This seems to have been targeted especially at someone like me: I don’t like to play on PC, have no interest in building a gaming PC and I only reluctantly buy consoles because of their (kind of) plug-n-play experience.
If this thing can get me a console-like experience and allow me to play my extensive library of games (most of them classic/vintage games you can’t get on modern consoles) hassle-free, then I’m (probably) sold!
And on top of that it runs Linux. Awesome, just absolutely fantastic!
This was shared the other day and sounds exactly like what you want. Throw in Steam cloud syncing (although I'm not certain RetroArch supports that) and I imagine it's about as hassle-free as can be. Possibly even more hassle-free than the original consoles - no blowing into cartridges here!
I have a Steam Deck and it’s definitely more janky than for example an Xbox. It’s not bad! But do not expect the same level of polish. Small example, there’s often a need to dial back the graphics quality. Or the text is too small. Or the screen recording is a hassle.
I’d be hard pressed to call the Xbox UX “polished” in any way, but I do get what you mean. Though as long as it allows me to play my games with as much ease as the games themselves will allow, then I’m good—I just do not want to be bothered with the “PC” part of this equation.
I don't know if it's fair to compare a Deck to a proper full-sized console - especially things like font size being too small, which of course is likely to happen more on a handheld.
If this thing can get me a console-like experience and allow me to play my extensive library of games (most of them classic/vintage games you can’t get on modern consoles) hassle-free, then I’m (probably) sold!
And on top of that it runs Linux. Awesome, just absolutely fantastic!