Are you happy with the Steam Deck?
If you care to elaborate, here are some suggestions:
If you're not happy, what issues are you experiencing?
If you're not happy, what issues are you experiencing?
I don't have one but I heard the main issue most have is the battery life.
I think it depends on the graphics of the game you are playing though.
Time To Beat SteamDeck is way too short, no way is it worth $700+
I'm so bored of this thing.
In the weeks leading up to me getting my SteamDeck I spent hours every day organizing and categorizing all of my 12,000+ ROMs, making sure everything was good to go. No small task.
Got my hands on it and immediately cracked it open. 2tb SSD and 1tb flash drive going in. Then we had to replace those trash joysticks with hall effect Gilikit ones. Then another hour of calibration and testing.
First two days after I was busy transferring files. Learned how to SSH into a Linux client, transferred all my ROMs through Putty. That took a while but was extremely satisfying to do.
Then I figured out how to opt into beta and transfer my PC games over local network, which was a total thrill. The technology works great!
After that we GitHub'd EmuDeck and configured each emulator to be as fast and as pretty as it could be before breaking the deck. 4x Nintendo 3DS resolution with 4k Anime scaling on, f yeah. And of course another full day to run Steam Rom Manager and manually add pictures to ROMs that didn't parse correctly. Now it all looks and runs like thiccccc Anime thighs - beautiful.
Next day I spent 4 hours learning all about Decky plugins and setting them up. For the next week I went through every plugin making sure all of my games were configured perfectly. Wattage? Minimal. VibrantDeck? Maximal. Not to mention per game controls, and per game graphic settings. Took a week.
After that I was running out of things to do, so we're off to GitHub to download and mount a sketchy ass AMD Bios flashdrive so I can start undervolting the deck. Finally landed on a 25/25/50 configuration that wouldn't crash the deck and got an extra 3 (YES, THREE!!!!) FING frames out of Hogwarts Legacy! I couldn't believe my fing eyes.
After that I started hoping something would (profanity) snap off or break or some shit because I can't think of a single other thing to do with this damn thing
Time To Beat: 3-4 weeks not worth it.
(Above post is satire, for those unfamiliar with my shitposting - Steam Deck is great. No complaints 10/10 would recommend).
Since you haven't put time into playing any games yet…
Does it run OzBargain??
@Jimothy Wongingtons I was about ready to make you an offer. LOL
Hell yes I am.
- What have you been playing(other than Vampire Survivors)?
I started with Sleeping Dogs and now I'm on Spider-Man Remastered. I don't actually have Vampire Survivors on Steam, but there was a PSA post late last year here that the mobile version dropped and was free, so I've played it on mobile and IMO it's a game that absolutely suits playing on a mobile phone.
- How is battery life(mention what you're playing)?
It depends. To keep the battery from degrading too quickly I tend to keep it charged between 40% - 80% all the time. When I played Sleeping Dogs it drew around 7 w - 9 w during play, which resulted in around 2.5 hrs (I think?) before I had to charge it back up from 40%. Spider-Man Remastered is much more demanding and draws around 19 w during play, 1 hr of play will drain the battery around 50%. If I were to fly internationally, I'd probably play an older game like Fallout 3, I reckon I could get 5 to 6 hours worth of battery life from a full charge, maybe more if I turn down the brightness.
- Where are you using it?
Probably 60% in bed and 40% at my desk. I did play on the plane once though.
- Has it replaced your PC, console, switch, etc?
I haven't really gamed much in the past few years or so and the only gaming I've been doing has been on the Switch. Before the Steam Deck I would've played my Switch on average once a week (I played it more when I initially purchased it but then that trended downwards). These days I play the Steam Deck at least once every two days but sometimes I won't touch it for half a week or so. It's 100% replaced the Switch for me. I played my Switch a few days ago and it literally feels like a flimsy toy compared to the Steam Deck. If I was more into Switch exclusives I'd probably play the Switch more.
