I mean, it was also popular because it was relatively open in a field of closed handhelds. You could play, basically, whatever you wanted on it. Price was a factor as well… but it was never cheap. Just less expensive than other options.
Comment on Valve raises Steam Deck prices by more than $200
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
The main reason the Steam Deck was popular to begin with was that it was a relatively affordable gaming PC in a handheld form factor. It has been getting less and less affordable as more time has gone on.
Going to be a very tough sell from now on.
Zorque@lemmy.world 1 day ago
IMALlama@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I bought an ally x about a year and a half ago. At the time it commanded a substantial premium over the OLED deck, but it had the specs to back it up. Since then the price gap has closed and Asus has released another version of the Ally. Asus isn’t the only other handheld maker in town and you can install Bazzite or Steam OS on most of the deck alternatives. Unless you want an out of the box experience that doesn’t involve windows, I am not sure the price point for four year old hardware makes any sense.
tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 2 days ago
For real. Doesn’t this just push people toward some of the cooler Lenovos, etc?
tal@lemmy.today 1 day ago
No.
pcworld.com/…/lenovo-legion-go-prices-have-jumped…
Lenovo Legion Go prices have jumped by up to $650 in six months
Every Legion Go S and Legion Go 2 device I could find was more expensive than it was last year. Thanks, AI-driven RAM crunch.
Tattorack@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah, this is effecting everything and everyone, not just one or two companies.
I could technically sell the parts of my computer today at a higher price than I bought them at because of all this bullshit.
tacosanonymous@mander.xyz 1 day ago
Thanks for the correction and especially the link.
I guess that’s on me for not checking in such a long time.
CaptDust@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Depends how long they can keep their prices reasonable. I assume lenovo have some economy of scale in their favor, but I think they’ll eventually be priced up and out too.
CommanderCloon@lemmy.ml 1 day ago
Their prices have already been hiked up by way more than the SD
mereo@piefed.ca 2 days ago
Nah. It’s all relative. If everything goes up accordingly, then steamdeck will remain a good buy.
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 days ago
Or nothing will be a good buy because people won’t be able to afford to get anything.
FoxtrotDeltaTango@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
What about refurbished gaming computer and consoles?
Mike_The_TV@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Have you seen the prices of used memory and storage?
ripcord@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I definitely wouldn’t have gotten one if it was more than the $350 I paid. Although after I got one I would have considered paying more.
Noooo way would I pay $750+
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 1 day ago
There’s better handhelds out there now, but they’re more expensive. The Lenovo legion go 2 is supposed to be good if you install bazzite or steam os on it but the top end models are like £2000
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
No other handhelds have the dual trackpads, symmetrical layout, and capacitive thumbsticks that the Steam Deck has, which are the selling points for me.
Regrettable_incident@lemmy.world 1 day ago
Yeah fair point. I doubt they’d meet the deck’s ergonomic quality either.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
At this stage, the price hike of the steam deck is probably more about making the price of the upcoming Steam Box and VR headset look like an easier pill to swallow, and not about actually needing to raise the price of the steam deck.
defaultusername@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 day ago
Could be both, but I think that both RAM and SSDs have gotten so expensive due to the AI bubble that even high volume manufacturers are having to raise prices by an unreasonable amount to stay profitable.
ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de 1 day ago
You’re not wrong, but I don’t think it went up $300 over what it was when they released the OLED model. The micron 2230 1 tb ssd is like $200 right now (micron was a major provider of 1 TB steam deck storage, but Valve used several) and that’s what I can get it for. They were like $140 when the OLED came out in 2023, they went below $100 like a nearly a year later. Ram has definitely shot way up, but I doubt even that has straight up 5x on the price, to constitute the rest of that $300 increase.
I’ll still say this will be a lot more about making the steam box have less sticker shock.
Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 15 hours ago
Companies usually do not pay the same prices as an end customer, so they probably didn’t paid $100 but way less (i know a dude with a company that pay WAY less an SSD than what i can find myself) and probably the companies that produce SSD and RAM made the prices more similiar to the ones end customers pay because it’s just more profitable to sell to AI companies instead of Valve
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 2 days ago
Not if everyone else goes up too
4am@lemmy.zip 1 day ago
That doesn’t magically give me money to buy any alternatives with.
All this shit is Sam Altman’s fault, slimy fuck
ICastFist@programming.dev 1 day ago
I wish it was him alone, would be so much easier. This blame goes at least to all other big tech companies
TotalCourage007@lemmy.world 1 day ago
I can still make fun of the guy for being a baby welfare queen bigger than Elon Musk.
southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 day ago
Totally get it. But, being real, budget is always a relative term. I wouldn’t have been able to afford the cheapest version before, period. Mine was gifted to me. Items like this are only “budget” if you actually have a budget for a one off gaming device in the first place.
I’m in the same boat as you if mine dies. No way in hell could I swing even the prices on the LCD version if they still offered them, much less the oled. It’s what? 750+ USD for the lower tier version? That’s almost my fucking mortgage. The LCD would still sit at the 600+ range most likely.
And the deck is technically a full PC if you get a dock and set it up, but that’s still a damn big outlay for a low tier PC.
So, yeah, fuck Altman and every other dipshit pushing hopped up llms like they’re the second coming.
TotalCourage007@lemmy.world 1 day ago
No no you mean Scam Fartman his alter ego.