Is it worth using for most games ?

SPARTAN VI said:
99% of the time my Steam Deck is in use, it's docked with a keyboard and mouse
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Is that because you travel with it - around the house - or to friends houses - or work out of a hotel & pair it with a laptop or what?

I'm looking for a use case...
 
usa all day said:
Is that because you travel with it - around the house - or to friends houses - or work out of a hotel & pair it with a laptop or what?

I'm looking for a use case...
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It's become the kids' home gaming PC, essentially. For $350 and change, can't really build a new gaming PC that performs this well, much less one that I can also toss into my work bag/carry-on.
 
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SPARTAN VI said:
It's become the kids' home gaming PC, essentially. For $350 and change, can't really build a new gaming PC that performs this well, much less one that I can also toss into my work bag/carry-on.
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What makes it easier than a gaming laptop ?
 
ng4ever said:
What makes it easier than a gaming laptop ?
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Easier in what sense? Easy to use? My kids (age 5 and 7) picked it up quickly and can navigate to their games in a few seconds. Along the same vein, its more complicated features (browser, desktop mode, etc.) are tucked out of sight so they couldn't really get into trouble/mischief with it even if they tried.

When considering a Deck versus a gaming laptop/PC, the decision was pretty "easy." There are no gaming laptops/PCs in this price range that: match a Steam Deck's gaming performance; that are this light (1.4 lbs) and small; and that are bespoke gaming devices with access to nearly my entire Steam library. Believe me, I considered setting them up on various Ryzen APU mini PCs, prebuilts, laptops, or making compromises on a custom PC with used/old parts. But I always came back to the Deck because it was cheaper and/or performant, turn key, and checked all the boxes anyway.
 
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usa all day said:
This vid is 1 year old & this guy is annoying, but he answered the question for me yesterday ng4ever


View: https://youtu.be/qixXsJBmyd8?feature=shared
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It's even harder to match the Steam Deck today since the same 256GB LCD model from that video is now $400, down from $530 in that video. Linus also sprung for the $90 official Steam Deck Dock, bringing his total ticket price to ~$620. Today the official dock is $80, but you can still save $40 by getting JSAUX (or similar) dock instead, then either pocket the savings or spend some of it on a 512GB microSD. So the same setup today would cost $450 for a new 256GB LCD Deck and a dock; from a gaming performance perspective alone you'll have a hard time finding a "new" laptop/desktop that that matches this for $450, unless you're willing to roll the dice on the used market.
 
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SPARTAN VI said:
Easier in what sense? Easy to use? My kids (age 5 and 7) picked it up quickly and can navigate to their games in a few seconds. Along the same vein, its more complicated features (browser, desktop mode, etc.) are tucked out of sight so they couldn't really get into trouble/mischief with it even if they tried.

When considering a Deck versus a gaming laptop/PC, the decision was pretty "easy." There are no gaming laptops/PCs in this price range that: match a Steam Deck's gaming performance; that are this light (1.4 lbs) and small; and that are bespoke gaming devices with access to nearly my entire Steam library. Believe me, I considered setting them up on various Ryzen APU mini PCs, prebuilts, laptops, or making compromises on a custom PC with used/old parts. But I always came back to the Deck because it was cheaper and/or performant, turn key, and checked all the boxes anyway.
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Well to carry around or bring with you.
 
SPARTAN VI said:
It's even harder to match the Steam Deck today since the same 256GB LCD model from that video is now $400, down from $530 in that video. Linus also sprung for the $90 official Steam Deck Dock, bringing his total ticket price to ~$620. Today the official dock is $80, but you can still save $40 by getting JSAUX (or similar) dock instead, then either pocket the savings or spend some of it on a 512GB microSD. So the same setup today would cost $450 for a new 256GB LCD Deck and a dock; from a gaming performance perspective alone you'll have a hard time finding a "new" laptop/desktop that that matches this for $450, unless you're willing to roll the dice on the used market.
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My use case was to put it in the living room so my roommate could use it & have a hobby besides NFL & NASCAR because he is a boring old fart & we used to play Pong, Breakout, Excitebike, Joust, Galaga & all the old games & go to arcades as kids. For some reason, he got pretty terse and said I'LL NEVER TOUCH A VIDEO GAME! I've also noticed that he never washes his hands as a grown man, so I wouldn't want him touching it. I was going to get a dock, connect it to the big screen & have him use it with a wireless xbox controller (that I can disinfect).

