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Steam Deck: First Impressions

Read More Steam I’ve put down my $5 to preorder my Steam Deck. I decided to get the $400 entry model. I think that is a fantastic price, considering that I looked at similar handheld PCs, such as the Aya Neo and OneXPlayer, and they are usually $1,000 or more … Elden Ring Yes, I’m finally playing Elden Ring, the game that literally everybody was playing in February 2022. The game went on sale on disc, so picked it up. I popped in the disc, expecting to play the game. Guess what? … Cyberpunk For some odd reason, Best Buy, allowed me to pick up my pre-order for Cyberpunk 2077 video game for the PC. The game is not officially out until December 10, 2020, on a variety of platforms: Windows …

I’m so excited to finally get my hands on the Steam Deck

Downloading queue

As soon as I opened the case, I immediately booted it up and started downloading Elden Ring. On my slow hotspot connection, it was going to take 11 hours to download 50GB. In the meantime, I did download some smaller games to test out the unit, particularly older games like Galaga or Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Shredder’s Revenge. Those ran as I would expect: amazingly well. What I’m more interested in is if the Deck can handle modern graphically-intense games like Elden Ring and Cyberpunk (which does not run well on the PS4).

What I’ve experienced so far, it’s a really good system. As you may or may not know, the SteamOS is actually running in Linux. What that means is that anything that can run on the Linux desktop mode, you can run it on the Steam Deck. So there are a lot of enthusiasts that have created various software to modify how Steam function and look.

I did briefly explore Desktop mode by changing some themes and downloading Firefox. It’s not a great experience on Desktop mode because the Steam Deck wasn’t designed to run in desktop. For example, after downloading Firefox, I couldn’t get the touchscreen keyboard to load up, and it was generally slow and not as responsive.

For most people, I suggest just sticking to the SteamOS. That’s what I’m going to do from now on (although it’s good to know that I can muck around with Linux if I get bored in the future).

The Steam Deck screen looks great. Games looks great on it. The audio is very loud and very good for its size. Controllers is good too. I like the D-Pad, I like the buttons. Some people complained that the Deck has a very loud fan. Maybe it’s just their device, but mine didn’t make that much noise. The Deck does get hot, and you can feel the heat leaving the vents on top and on the back.

The AMD Zen 2 CPU, combined with 16GB DDR5 and custom GPU, it’s very fast. Much faster than the Switch and better than the PS4. All this power needs a super fast charger, which Valve included out of the box: a 45-Watt charger.

The ability to use any hardware or software that is supported on Linux, you can truly use the Steam Deck as a desktop/laptop.

There are some minor complaints I have about the Steam Deck. I’m just nit-picking, they’re not really complaints, but more like what I hope can be improved in the next generation Steam Deck. I think the device is very big. Holding it, looking at it, I don’t really think it’s meant to be a pocketable handheld gaming device. It’s almost double the weight and size of the Nintendo Switch, and certainly much, much larger than the portable Switch Lite or the PlayStation Vita.

My Steam Games

I own over 300 games on Steam, but only about 80 of them are Deck Verified… which means they will run on the Deck without any issues. Some games will run on Steam Deck, but it’s not optimized for it. For example, some text might be too small to read on a small screen. So the problem is that developers needs to update their games to run on Steam Deck - and on older titles, that might not be possible.

I wish there was a cover over the MicroSD card reader. I accidentally ejected the card a few times, which I’m very worried about damaging my expensive 1TB SD card. It’s a valid concern. On my camera and one any phones that accepts MicroSD cards, there is a cover that keeps the card safe in its place.

I absolutely hate the two mousepads/touchpads on the Deck. I hated it on the Steam Controller, I absolutely hated it on the Deck. If they got rid of it to make the Deck smaller, I will co-sign that.

I also wish there was another USB-C on the bottom of the device. Right now, there is one USB-C port on top, so all the Docks designed for the Steam Deck looks … ugly. On the Switch, the USB-C is on the bottom, so you just “dock” it in the stand and voila, it’s charging and in its stand. Since the Steam Deck has the USB-C on top, it’s not as elegant. You have to bring up the chord and manually locate the USB-C and plug it in. Not great.

