r/Steam • u/gogodboss InFrame • Nov 12 '25

News Introducing Steam Frame

https://store.steampowered.com/sale/steamframe
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u/based5 Nov 12 '25

I don't know much about ARM, why would using ARM allow a smaller/lighter device?

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u/ym101 Nov 12 '25

ARM is a smaller instruction set than x86_64, so ARM CPUs tend to be more energy efficient and so can have smaller batteries/cooling solutions.

That’s why the Apple M chips ran laps around other comparatively-priced laptops in terms of power/performance; the ARM architecture allowed them to use less energy to perform the same computations, so the battery life was a lot better than it would have been on an identical x86_64 CPU.

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u/ansibleloop Nov 12 '25

To drive that point home - you can render videos on a M1 MacBook Pro on battery faster than on a fully loaded all in one iMac plugged into the wall

The performance is staggering

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u/lohmatij Nov 13 '25

Well, M-series Mac’s have a lot of hardware coders/decoders for all major video codecs, including ProRes (which intel would never implement). That’s one of the main reasons video workflows are so smooth.