Steam deck already outdated? - Thinking of getting an iPad instead

[Just4lol]

So it is finally my turn for the steam deck but I think I'll pass. Seeing the new hand held coming out I think if you are patient, we will see cool stuff in 2023.

 

I also realize that I mostly want a device that I can stream my library on via steam link. That is why I might get an iPad instead. My concerns with an iPad is running retro games on it or if I will be able to add my own movies on it.

 

If you have any suggestions for another good multimedia device where I could use steam link on, I would be interested. What I like from the iPad is the screen so. 

 

 

 

 

[Arika]

why do you believe it's outdated?

they are not the same class of device, the steam deck can play most regular steam games, an ipad is restricted to what is on the app store.

 

if you only want to play games from the app store, then go for it. but if you want choice, go the steam deck.

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

26 minutes ago, Just4lol said:

So it is finally my turn for the steam deck but I think I'll pass. Seeing the new hand held coming out I think if you are patient, we will see cool stuff in 2023.

 

I also realize that I mostly want a device that I can stream my library on via steam link. That is why I might get an iPad instead. My concerns with an iPad is running retro games on it or if I will be able to add my own movies on it.

 

If you have any suggestions for another good multimedia device where I could use steam link on, I would be interested. What I like from the iPad is the screen so. 

 

 

 

 

You should be able to just add movies/videos onto the device provided it's in a format supported by iPad OS. 

[Needfuldoer]

Unless you can find emulators on the App Store, you're not "running retro games on" an iPad. It will definitely play your own media though.

 

Remember, the Steam Deck is a Ryzen based PC. You can install practically anything any other PC can run.

[Arika]

If you just want a device for streaming from your PC. get an AYN Odin or Odin Lite

[rikitikitavi]

iPad has VLC, so you can watch whatever you want, easily transfer files via WiFi.

iOS AltStore (side loading) has emulators, but you have to jump a few hoops first.

iOS has some good casual and pc/console-ported games, but it is nowhere near pc/Steam variety.

Best gamepads are XBox and PS ones, so you will have to put iPad somewhere. Clip-type gamepads are compromised in one way or another.

 

Streaming is better on SteamDeck via SteamLink than any other device (reviews).

Every year there is going to be performance/efficiency jump, so choose your point carefully, or wait for the best device forever.

Ergonomics are great on SteamDeck, especially for bigger hands in comparison with alternatives (reviews).

[manikyath]

4 hours ago, Just4lol said:

I also realize that I mostly want a device that I can stream my library on via steam link. That is why I might get an iPad instead. My concerns with an iPad is running retro games on it or if I will be able to add my own movies on it.

out of all options on the market, an ipad might be your worst choice here.

- steam deck is basicly a computer under the hood, so you can do pretty much anything you want with it.

- the vareous other handhelds (aya neo, GDP, ..) are literally a pocket sized computer, so you can install everything your heart desires.

- an android tablet will allow you to install any shady emulator.apk you want, and if you are serious with it you can just toss retroarch on there to emulate pretty much anything. and sticking movies on it is a matter of plugging it into USB and dragging stuff over.. or get kodi on it and play them from a network share.

- iPad.. is more expensive, and anything that apple doesnt approve of (including game streaming...) requires at least some hoops to jump trough. 

[NavyCobra1417]

Cross shopping an iPad and a Steam Deck is a odd choice.

 

It really comes down to what you want the primary use to be.

 

iPad Benefits:

- Battery life

- Multimedia (movies, web browsing, anything that benefits from a larger, nicer screen)

- Accessory/Ecosystem Support

 

Steam Deck Benefits:

- Gaming

- Tinkering (its a gadget)

 

If you are picking between them based on "entertainment value", I would go with the Steam Deck. If you need the device to serve multi function (like school or work), then the iPad is probably more practical.

[ToboRobot]

6 minutes ago, NavyCobra1417 said:

Cross shopping an iPad and a Steam Deck is a odd choice.

 

It really comes down to what you want the primary use to be.

 

iPad Benefits:

- Battery life

- Multimedia (movies, web browsing, anything that benefits from a larger, nicer screen)

- Accessory/Ecosystem Support

 

Steam Deck Benefits:

- Gaming

- Tinkering (its a gadget)

 

If you are picking between them based on "entertainment value", I would go with the Steam Deck. If you need the device to serve multi function (like school or work), then the iPad is probably more practical.

It's like cross shopping a Hummer and a Miata! 

[Just4lol]

1 hour ago, ToboRobot said:

It's like cross shopping a Hummer and a Miata! 

I get it, it might seem strange to compare both of them but see it from my point of view. I know that 98% of the time, I will stream my games and I also know that I would want to use the device the either watch movies or shows (and youtube of course). For retro gaming, I have my android phone with retro arch already so it is far from a must for me. 

 

The main thing I want from the iPad is the screen that I find a bit small on the deck with the "low" resolution. To say that I will care at that size, I would have to experience it but in the end, I want both a good gaming experience and a good multimedia one too.  

