Has the Steam Deck stayed part of your gaming life?

My Steam Deck...


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Mine has become my primary gaming platform. I do still play on PC. It's just the freedom of playing anywhere is great.

I wish they made one with a bigger screen. I think a 10 incher could be cool. 7 is just too small for my old eyes. There is a guy on FS selling one fairly cheap.... I was tempted, but I had to remind myself I got rid of my Vita bc I couldn't see the stupid thing
1.25X Reading glasses works great. I'm 48 and my eyes are losing focus close up also.
 
Mine has become my primary gaming platform. I do still play on PC. It's just the freedom of playing anywhere is great.


1.25X Reading glasses works great. I'm 48 and my eyes are losing focus close up also.

I use the same 3x Magnifier glasses I use for my miniature painting and model work, but yes, the same :)
 
I haven't turned mine on in months. The screen is so bad compared to my lg oled and my iPhone that I would rather stream from my pc to my phone with a clamp controller.


Hold it in one position and don't you dare turn the brightness all the way up or else!!!! Bleh really need to just sell mine.
 
I miss having it but at the same time, I rarely used it before I sold it.
 
i still use mine daily. i binged the hell out of Hades on it and now am playing dead cells like crazy. also finally tried Nier, neon white and that sonic murder game
 
I don't use it daily per se, but I really enjoy having it to the point that I don't game on my OMEN X 2S anymore because it's just one hot bastard of a laptop with a thermal throttling problem, thigh-cooking bottom temps to match, and not nearly as portable despite being objectively more powerful (until the throttling occurs).

The Steam Deck obviously has none of those problems. I might yearn for a stand and external keyboard and mouse sometimes if the game isn't conducive to gamepad-style controls, but those moments are relatively few and far between because of how flexible Steam Input is.

In a way, it's freed me from the irksome compromises of gaming laptops, especially since almost nobody reviews thermals and throttling on those things, just a few quick benchmark runs before the throttling can make itself known.
 
It was gathering dust for months. The screen is just to small for me when I can walk into my man-cave and play the same game on my 34" monitor. I was going to sell it until I found out it makes a great emulation system. So I've been tackling that possibility. I have emudeck pretty much set up and working. I just need to figure out the best way to connect it to my big screen tv. STILL, I may be better off selling it and getting Nintendo Switch since I do have a MSI gaming laptop with a 3060 in it. Guess at the end of teh day I don't want to go through the hassle of selling it.
 
It was gathering dust for months. The screen is just to small for me when I can walk into my man-cave and play the same game on my 34" monitor. I was going to sell it until I found out it makes a great emulation system. So I've been tackling that possibility. I have emudeck pretty much set up and working. I just need to figure out the best way to connect it to my big screen tv. STILL, I may be better off selling it and getting Nintendo Switch since I do have a MSI gaming laptop with a 3060 in it. Guess at the end of teh day I don't want to go through the hassle of selling it.
The dock is how you connect to your tv, and you can use a modern console controller, or a steam controller.
 
Still use it frequently (though I don't game daily). The only spare time I really have to dedicate to gaming these days is when I'm traveling for work - this is perfect for playing on the plane, waiting in the airport, hotel room after work, etc. I actually sold my ASUS G14 because it was easier to just whip out the steam deck and play on the couch next to my wife than resign to the office to play my steam games. My wife loves it as well - we've both been playing through Hogwarts on it.

It's also become my primary personal computer. I have a USB-C docking station hooked up to a 34" ultrawide in the office (mostly used for when I'm working from home), and since I sold the G14 it's the only personal computing device I have besides my phone - so I use the desktop function pretty regularly for doing adult things like managing my finances.
 
I’m a gardener by day, so coming home and sitting in front of my pc (4090/7800x3d) is bliss, especially because the PC is connected to a 55 inch LG OLED panel with a Sonos Arc/subwoofer/era300s, meaning I can switch between gaming and movie/tv watching instantly. I also have a 4K player hooked up to this setup. I also have this in a dedicated room, which is very minimalist with a newly sanded hardwood floor and a really nice desk that I bought from Urban Barn. I also have 6 LG smart lights in this room, so at night I can make the lighting very intimate. The entire space just makes me very happy.

Sometimes I’ll pull out my Steam Deck, but it always seems so silly when I’ve got such a powerful pc right in front of me.

