Handheld / couch gaming / in-home streaming advice

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Feb 15th, 2023 10:15 pm

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Feb 15th, 2023 10:51 am

errational [OP]: Deal Addict; Jul 27, 2004; 2052 posts; 508 upvotes; Kelowna, BC

Feb 15th, 2023 10:51 am

Handheld / couch gaming / in-home streaming advice

Hey folks,

I currently have a GameSir X2 Pro with a Galaxy S10+ streaming Steam Link, Moonlight, and Xbox Game Pass.

Recently I tried playing Darkest Dungeon via Game Pass and it was a miserable experience mostly due to the 19:9 ratio on the S10+ making text small and unreadable. I had an old Essential PH-1 and I was able to play a bit more easily on there (despite the smaller screen) but the phone doesn't hold a charge well and the speaker is shot.

So I'm looking to upgrade my streaming experience and trying to figure out decent but affordable options.

I considered a Steam Deck but the price is a bit steep for a single-use device according to my "boss".

Other things I've considered:

A tablet (eg. Galaxy A7 lite) and modding my X2 Pro to open wider
Or an iPad Mini which will also get some use as an e-reader, when traveling etc
A new laptop to replace my aging Dell Inspiron 13
An Innocn portable monitor
Nintendo Switch (but it seems like custom firmware is not an option on newer editions)

Let me know what you think / use!

Thanks, e

9 replies

Feb 15th, 2023 11:03 am

coriolis: Deal Expert; May 22, 2005; 20821 posts; 6275 upvotes; GTA

Feb 15th, 2023 11:03 am

Look for a used Steam Deck, or keep an eye on one to come up, you could find a decent deal. Of course, selection may vary depending on region, especially since I am here in a more populated area, its usually about $600, but I do see one for $500.

It's really the only way to go for simplicity, pick it up and play, and then put it down. You don't have to fiddle with connections, setting up controllers, worry about changing settings or have extra items.

But if the boss says so, the tablet is likely the best second option with Moonlight.

+1

Feb 15th, 2023 1:00 pm

ds2chan: Deal Addict; Dec 11, 2003; 2818 posts; 1374 upvotes; Toronto

Feb 15th, 2023 1:00 pm

You and/or your "boss" might not like the price of this as well but there's the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld Portable Gaming Console. I heard it's OK but I think it's only or mainly for streaming Xbox games.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/lo ... e/16528488

P10 2.4 THz CPU || 8 TB Ram || WD 300 TB HD || Nvidia w/ 32 TB Memory

"You're only as dumb as you look"

+1

Feb 15th, 2023 1:03 pm

errational [OP]: Deal Addict; Jul 27, 2004; 2052 posts; 508 upvotes; Kelowna, BC

Feb 15th, 2023 1:03 pm

ds2chan wrote: ↑ You and/or your "boss" might not like the price of this as well but there's the Logitech G Cloud Gaming Handheld Portable Gaming Console. I heard it's OK but I think it's only or mainly for streaming Xbox games.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/product/lo ... e/16528488

Oh yeah, I appreciate the input and I had considered both the G Cloud and the Razer Edge, but they need to be about $200 cheaper to be worth it IMO. When you're within $100 of the Steam Deck it just doesn't make sense to me.

Feb 15th, 2023 4:38 pm

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29832 posts; 15330 upvotes

Feb 15th, 2023 4:38 pm

I'm in team steam deck.

Laptop would be my next option because it's the most versatile. However, this is gonna be a bigger budget killer than a Steam Deck, even if you're exclusively streaming vs running natively. Realistically this would probably be ahead of the Steam Deck assuming I had neither. But a laptop isn't really conducive to handheld gaming. Couch gaming via HDMI and controller is probably fine.

I don't know your budget but a Switch just doesn't make sense to me. IDK what the bottom price is for a regular (not OLED) Switch is but even if it was $300 (it's currently $400) it's pretty crippled compared to a Steam Deck. The variety (and pricing of) games on PC also "pays back" vs the full priced nature of Switch games. I don't think you can stream from PC from a Switch without modding. Even if you could, it's pretty damn expensive still, even if it's the Lite version. Pay the extra few bucks and get a Steam Deck.

I also have a portable monitor, but this doesn't really fix anything for you. It's not a handheld device and does nothing a laptop wouldn't. Plus you need something to drive the display.

iPad is out for me because I don't use Apple devices.

A7 Lite might not be bad, but I've never streamed via Android so IDK how good it will be. Sounds like you're already set up for controller purposes so this is gonna be cheapest.
I have an A7 Lite though and it's pretty sluggish for most uses. If it wasn't free I'm not sure I'd buy one. There's better tablets but at a cost. You're creeping back up to Steam Deck territory. More versatile? I can't argue that though.

Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet

Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.

+1

Feb 15th, 2023 5:15 pm

errational [OP]: Deal Addict; Jul 27, 2004; 2052 posts; 508 upvotes; Kelowna, BC

Feb 15th, 2023 5:15 pm

death_hawk wrote: ↑ I'm in team steam deck.

Laptop would be my next option because it's the most versatile. However, this is gonna be a bigger budget killer than a Steam Deck, even if you're exclusively streaming vs running natively. Realistically this would probably be ahead of the Steam Deck assuming I had neither. But a laptop isn't really conducive to handheld gaming. Couch gaming via HDMI and controller is probably fine.