I wanted to buy a third-party Steam Deck Dock, but I’m waiting for the official Docking Station to be release. Valve is having some supply issues so they haven’t announced or released the Dock yet.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Weekend Gamer Update (September 2022)

Read More Steam I’ve put down my $5 to preorder my Steam Deck. I decided to get the $400 entry model. I think that is a fantastic price, considering that I looked at similar handheld PCs, such as the Aya Neo and OneXPlayer, and they are usually $1,000 or more … Cyberpunk For some odd reason, Best Buy, allowed me to pick up my pre-order for Cyberpunk 2077 video game for the PC. The game is not officially out until December 10, 2020, on a variety of platforms: Windows …

I received my Steam Deck today. I haven’t played any games on it, as each games takes a million years to download on my cellular hotspot. But so far, so good, everything is working as expected.

First impression: the Steam Deck is massive! I had no idea, I mean I knew it was bigger than the Nintendo Switch, but it’s way bigger than I thought. It’s definitely not a pocketable device. Still, it’s more portable than, say a heavy gaming laptop. I’ll have more to say about the Steam Deck once I actually start playing games on it.

Prior to receiving my Steam Deck, I’ve been buying various accessories for it. I got a decal, a screen protector, and a very expensive 1TB SD card… and I think eventually I will upgrade the 2230 NVMe SSD chip (even though Valve does not recommend it because the SSD might draw too much power and brick the device).

The sticker decal sucked, it arrived folded, and the printing looks blurry. Plus it ripped when I was putting it on. I don’t think I will be buying anymore decals for the Steam Deck unless it’s official or at least licensed.

The other prepping thing I’ve done is buy some more Steam games (even though I own many of them on GOG or Xbox). So yeah, I bought Cyberpunk again. Yeah, I re-bought Elden Ring again on Steam.

Logitech G Cloud

Speaking of Steam Deck, Logitech announced their Logitech G Cloud, a $350 handheld device that can stream your Xbox Cloud Gaming, Steam Link, and NVIDIA GeForce Now games. The pricing doesn’t make any sense to me. You can buy a non-portable Xbox Series S or the original Nintendo Switch for less.

And speaking of Cyberpunk, you may recall that I bought the game in Dec 2020 and I noted that there will likely be bugs in the game. What I didn’t anticipate was the massive backlash against the game as it did not run properly on “last gen” consoles. I bought it for the PC, so it ran as expected. I personally didn’t have any complaints about Cyberpunk, but I understand why fans were so angry.

Fast-forward to today, with the recent update / upgrade to Cyberpunk for Cyberpunk: Edgerunners, the fans did a 180 turn and all negatives were forgiven. With over 1 million players playing the game every night since the update it’s good to see the game doing so well, two years after it originally released.

As I previously mentioned, I did re-buy the game on Steam so I can test it out on my Steam Deck… so I’ll be joining one of the many players returning to the game.

Yours,

- Weekend Gamer

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ twitter.com

Cyberpunk 2077

Read More Games When The Witcher television show came out last year on Netflix, there was a massive uptick on newfound fans playing the game again. That’s because, like the game, the show was very well done and had a compelling story. …

For some odd reason, Best Buy, allowed me to pick up my pre-order for Cyberpunk 2077 video game for the PC. The game is not officially out until December 10, 2020, on a variety of platforms: Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and even on Google’s Stadia. The best part is that if you have an Xbox Series S/X or PS5, Cyberpunk 2077 will run on the new console.

To understand why this game is one of the most overhyped game since their announcement in May 2012, you have to understand that it is mostly based on the game developer, CD Projekt Red. They made the Witcher game series, and, by far, their finest hour with Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. Even though I personally own Witcher 3 on the PC, I have gone back and re-purchased them on the PS4 or Xbox, simply because I love the game and wanted to help support the developer.

