Steam Deck In-Depth Review & Unboxing - Can It Really Do Everything?
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 16 มิ.ย. 2023
- A review I did on Valve's Steam Deck, covering the hardware, software, games, compatibility, emulators and everything else I can think of. I bought the Steamdeck on the 1 year anniversary, and figured it was probably time to finally cover it and share my thoughts.
The video I used to set up Emudeck / Emulation was this one here : • The New EmuDeck is Her...
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It's pretty insane how much performance Valve managed to pack into this thing.
Edit the settings on the trackpads, i use mine all the time they are soooo gooooddd, i promise, just adjust for you. Make it like a trackball.
It starts out like a trackball, at least when set to mouse and not mouse-like joystick.
Just FYI. The boxes were made plain because Valve only sells them and thus delivery services had to bring them. They made it plain so thieves wouldn't recognize as the steam deck. This eventually didn't matter as FedEx people stole decks left and right.
Valves biggest problem is that while the boxes were plain, they still had a steam deck logo on the side, so people knew what it was
I was camping my front door on the day it was supposed to arrive. I wasn't taking any chances with package thieves
I grabbed the 256GB version last year but I actually wish I'd gotten the cheapest version.
I swapped the 256GB SSD for a 2TB Sabrent SSD I found on Amazon. From what I've read, all of the versions are the same aside from the storage and screen on the most expensive version.
I think I've heard that the Deck is great for old PC games. You just have to manually add them to Steam in desktop mode so you can then play them with Proton. Deck + Proton = better compatibility with old PC games than most computers running modern versions of Windows.
I'm having a hard time at first using the trackpad but after tweaking the settings for the trackpad it became really useful and great for me since I hate using the touch screen, in fact I spend a lot of time even in desktop mode(once I get tired of gaming and just want to chill and browse the internet) without using a mouse because the trackpad functions well for me.
Personally, I use the trackpads with virtual settings to pick keyboard hotkeys that I couldn't do with my steam deck. It's really awesome.
A lot of unsupported games actually work fine, if you get decky loader, and the protondb plugin its amazing to tell if a game will work. Grounded works too.
I’ve had mines for about 4 months and I also have a PS5 , once you get adjusted to this thing it will replace every other device you own. You will literally have to make time for your other device. It literally does everything
This be my exact thoughts as well it really does play so much once you understand the community and protons stuff. Then this combined with emudeck and emulation cracks open even more. 95 percent of games I want to play or have played worked once you get to this point.
@@skykinghorn yes it’s just a learning curve once u learn it possibilities are endless I’ve seen a friend even emulate a ps4 and ps5 game
Why would it replace every other device I own? I have hundreds of games, many of which are not certified for the Deck. Acting like I'm throwing all of that away is just stupid.
@@pauls9034 idiot it literally plays games that aren’t verified you can’t by steams verification system
Same as me, I only use my ps5 for online gaming and ps5 exclusive titles.
Thanks for making this video! It helped explain to me how it worked much better than anything I could find on the official websites.
Really helpful thanks. Never been a pc gamer but hopefully, this bridge's the gap like you said. Ordered one yesterday so hyped for it to arrive. Cheers dude
Great review. Thanks!
Very insightful, this video deserves more views
Really considering picking up a Steam deck myself
Glad you found it helpful!
as for 14:50, you can run games from other launchers onto a micro sd. i have both overwatch 2 and diablo 4 with the battlenet launcher all installed to my micro sd card, since i only got the 64gb model. i just got my steam deck like 2 weeks ago and i absolutely love it. as a lifelong console gamer it’s everything i wanted from pc gaming and then some. i also just wanted a handheld for the nostalgia lol. it’s definitely making me consider going all in on a pc in the future, but i do have a ps5 for new AAAs so we’ll see
I'm surprised you don't like the track pads. In desktop mode obviously they're a massive benefit, especially compared to the many other handheld PCs on the market that don't have them. However, in games you can adjust just about everything about those track pads. In fact, there are people who play first person shooters really well with them. Usually they will set the track pads to "track ball" mode, where swipes give 'momentum' and then combine this with gyroscopic aiming (which is available both for track pads and for the joy sticks) for the finer control of aiming. It's not quite as good as a mouse and keyboard, but it can be pretty close, and it's worlds better than just trying to use the joysticks regularly.
A lot of people have mentioned I should fiddle with the settings for the trackpads to make them better - to be fair, I barely adjusted anything with them, so I definitely should give them another try
@@RobNoireGaming try turning off the trackball setting.
