That’s a fair question which I have to cut a little short due to it being a huge topic:
The overhead of a full blown operating system you have to maintain is not a trivial thing. You have to update and maintain os, drivers and applications at least and it’s directed at all purpose use in general. That means all of the above and games might or might not fit well to a handheld device.
Even if it’s maintained by a third party (eg Asus) there are many many moving parts that are all purpose.
This might be a dialog box with unaccessible options you have to work around or games not working with the controls you need to fix and might never (for me steredenn on steam deck).
You can however literally do what you want with it.
Compared to this a console is an optimized experience, golden cage. Things just work. Yes there might be the off chance but in general the producer has a system. 100% under their control and can test and optimize very well, which Nintendo debatably does.
Cool for Nintendo fans but the ROG Ally has changed the game for me. I’ll miss Pokémon but they haven’t been good in a while so whatever.
Well Windows is a no for me on that. And while the steam deck is nice and the OS runs on the ally too, it’s still a pc with all it’s pros and cons.
(I use both worlds BTW)
What are the pros and cons you’re considering, and how do they compare to the pros and cons of a Nintendo console?
That’s a fair question which I have to cut a little short due to it being a huge topic:
The overhead of a full blown operating system you have to maintain is not a trivial thing. You have to update and maintain os, drivers and applications at least and it’s directed at all purpose use in general. That means all of the above and games might or might not fit well to a handheld device. Even if it’s maintained by a third party (eg Asus) there are many many moving parts that are all purpose. This might be a dialog box with unaccessible options you have to work around or games not working with the controls you need to fix and might never (for me steredenn on steam deck). You can however literally do what you want with it.
Compared to this a console is an optimized experience, golden cage. Things just work. Yes there might be the off chance but in general the producer has a system. 100% under their control and can test and optimize very well, which Nintendo debatably does.
You mean like how Steam does with the Steam Deck?
Consoles these days are basically just PCs with limited development criteria. But a much much narrower library.
Yes you’re right, in a way. I have much respect for valve for that.
However the ‘non streamlinedness’ is hidden there. It’s not a closed system like a console.