You family guys using it to be with your family… that makes perfect sense to me. Alas, I am alone.
 
keep it updated when idle. usually take it camping with me(2x a month or so), and on trips, which I'm doing tomorrow. But as far as normal home use, rarely.
 
I tried using my Steam Deck outside today, something I don't think I've ever done. I was trying to see if I could play my Steam Deck while attempting to tan in my yard. Even with the screen on the highest brightness, I couldn't see jack shit, and that's with the anti-glare screen. Even once it grew cloudy, it was still too dim to be fully enjoyable. I'd consider using one of those screen-goggles that a small group of people rave about on here, but then I'm afraid one of my neighbors might think I'm a robot.
 
I've been using mine a ton. If it hadn't been for Diablo coming out my deck usage would easily outweigh my desktop usage. It took me a bit to figure out how to get the first Arkham Asylum game running but I had a blast playing through that again but on handheld. It's really just an hour before bed kind of deal for me.

lol, despite that I did just order a 4090.
 
I've been using mine a ton. If it hadn't been for Diablo coming out my deck usage would easily outweigh my desktop usage. It took me a bit to figure out how to get the first Arkham Asylum game running but I had a blast playing through that again but on handheld. It's really just an hour before bed kind of deal for me.

lol, despite that I did just order a 4090.
I have a 4090 and love it.. but I'm about to pick up a steam deck tomorrow, hoping it goes on sale during summer sale, but if not, oh well. But same reason, an hour or so before bed I have some time to kill ;p Also feel like some times I could pull it out instead of just browsing on my phone.
 
I have a 4090 and love it.. but I'm about to pick up a steam deck tomorrow, hoping it goes on sale during summer sale, but if not, oh well. But same reason, an hour or so before bed I have some time to kill ;p Also feel like some times I could pull it out instead of just browsing on my phone.
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So which dock are you'll using? Is the $72 Valve one awesome? I have a laptop and dual monitors atm. Monitors might change to an OLED TV when I move.

I can live with just one monitor in use for now.

(Of course I use the dual monitors with my desktop.)
 
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So which dock are you'll using? Is the $72 Valve one awesome? I have a laptop and dual monitors atm. Monitors might change to an OLED TV when I move.

I can live with just one monitor in use for now.

(Of course I use the dual monitors with my desktop.)
I bought a cheap one on Aliexpress that'll be here in... 2-3 weeks, seemed to have some recommendations from a few people on youtube. I also bought a ~$40 one from jsaux. We'll see which one gets here first.
 
Pulled the trigger on the 64GB model. Already have a 1TB drive on the way as well.
Oh, I upgraded to a 1TB SSD and it took about 15 minutes and the only bit I can find for my electronics screwdriver. And a gas card to pry the thing apart. I started at the triggers. I used a written guide because I'm old school. 🤣
 
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This is a random complaint about the Steam Deck, but I'll put it here. Every time the Steam Deck updates, and sometimes even if you just restart the Steam deck, it has to re-download the shader cache. So I have 1.5Tb of games on my Steam Deck, so that means almost every time I'm using it, it has to download shader cache updates for 50+ games. Some games that shader cache update is over 1Gb. The way that I see it is, is that this is basically a catastrophic waste of bandwidth (for people with bandwidth caps), as well as the lifespan of the microSD's and SSDs. If you're like me and have your Steam Deck setup with all the games you could possibly want to play, you have to endure watching your Deck endlessly and repeatedly download shader cache for every game on the device.

I'm very curious why the Steam Deck simply can't check for existing shader cache and use the pre-existing cache rather than re-creating it every time the device updates or restarts.
 
This is a random complaint about the Steam Deck, but I'll put it here. Every time the Steam Deck updates, and sometimes even if you just restart the Steam deck, it has to re-download the shader cache. So I have 1.5Tb of games on my Steam Deck, so that means almost every time I'm using it, it has to download shader cache updates for 50+ games. Some games that shader cache update is over 1Gb. The way that I see it is, is that this is basically a catastrophic waste of bandwidth (for people with bandwidth caps), as well as the lifespan of the microSD's and SSDs. If you're like me and have your Steam Deck setup with all the games you could possibly want to play, you have to endure watching your Deck endlessly and repeatedly download shader cache for every game on the device.