I find it infuriating.
@@RobNoireGamingyou have to tune them for you.
One thing that standout from the ROG ally is the trackpad. They are amazing if u are not bringing any mouse out.
And the quick resume works better than in Windows
The 512 GB is on sale right now! I got it for $550 including delivery fee so it’s a perfect time to get one! Gosh I’m making myself seem like a bot but for real, the original price was kinda intimidating for a college student so it was nice to get the discount.😅
I saw that they had discounted it for the steam summer sales, definitely a good time to buy!
the 256 and 512gb models aren't that great of a value proposition when you can get the 64gb + 1tb ssd for about the same price as the 256gb.
A couple of things I want to add here
1. Theres something called decky loader that allows for custom plugins in gaming mode, my favorites being CSS loader (allows for custom themes) and protonDB badges (will show a games protonDB rating, protonDB being a site that shows how games run on linux, this helps a lot for games marked as unsupported or unkown)
2. You can run non steam games off the SD card, but it takes a custom luanch option
Can you tell me more about custom launch options for non steam games?
I hate when people say the screen is crap compared to the ally, I mean look at it. It looks great to me
It's not the best screen and it is most definitely inferior to the Ally's especially if you have the 512 Deck with Anti Glare which makes the colours look even more faded and washed out.
It does the job but that's about it.
And I've had the Deck for about 1 year now.
@peacelove8395 I've had my deck about a year now as well. And things like vibrantdeck help alot
i was a little worried about it when i was choosing between the two. i got it 2 weeks ago and the pixel density is very impressive, 800p on a 7” screen looks fantastic. the colors with the saturation at 130 also look pretty good, but to be fair i don’t have any oled screens. 120 fps would be nice for some games but meh i was playing a 30 fps console until like a year ago lmaoo
@logangagnier8937 literally, it's like people forget that just a bit ago, top fps on console was 60fps and high end games played at 30fps... somehow barely people complained there, and now we have it on a 7inch screen and it's unplayable to some.... makes no sense... with vibrantdeck it really helps too, I have an oled switch but this really isn't bad compared to the color on the switch, it's not an oled but it's still very nice, I'm quite happy with it, if the next one comes with a better ips display like the ally, then it's gonna be almost like an oled, that's what valve does, I don't need an oled handheld.
@peacelove8395 I have had mine about a year now too, things like vibrant deck make the screen look quite a bit better, dunno if you ever messed with plugins, I have a ton on mine.
I've owned the steam deck since last year and I'll give you my two cents. It's the best handheld for emulation gaming or indie games.
5:20 I feel like you should be using gyro to emulate a mouse for something like this, rather than the track pad (or a combination of both), maybe increasing the in-game mouse sensitivity would help too
I've gotten pretty good at moding my games and using desktop mode even without a mouse and keyboard it was my first and only pc
Dont know if anyone has mentioned this but if you are trying to connect xbox series controllers with older firmware you need to update them to connext to the deck.
For controller you must reset them before you try to connecte them again
In what ways is SteamOS limited? It is the same experience as with a desktop PC running Linux (SteamOS is a fork of Arch Linux using KDE Plasma for the desktop mode interface). If your concern is not being able to run Windows applications, Proton and WINE are a massive help for that and can run most Windows programs quite nicely.
Quick comment about the packaging, I think it's a statement from Valve to lower cardboard production (that ends up in the trashcan anyways)
Oh they definitely went the eco friendly route, and I don’t think the box really affects much overall, it was just surprising considering how far the other companies go in that regard, only for them to completely ignore it.
@@RobNoireGaming I actually like the minimalistic packaging. We probably wouldn’t have gotten the included carrying case otherwise, which is rare when it comes to buying handhelds.
@RobNoireGaming I don't know if I missed it but it feels like you skipped over the quality of the protective case it comes with, the switch for example didn't even come with a basic one and the one that valve provides is quite incredible to be honest
@@karlkingofducks5764 Yup, the case alone would probably sell for $30+
That’s a good point, I do like the case a lot actually, and it’s nice that it’s included with the system.
16:38 that specifc controller you're pairing at that moment isn't bluetooth at all, you'd have that issue connecting to anything
I'm getting one at the end of next month once I'm done with my finals, I haven't been using my switch almost at all since I got my PC so I thought it's a better idea to get the Steam Deck so if I ever feel like playing a game or doing work but don't feel like going upstairs (which has terrible AC) or I can't for whatever reason I can just use it as a computer, It feels like a better deal to me honestly.
