Couldn't have come out at a more perfect time for me. I have a Retroid Pocket 3+, and was looking for something more substantial for emulation and easier on the eyes with remote play. I was researching the current options and Valve just up and made my decision for me. Subbed to the kbin steam deck community today in anticipation.
My workmate loves his steamdeck. We walked into the staff room to find him laying on the chairs trying to play his. One of the older guys says “You need a bigger phone, mate!”
Some guy on lemmy went on a two paragraph rant on me when I said ‘at this point Ill probably just wait for the next version of the deck’ “oh they’re just rumors and valve would never release another model this early in the decks life and yada yada yada…” Well here we are a month later. Ive been alive long enough to know the next model is ALWAYS right around the corner, because it makes the company money. I wanted a PS4 when it came out but held off then a little while later ps4 pro came out and held off some more, then ps5, now ps5 pro. At this point I don’t even play video games that much anymore so the deck is likely the last ‘console’ ill ever want. I know the game and am one patient motherfucker, if I need to wait a few more years for the deck 2 then by god ill wait.
Dude. I’ve been watching the handheld gaming market, and it is exactly like you said. If you wait about 6 months there is already new more powerful device out. Aya neo, Ayntech, anbernic, powkiddy.
I still occasionally use my OG switch I got in 2017. Its a fine little device in its own right just a shame that its completely cucked by nintendo. No I am not paying a subscription just to play multiplayer and access to half baked emulators. Horrible sales and overpriced games to boot. I can’t see how anyone in 2023 would want a switch 2 when the deck exist. IDC how good the next gen mario zelda or pokemon are nintendo can suck it.
I don’t understand this, then the deck 2 will be out and you’ll then wait for the refresh that’s coming out soon then the deck 3? At that rate you’ll never have a console.
Yeah it doesn’t make sense to always wait, but I also disagree with people who say “there’s always something around the corner, so may as well buy immediately, even mid-cycle.” The middle ground for minimizing FOMO is: buy immediately after a new release.
At some point I have to pull the trigger, and I am the kind of person who uses a device until it dies so I would rather that device be a refined variant of the original. This year was hard for me financially so I just couldn’t eat the $ on a 400-600$ game player no matter how much I really wanted it. I was EXTREMELY tempted to get the deck when it went on sale this summer. Hopefully when 2 rolls out I will be in a better financial spot and its design and specs will be improved over the og
Right. I buried my dad last month and all his “I’d like to’s” went with him. So I used this opportunity to get a refurbished 512GB steam deck. Yeah, maybe I’ll get a new gaming PC next year, maybe I won’t, but I’ll be snuggling on the couch this winter playing some games.
If stability and reliability are paramount to you, you might consider getting the older version. At this point the hardware has been well tested and I feel like you might be beta testing less on a gen 1 vs a gen 2. That being said my personal experience is that I’ve never felt like a beta tester for valve and I’m sure you’ll be happy with either. Cheers!
Torx head are preferred for smaller screws because it is a lot easier to strip the heads with a phillips. Mostly because you can use too big or too small of a phillips head with a screw which means you don’t have a good fit and are going to mangle it. Whereas a torx is very much “one size fits one size”.
But also? If you actually pay attention to the video/read the article and are not a complete monster, you will use a ph0 instead of a ph1 or whatever and that stops being an issue. But it makes people happier and maps better to the ridiculously expensive electronics screwdrivers (cough, lmg, cough) that come with a very narrow set of bits rather than assuming people shell out almost the exact same amount of money for an ifixit kit that has dozens of bits. Or, you know, people who realize their local hardware store also sells bits.
The real advantage is that it sounds like Valve are moving away from self tapping screws. Explaining those is well beyond my brain, but it boils down to the idea that they cut/grind/clomp through plastic to hold themselves in place. That is why Valve have made it very clear that disassembling and reassembling your Steam Deck will lower thermal performance and durability. The screws won’t go in as tight as they used to and, if you do it enough, they won’t hold at all. If you ever were reassembling something and the screw just kind of spun freely, that is likely the cause.
Allen key screws are better, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to buy Allen key tools. Torx tools also don’t last that long. I especially hate them on MTB disk brake rotor mounts, they last one change of rotors and you have to buy a new Torx bit.
Nope. There’s lots of 3rd parties sellers here but the prices are marked up and not worth it. Steam is really slow though in rolling out availability worldwide…2 years and still counting.
