Steam Deck

[PlaneMan]

I wanted to get back into PC gaming but physical problems and the cost of a new rig/laptop put me off.

Hence the Steam Deck. Got mine on Saturday, the 512GB version.

I’m really impressed with it. A lot of my existing games work well, it’s quick to boot and the form factor suits my slightly broken arms/hands.

And being a PC, there are lots of game deals.

Battery life is decent, unless your playing a AAA game, then it tanks.

And it can double as hand warmer! Only gets toasty so far on Need For Speed Heat.

Only issue so far is connecting to my hotspot is a bit random, doesn’t always connect from a cold boot or waking up from sleep. It’s a 20 second fix but mildly annoying.

Build quality feels great, the case is sturdy and tempered glass screen protectors are a sensible price.

No regrets.

[Ed P]

Are you able to access both Windows and Linux games?

[PlaneMan]

You can put Windows on it.

Apparently all the glitches have been ironed out.

[PlaneMan]

Tried to edit my post but it timed out…

best thig to do is check on Steam. It’ll run Windows games. Not all will work though. Just like Linux games.

Go into Steam, scroll down to the Steam Deck banner, click it. Then go down to the section labelled Your Steam Library Anywhere.

[keith with the teef]

I get my games from CD keys. Rule of thumb they are much cheaper then?

The recent Doom games are terrific. Dirt rally 2 is amazing and Deus Ex Mankind Divided is real good.

Currently playing assassins creed odyssey: Massive game but mostly rewarding but can feel like a job at times on account of its size.

[Ed P]

@PM other than limiting the number of portable games is there any great downside to the smaller storage model?

[PlaneMan]

Depends which one.

The 64gb is essentially a SD card for a hard drive. 256 is a proper NVME.

It’s apparently easy to upgrade the storage, looks like minimal tinkering involved.

It has a micro SD slot so if you get the right SD, not such an issue.

Top models get a better case and anti glare screen.

I’ve now got a cheap dock, just for FPS games.

Works really well.

[PlaneMan]

Forgot, the top ones get faster NVME drives.

[Ed P]

Thanks for the reply. That was useful as the grandchildren are pestering their father for a Steam Deck.

[PlaneMan]

No problem.

If you want any more info let me know.

[Ed P]

As usual there is a Redditt on upgrading the Deck. I think he is now toying with getting the basic one and upgrading as future birthdays etc come along.

Apart from the usual twitchy moment when you reflash a ROM the upgrade looks pretty easyhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cPqa6D2smpY

Plenty of nvme options too:

https://arvrtips.com/best-steam-deck-ssd-upgrade/

Not sure why they don’t go to 1Tb but I guess the form factor limits options.

[Drezha]

If I hadn’t bought a gaming laptop in 2020, I probably would have got one of these and I think I’ll get one in the future to replace the laptop, but that’s a few years to go – espeically with the dock, so it can just get hooked up to the PC. Only issue would be the non Steam games, but most of my purchases are on there. I guess the exception would be some of the Far Cry series which I’ve been enjoying but are on Epic.

Upgrade of the SSD looks reasonable from what I saw online as well.

"Everything looks interesting until you do it. Then you find it’s just another job" - Terry Pratchett

[Ed P]

@Drezha As you will gather I do not own a Steam Deck, but the grandchildren are encouraging me to learn about it. I gather that Ubisoft Connect is the main reason that people cannot get Ubisoft games to run. However, it appears from this link that Ubisoft Connect can be jigged to run on the Steam Deck.

I’m not so sure about FarCry 1&2 as these even run quite badly on a full Windows VM due to graphics issues.

 

[Ed P]

It looks like there is even less reason to go for the top of the range options.

The SD drive appears to be almost as fast

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4AIY5wH77Po

The SD drive test is a bit odd, and suggests that Steam have not put in enough bandwidth for the SSD case.

One post says that even the screen can be upgraded,

https://store.ifixit.co.uk/products/steam-deck-512gb-screen

It looks like a quite difficult replacement, and beyond my current abilities!

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Steam+Deck+Screen+Replacement/148986

[PlaneMan]

It’s possible to upgrade the thumbsticks as well.

One thing I forgot to mention is a Bluetooth keyboard with a track pad is very handy, even if it’s just a cheap tiny one. Mainly for the games that require text input and aren’t fully compatible with the Steam Deck.

 

[keith with the teef]

Valves steam deck is quiet something IMO. Just look at the cost for what you get.

But a killer feature of it for me is the: Valves dock accessory, which turn it into a desk top PC. Monitor, keyboard, mouse.

The down side to the dock is the cost, making the viability questionable. But imo its still a plus.

[PlaneMan]

3rd party docks are reasonable. Paid £30 for mine.

http://Docking Station for Steam Deck, ivoler 5-in-1 Steam Deck Dock Stand, USB-C Hub with HDMI 4K@60Hz, Triple USB 3.0 Port & Full Speed Charging USB-C Port Designed for Valve Steam Deck https://amzn.eu/easfmpx

[Ed P]

Thanks guys – looks like a Grandchildren’s Birthday present list too!

[Ed P]

Following the advice in this thread, I bought the 64Gb Steam Deck for the grandchildren.

The support I received from Steam on potential problems with ‘giving’ the Deck was good. (Their business model seems to be that Steam users will buy for themselves, and is a bit funky when it comes to giving a Deck to someone else.). The main thing seems to be to do all the set ups on the Deck and to avoid using a PC or other Steam access.

However, no real problems, the Deck came quickly, so I gave it to the kid’s father to set up. As an Apple user he can be quite sniffy over PC quality, but he was very impressed – he even said that the deck was almost up to Apple quality. High praise indeed. He quickly started to fiddle with it and put in a 256Gb SD card that he had – worked like a dream, which made him even happier and thinking about a SSD for next year. He has now setup all the age restrictions and loaded all the kid’s games, and I suspect played a few himself.

Bottom line it was a win-win. The father has had an early Christmas present to play with, and everything is set up in time for Father Christmas to do his delivery rounds.

I think I may even be tempted to set up SteamLink on a Pi as I think I could probably at least equal the Deck’s performance if not its portability.

[PlaneMan]

Glad you are happy with it.

Just something to be aware of, some games that Valve have marked as not compatible with the Steam Deck do work fine. Probably due to the updates that have been done.

Obviously check before buying any games specifically for the Steam Deck but if you they are owned anyway you might as well install them to see first hand.

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