It’s 20% off (until 7/13 I think) Better pick up before then.
Nice video man. I am still considering buying this instead rog ally
I heard that sims 4 was playable, but from EA not the place u used, is that still true?
And can u customize the colors? Or is it just like the switch, black or white?
even though i should be using this as a gaming machine but i like the desktop part a lot more. the UI scaling is much better than game mode. and gamescope does not ruin visual quality half of the time. the biggest problem i see in game mode vs desktop is in forza horizon 5 and euro truck simulator 2. in both of these game the ingame visual becomes pixelated at times in game mode even though its running in locked 40fps.
For me this machine became my new media machine with its so good speakers. and Linux desktop is such a great thing to have. i am gravitating more towards RTS games, Tower defenses and bullet hells. I would say this device is the pinnacle of handheld experience.
I fixed my controller issue but updating the firmware on the controller itself, then it was fine. This was using Xbox Series controllers
i was wandering if i sould put the ocules 2 oon my list or the steam deck and im going for the steam deck
Just got mine not too long ago! After using the Steamdeck game mode ui I can’t see myself really enjoying going back to desktop steam I like the console version of steam so much better. Can’t wait to continue to build my gaming library on Steam up with more games that are verified or playable on Steam deck!
The UI on the steam deck is miles ahead of normal Steam, I hope they eventually realize it and update the standard PC version
I prefer the packaging of the Steam Deck over any of the consoles. Valves packaging is functional, no plastic and it doesnt try to be 'fancy'. Everything is put into the product. They dont waste money and effort on marketing fluff. You can instantly tell you're getting a serious product with actual effort put into it. Instead of a fancy box that serves no purpose except is bad for the environment.
Let's goooo!
Where'd you get the DDR$ ram and how do you know about this?
Can you verify if Mod Nation Racers works well on the steam deck?
Bang for buck, hard to beat. Speaks to the success of the device.
I NEED TO KNOW:
What is that mini-golf game in this video??
Just ordered a Steam Deck yesterday!
Thanks for the thorough review!!🎉
I think you’re referring to golf with your friends - really fun to play with a group!
did you try to use proton up?
What do you mean the hardware is customizable depending on which version you buy? They're all evenly customizable
have you tried lutris or other launchers?
What docking stations do you recommend?
The biggest thing I disagree with in this review is the Steam Deck's unique input. I honestly don't think you have given neither the backbuttons or trackpads enough time and it doesn't really seem like you have played around with Steam Input at all, because you can absolutely make EVERY single game work on the device since you can download community profiles or map your own configuration, even if the game has non-standard exotic input. (PC games in the 90's in particular) Overall, Steam input for me, is what makes the Steam Deck superior to anything on the market. People just need to be open to personalized input methods and not the typical forced setups of conventional dualstick controller from the 90's. (FPS games on dual sticks has ALWAYS been a severe compromise, the touchpads+gyro honestly fixes this)
To give you some tips and tricks:
Back Buttons. They are placed perfectly for your finger grips and in a lot of games, when you are executing a lot of commands on the face buttons while moving the right stick camera (like running, jumping, reloading, special skills etc. and wanting camera control at the same time), having those commands always available without needing to switch your grip between the joystick and face buttons is a godsend.
Touchpads. In 3D games set the right trackpad as a mouse in steam input, adjust the sensitivity so that going from the left side of the trackpad to the right is 45 degrees in the game. then set "Trackball friction" to high. This way, you know EXACTLY and CONSISTENTLY how much the camera moves in all games, this also trains your muscle memory and together with Gyro it will almost give you mouse-like proficiency after a while. (and NO it's not at all like the awkwardness of laptop trackpads due to the flexibility of the steam input software). Also, with the trackball friction you gain another ability, if you flick the touch pads from left to right (lifting your thumb at the end), you gain inertia and do a pretty consistent 180 degree turn instantly. this is FAR superior to the slow, and often accelerating linear motion of analogue sticks in 3D games.
Touch pads are great for pointer movement, custom touch menus in emulators, online rpgs etc. games that require tons of different input. You can even add short commands for the journal, map, items, equipment etc. in Witcher 3. Things that are normally sub-menus and really slow to navigate to (especially when you lock to 30fps). That way you don't have to go through several hoops to get where you want to go in menus.
I got mine yestarday, while having switch and PS5.
