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Comment by bergheim | Hacker News Reader

you.. carry a monitor? how is a steam deck, a keyboard and a monitor better than just having a laptop? also how does the monitor survive this, do you put in in the original box?

and if so, how big is your luggage? :)

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Not OP but I guess they carry a portable monitor to use as a second screen for their work laptop. A usb-c powered 13inches portable monitor looks mostly like a tablet. It's very easy to bring with you.

I use a 15" 4k one, but yes exactly that, light portal, super thin, detachable full sized keyboard on it and slip cover carrying case. Great as a second screen or to use the deck in desktop mode... Plus on airplane I can just use the deck as is to game and pass the time

What model is your portable monitor? Do you have any pictures of what it looks like all set up on a table with the Steam Deck, the monitor and your keyboard? And also a picture of what it looks like all folded together? And also a picture of what it looks like when packed into a bag?

Sorry for the tall ask. But I’ve been thinking about maybe buying a Steam Deck for a while. So these kinds of pictures would be most helpful.

I often carry my work laptop and my personal laptop with me. Tried an iPad Pro for a little while for personal things but decided the iPad Pro was not worth it for me at the time so I returned it. Might also try using an iPad Pro again in the future.

I use this guy.

https://www.lg.com/uk/laptops/lg-16mq70

Although it's usb c only I found this guy:

https://amzn.eu/d/9NTNCcc

Which hooks to the steamdeck-docks hdmi and usb (for power). The screen is just a big iPad in terms of size. The dock is like a very lightweight dongle and then whatever you go for for protection of the steam deck. I have a pretty standard rucksack bag that I can happily cram all of this (along with a 13inch mbp) nuphy air and wireless mouse with. It's the best for work trips because the screen does both work mode and then serious gaming mode.

The one I bought was this.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B07LGRK3J5?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_...

And a generic case

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B08MXGHP6K?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_...

It looks like it's not available now but there's several Chinese brands that look like they sell the same thing. I was worried about it at first but I figure with Amazon prime coverage and credit card protection, if it lasted through those coverages of 90 days it will last for a few years if properly cared for.

I don't have any pictures of it setup. I didn't get the official dock for the deck.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0BKHBM1N9?psc=1&ref=ppx_pop_...

When setup the dock tucks neatly behind the monitor so it looks like just a monitor keyboard thing.

That sounds cool. May I ask which monitor?

still, having n things cobbled together in a backpack are always less convenient than a flattiah device like a laptop.

Not sure why the op never went with the usb drive solution. My work environment lives in a linux fedora installed on an nvme drive in a usb enclosure. It is secured with velcro tape to my different laptops and allow me to boot my pro environment on any of my computers by booting to usb and is left unplugged if I want to use my laptop for personnal suff.

It must be relatively slow to run your work environment like that, no? Modern NVMes grab like 7GB/s+ -- The best my external gets over Thunderbolt 3 is like 1.5GB/s -- not to mention the enormous latency difference.

That's certainly falling well behind theoretical speeds for thunderbolt at least. I wonder if yours is falling back to usb3 or something. I'm not speaking from experience, but that sounds off.

I'm sure their bandwidth is fine, diminishing returns and all of that

USB has some latency to it that I'm sure feels interesting, though

relatively is the correct word.

If I do benchmarks, yes it will be slower. Do I notice it when working? Or does it slows my actual work? No.

It's not, the steamdeck subreddit is full of these people. But I think the Steam Deck overall is much more attractive than a gaming laptop, and once you get a Deck, you don't want to then reinvest into a laptop powerful enough to compete, and so you end up with weird setups like this.

See ThinkVision M15 or Arzopa Portable Monitor as an example for a portable monitor. Comes with a case that doubles as a stand, it's +1kg in your backpack but is great when you are at a desk.

I also don't understand how he would work on his lap/when no desk is available though.

I think op meant they were carrying a portable tablet like monitor anyway (not a 27inch monitor and stand :).

Yep, it's really great. I would buy the latest iPad in a hot minute it if had a way to be an external monitor (the software-based sidecar is 'ok' but not the same thing).

I don't think the OP carries the monitor with them, but it's just an option at home. Kind of like you can plug Switch at home and get a TV-based console - you can plug the Deck and get a computer.

I'm pretty sure they carry a monitor. Portable monitors are a thing

Oh yeah, saw their comment now, that it's a portable monitor. But I guess the point still stands - this could be a sole computer for many people, if they just attach it to a regular desktop setup.

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