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Many older and/or casual gamers who've stopped following gaming and are living under the idiomatic rock would absolutely love a steam deck. And a significant portion of those would find it an upgrade over their laptop for Office and shit.
Old linux gamer here. Got steam deck asap when it came out, because my old tabletop for office and shit had an ssd failure.
Loving it.
Although newest AAA games will be too much for the steam deck quite soon, but as a linux gamer I've been without newest AAA games before, so no biggy.
Less hardware demanding indie games are on the rise.
Maybe dumb questions, what is so special about the steam deck? Isn't is just a portable console like the switch? What makes it so much better than a PC
It is a pc, it's gaben maintaining your arch. And it has officially supported replacement parts. And the thermals are great and power usage almost optimal. And it's a kickass console as well that you don't have to re-buy games for and can run emulators and still use all input as you like.
Can it play things like CSGO, Path of Exile, and Destiny 2? Does it have external hdmi + USB ports to plug in kb/mouse and monitor?!?!
I'm actually really intrigued!
CSGO - yes. Path of exile - probably, IDK. Destiny 2 - Yes, but you have to install windows. It has 1 usb-c port that you can plug in any pc dock. Other than that it’s a handheld PC with Linux pre-installed and custom UI to launch games with a controller. It can play most windows PC games.
Check protondb.com if you want to know compatibility for a particular game.
That's awesome. Thanks!
It is essentially a full fledged PC. It uses the same AMD APU (CPU with built in GPU) as the PS5 and Xbox, has expandable storage. There are other similar and more powerful competitors but the steam deck has the best price and has out of th box support for a shit load of games using Steam. It also user serviceable.
I switched my laptop for a desktop a long time ago since I always work from home anyway, but yesterday I had to go the city my company's office is in and thought: "I can work with the steam deck for one day". It worked perfectly well.
Today someone asked me if I was really working on a PSP.
I fit this description. I'm not a pc gamer, but only due to life circumstances/comfortablility. I've known about the steam deck for a little while now, but didn't understand what I could do with it.
And now they're selling refurbished ones with a warranty? It's only a matter of time, but it's top of my wish list. My conspiracy-side wonders if lemmy communities have been shilling for it. My rational side doesn't really give a fuck, cause it looks like what I've been wanting without having to sit in front of a desktop, or carry around a gaming laptop.
My favorite system in a longtime has been the switch, due to changes in life and how I am able to play. But I'd really love to have that same portability/convenience, as well as more options.
I can't wait to get one lol, I can already see it's almost inevitable for me
I don't talk about products unless they're really good. I only say anything about the stuff that's impressively good because I think good products should be rewarded. The steam deck is okay ergonomically, I've had hours long sessions and no issues. The screen is big enough to avoid eye strain while keeping it portable. The screen does a great job, and I haven't seen any flickers or tearing. The screen also responds to touch. The thumbsticks are great quality, with good snap back, and no deadzone. The shoulder buttons aren't mushy, and respond well. The dpad is unremarkable, but works well. The ABXY buttons are maybe slightly soft, but I haven't lost any inputs. There's a trackpad like square that is like a high DPI mouse, and has haptic response to touch.
The software is the real star. Its set it and forget it. Everything is easy to setup. Most games work, and all games in the store show their compatibility. Some games that aren't supported still work fine regardless. As a bonus, the desktop mode also works well for acting as a normal PC with a good software "store" (most things are free).
But the best part is that you can be in the middle of a cutscene, and hit the power button. The deck can usually pick right up from where it left off. Add also the fact that the steam UI can be opened from anywhere so you can rebind controls on the fly. Extra buttons are available on the back for those games that need it, you just need to bind them once.
I actually recently got an ROG Ally cause I have prepaid GamePass and felt I was just watching TV instead of playing. I felt so guilty wasting my subscription and watching good games come and go. But once I got the Ally, I've been playing more than I ever been since I was a kid. Even when the wife is watching her shows I can just chill with her playing games.
I didn't even think about how you can "spend" time with others using handhelds. I like this idea :)
It's pretty sweet, ngl
Or my S.O can be playing on our playstation, while I'm playing our switch. Both of our gaming has significantly changed (decreased) with age, but the switch really helped us get back into it... it was a convenience thing. Now I've been eyeing the steamdeck, cause that's what I've honestly been wanting, but didn't known it was so viable. I'll always love gaming, but there's certainly been adjustments to time constraints. Now, gaming seems to be adjusting as well, to the changes in life experiences. I'm all for it
@echoplex21 @zecg That's been my experience with my Steam Deck as well. Before buying it I had beaten three games in my life. Since buying it I've beaten five more... And ive not even had it for a year yet.
Handheld gaming PCs are fantastic to get back into gaming.
Will a steam deck run Satisfactory? I'm wanting to buy one because it would be great fun to carry a bunch of my games with me.
Before the unreal engine 5 update it ran great. Haven't tried after, though, could still be ok.
I have a Bluetooth mouse and keyboard setup on my deck to run fps and 4x games, hell most of the games, and satisfactory ran great on the deck(my only reference point is a 5 year old laptop that continues to chug along, satisfactory ran as well, if not better, on the deck than it does on the laptop)