81–90 of 270 posts
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They don't, but they do idle as low a 4W for the whole system[1] so running one off a large portable battery would be possible (if not exactly elegant). 1: https://support.apple.com/en-us/103253
You'd need a battery with UPS-like functionality (and doesn't beep when it's taken off power), otherwise every time you plug and unplug it your mac would restart. Which is surprisingly hard to find for a portable (usb-C) battery.
> TL;DR Well, the Steam Deck didn’t fit in my backpack… I'm not sure if this is meant to be taken literally, but I would have just bought a bigger backpack. In some ways, I think this makes me respect the author more.
Well, if you’re travelling by air, space is a premium. And to a small degree, I will also, attempt to be hyper efficient with space. RIP GameBoy, I hope Nintendo releases an ultra small switch.
If you're trying to keep your daily carry bag super slim on principle, I guess it mgith be harder.
Side question: are those glasses any good? I almost got myself a pair
They’re good enough for gaming, don’t expect to do much coding. They are very good for your neck, though.
The glasses claim a 1080p screen, but realistically with text, you gotta scale it up to be more like a 720p screen.
If 1280x720 is good enough to code on for you, then you're fine, and it's certainly fine for some (e.g. I think some of my co-workers have vision problems so they set the font to be mega large, but code just fine).
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I still don't understand why operating systems can't properly work without a screen. I have a Linux "home server" and I haven't found a way to boot up a graphical session with everything working (there were bugs in some applications, like menus not showing up, you couldn't change resolution, etc.). A dummy HDMI plug fixed it, but still. It's 2025, come on.
Parsec has a driver which adds virtual monitors so you should be able to use that instead of a dummy HDMI plug. Another issue is not having a mouse plugged in will mean you have no mouse cursor when remoting in.
Parsec has a setting to fix that too. Look in the host options.
Interestingly, Steam’s first hardware product was a Steam Box: a little computer brick that could boot Steam on linux and let you play all your games on your TV (with a Steam controller or game controller of your choice). The cycle is now complete.
The history is a bit more complicated than that. Valve themselves never released a “Steam Box” that could run games on Linux. They partnered with a few different companies (Alienware, Gigabyte, etc.), who released co-branded “Steam Machines” which were just those companies’s normal hardware design, but with a common set of specs ideal for running SteamOS. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steam_Machine_%28computer%29…
For Alienware (not sure about the others, but AW was Valve's lead partner on it anyway) you're right in that it was a computer designed by Alienware not Valve, however it was a) very different to other Alienware PCs, and b) Valve were genuinely part of the development process, they didn't just say "hey make a small computer". They also shipped with the first gen of Steam controllers, which were created by Valve themselves. (Unfortunately, due to delays with SteamOS, the first version of the AW "Steam Machine" actually launched running Windows only, but with the Steam Controller, because Alienware weren't willing to delay their launch further and instead developed their own controller-based UI for Windows in a rush job...)
(Source: me, I was in the loop on those goings on at the time.)
To this day, I think the Alienware Alpha (as the Windows version got called) was one of the nicest machines Dell ever made and one of the best small PCs I've ever seen.
XReal should totally make these, in partnership with Valve. It just makes so much sense.
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For the non-Brits, "sixth-form" means years 12 and 13 of school - equivalent to junior and senior years of high school in the US. The first and second yearsof sixth form are referred to as "lower sixth" and "upper sixth" respectively. It's a hold-over term from when secondary education (ages 11 and up) started in "first form" and worked up.
Thanks for the explanation but it shattered the narrative by mind was building about an alien intelligence that slipped up and posted about its memories of its sixth physical form, the result of its fifth metamorphosis.
This isn't all that different to how I use my gaming PC - it's off in another room, with a monitor that is plugged in but almost always off (I don't think Windows will boot without at least something plugged in?), Steam set to start on boot, and then I entirely use it via Steam Remote Play from my main PC.
Are NUCs with batteries unserved market? Just thinking of them as concept. How popular would they be?
I've wanted this for ages, Laptop ergonomics are horrible. When traveling I use a portable monitor, keyboard, mouse. Yes it's annoying to travel with all that but worth it not to end my work days with neck pain and a migraine. I need a somewhat powerful GPU for work, so I'm seriously considering buying one of the more powerful handhelds with removable controllers and just taking them off. The screen would be superflu…
Side question: are those glasses any good? I almost got myself a pair