When the hit Netflix show, based on the books (and video game) of The Witcher came out in December 2019, it introduced a whole new generation of fresh gamers to CD Projekt (they boast that Witcher 3 had a 554% sale increase that month!) It is that new fanbase, combined with the old school fanbase that drove the massive interest in CD Projekt’s next game, Cyberpunk 2077.

Based on hearing that they’ve hired Keanu Reeves to play Johnny Silverhand, and seeing early game footage using REDengine last year, Cyberpunk 2077 became one of the highest anticipated games of all time.

Unfortunately, Cyberpunk missed a few release dates. Originally set for April 2020, it was delayed to September. Naturally, everyone understood because of the COVID-19 situation. However, when September rolled around, CD Projekt delayed the game to November (just in time for the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles launch). Of course, they missed the November launch, and ultimately, they locked in December 10, 2020.

That’s where we come in… I picked up the game a few days early, and already downloading the massive game as I write this. I’m very excited to finally play this game… however, I already know that there are a ton of bugs, according to various game reviewers with early access to the game. I’m sure with ongoing patches, the game will be nothing less than amazing, but at launch, there’s bound to be some game-breaking bugs. Still, I don’t care. This is CD Projekt’s new game, after Witcher 3, and I am just very excited to try out something new from this game developer.

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How to upgrade your Asus ROG Strix G15

ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk Read More Asus So when I saw this ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk laptop for $899, I couldn’t pass it up. Both New Egg and Walmart are selling this same laptop for over $1,100… so getting the laptop sub-$1k is still a good price. ...

You can configure the Asus ROG Strix G15 to have 64GB RAM, 17-inch screen, and GeForce RTX 2070 Super… but the asking $2999 price was too much. Going in for sub-$1000 for the Electro Punk edition meant that some sacrifices had to be made… meaning a smaller screen, a less-powerful GPU, less storage, and RAM.

With the ROG Strix laptops, Asus made it really easy to open and access the storage and Ram, so upgrading your Ram and adding storage is a snap.

I decided to replace the Micro 8GB Ram that came with the laptop with two 16GB Corsair Vengeance DDR4 2666Mhz Unbuffered SODIMM (for a total of 32GB). While it’s true that the installed Ram is clocked at a higher 3200mhz, in my tests, it shows a slower speed of 2900mhz (I believe you may have to manually overclock it in BIOS to get the maximum clock). The new Corsair DDR4 Ram showed a much faster read/write speed (23GB a second) than the Micron DDR4 Ram (11GB a second).

As for storage, I have added two 2TB NVME PCIe. The two SSD drives I used were Inland 1TB NVME PCIe and Western Digital 1TB Blue NVME PCIe. The WD drive is rated, and tested, faster (at 1.3MB a second) than the “genetic” Inland brand (at 1.1MB a second). It’s only by a hair, so I recommend saving some money and using the generic brand.

The new parts I added were:

Corsair Vengeance 32GB DDR4 2666MHz CL18 Unbuffered SODIMM ($111)

Western Digital 1TB WD Blue NVME PCIe ($119)

Inland Professional 1TB NVME PCIe ($95)

For about $350, I was able to turn my Asus ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk into a respectable gaming laptop with enough storage (2.5TB) to store and carry around a lot of large triple A games.

Note: While some gamers might think 15 inches is too small, I think it is fine, especially because I want the lightness and portability of a laptop. In fact, I would’ve preferred a smaller screen. Since the screen can only handle 1080p, the 1650Ti GPU is perfectly fine for that screen. I was able to push 120 frames a second running Doom, and every game runs smoothly at 1080p (providing I use the power adapter).

