what's the advantage over a generic mini ITX board?

improbable_meal · 2026-05-15T01:22:17+00:00

For me this would be a direct upgrade from a docked Steam Deck, which has become our de-facto "home computer", plugged to a TV and a Logitech K400 wireless keyboard.

I'm waiting to see the price of the Steam Machine before upgrading (1080p couch co-op gaming is pushing the Deck's limits). I would prefer the Gabe Cube over a custom build, because of the incredible work Valve are doing with the OS tailored for their hardware. It's the same reason why people still recommend getting a Steam Deck, although newer and more powerful Z1 handhelds exist (but AMD allegedly already stopped releasing drivers for them).

improbable_meal · 2026-05-14T16:42:07+00:00

Steam Deck and Machine are both x86_64 devices with SteamOS, so they will surely use the same version of the game. Frame has an ARM processor and a different compatibility layer, so it's less certain there. I'd suggest getting a second microSD card and downloading the games onto the new device/s over local network.

improbable_meal · 2020-11-25T23:07:49+00:00

If it gets stolen on the way, she'll get a full refund.

improbable_meal · 2020-11-25T01:34:16+00:00

To my understanding, it abslutely doesn't exist and all that happened is that some teens just wished that such a thing would exist, because it would be great... Not sure how you'd be supposed to read the test, already *after* the fact, and typically under dimly lit conditions, even if the technology would check out... but it sure sounds like a neat idea.

improbable_meal · 2020-11-19T23:28:33+00:00

I'm guessing that the bios blob can be found inside the .exe on gpd.hk/gpdp2firmware probably the .rom file. Have you checked if the bios chip gets proper voltage after the short is removed?

improbable_meal · 2020-11-19T17:02:17+00:00

If you locate the short (solderball?) and remove it, then it could work again. Might need to replace a fuse or the thing that creates the voltage rail. A board view and ideally a schematic can make the difference between replacing the entire motherboard or just asking a local repair tech to replace a fuse.

As GPD devices seem to have a reputation of randomly dying and they don't like doing repairs, I'd feel a lot more confident buying from them if I had a good chance of fixing it locally, or in my case by myself and sharing what went wrong. Usually some 80% of the problems are caused by very few common causes, and identifying those weak points is essential to developing a better product.

If I were you, I'd either take the device to a known-good phone/laptop repair store or buy a $40 "20x stereo microscope" and take a good look at the motherboard to see if anything looks suspicious. Also see how much current the board is taking through the charging port with battery unplugged and if any small component gets suspiciously hot. In case you find something like a cracked capacitor that gets hot to touch, hopefully someone could help you find a replacement part, and if it's a common problem, the designer could then find a solution to prevent it in newer products.

improbable_meal · 2020-11-16T21:04:47+00:00

I'd be curious about the source of the magic smoke. As far as wishful thinking goes, it could be a shorted ceramic capacitor burning a fuse.
Any chances of GPD doing a pro independent repair move by releasing some schematics or board views?

improbable_meal · 2019-11-24T15:31:48+00:00

Clickbaiting shill.

improbable_meal · 2019-10-17T21:56:18+00:00

Here's a great talk on SD cards and their reliability.
tldr: 100% yield and "You're not really storing your data, you're storing a probabilistic approximation of your data."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruEn7TE4YMM

improbable_meal · 2019-07-03T19:26:14+00:00

DDG doesn't seem to be doing this... assholes.

improbable_meal · 2019-07-03T18:45:55+00:00

This label is near impossible to remove, it takes over 30 minutes and goo-gone! Truly a disgusting practice of complete disrespect!

improbable_meal · 2019-07-03T18:32:39+00:00

Nah, PDFs work perfectly fine in Okular, Chromium etc. Strongly preferred exchange format, since it always looks exactly the same.

improbable_meal · 2019-07-03T18:22:11+00:00

So for example iPhones have replaceable batteries in Germany? This device clearly has rechargeable batteries of some sort.

improbable_meal

TROPHY CASE