Anyway, I'd go for the $650 OLED and a dock, but probably only use it when I wake up at midnight and can't sleep... so I've decided against one for now.
 
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ng4ever said:
Well to carry around or bring with you.
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Way easier. It weighs a little over a pound, it's about 1/2 the size of a typical laptop, in its case it's thicker but fits in all of my bags, and can be used in confined places such as economy seats on a plane without having to fold it open, fold down a tray, or set it on my lap.
 
See, having owned a deck for over a year I claim it's anything but "turnkey"; not only is the underlying OS Linux, it's Arch Linux, and not only is it Arch, it's "Arch but you only get to use Flatpaks". Newer AAA games generally have good support, but older games (which are exactly the kind of games you might want to play on a handheld) are hit or miss. Because it's Linux, the touch keyboard experience is also horrific; entering anything longer than your player name in a game makes you want to chuck the deck against the wall. Unfortunately Linux is a necessity, the ROG Ally and it's friends are Windows based and the user experience is definitely subpar compared to Steam OS.

Another big issue is you have to ask yourself "which of my favorite games would I be content to play with only a controller"? Having just a controller basically rules out all sim games and realistically, a lot of shooters. The platform is fantastic for turn based games though, I just went through an amazing JRPG entirely on my Deck that I would realistically not have played on my main rig.

If you want a living room PC it's hard to beat the Amazon 5700U mini-PC's right now https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-Desktop-Computer-Support-Display/dp/B0CF5J38K7/?th=1, or pay twice as much for a 7740HS based system with even better graphics performance.
 
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bwang said:
See, having owned a deck for over a year I claim it's anything but "turnkey"; not only is the underlying OS Linux, it's Arch Linux, and not only is it Arch, it's "Arch but you only get to use Flatpaks". Newer AAA games generally have good support, but older games (which are exactly the kind of games you might want to play on a handheld) are hit or miss. Because it's Linux, the touch keyboard experience is also horrific; entering anything longer than your player name in a game makes you want to chuck the deck against the wall. Unfortunately Linux is a necessity, the ROG Ally and it's friends are Windows based and the user experience is definitely subpar compared to Steam OS (snip)
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Hello, I got one of the launch units about 2 years ago and also have the OLED Limited Edition. Some may recall my post here where one of my launch Decks arrived DOA, and after sorting that out there were some growing pains with the official Deck Dock.

Nearly a year later now my kids discovered it (ages 5 and 7) and it's seen nearly daily use in: Halo Master Chief Collection, Republic Commando (2005), Battlefront 2 (2004), Battlefront (2015), Slime Rancher (2017), Zoombinis (2015), and maybe a dozen other 1990s and 2000s adventure/education games. Only game I've personally had to troubleshoot was Halo Infinite since it would randomly freeze on start up before I manually deleted the intro mp4 files, everything else has been turn-key for my kiddo use case.
 
bwang said:
See, having owned a deck for over a year I claim it's anything but "turnkey"; not only is the underlying OS Linux, it's Arch Linux, and not only is it Arch, it's "Arch but you only get to use Flatpaks". Newer AAA games generally have good support, but older games (which are exactly the kind of games you might want to play on a handheld) are hit or miss. Because it's Linux, the touch keyboard experience is also horrific; entering anything longer than your player name in a game makes you want to chuck the deck against the wall. Unfortunately Linux is a necessity, the ROG Ally and it's friends are Windows based and the user experience is definitely subpar compared to Steam OS.

Another big issue is you have to ask yourself "which of my favorite games would I be content to play with only a controller"? Having just a controller basically rules out all sim games and realistically, a lot of shooters. The platform is fantastic for turn based games though, I just went through an amazing JRPG entirely on my Deck that I would realistically not have played on my main rig.

If you want a living room PC it's hard to beat the Amazon 5700U mini-PC's right now https://www.amazon.com/Beelink-Desktop-Computer-Support-Display/dp/B0CF5J38K7/?th=1, or pay twice as much for a 7740HS based system with even better graphics performance.
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What does an HTPC have to do with a Steam Deck? And why wouldn't you just build your own? lol
 
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