Yep, I’m just shouting out my country because it checks the boxes.
It’s a country which isn’t usually far behind to receive technology, but for some EU/EEA-reason, Steam doesn’t really have Norway on the list of countries to include for physical products.
Also, we have a few third-party sellers with 50-100% markup, which is lovely.
Sometimes the downside to robust consumer protections is that you don’t get all the stuff. Norway has a guaranteed five year warranty that likely impacts profitability of compliance for some products.
You’re being down voted, but it’s the truth. Depends a lot on the particular computer though. The biggest consideration is personal value of mobile gaming.
Aside from that, it is damn hard to beat a steam deck in performance at the same price, but if you can stretch to even a bit most gaming desktops will handely out perform one
Depends a lot on the type of games you want to play. AAA or competitive FPS probably gaming PC. Older games, casual, indie, etc. SteamDeck is great.
I have to say that the SteamDeck brought a lot of fun back to gaming for me. Everything’s in one package, it’s portable, I can play docked or lay in bed. I can suspend it and come back whenever.
I’ve mainly played the Witcher 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Noita, GC roms, Disco Elysium, Dishonored, and Stardew Valley. Some of those games I’ve owned for a long time and I never played them until I got the SD.
But it does make a great streaming device/glorified controller too when I want to run more demanding stuff on my PC.
I am currently playing a heavily modded version of Mass Effect Legendary Edition on my SteamDeck, works really well, even Mass Effect 3.
But I had to install a no-EA-link patch, because EA requires to be online to start the singleplayer game. Which hurts playing it on the go. But with that, great experience.
My biggest problem after owning a deck for a year is the controls. If you like to play PC games designed around a mouse and keyboard the deck is just a chore. I struggle to play games on my deck when the controls make playing the game take far longer than on a PC where I can quickly hover my mouse over things or click and drag. Yes it has trackpads but it’s definitely not the same experience.
That said if it’s a console first game then it usually works pretty well.
I can only recommend the cheapest Steam Deck, and only if you’re willing to either open it to upgrade the internal storage or rely only on micro SD cards. The Steam Deck gets decent performance on most games but decent is defined as 25-45 fps for 3D games and 60 fps for most sidescrollers.
I mainly use my Steam Deck to stream games from my PC at home to my cubicle at work, I am still astonished that my upload speed on coax is substantial enough for very low latency streaming. I prefer it over my laptop because the Steam Deck takes up less space on my desk docked or with a case that has a kickstand like dbrand’s Killswitch. Still boggles my mind that this OLED version doesn’t have a kickstand either.
Depends entirely on what you play. For most people, a standard gaming PC is going to be your best bet, especially if you play FPS titles, but for a select group of people a Steam Deck makes a ton of sense.
If you play mainly older titles, are on the go frequently, and enjoy a console experience, you can even hook your Deck up to a TV with a docking station, or to a monitor, keyboard, and mouse. It’s super convenient, and is like a gaming laptop/console hybrid, almost like a switch with an entire capable Linux install for productivity.
For someone in need of something like that, I think a Deck might make more sense!
I’m using my steam deck right now as a gaming PC while moving across America.
It works really well. I got a dock from Amazon that gives me the ports to plug in my gaming mouse and keyboard. I can do HDMI out to the hotel TV or, better yet, lead out one USB-c cord to a fantastic portable monitor.
I only ran into two minor issues. The first is getting enough juice to the steam deck and heat. Both can be easily solved with a good fast charging station and better air flow (I use this tiny hyper fan and have had zero issues in 90 degree Florida winter weather).
Of note, I dual boot with Windows 11. It’s a bloated mess of an operating system, but I want to use certain mods and programs that windows only. Plus, I’m not tied down to only steam games. The addition of being able to run nearly everything that’s Windows compatible takes the deck up a level, I feel.
The best way to get the most out of the Windows environment is to run a debloater admin tool, which removes unnecessary programs on Windows 10+ systems. The difference between the performance is shocking, making it pretty much required for usage. It’s not too hard to use, too.
The best part of it all is that you still have a stream deck at the end of the day. You don’t have to do any hardware mods. You can pick the deck up and walk out of the house and still have the gaming PC with you.
Dam I just bought mine SD last month. I wonder if I should return it and buy the OLED. But I saw the 512GB cert refurb are like $200 off now so a second steam deck as a back up would be nice.
Add comment