 

I said the deck was already outdated because of the new Ayaneo air that have better performance with an oled screen and running on Windows. The only reason I am not interested is the size of the screen that is 5" and their is no trackpad. 

[TomChaai]

Console business is by definition outdated, that doesn't prevent them from being profitable and attract great game developers.

[SprinkledDount]

13 hours ago, Just4lol said:

So it is finally my turn for the steam deck but I think I'll pass. Seeing the new hand held coming out I think if you are patient, we will see cool stuff in 2023.

We may see cool stuff coming in 2023 but there is nothing on the market that can compete with the steam deck at the price point it is at. When Linus reviewed it he compared the top tier model to hand-helds that are almost twice as much and I don't think that there is going to be enough of a change in the space for the companies producing gaming hand-helds to compete with the steam deck in a year from now.

[da na]

So your concern is that you won't be able to play retro games on a less-than-1-year-old device because it's "outdated"?

[manikyath]

1 hour ago, Just4lol said:

 

The main thing I want from the iPad is the screen that I find a bit small on the deck with the "low" resolution. To say that I will care at that size, I would have to experience it but in the end, I want both a good gaming experience and a good multimedia one too.  

if you have nothing to lose in the apple ecosystem, buy a galaxy tab something instead. i'm in the unique situation of having a family where no one (except for two people..) can be bothered to spend money on apple products, so there's a lot of alternatives flying around.... and the obligatory ipad for those two people who have an allergy of anything that isnt apple.

 

the truth of the matter is.. if you have any technology capabilities at all (which, if you run retroarch, you have plenty to qualify..) an android tablet really is the more sensible choice. a $200 galaxy tab will do all your $1000 ipad does, except that if you put them side by side, in a movie, the ipad's screen is more crisp.. if you're watching a high fidelity file in the right conditions. flip side of that is your android tablet is basicly roaming free, whereas on iOS you're basicly stuck within the ecosystem, or stuck with jumping trough hoops.

 

also.. for some reason.. the iPad *hates* charging off anything other than an apple charger. i couldnt tell you why, but about every month i see our 6-port charger ends up in the drawer in favor of a christmas tree of random chargers, because -before mentioned apple user- couldnt get the ipad to charge off the big boy charger.

[bruhtomeprotonme]

On 8/3/2022 at 8:42 PM, manikyath said:

if you have nothing to lose in the apple ecosystem, buy a galaxy tab something instead. i'm in the unique situation of having a family where no one (except for two people..) can be bothered to spend money on apple products, so there's a lot of alternatives flying around.... and the obligatory ipad for those two people who have an allergy of anything that isnt apple.

 

the truth of the matter is.. if you have any technology capabilities at all (which, if you run retroarch, you have plenty to qualify..) an android tablet really is the more sensible choice. a $200 galaxy tab will do all your $1000 ipad does, except that if you put them side by side, in a movie, the ipad's screen is more crisp.. if you're watching a high fidelity file in the right conditions. flip side of that is your android tablet is basicly roaming free, whereas on iOS you're basicly stuck within the ecosystem, or stuck with jumping trough hoops.

 

also.. for some reason.. the iPad *hates* charging off anything other than an apple charger. i couldnt tell you why, but about every month i see our 6-port charger ends up in the drawer in favor of a christmas tree of random chargers, because -before mentioned apple user- couldnt get the ipad to charge off the big boy charger.

I know this is an old post but legit no.

Those cheap Samsung tablets are trash. I bought an tab a7 for £249 and it lagged when I bought it day one, on the ui and youtube

 

I bought and ipad pro m1 afterwards and that thing can run anything at high settings. Android tablets just aren't good.

[manikyath]

3 hours ago, bruhtomeprotonme said:

I know this is an old post but legit no.

Those cheap Samsung tablets are trash. I bought an tab a7 for £249 and it lagged when I bought it day one, on the ui and youtube

 

I bought and ipad pro m1 afterwards and that thing can run anything at high settings. Android tablets just aren't good.

funny you happen to quote me today...

a relative of mine has a bunch of cheap android tablets for business (people need something to take to customers for taking pictures, and going over documents.. and we're not the 90s anymore so it's digital)

and just the other day i saw two of the now old-ass amsung tablets again.. because someone has 'dropped the living heck' out of one of them, so they needed data transferred... still doing great otherwise.

 

one of the spares also still lives on the coffee table as a casual browsing device.. sure it defenately doesnt run E6 connect the way the ipad pro does, but any webbrowsing, youtube, netflix, or casual 'king app' games run just fine.

