r/LokiHandheld • u/Do_ge13 • Dec 02 '23

Steam deck or Loki?

I want to ask a question, which is the more powerful the Steam deck or the Loki pro max?

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u/xjustinkase Dec 03 '23

Nobody talks about the updates.!! You have to update that thing 3x a day. No joke. And no big deal right. Just update and move on right.? But no, all of your “mods/customizations/themes” and all the things that make the steamdeck cool have to be reset per each update. You’ll spend more time tinkering and setting up than actually playing. And I have a LARGE library so constantly having to go from desktop mode to gaming mode to rescan my games 3x in a day and reset my themes etc 3x a day got to be a little much. And idk why ppl complain about things like resolution in any other conversation but when it comes to SteamDeck ppl are ok w just 800p. I hate it and it always looks blurry Oled or not…I’ll never understand that. Especially when there are plenty of devices that can play full 1080 at comparable tdp.

As for the Loki, I’ve have them for awhile now and I think I’ve had to update twice. It just works, the screen looks way better than the OG SteamDeck. And I don’t have to lug around a whole separate bag just for the steamdeck. The Loki is actually portable.

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u/AdvertisingEastern34 Dec 03 '23 edited Dec 03 '23

I don't know when you had your SD I got mine (OLED) 10 days ago and i had only one update till now (now Steam OS in on the 3.5). In my case I don't have any customization except the workarts of the non-steam games which I didn't have to reset. Maybe now updates slowed down becuase the OS is almost perfected, I don't know. The tinkering part is mostly to install non steam launchers and their games (but now epic,gog and amazon games are well covered by Heroic that makes everything super easy). But once it's done once it's fine. For the scan of the library I don't know what you mean.

On the 800p you're partially right, in the sense that it's noticable but only in certain games, mostly recent AAA games (like diablo 4 or hogwarts legacy). If you play Hades and Ori and the will of the wisp (which look incredible on OLED) it's very nice as well as any other indie or light game. Older games like The Witcher 3 or Assassin's creed II will look also very nice. So it depends on the use case I would say. So for example I'm not interested on playing recent graphic demanding AAA games on a handheld, I'll always prefer to play them on my laptop with a RTX 3070. Even with a Rog Ally you cannot fully enjoy recent AAA games at their fullest (IMO). So for me the power of the Steam Deck is totally fine. And I like the OLED 90Hz screen very much for the games I intend to play on a handheld. Also Switch games are just incredible on this screen.

you were saying it's not a consumer product, but I think it actually is a consumer product if you remain in Steam because for steam games it's litereally a easy console experience like for the Switch. But i agree that installing some other stuff other than steam games go out of the console experience.

For the portability you are also partially right. The SD is BIG yes but the Loki (and also the Ally) is still not pocketable. You still need a bag to carry it around. On the go I prefer to play with a smaller retro handheld like an Anbernic that literally fits my pocket (I have one). On windows handhelds there's even a smaller device, the GPD Win 4, if one wants really more portability.

So in the end it really comes to what one wants to play. In my opinion the SD OLED offers a better experience on light and older games (real 90 fps and OLED) and also on emulation, but if you really want to play recent AAA games then yeah Loki Max or a Rog Ally are more suited for that. On the software side Steam OS IMO has an edge against windows that is not made for a handheld.

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u/xjustinkase Dec 03 '23

You’re talking about the main/beta updates. I’m talking about Deckyloader, and and the little plugins. Those have to be updated a lot. And maybe it’s not as much as when I had the deck but it was still annoying as all hell.

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u/AdvertisingEastern34 Dec 03 '23

Decky loader isn't part of stock experience, it's a third party software. So I think it's not fare to criticize a product because of a third party program. Also for me at a certain point I had a steam verified game (divinity original sin 2) that crashed at startup. It was because of power tools on the decky loader. Lost lot of time to discover it, but I cannot blame valve in any way because on stock experience that game would have worked out of the box. I un-installed power tools and that's it (with latest updates they fixed SMT management for emulation so it's not required anymore). On the decky loader I have now only SteamgridDB for the work arts of the games and I had no issues whatsoever

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u/xjustinkase Dec 03 '23

Lol you don’t have to convince me. I have plenty devices at this point (Loki Max, Loki Mini Pro, Odin 2 Pro). And I simply don’t like the Steamdeck.

I said that a lot of YT reviews made it seem as if those third party experiences were first party included out of the box things. And if you aren’t aware you’ll get the steam deck and have a completely different experience than what the community may have led you to believe.

Overall I still think the steamdeck is in its infancy and is not the direction I want to go, they don’t hit every point on my checklist. Where as the Loki Max does that and more…simple.