• stargazingpenguin@lemmy.zipEnglish
    0·
    3 days ago

    Finally somebody else decided to put trackpads on! My Deck is still more than capable at this point though, otherwise I might be tempted.

    • paultimate14@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 days ago

      This has:

      • hall effect joysticks and triggers
      • a slightly smaller screen, but the equivalent of 1080p instead of the Deck’s 720p(technically it’s 1200 vs 800 since they are both 16:10) -the screen is 120hz, compared to 60hz for the base Deck or 90hz for the OLED -Options for 16 or 32GB of RAM, while the Deck only has 16 -storage options range from 512GB-2TB, while the Deck goes 64GB-1TB
      • this has an extra USB-C port, which is nice

      And that’s before we get to the APU side of things, where other commenters here are expecting the Neo to outperform the Deck. Hard to say for sure until we have benchmarks, but it seems reasonable that this will be more powerful in general.

      And what is the Neo missing compared to be Deck? The back buttons, which are nice on the Deck but I would not say are deal breakers. The ambient light sensor, which I didn’t even remember my Deck had until I looked at the specs just now. And apparently the Deck has 2 microphones while the Neo just has 1… Honestly I have had mine for 2 years and I wasn’t even sure it has a microphone at all. I don’t see that the Neo has capacitive sensors on the sticks, but I never find a good use for those on my Deck anyways.

      Now, this thing is not close to making me want to upgrade from my Deck. Just looking at it- the control layout is wrong. The track pads look like you will have to awkwardly stretch your thumb to reach them- similar to where the Deck has the Steam and Quick Access buttons. While I can play a ton of mouse-based games on the Deck for hours with no problem, the Neo looks like it will only be good for games where you use the mouse occasionally. Should be fine for navigating menus, launch screens, and setting up emulators, but not for playing games.

      The other question is build quality. This looks like cheaper plastic. The buttons look cheap. The grips look top shallow. I don’t know how easy this will be to upgrade or repair.

      Imo this is a reasonable product at a reasonable price. Not perfect. But it has reasonable trade-offs compared to the Deck. If it can manage to be significantly more powerful than the Deck with similar battery life, I think we have a real competition.

      • cmnybo@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
        0·
        2 days ago

        The higher screen resolution is not a good thing if you want to play games without being plugged in. It will take a lot more power to run games in 1080p than it will in 720p.

        • paultimate14@lemmy.worldEnglish
          0·
          2 days ago

          I can’t think of a single game or emulator I own that didn’t have resolution options. Just… Turn it down to your own preference? Technically it won’t be quite as efficient as using a lower resolution exchange (at least not at the same brightness), but I would not expect the difference to be noticeable.

          Similar with the refresh rate too. The Deck has its own options to limit the refresh rate, plus most games and emulators have those options too.

          That’s what a higher resolution gives you: options. If I’m running a PS1 game that I’m upscaling? Heck, give me 4k 60FPA and it would probably still be a good 4 hours of battery life, which is longer than if want to hold a handheld for anyways. A more modern, but narrative-driven AAA game? Maybe I’d want a high resolution and settings, but be willing to settle for 30FPS.

          Or if I want to stream from my desktop, or PS5, or play plugged in then battery life isn’t a concern anymore. Which happens a lot. Back in 1998 it was important that my GBC didn’t use much power because AA batteries were expensive, and the AC adapter was an awkward and janky 3rd party accessory with a huge wall wart that made me replace the battery cover with one that would directly connect to the battery contacts. In 2025, I’m never more than a few feet away from a USB charger and USB-C cable.

          I really like my Deck a lot. It’s the single-best videogame-related purchase I have ever made, and one of the best purchases I’ve ever made in general. But one of my few criticisms is that a 1080p screen would be nice, just to have the option.

      • naeap@sopuli.xyzEnglish
        0·
        3 days ago

        All in all with you, just scrolled though the Manjaro page and saw that the Neo is advertised as having 2 mics

        Equipped with built-in pickup and noise cancellation dual microphones, this device ensures clear and uninterrupted voice communication with teammates even in noisy environments. https://neo.manjaro.org/

    • cannedtuna@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      3 days ago

      Yeah idk what the author of that article was smoking when he wrote that headline: “…Orange pi neo pricing, it’s shockingly affordable”

    • unexposedhazard@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
      0·
      3 days ago

      Why? They are pretty similar in price. Also Valve can afford to sell the SteamDeck at a massive loss, because they get lots of money from the games people buy to play on it. The orange pi neo is also significantly higher performance.