The SteamDeck is my favorite purchase of last year.
Literally the best PC I've ever owned.
this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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Steam Deck
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A place to discuss and support all things Steam Deck.
Replacement for r/steamdeck_linux.
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Yep, at the end of the day it’s so much nicer to lay in bed to play vs. sit at my PC desk. I play so much more of my backlog now.
Do you use it hand held? I ask because I've had a Switch for years and I've used it hand held like three times. I'm interested in how the Steam Deck performs 'docked'.
I don't have a switch but I only use my deck handheld. It works great IMO.
Ok?
Thanks for such an elaborate, thoughtful comment.
They did the opposite of answer the question. There was no point in thier reply.
Works exactly like you’d expect. Plug it in and keep playing. I use a ps5 controller, no issues. No performance changes as nothing is throttled when you play it in handheld mode
Nice. Thanks
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Yeah, more horsepower can't beat being able to play from an airplane!
It's the perfect balance, I used to love my switch but this is a lot better while retaining 90% of the portability. And the key thing - it's not better only in terms of performance (graphics), but in terms of compatibility: it will take most of the games available on switch, either natively as pc versions or through emulation. But also a truly vast array that goes from Sega's sonic adventure to cyberpunk2077 or Starfield. It's awesome.
They deserve it just for their contributions to Proton/WINE/Linux. The Steam Deck might be my favorite console ever but I’m even more excited about the future and what Valve’s efforts will enable. One of the things that’s great about open source is that someone somewhere might build something on top of your work that you never expected. In 5 or 10 years, I would not be shocked if the work they’ve done on Proton ends up way bigger than games.
Seems pretty easy.
Step 1: direct the largest library/store of games ever
Step 2: create the best piece of gaming hardware ever
Step 3: dribble out pre-orders for a year to really get that slow hype train rolling
The only problem with this plan is that Valve have massive issues when it comes to counting to 3.
Confirmed?
If that's their biggest flaw, I'll take it every day.
According to the logic of this video it costs Valve $0 to produce steam decks. Jeez, the Internet is so filled up with these unresearched, amateurish attempts at journalism.
Interesting, I assumed that it would flop or at best be a very niche product. It doesn't seem like a very interesting device to me. I don't see the appeal at all.
I guess it's nice to hear that it's so successful, considering how much it has done for linux gaming.
Tell me you haven't tried a steam deck without telling me you haven't tried a steam deck.
Not the person you replied to, but I have a Steam Controller and a streaming device for my main library on my desktop, so I'm honestly torn.
What do you think makes this better than such a setup? From my perspective, it seems like the main benefit is "Steam Controller with screen attached," so it's portable, and it has some limited* capabilities to install and play games locally.
I'm not trying to detract, but having used my own setup for over five years, I wonder what it is I might be missing. What do you think?
Edit: *Compared to a desktop with latest-gen or second-latest-gen hardware.
Limited capabilities? I haven’t found a game in my library it couldn’t play locally. The ui is great, the controls work well, and it can even be used to run desktop apps.
I should have qualified: *Limited compared to latest-gen desktop hardware.
Because let's be honest, no amount of tweaking will get you to that same level. But it's obviously enjoyable and more than "just playable," else we'd hear about it from a lot more people. My question was more geared towards "what is it that I'm missing out on" compared to what I have, not to passive aggressively wrinkle my nose at the console.
So you're comparing a $400 portable to a $3k 1000 watt desktop?
Yeah, if you have that desktop and a steam controller, that's going to play better at home. If you want to play portably, or anywhere in your house like in bed next to your wife, the deck is excellent. You could even stream locally from you PC to the deck while laying in bed.
$3k 1000 watt desktop
Mine is only 450-500 at most, and about half that cost (towards when GPUs began to come down). But I was just trying to ascertain how it compares to a gaming rig from current or a generation ago. If it can emulate and do 2D like a champ but struggles with 3D, that would factor into my decision. I don't mind lowering settings, but I do if they always have to be "Low." I did my time on a GTX 960M—not doing that again, insomuch as it's up to me.
But from the other answers, it sounds like it is both capable and has some unique use cases that my SFF desktop couldn't fill. With the community support and ever-growing list of tweaks and tools, I think it might be on my shortlist for the next sale.
If your setup works for you I wouldn't bother changing, but for me going from steam link to deck has been night and day. Running the games locally has been a massive experience improvement for couch coop, while the portability is great for unwinding away from my desk. No input lag, no weird video artifacts, things like that made it worth running locally for me.
Running the games locally also provides the ability to play games without an Internet connection, like at a park or cafe.
Thanks for the explanation! That makes a lot of sense, and I'll have to give it some thought.
Running the games locally has been a massive experience improvement for couch coop
Can you explain this one a bit more? Can you connect multiple together, like a WLAN party, or do you mean like playing the same online game together on a couch?