This thing is a beast, i always wanted to play older PC titles like half life, gta 4 etc... But couldnt because i had a console (ps), but now i can! I can do this on my bad or just plug it in to my monitor, i can also play any other games like Sekiro on mu bed or monitor or TV.
If i want more power and immersion i can just play PS5.
does sekiro run well? its my favourite game and the only reason im on the fence of buying a deck is if sekiro runs smooth or not
Isn't the steam deck ui just big picture mode? You can use this on desktop as well!
It is now, actually. It was different than big picture mode, almost the same but more refined and pleasant to use overall. So much so that valve replaced big picture mode on steam with the decks ui since big picture mode was just this but worse lol
Buy basic 64gb model and upgrade SSD to 1tb or 2tb works out just as cheap as if you bought the 512 model
It's a great handheld PC mini-gaming machine, and I'm glad you didn't call it a console; I've had my Deck since launch (2 RMA's) & the Store alone makes it really not fair to compare with console QC outright. It's an amazing device, just isn't for everyone the way consoles are. Just got the official Dock & only wish it had an SD card slot like my Anker dock which I bought *before* the Steam Deck Dock existed but seems to cause fatal battery errors in spite of only ever using it with the Steam Deck. 💯
9:41
@@gerryspringerupinthisbitch2038 Honestly have no idea what this means.
@@Greydawg he called it a console, it's a stamped timeline on the video so you can watch it
@@gerryspringerupinthisbitch2038 Gotcha. I absolutely disagree with it being labeled a console----it's more user-friendly perhaps than a PC I suppose, but when the way a layman consumer operates it (ex., the Store itself & purchasing software for any device having as many issues with stability & basic functionality), it's simply OK to say it's not a console, but instead *an enthusiast's device* & a remarkably brilliant one at that, just simply not the same QC as a console.
The box opening is frivolous. The Specs are on the steam page you purchased it from and in the settings.
I just want to say that the track pads are really only ideally for navigating menu's and desktop mode... for for games that use the mouse I personally would use the gyro controls activated by one of the back paddles so you can have precise mouse like movement and then turning the right thumbstick into a flick stick..
Wrong games from other launches can be installed on the SD card.
Steam link works like a charm in some games and not so well in others but overall it's such a huge plus for gaming in bed
I'd heard a little about the Deck, but being a PC gamer I didn't bother to look further. That is until I saw your video. I'll admit I got excited about buying one. That is (again) until I attempted to buy one. Across the screen was written "NOT AVAILABLE IN YOUR ZONE" Well "bugger you Steam" I thought. Why would Steam ban selling the Deck to us Aussies, isn't our money any good? Bloody ridiculous, I've spent a lot of money buying Steam games and here they are saying "Go to hell"
Edit: I've been told it's possible to buy a used one on Ebay so I'll check out if Steam will allow me to use it.
I noticed you were playing Powerwash, is it possible to use a mouse with that sim? That's what I use on the PC and I've tried using a controller, but prefer the mouse.
One more question, can games be played off-line? I'm disabled and spend a lot of time in hospital. Unfortunately we must have the only hospital without WiFi. Spending time flat on my back for weeks on end isn't exactly something I enjoy. Free to Air TV gets boring, but if I can play games on the Deck it would definitely stop me going stir crazy. 😊
Just want to say on the packaging, they used to have more branded packaging, but delivery drivers, and others were just straight up stealing them, so they made a promise to tone it down.
Your original Xbox one controller does not support Bluetooth fyi. They didn’t add Bluetooth until Xbox one X controllers.
What's the game at 8:04?
Not sure if you found a fix for the bluetooth controllers, but if you plug them into your PC, open up the Xbox Accessories app, then update the controller firmware, they should connect. It fixed my issues once I did that. I ran into trouble when I had 8 different controllers paired, but after going through and forgetting the controllers and repairing them all at once, I haven't had any problems.