- Have you setup anything interesting ( eg Windows, dual boot, alternate stores, emulation, plugins, etc)
Just CryoUtilities 2.0. I might buy the Steam Dock when it's eventually released because it'll be cool to use it as a plug-and-play PC of sorts, but for now I'm happy to use it exclusively handheld.
- Have you upgraded the storage?
Nope, I bought the 512 gb version. Not interested in upgrading the SSD right now. I'll buy a decent sized MicroSD card first and then maybe upgrade the SSD if I want to in the future.
The Steam Deck is just such an awesome device, especially in this day and age where everything feels so anti-consumer and we're living in the shittiest timeline where companies try harder and harder to just suck every dollar out of the consumer. By this I mean companies moving to subscription services, locking down their hardware (i.e. Apple) and making it harder for people to even just repair their own electronics. Valve has gone the complete opposite way of all that and it's just so refreshing.
Valve started from humble beginnings creating Half-Life, then Steam, then the Steam controller, then the Steam Machine, then the Index. It's clear they've taken all their learnings from those experiences and applied it when they engineered the Steam Deck. One of the best features of the Steam Deck are the speakers — the soundstage you get out of the them is just mind blowing. I was playing Spider-Man a couple of weeks ago and there was an alarm that went off in the game and I literally thought it was coming from two houses down the street! I had to pause the game to see if it was coming from the game or not, it just blew me away. I have no idea how they've done it but I suspect it might help that the speakers are a) decent sized and b) they are as wide apart as a human head is (assuming my head is averagely sized).
Anyone on the fence needs to just buy one.
Fwiw sd has pass through charging so you can play while it’s charging too and not degrade the battery (or so reddit says).
Yeah that's what I tend to do sometimes when the battery gets down to 40% and I still feel like gaming.
Forza 4, Oddworld New & Tasty, oh and Vampire Survivers :D
(tried Control, but worth playing on a PC with a mouse for me)
Got the steam deck and the feeling of easy accessibility of been able to play all my steam library games anytime anywhere, and at a decent enough eyeball resolution + frame rate is very satisfying. I’m typing this as I have my deck on my left side and my switch OLED sitting on my right lying in bed!
I also installed Xbox gamepass recently as I have a ultimate subscription. this means the steam deck has covered pretty much ALL my gaming needs and I can pickup playing game now from Steam Deck - PC - XSX -back on Steam Deck so on… Reference deck’s battery life, I keep mine generally topped up 50% ~ 99% I did some real life battery tests where I recorded smallest details and will post it after as separate post for those interested in battery life IRL use.
As for Nintendo switch interior comments I see here; I disagree. I have the switch OLED and it’s still a joy to play and light weight to hold especially in bed. I found I still play alot of roguelike + ARPG games on my switch (e.g. torchlight 2, zeld botw, dead cells & Ys IX etc).
The steam deck is great for more AA - AAA (med - high graphical settings @ 40 - 60fps). My favourite deck games right now inside: The Crown of Wu (new action adventure platformer), Deflector (roguelike), divinity 2 (original sin) - who doesn’t love a classic epic RPG.
Here’s sample of 2 separate battery life test runs I did. Let me know if you would like to see more like this:
First Run
(Day 1) 10:50AM - placed in sleep @ 99% off charger. Screen brightness ~ 45%. Flight mode on with wifi on.
Though out the day used the deck. Total 5~10 mins browsing store and library. [7 mins usage]
(day 2) 00:22 starting using again (barter way 92% but dropped down to 91% by 00:25.
Steam store browsing - stopped at 00:56) battery Showing 83%. Activities on deck include watching visions, browse through game pages on steam and canal m casual sys kernel side small downloads… [34 mins non gaming usage]
(day 3) Started downloading @ 10:50AM (battery 78%). Same brightness & flight mode settings settings. Every ~ 10-15mins change between menus.
Stopped @ 11:03 turned back on sleep @ 73% battery. [13 mins download usage]
Browsing games on same settings 5:43PM started. Battery displayed 71% bit dropped to 70% straight away.
Downloading games started 18:18 @ 61% battery. Finished downloading ~ 6:40PM. [1 hour 3 mins usage mixed non gaming]
Restarted deck @ 6:50PM @ 44% battery.