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Asus ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk Gaming Laptop

ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk ASUS - ROG Strix G15 15.6" Gaming Laptop The ROG Strix G15 Electro Punk embodies streamlined design, offering a formidable core experience for serious gaming and multitasking on Windows 10. Featuring up to the latest 10th Gen Intel Core CPU and a NVIDIA GeForce GPU, it offers high-FPS power that takes full advantage of up to a blazing fast display Game at Professional Speed: An ultrafast 144Hz refresh rate makes the flow of fast-paced action look impeccably smooth and reduces motion blur for precision target tracking. ROG Intelligent Cooling: ROG's Intelligent Cooling philosophy mixes the right features and system settings to ensure the best experience. Performance is boosted with cutting-edge enhancements like liquid metal compound on the CPU and a well-ventilated exterior that keeps noise levels lower than the last generation. Comprehensive Connectivity: Get blazing fast transfers at Gen 2 speeds via the USB 3.2 Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4, or connect an ROG G-SYNC monitor for silky smooth gaming. Three Type-A USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports are ready for your favorite gaming gear, while HDMI 2.0b allows you to enjoy content on a 4K monitor or TV at up to 60Hz. Reliable Wi-Fi: Ultrafast Intel Wi-Fi 6 with Gig+ (802.11ax) lets you game reliably at LAN speeds wherever compatible connections are available. Wi-Fi 6 (Gig+) enables a peak interface bandwidth up to 2.4Gbps.* Windows 10 Home Edition 15.6" Full HD display 144Hz (1920 x 1080) 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10750H mobile processor (6-core) 8GB system memory 512GB Solid State Drive (PCI-e) NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 TI (4GB GDDR6) Virtual Reality Ready Weighs 5.29 lbs. and measures 1" thin HDMI output Wireless/Wired connectivity (WiFi 6 - 802.11 ax) RGB backlit keyboard Headphone/microphone combo jack. Read More MicroSoft Anyway, when I saw that the new MicroSoft’s Surface Pro 7 (with keyboard cover) on sale for $600, I couldn’t pass it up. Currently their price is $700, but MicroSoft’s website is still showing $600. ...

I’ve been quietly looking for a gaming laptop for a while now. Let’s face it, as much as I like the Surface Pro 7, that machine is not capable of playing any modern games. I wasn’t looking to spend too much money, trying to keep it under $1,000, so when I saw this ROG Strix G15: Electro Punk laptop for $899, I couldn’t pass it up. Both New Egg and Walmart are selling this same laptop for over $1,100… so getting the laptop sub-$1k is still a good price.

For those that don’t know, this the Republic of Gamers Strix (ROG Strix) is a gaming laptop brand from ASUS. The G15 or G17 refers to the screen size, at 15 inch and 17 inch, respectively. Personally speaking, for portability, I prefer smaller screens, so I don’t mind the 15 inch, as it keeps the laptop lighter.

You can get the ROG Strix in a variety of colors, for example “Glacier Blue” or Black. This “Electro Punk” version (Black with Neon Pink trims) may actually be part of a bigger rollout of Electro Punk-related products… such as a Cherry Mechanical Keyboard, mouse, and headphones (and headphone stand?). Personally speaking, I probably won’t be buying any of those accessories, simply because I’m not a fan of the color scheme and I already own great products from Razer or Corsair, and they serve their purpose.

In order to keep costs down for the Electro Punk, there are some subpar or missing features. I’ll address some of these things, so you know what or what not to expect.

The laptop is all (or mostly) made out of plastic. It still looks good, but doesn’t have a “premium” look that some aluminum or metal laptops. The plastic looks durable to me, and I like the weird vents and cyberpunk look, so it looks fine to me.

The Electro Punk edition also has only 8GB Ram. The Strix G15 normally has 16GB, so I feel this is a stepdown. The good news is that you can always upgrade the RAM with one of their open Ram slot. I may eventually upgrade the RAM down the road, but for now, it’s not that important to me.

It also a lack of built-in webcam. This is a problem for game streamers, so if you’re one of those, you probably need to avoid this laptop. You can always buy an external USB webcam if you really need one. Most built-in webcam aren’t great anyway, it’s just a matter of convenience.

It doesn’t have a SD card reader, which really sucks… but again, you can always use an external USB dongle. Same goes for DVD/CD-Rom drive… if you need it, you’ll have to buy an external USB drive. That is not a problem for me, simply because I don’t want moving parts in a mobile device.

Keep in mind that not including those things above keeps the retail price to $999, so I think they made the right decision. If they offer a built-in SD Card Reader for $50 more, I would personally pay for the upgrade.