I'm very curious why the Steam Deck simply can't check for existing shader cache and use the pre-existing cache rather than re-creating it every time the device updates or restarts.
I think I read about this being fixed in a future version of SteamOS.
 
And the 64G unit remains the best value unit if you don't mind upgrading the storage yourself,,,

I bought one on the first sale, replaced the 64G with a Sabrent 1TB NVMe SSD and added a 512G Micro SSD on top of that. Cost barely more than the 256G unit on sale and now with 6x the storage capacity as well.
 
well I ordered one in the sale. got the base 64gb emc version along with a 1tb SSD off of Amazon. opening things up look easy and I will upgrade the thermal paste. do the new units come with better fan or is it still lottery? mainly want to play some emulation and indie games along with D4.
 
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I haven't turned mine on in months. The screen is so bad compared to my lg oled and my iPhone that I would rather stream from my pc to my phone with a clamp controller.
I don't understand why ppl complain about the screen. in my mind it's perfectly serviceable. added a TG screen protector and used decky loader plugin to increase the vibrancy of the screen. but what do you expect at this price point.
 
Do games get installed on it if so why do they not have a 1 TB or 2 TB version yet?
 
It's definitely not hard to upgrade yourself if you follow directions well and are patient. The longest part was waiting for the SteamOS to reimage off of a USB stick.

I have a 512GB version I got just for the anti-glare screen, but if I were to do it again, I'd just buy the 64GB version and upgrade myself.
 
It's definitely not hard to upgrade yourself if you follow directions well and are patient. The longest part was waiting for the SteamOS to reimage off of a USB stick.

I have a 512GB version I got just for the anti-glare screen, but if I were to do it again, I'd just buy the 64GB version and upgrade myself.
honestly reload is just as fast for the OS. super easy as well
 
honestly reload is just as fast for the OS. super easy as well

Is reload a program or do you just mean when you reload it? I mean it wasn't hard to do after downloading the image. I just burned it using Rufus and had the steam deck boot off the USB stick. I probably just was using an old USB that was dirt slow.
 
Is reload a program or do you just mean when you reload it? I mean it wasn't hard to do after downloading the image. I just burned it using Rufus and had the steam deck boot off the USB stick. I probably just was using an old USB that was dirt slow.

I reinstalled the OS for mine off of a micro-SD card and it wasn't bad. Then I formatted the SD card and now it is auxiliary storage.
 
I reinstalled the OS for mine off of a micro-SD card and it wasn't bad. Then I formatted the SD card and now it is auxiliary storage.

It was pretty easy. I give them that. I felt like mine kind of hung a little bit when it was doing an update. It sat there for about 5 minutes didn't look like it was doing anything but then it worked.

It was for sure easier than trying to set up Windows 11 with a local account nowadays :p.
 
Got my steam deck 64GB and a 1 TB SSD in on the 7th, didn't even turn it on, found a 5 min youtube video, popped it open, put in the new SSD and reimaged it. Took all of ~30 minutes with SSD upgrade + reinstall, I think the OS install was the slowest part from my garbage USB drive. This thing has been pretty amazing. They made it super convenient to just pause games and start right back up. Even got a few wii games running easy enough, have had my wii in the attic for years, so it's been fun to play through them again too.
 
Got my steam deck 64GB and a 1 TB SSD in on the 7th, didn't even turn it on, found a 5 min youtube video, popped it open, put in the new SSD and reimaged it. Took all of ~30 minutes with SSD upgrade + reinstall, I think the OS install was the slowest part from my garbage USB drive. This thing has been pretty amazing. They made it super convenient to just pause games and start right back up. Even got a few wii games running easy enough, have had my wii in the attic for years, so it's been fun to play through them again too.
Bingo. I feel the same way. Playing Switch games like Mario Cart using a simple dock and emulation is icing on the cake.
 
Emulation does feel like the strong point. I find myself playing Gameboy and GBA titles more than anything. Just a vast library of great titles that were really designed for handheld gaming. Just beat Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow a couple of days ago and I doubt I would've ever bothered to play it if not for trying to make use out of the Steam Deck. EmuDeck has made it extremely easy to set everything up where emulation feels perfectly integrated with the Deck. And when you have the Steam Deck often outperforming the Switch at their own games, it seems like there's a lot of potential value and the device's limitations are what you make of it.
 
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