Steam device with low input lag

[shmupsrocks]

Ok you're talking about using emulation for ROMs outside of Steam. I have good access to that stuff with the MiSTer but no Steam game access.

[Lord of Pirates]

Why would emulation be necessary on a Windows system? I thought all Steam games were Windows compatible but that must not be right.

Any release where the game hasn't been ported, which is a large number of games.

[bobrocks95]

Why would emulation be necessary on a Windows system? I thought all Steam games were Windows compatible but that must not be right.

Any release where the game hasn't been ported, which is a large number of games.

They're talking purely about Steam games, I don't know why emulation keeps coming up.

I'm not aware of ANY Mac or Linux exclusive Steam games, much less any in the niche these days genre of shmups. It doesn't make any sense to do that sales-wise.

[orange808]

AFAIK, the only consolized PCs this year targeting Steam users with a premium build quality device are the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. Emulation is part of the overall value proposition when choosing a machine.

[bobrocks95]

AFAIK, the only consolized PCs this year targeting Steam users with a premium build quality device are the Steam Deck and ROG Ally. Emulation is part of the overall value proposition when choosing a machine.

I mean I'd agree for sure, but OP is very, uh, particular about what they're looking for.

If the ROG Ally happens to be portable only though that's a pretty big blow against it imo

[Lord of Pirates]

There's a lot of great hardware out there for this but in my case it's a software problem. There is no administrative burden with a Roku and that's what I'm looking for here.

The ROG Ally looks really interesting and will surely be plug and play. It looks like it launches in 8 days. Maybe it will fit the bill. I don't necessarily need portability but it doesn't hurt.

With freesync on board, you'll want to take on the administrative burden. Unlike the lousy Steam Deck thing, the ROG Ally may be a legitimate machine for playing most of the shmups genre library. Steam, Epic, and GOG are the main attraction, but you'll also have legitimate emu options.

There's a lot of hate for Retroarch and Final Burn Alpha, but you'll want to install Retroarch and put in the time to get it configured. It's viable and useful, no matter what some people tell you. You'll also want mainline Mame with the -lowlatency flag. It's old news, but Calamity finally got his optimisations merged into Mame. You'll get groovymame performance with standard Mame using the low latency option and freesync together. That statement is only true when you use freesync. (Never play Mame inside Retroarch.)

You might also be able to dock the Ally and use it as your desktop PC. That depends on your needs.

Portability will be handicapped by battery life and DRM. You'll want to shop GOG first for newer games.

I dislike RA but I won't deny that it's convenient for anyone interested. It's good to see they've finally improved keyboard & mouse control for the interface.

They're talking purely about Steam games, I don't know why emulation keeps coming up.

I'm not aware of ANY Mac or Linux exclusive Steam games, much less any in the niche these days genre of shmups. It doesn't make any sense to do that sales-wise.
I mean I'd agree for sure, but OP is very, uh, particular about what they're looking for.

If the ROG Ally happens to be portable only though that's a pretty big blow against it imo

Thanks for the clarification. Have the full specs for the ROG Ally been disclosed anywhere? I hadn't heard of it until I saw it mentioned here.

[orange808]

The Ally supports an optional external GPU and a separately sold docking station with a full selection of ports. Don't want to buy more hardware? No problem. The unit alone has the capability to connect to an external wired display and charge without any additional hardware. With a bluetooth controller, it should offer a consolized experience on an external display.

I won't lie, the experience is likely to be a bit clumsy, but that's to be expected. It's a real PC and I don't believe ASUS has ever designed and maintained a software front end launcher. I anticipate spending time getting software set up and I may use Steam Big Picture as my launcher after boot, because I'm already familiar with adding applications to it.

[Guspaz]

The ROG Ally's external GPU support is the proprietary "XG Mobile" connector (no thunderbolt or USB4, but it is a raw PCIe x8 connector). This is an existing connector, you can buy the external GPUs already today. However the price of the external GPUs is so high that it might as well not exist.

The ROG Ally is rumoured to cost $700 USD, but the ROG XG Mobile 4090 (which is a mobile 4090, so spec/performance like a desktop 4080 at best) sells for $2500 CAD. I couldn't find a US store carrying them, that's around $1850 USD. However, I can find the older XG Mobile 3080, which performs like a desktop 3060, and it costs $1500 USD.

The XG Mobile products themselves seem questionable. It has 1.7 out of 5 stars on Amazon, and judging by the comments, that comes from 1-2 star reviews representing 91% of all reviews, and nearly all text reviews say their devices were DoA or broke. One reviewer claimed that they had two DOA units in a row.