I’m not sure about their response, but I’ve had success using it with a usb adapter to play couch coop on a tv without needing a dedicated console.
Wellll you could connect multiple together like a WLAN, but I meant specifically local multiplayer on a single system. Games like KeyWe, It Takes Two, Sackboy big adventure, overcooked, etc is my main use for having my deck docked.
When streaming games with 4 bluetooth controllers going there was a lot of input delay, that problem has been totally solved by running locally on the deck. Of course I could have probably built a gaming capable HTPC or similar, the deck is just a PC after all.
Hmm, I had been thinking about building/getting an SFF PC for streaming, but maybe this would be a good option...
Can you play your desktop while in bed?
I have a phone clip for my Steam Controller and Steam Link on said phone, so yes.
But could I play when I'm not home? Not without lag.
Or when the desktop is off? No, and I'm not leaving it on for that.
I have a steam controller and a steam link, and this is not the same as that, at all. The steam link has a lot of issues honestly as well, and I tried to use the Steam Link as a way to play games on my TV in other parts of my house and it simply stinks unless you play only specific steam-link compatible games.
StemaDeck doesn't have those limitations, you can play anything, even games not really made for it and have a smooth-as-butter experience. Even multiplayer on a TV, or on the go.
So for TV multi, do you need the dock for that? How does that work, because that would definitely be a use case for me.
To plug the Steamdeck into a TV you need, at minimum, something that converts USB-C into DVI or whatever port your TV has. The multiplayer can be through corded USB controllers plugged into a dock, or you can use Steam controllers through USB thingy, or Xbox and Nintendo Bluetooth controllers natively through the deck itself.
Thanks! I think I'm getting a better sense of how this might work for me. Appreciate you taking the time to explain
It's a handheld that can play basically any game through the previous generation and even some current AAA titles. If you have a steam library already, most of your games are suddenly playable on the go. The hardware is open with spare parts easily obtainable so that you can repair it yourself if you drop it. Valve is very engaged with maintaining and updating the software to be an enjoyable experience whether you prefer console or PC. Because it is subsidized by software sales the hardware costs less and drove down prices in the industry for competing products. When my 10-year-old motherboard gave out in my desktop, I was able to use the Steam Deck as my primary PC for a month while I took my time putting together a new computer. Also, you are very correct that it has had a meaningful impact on Linux gaming.
In my opinion, there's a lot to like.
I get what you're saying. I thought that myself, that it would be niche. Then I got it and now it's part of my standard carry. I think the tricky thing about it is that it doesn't do anything surprising, so you wouldn't expect that it would be so successful. But once you try it yourself, you realize that the appeal is primarily in how balanced and versatile it is. In other words, it doesn't do anything new, but it does everything that it tries to do very well
I have two for my kids, and will be getting a third. With the dock, it acts as a regular desktop computer with monitor on an arm, mouse, keyboard, etc, giving my kids an inexpensive desktop computer that can play games. It's emulation is so robust that I downloaded battle net from Blizzard, added the installer as a non steam game, ran it with proton compatibility, and they can now play diablo 2 resurrected.
In desktop mode it is just a regular Linux desktop, so they can browse the web, and I have a nuc running Windows that they can remote into to learn Windows OS stuff as well. It is a way better experience for them than any other micro PC you might find for $400. And it can be mobile. Pretty crazy device.
That said, I wouldn't need one for myself unless I traveled a whole lot more and wanted my steam fix on the road. But for a kids first desktop they are amazing.
When you say "kids," what do you think the age floor would be for such a setup? Do you think being able to read is a prerequisite?
You can throw it in your backpack and go around the city on roller blades screaming "hack the planet" because you've literally got a fully functional PC in your back pocket.
It's solid. when my laptop went out and I needed a back up, it serves as a daily driver for a few days while the replacement shipped. No issues.
This was one of those products that, when it was announced, I thought to myself “meh, I have no need for this.” But through the urging of friends, I pre ordered it back in July of 21, because hey, it was only 5 bucks to deposit and I could cancel.
Then as they started coming out, and I heard about everything they could do, I thought “well damn that’s pretty cool.” And then my own hype grew until I managed to get it, I believe August of last year. By far the most fun I’ve had with a device in quite some time.
Yep.
It's also interesting to think of it as a "device" because it blurs the line between PC and handheld so well.
Half the time I'm thinking of it as a device. The other half of the time I'm thinking of it like a laptop or a PC.
i don't get this, it's a handheld PC that can play games really well, in what universe would that not sell well?
what's the battery life of these beasts?
You can literally make a steam deck last 30 mins at minimum. Lol. I would say most users are getting 2 to 3 hours with reasonable settings. So many variables at play. Your best bet is to go in with realistic expectations.
Thanks all, of course, my comment was about 3D games. You don't buy a Steamdeck to play Mario Bros SNES or SuperMeatboy.
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