I’ll probably wait for a steam deck pro would like a little more horsepower
I prefer the less exciting packing of the steam deck, I feel it's less wasteful
Correction
The box is not bad it's environment friendly also the cardboard box has portal reference
The storage is replaceable,screen,sticks etc if you want to and everything without getting sued
NOT A HARD DRIVE it's a SSD solid state drive hard drive have moving disc
The 64 gigs has eMMC storage (faster than SSD cause it has small storage also help with the sd card speed)
From what your saying i think the track pad is probably detective
most thing i hear about it is "it's not as good as a mouse, well I've been using a mouse my whole life" -BeatEmUps
The speaker is noticably clearer than the switch or most cheap laptop or phone
The hdmi thing is probably fixed (cause valve keeps rolling update) or something else is broken
4,000k is not a pretty good nunber that thing is flying to the moon
Of course number is not everything i would recommend to stop buying games who keeps handholding you it will harm your brain mentally, physically, physiologically theres a reason dark souls help you cause it ain't just hitting the dopamine it hits your feeling of accomplishment which most gamers lack and does harm your over all life
Cause without bad things you will have a bad time remembering unless your one of those who has a memory of a building full of server rack with ryzen PRO 5965WX
SSDs are still Hard Drives, just not Hard Disk Drives.
Hard Drives are any non-volatile permanent storage drive which is not meant to be removed regularly like a disk or a usb
@@cptncutlegis the type of guy who thinks all infinity are equal
Man i really want a steam deck but that zelda oled switch is calling my name lmao
Cool, if i have an excess in money i might get ine for my friend
3:26 what game is that 🤨
according to some website the snes was $414, adjusted for inflation, at launch.
the mid range, not even the cheapest 64 GB model, steam deck is (right now during the summer sale) $450 about $520 normally i think.
anf the steam deck is a great console, an incredible handheld, and a respectable pc.
i dunno but that seems amazing to me.
some things really dont get that much more expensive. even considering the 30 years of inflation and tech progression between those two products.
no wonder newell called the 64GB price painful lmfao
but theres no doubt steam is making INSANE bank from game sales even if theyre eating losses from their hardware.
Can you play Xbox games on here and buy games from Nintendo store
Also... You don't want 100fps on a handheld... It will bring through battery. I'm glad valve didn't do this
Im buying it bc the forest
"16:25 limited computer"
define limited, pixar uses linux to make their movies, i dont think steamOS can be considered an limited OS...
source:
watch?v=x9ikzGQW0ys
Hmm.. strange. My trackpads actually performed better! Then my trackpad on my laptop. Maybe you didn't configured the way you wanted. It uses steam's, so you can go to settings and change the speed, sensitivity, and precision. Non! Handheld has a great trackpad like the deck. You also can type with the steam keyboard with both trackpads. It's set to steam button+ X.
What games did you play in this video
More than 30
I disagree with the packaging. Some much prefer the minimalist, straightforward packaging because of unnecessary clutter.
Unplayable doesn’t mean unplayable I have the new Saints Row and Saints row the third remastered, and it says there unplayable, but they work fine
11:28 what game is that
It’s called Feel The Snow, pretty fun Minecraft-Ish game
Not playable on the deck you did not go over enough i played wwe 2k23 on the deck its said to be not playable and it played fine no issues ran with a high setting 60 fps
the best part is that i can mod my games
I used my Steamdeck to do homework and game
Everyone is not buying a Steam Deck because they lost a lot of money the Best Buy and the Walmart where I am is not allowing to selling anymore
HOLD THE PHONE WAIT A MINUTE 3:26 wtf have u been doing 💀
I own A LOT of games
Less box = more quality so.....
3:27 is that a hentai game installed on your deck?
Honestly couldn’t tell you, I’ve gotten hundreds of games across my steam accounts over the years and used to do let’s plays for TH-cam. There’s a wide variety of stuff on there
$500.00 for no game support? That’s one expensive emulator too.
The trackpads are useless but it is built very well I dropped mines 1 time on concrete and twice with a case in it not a scratch battery life is not the best the back buttons are useful in certain fps games I play overall it’s the best piece of tech I ever owned
I mean worst case scenario they get sued for property infringement and we get our money back. Like the lawsuit they’re facing right now for overpriced games. I probably spent $600 since 2015 on steam games and I got all of it back from the lawsuit 😂
2023 zoomer take: complaining about plain packaging when youll be tearing the box open to play youe steam deck asap
So get a good gaming laptop, thank you
I found your narration and editing in the video to be too fast. I found myself having to rewind a couple of times because I missed something. Case in point the weight differences between the Deck and the Switch section. Pretty frustrating. I gave up watching.
The problem with STEAM, and why everyone should avoid Steam deck, is they mix furry p0rn with kids games, and have poor parental controls. The unregulated mix of 'adult' X content with children's games makes the platform unusable. They are bascially committing corporate suicide just like Bud Light... the bizzare content flooding into STEAM now is beyond horrifying... And a shame too, because the fun good games will be deleted with all the trash games too. :-(