Stupid hot take is stupid (plus, Steam Deck hype)

So, I was watching the Broken Silcon podcast the other day, when Tom and Dan's conversation made its way around to the Steam Deck, and I have to say... I had to stop watching.

For the record, here's the video in question:

Here's the product that they spend ten full minutes trashing as being a waste of time, when a laptop can be had for "the same price":

Here are the actual prices of the really-real-world gaming laptops:

And this is what you'll pay for a gaming laptop that can seriously outclass the Steam Deck:

 

We're still waiting for full benchmarks and reviews, but so far, it looks like the $499 CAD Steam Deck can easily keep pace with $1100 CAD Lenovo (only 220% of its price), and is only clearly beaten by $2100-plus CAD of Alienware (only 420% of its price). 

Tom and Dan acknowledge that they may be coming across as too negative about the Steam Deck, but only after spending ten full minutes delivering the stupidest stupidest of stupid takes that I've heard in a long time about any tech product. 

Yes, you can buy a laptop for a similar price... maybe. But you won't be gaming on it:

Best Buy has one $550 CAD laptop, and one $650 CAD model, neither of which looks like a gaming machine of any description, and both are still more money than a Steam Deck. After that, prices double to $1120 CAD (only 224% of a Steam Deck).

Extremely. Bad. Timing.

To say that Microsoft isn't having the best month would be quite an understatement, at this point. With Windows 10 (WX) losing ground yet again to Windows 7 (W7) in global usage share, and MSFT pulling WX's 1809 update because it was permanently deleting user's data, it's turning into the roughest month that the Windows team has notched in years. So.... what better time for people to discover that MSFT stealthily increased prices a few weeks ago?

That's right, dear readers, in a move which was obviously planned months ago, and obliviously enacted at the start of this increasingly terrible month for Microsoft, they really are hiking the price of WX's Home version. Yes, you read that correctly: the Home version. Yes, really.

From MSPoweruser:

If you are one of the rare buyers of the OS (e.g. you want to install it in Bootcamp on your Mac) then you will find the Windows tax has just seen an increase.

Windows 10 Home will now set you back $139, a $19.01 increase over the earlier $119.99 price. It is not 100% clear when the price increase went into effect, but near as we can tell it was some time in early September.

[...]

Given the recent quality issues with Windows 10 recently do our readers think the price increase is justified?

That's a really good question, MSPoweruser! Let us spend several hundred words exploring a very detailed answer to it... jk, the answer is obviously no. Hell, no. Fuck, no. Are you kidding me? No!

That this change was rolled out quietly, rather than receiving any sort of announcement, is not nearly as surprising as the fact that it happened at all. What are they smoking in Redmond, and can I buy some locally? Because stuff like that is about to become legal in my neck of the woods, and I'm thinking that Satya Nadella's team must really have a line on the good shit.