6:55PM played game @ 42% battery. Finished ~ 7:05PM @ 37% battery. [10 gaming usage]
(Day 4) 3AM @ 34% battery. Browsing same settings. After 30 secs now 33% battery.
3:17AM started playing gaming - same settings 40fps), high to ultra settings. Battery @ 29%
3:37AM finished gaming battery @ 18%. [initial calculation] Seems my deck performs around ~ 20 mins = 11% battery drain or ~ 0.55% per minute or 181.82 mins/3 hours of gaming in HD on ~45% brightness capped @ 40fps. [37 mins mixed gaming usage]
Let screen on @ 3:44AM battery @ 17% 3:45AM put back to sleep.
9:56AM deck @ 14% battery, 10:13AM, after leaving mg deck screen on and browsing store for ~ 3 mins. Deck @ 10% battery. Cannot install purchased game it seems. Putting in charger and finishing test run 1. [17 mins]
Summary: 3 hour 1 min active varied usages & ~ 71 hours standby.
2nd Run
(Day 1) - 14:10 full charge showing 99%. Adjusted settings now 60fps default for homepage brightness ~ 50% 14:13 put to sleep ~ 99% battery. [3 mins usage home/store)
16:37 turned deck on from sleep, battery ~ 97%. Started installing game @ 16:50 with 93% battery life. Turned brightness down to minimum. 17:03 whilst downloading, turned screen brightness back up to ~ 48%. Battery @ 85%. 17:14 finished downloading, battery @ 78%. 17:15 started gaming . Finished gaming (60fps high settings) 17:28 ~ 68% battery. 17:30 put back on sleep. [53 mins mixed usage]
Turned back on from sleep 18:35 battery @ 67%. Browse and download 1 game, brightness unchanged. 18:44 finished battery @ 65%. Put to sleep. [9 mins download usage]
19:50 Deck turned back on from sleep with battery @ 64% Finished session 20:29 with battery @ 51%. Mix of gaming, download, and store browsing. Back to sleep. [39 mins]
22:15 deck back on from sleep, battery @ 50%. Turned down brightness to ~ 40% and Volume ~ 21%. Deck back to sleep on 48% battery @ 22:27. [12 mins]
(Day 2) 10:18 briefly turned on for 5 seconds. Battery @ 44% did not go pass Lock Screen.
12:08 turned back on from sleep, battery @ 43% browsing. 13:35 download starts @ 36% battery. Whilst downloading RDR2 @ 12:39 turned brightness down to minimum with 33% battery. Occasionally interacting with deck ~ every 5 mins or so to cycle between different screens whilst downloading. downloading 112.6GB seems to max the deck out 16.7 - 18.6w in power consumption. 13:11 battery low alert came up @ 10% battery. Test run 2 stopped with game 60.2/112.6GB downloaded. 13:12 plugged into charger. [1 hour 4 mins varied usage including dimming screen brightness to minimum so some parts]
Summary: ~ 3 hours of active usage including browsing store, downloading games (hits CPU harder), playing games etc. 1 day 22 hours 52 mins (standby).
I want one, but I also really want to wait for real local availability to not have to deal with a shitshow if it comes to warranty.
I want one but probably will wait until there's a better chipset. I think it's zen2(?) which is already a few years at this point.
I want to get one, but finding it hard to justify the cost!
I dont get the point of it, 10 years too late?
What do you mean by 10 years too late?
What do you mean?
Are you referring to other hand-helds like the Wii U or PS VIta? This is so much more capable than any of those.
It's a handheld gaming PC, there have been attempts prior to this but this is the first time it's affordable and decent enough to be mass adopted.
Also too late for what? Handheld gaming isn't a fad
I've been very happy with the device. I'm currently playing GTA 4. I've played a small amount of Hogwarts Legacy, Crazy Taxi, Hi-Fi smash, Skyrim, and a few emulated games. So far, I haven't run into any issues. It's become my primary gaming device - I have used my PC or PS5 for single player gaming in the past month.
I bought the 64gb model and upgraded the SSD to 512gb.