 

the other error you're making there, is that you're comparing a base model android tablet to an ipad 3-4x the price (depending on exact spec) OFCOURSE the ipad is faster, it would be a disgrace if it werent..

but note we're only talking about content streaming and emulation, which can be done on a raspberry pi 2 for the most part.. (and honestly, anything newer than PS1 probably wont run well on the ipad either. it's sort of the point where requirements rise exponentially)

[bruhtomeprotonme]

On 12/12/2022 at 3:57 PM, manikyath said:

funny you happen to quote me today...

a relative of mine has a bunch of cheap android tablets for business (people need something to take to customers for taking pictures, and going over documents.. and we're not the 90s anymore so it's digital)

and just the other day i saw two of the now old-ass amsung tablets again.. because someone has 'dropped the living heck' out of one of them, so they needed data transferred... still doing great otherwise.

 

one of the spares also still lives on the coffee table as a casual browsing device.. sure it defenately doesnt run E6 connect the way the ipad pro does, but any webbrowsing, youtube, netflix, or casual 'king app' games run just fine.

 

the other error you're making there, is that you're comparing a base model android tablet to an ipad 3-4x the price (depending on exact spec) OFCOURSE the ipad is faster, it would be a disgrace if it werent..

but note we're only talking about content streaming and emulation, which can be done on a raspberry pi 2 for the most part.. (and honestly, anything newer than PS1 probably wont run well on the ipad either. it's sort of the point where requirements rise exponentially)

Of course, but even the cheap £329 iPad 8 gen would smoke it too performance wise. I know the price is different but honestly I wasn’t impressed seeing it lag day one whilst using the ui isn’t a good sign. I was disappointed when I bought it considering Samsungs cheap phones like the a21s run fine at a similar price. 

A person honestly should just pay the minimum for a bareable performance that isn’t a total disappointment or get one of those 40-150 dollar fire tabs if they just want to watch YouTube videos and are fine with it lagging sometimes. The 200-400 dollar android ones provide the same performance as the fire tabs and are a bit of waste of money (apart from the s6 lite considering you can use it to draw at least).

 

The software on iPads, and the chips used are just better and the performance is night and day. Even when browsing any one would rather have a device that doesn’t lag with the simplest of tasks.

 

 

As for emulation, the m1 iPad can do up to wii, but that’s mainly just due to how closed source it is anyway. Personally I wouldn’t emulate games on any device as it’s more of a gimmick, with bad touch controls, and cropped borders etc etc etc.

[manikyath]

3 hours ago, bruhtomeprotonme said:

Of course, but even the cheap £329 iPad 8 gen would smoke it too performance wise. I know the price is different but honestly I wasn’t impressed seeing it lag day one whilst using the ui isn’t a good sign. I was disappointed when I bought it considering Samsungs cheap phones like the a21s run fine at a similar price. 

but now you're comparing a second hand device against a new one.

 

also, never had an issue with a sasmung tablet being laggy. what i also never have a problem with.. is getting emulators installed. going back to the topic of this thread.. it's about remote gaming and emulators, two things apple has a track record of removing from their app store.. while on android you can just download retroarch and do whatever.

 

as for media consumption.. i had a 2GB "klipad" that a family member literally got for free with a magazine.. and 720p content ran just fine until the wifi chipset on the dumpster fire of a machine died. the biggest issue with that thing (before it died) was just how horrid the display was. for OP's usecase a chinesium $50 tablet with an SD card for movies would probably suffice. only reason i go for recommending the samsung tablets is because even on the base models the screen is actually quite nice.

[bruhtomeprotonme]

10 hours ago, manikyath said:

but now you're comparing a second hand device against a new one.

 

also, never had an issue with a sasmung tablet being laggy. what i also never have a problem with.. is getting emulators installed. going back to the topic of this thread.. it's about remote gaming and emulators, two things apple has a track record of removing from their app store.. while on android you can just download retroarch and do whatever.

 

as for media consumption.. i had a 2GB "klipad" that a family member literally got for free with a magazine.. and 720p content ran just fine until the wifi chipset on the dumpster fire of a machine died. the biggest issue with that thing (before it died) was just how horrid the display was. for OP's usecase a chinesium $50 tablet with an SD card for movies would probably suffice. only reason i go for recommending the samsung tablets is because even on the base models the screen is actually quite nice.

Apple still sells them for around that price iirc.

[LostInSpaceThings]

I will never understand the steam deck. Half of us never leave the house so why not just play on your pc with better quality and bigger screen 

[FeralSparky]

On 8/3/2022 at 2:20 PM, Mel0n. said:

So your concern is that you won't be able to play retro games on a less-than-1-year-old device because it's "outdated"?

You cant help these people.

[FeralSparky]

37 minutes ago, LostInSpaceThings said:

I will never understand the steam deck. Half of us never leave the house so why not just play on your pc with better quality and bigger screen 

Because the other half leave the house....

[rikitikitavi]

7 hours ago, FeralSparky said:

Because the other half leave the house....

That's a myth spread by the media!

[Exprima]

8 hours ago, FeralSparky said:

Because the other half leave the house....

Even if you don't leave the house it's nice to play on the shitter

[LostInSpaceThings]

1 hour ago, Exprima said:

Even if you don't leave the house it's nice to play on the shitter

This is a really bad idea would recommend