Let’s highlight some of the main features of the Electro Punk.

The best part about this laptop is that it has a 144Hz screen, which is unheard of for a sub-$1000 laptop. What that means is smoother gameplay. For example, it doesn’t matter if your game is outputting 120 frames per seconds if your screen can only show 60Hz (60 frames). You can only take advantage of the fast refresh screen natively on the laptop. If you output to a 4k monitor using the HDMI-out, it can only display 60Hz. I think 60 is fine.

We’re also getting an i7 with 6-core chip. Again, almost unheard of for a budget laptop. Most budget laptops or desktop uses an i5 chip (or i3). The last few computers I’ve had, I have used i5 and never thought it was lacking anything. The i5 chip is fast, so I feel i7 is just going to be better.

You also won’t find this in other laptops, but the 2020 edition of the ROG Strix comes with “Liquid Metal”, which was intended to keep the laptop cool. They use this technology on their high-end laptops, so I’m very happy to see it on their cheapest laptop as well.

I think a lot of people might scoff at the built-in 512GB SSD PCI Express, saying there’s not enough storage. You have to remember that you’re getting this in a budget gaming laptop, so it’s not a surprise that they are cutting corners on storage. The good news is that there are TWO NVME slots on the motherboard. This is amazing. Most modern desktop or laptops only offers one slot. I have already put in a 1TB NVME and plan on putting in another 1TB (for a total of 2.5TB of storage) soon.

That’s not all. We also get a NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 Ti graphic card (4GB GDDR6). It’s a mobile version, but it’s still very fast and can handle all my games. In addition, it’s powerful enough to fuel Virtual Reality headsets, like Oculus Rift or HTC Vive. Unfortunately, this is budget Graphic Card, so it’s not going to have the latest “Ray Tracing” technology that all the new GPU cards are touting.

What is funny is that one of the main features that Asus is promoting is that the Electro Punk laptop weighs 5.29 lbs. I feel this is very heavy, but compared to other gaming laptops, 5.29lbs is actually reasonable. The 1" thinness (when closed), is pretty compact for a gaming laptop.

We also get the latest WiFi6 (802.11ax). They could’ve kept it cheap and used an older (and more common) WiFi chip, so I appreciate the latest wireless technology. Unfortunately, my current router does not support the latest 802.11ax, but I like the idea that the laptop can take advantage of a faster WiFi… for future proofing.

You typically don’t see extra RGB light strips in a budget laptop, so what’s nice about the Electro Punk is that there are underlighting in sync with your keyboard RGB lights. It uses the ASUS’ Aura software to control the lights. For example, you can have the light display red when it hits 60 degree Celcius, as a visual indicator that the laptop is hot. There are also games that will take advantage of Aura, maybe flashing lights when you’re low in health or when it spots an enemy.

I do have some minor nitpicks on the laptop. I think the Neon Pink accents might actually discourage this for boys. I mean, why not go for Neon Green or Orange? I think any color would go great with the black. If you ignore the pink, and maybe think of this as a Cyberpunk design, it sort of make sense.

The other annoying thing is that venting fans are loud. They run all the time. I don’t think you can turn these off (even on “Silent Mode”). In a quiet room, you can definitely hear the laptop running.

It’s also expected, but I should reiterate, that you should not run games on this laptop on battery. Not only do games drain the battery incredibly fast (a 30-min session cut the battery by 50%), but games are choppy and doesn’t run very well. If you do light browsing and email, the laptop will probably run for less than three hours… so you’ll always want to bring the power adapter with you.

I definitely recommend the Electro Punk laptop, if you’re in the market for an all-in-one gaming PC solution. You can use it as a laptop, or you can always get an external monitor and workstation dock and treat the laptop as a desktop.

If money is no object to you, Asus advertised an Electro Punk with GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER version, but I’m assuming it will be a lot more expensive than $1,000. Overall, I’ve been very impressed with my Electro Punk and its capabilities.

vu ([email protected]) ♥ weheartmusic.com ♥ facebook.com ♥ twitter.com/weheartmusic