I don't know your budget but a Switch just doesn't make sense to me. IDK what the bottom price is for a regular (not OLED) Switch is but even if it was $300 (it's currently $400) it's pretty crippled compared to a Steam Deck. The variety (and pricing of) games on PC also "pays back" vs the full priced nature of Switch games. I don't think you can stream from PC from a Switch without modding. Even if you could, it's pretty damn expensive still, even if it's the Lite version. Pay the extra few bucks and get a Steam Deck.

I also have a portable monitor, but this doesn't really fix anything for you. It's not a handheld device and does nothing a laptop wouldn't. Plus you need something to drive the display.

iPad is out for me because I don't use Apple devices.

A7 Lite might not be bad, but I've never streamed via Android so IDK how good it will be. Sounds like you're already set up for controller purposes so this is gonna be cheapest.
I have an A7 Lite though and it's pretty sluggish for most uses. If it wasn't free I'm not sure I'd buy one. There's better tablets but at a cost. You're creeping back up to Steam Deck territory. More versatile? I can't argue that though.

Pretty good points all round.

I have a laptop but it's old and the fan revs up to over 9,000 if I even think about streaming anything to it. I can RDP to my gaming PC but it's not an ideal experience.

I appreciate your insight on the a7. Definitely realise it's not a performance machine. I could probably get one for "free" from shoppers using points so that's the only reason I'd consider it.

+1

Feb 15th, 2023 5:40 pm

FeralWalrus: Sr. Member; Mar 3, 2018; 736 posts; 585 upvotes

Feb 15th, 2023 5:40 pm

I love my iPad, but if the iPad mini is 679 (for the 64GB model which I personally wouldn’t go with), I would probably just get a 256GB Steam Deck if the priority was a handheld gaming system.

Can you justify its desktop mode as it not being a single use device? Technically, it can do most of what an iPad can do, just not necessarily all that well….

+1

Feb 15th, 2023 6:18 pm

errational [OP]: Deal Addict; Jul 27, 2004; 2052 posts; 508 upvotes; Kelowna, BC

Feb 15th, 2023 6:18 pm

FeralWalrus wrote: ↑ I love my iPad, but if the iPad mini is 679 (for the 64GB model which I personally wouldn’t go with), I would probably just get a 256GB Steam Deck if the priority was a handheld gaming system.

Can you justify its desktop mode as it not being a single use device? Technically, it can do most of what an iPad can do, just not necessarily all that well….

I would probably just grab the 64gb Steam Deck for now. From what I understand there's minimal difference in performance and a large SD card works fine. But because of its form factor and design I don't really see it as a tablet in the same way I see an iPad or Galaxy tab as a tablet.

Feb 15th, 2023 8:36 pm

death_hawk: Deal Expert; Aug 22, 2006; 29832 posts; 15330 upvotes

Feb 15th, 2023 8:36 pm

errational wrote: ↑ I have a laptop but it's old and the fan revs up to over 9,000 if I even think about streaming anything to it. I can RDP to my gaming PC but it's not an ideal experience.

Does RDP kick up the fan too?
I'm only partially surprised that Moonlight does. I figured it was lighter weight since it runs on things like TVs.

I appreciate your insight on the a7. Definitely realise it's not a performance machine. I could probably get one for "free" from shoppers using points so that's the only reason I'd consider it.

I mean... it's a $150 tablet.... And a "name brand" too so there's another $50 worth of value.
It's effectively like a $100 Chinese tablet.
Also "free" isn't really free when you've already paid for the points in other ways.

So I was curious and decided to see if I could find a benchmark for a comparable chipset with an A7 Lite.
Found this chart on Reddit:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0
Couldn't find anything that matched the SoC of the A7 Lite but found something a bit faster: P30 Lite.
Looks like there's like a 50ish millisecond decoding time for the P30 Lite which means the A7 Lite would probably be worse.

errational wrote: ↑w
I would probably just grab the 64gb Steam Deck for now. From what I understand there's minimal difference in performance and a large SD card works fine. But because of its form factor and design I don't really see it as a tablet in the same way I see an iPad or Galaxy tab as a tablet.

The top tier has a better screen coating or something and you get a better case but functionally speaking the CPU/GPU is the same between all tiers.
For $150ish you can dump a 1TB SSD in there too after removing like 15 screws.

But yeah.... Steam deck is pretty much a unitasker. You're not doing much more than gaming despite it being a full PC. With that said, if you hook a real keyboard and mouse to it, you can actually use it as a PC if you don't mind Linux. So maybe it's not so much a unitasker.

Do you not have anything else to do rather than argue with strangers on the internet

Nope. That's why I'm on the internet arguing with strangers. If I had anything better to do I'd probably be doing it.

Feb 15th, 2023 10:15 pm

coriolis: Deal Expert; May 22, 2005; 20821 posts; 6275 upvotes; GTA

Feb 15th, 2023 10:15 pm

I got a 64gb and then bought a 512gb SSD to replace. It wasn't too difficult as there is LOTS of media avaliable as guides.

I also got a 128gb sd card that I pulled from my tablet (since I wasn't using it) but as of now, I still have 200+ gb left on the 512gb SSD, so I pulled the microSD card out and put it back in my tablet lol

On vacation, I used the Deck in desktop to move photos from a MicroSD to an external SSD for storage, it worked fine. The touch experience is awful but with a mouse+kb its fine, as long as you're ok with basic Linux.

The dev community has been pretty good, though I don't think there is a fullscreen media only mode for streaming and local media, yet?

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