I love the steam deck. I haven't used my switch for anything other than family Mario kart since I got it. I really like having access to PC games, especially at steam sale prices, which makes the deck a lot cheaper in the long run vs Nintendo games that never go on sale. Even Pokémon games that are years old are still full price when they're 2 or 3 releases behind in the series.
The only thing I prefer about the switch is physical cartridges. The deck wins in every other category for me.
You could get one of those Bluetooth keyboard/ trackpad combos and a case with a kickstand for desktop use. Small screen but usable. I personally wouldn't replace a laptop with it, but if you didn't have a laptop it could be useful to buy one device that does handheld gaming and other stuff too instead of buying two devices
True, but Steam deck lets you boot into the Linux desktop environment of the os and you can do whatever you want with it. I have installed games and emulators outside of steam on mine pretty easily.
You could probably even put a different Linux OS on it entirely if you wanted to.
That control over the platform was the biggest selling point for me. More control even than the windows based handhelds.
Some games that say not supported actually work fine. I was disappointed to not be able to play some older games like Jedi Academy, but I installed it, set a community made controller mapping, and it works with zero issues.
Sure there are some games that don't work, but a lot more do than just the ones that are steam deck certified / playable.
Only issue I've had with mine is double sided printing not working by default in Debian, just had to install the brother driver, which was easy enough
I definitely should pick up an inflatable one
Ah, true. I have several of the foam self inflating pads but I don't really think of those as mattresses. They are very nice tho. I have seen the ones without foam that are even more portable too.
If you are bringing an air mattress, you're probably car camping and may be able to leave the food / cooler in the trunk.
Once in Missouri I went camping with my parents and they love to cook at camp Tons of chopping boards, utensils, etc were left out overnight, which attracted dozens of raccoons. They had the coolers secure but it was still wild to see. Rookie mistake from people who actually have a lot of experience.
Also, hammock camping can be very comfortable if you have an under quilt and tarp
Putting stuff away is the worst part, especially if you have to air out wet tarps
I love camping, and have had some great trips in the rain. Can be very comfy even with a backpack setup if you know what you're doing.
That being said, this is hilarious.
And at least you have enough unsolicited advice to make it more comfortable if you want to go again 😅
Battery life definitely depends on what you are playing. In BG3 I get around 2 ish hours. But I can play older games like Morrowind, or newer retro style games like Skald against the black priory (10/10, do recommend) for 6-8 hours, maybe more.
You also have a lot of control to improve battery life like clock speed, frame rate limiting, etc.
But yeah it has a huge screen and if you play newer games with good 3d graphics it drains fast. Switch doesn't really have those kinds of games so it's not a 1:1 comparison.
EDIT: I also agree with your points on it being very bulky and not well suited to a 10 minute session. Launching games is slower on the deck and most PC games have more loading screens before gameplay.