I love my Steam Deck and have had it for about 6 months as well. There are some really annoying things if you want to tinker like me. I actually had a dual boot system installed and it worked amazingly, but after a few Steam OS updates had issues where the Deck thought there was just no OS at all to boot from and just yesterday my Windows just completely broke and I stopped using that for now. For me it is just an addition to my decent gaming pc and could never really be a replacement, but I love bringing it to a friends house to game on a TV with a bunch of people either in native or emulated party games. I used to bring my desktop PC to those occasions sometimes and it was a pain in the butt for me. It is a device that almost forces you to tinker at least a bit if you want to use it to its full potential, but it is surprising what it can do then.
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. In fact, I'm going to pin your message, because I've had a ton of comments saying "bruh just install Windows!" but it's not as if that doesn't come with its own issues as you very clearly pointed out. It sounds like we have very similar use cases, or were looking for very similar use cases., I couldn't agree more with everything you've said. Thank you again!
@@gamers-generation I will try to get Windows running on an SD card now, just to play around with it a bit more and to avoid breaking any boot tables. One SSD with two operating systems has never been great. Anyways, glad I could contribute. I absolutely love the Steam Deck and I think it is an amazing piece of tech for a great price. And i don't fault it for not playing everything, the same would be the case if I turned on my PlayStation or Xbox, or a MacBook for that matter. There are always some limitations, but there have been way less than I expected with the Deck.
Thank you for another well worded reply. I agree again about it being an amazing piece of tech for a great price, and that we can't fault it for not playing everything -- or doing everything. People are absolutely entitled to feeling disappointed or letdown by something (or someone) but perspective is very important, not everyone shares the same goals and ideas! I'd love to hear about how things go on the SD card, please don't hesitate to follow up!
@@gamers-generation Sure. Will do. I will have to buy another SD for that though, because I only have the one fast SD that I use for games storage in Linux
I’ve had mine for a week and I’m still blown away by it. So far I have 20 PS2 games, 2 PS3 games, and 3 Wii U games, and I haven’t even dove into PC games yet. This thing is incredible. I remember not that long ago, it was damn near impossible to emulate PS2 games well on even decent PCs, and now we have them running perfectly on a freakin’ handheld lol. This is gonna be my sole gaming device for the next 10 years. Freaking love this thing.
I’m pretty tech illiterate but did you use PCSX2? I’m so close to buying a steam deck, I just want to make sure I can do the things I want to do before I buy it
@@jamandcracks8875 Actually I think it already has Emudeck installed (which has all the emulators). It's pretty easy. All I did was follow a TH-cam tutorial on Emudeck and it was a breeze. All you need to do is download the Bios file online and put it in the bios folder, then put your roms in the rom folder and run Emudeck. It's pretty streamlined.
@@jamandcracks8875 I've used it (sparingly) through Emudeck (basically a program that installs a number of emulators and configures them for you). Are there certain titles you intend to play on it? Thanks for the comment.
Hey man I just want to say, after binge watching a million steam deck videos when im bored af even though I already have one, this video was refreshingly original and high-quality. I really felt like you meant what you were saying and that all of your points were honest and well-justified. Most of the Steam Deck youtubers just spit out the same bs, talking about the specs and repeating what they heard from other people's videos, taking any useless information they can get to make their videos longer. These people probably barely even use their Decks if at all. I can tell that you actually used these devices and thoroughly tested them yourself and are not making anything up. Anyway I think you've got a lot of potential as a reviewer and hope you continue making excellent, original content. Cheers!
Wow. Thank you, just thank you! Your detailed reply and kind words are serious motivators! It is unfortunate the state of content creation can be either a lot of clickbait or fluff to appease the algos. I genuinely appreciate your comment, and will strive to remain honest and approachable to the audience. Happy Holidays!
I spent $5k building my last PC about 3yrs ago. However, free time feels like a rare commodity these days and it's since been relegated to a home theater PC. I just ordered the 64gb unit because I want casual access to my gaming needs.
If only I could Like this comment even more. This is basically my situation as well. For anyone always on the go, or that has a family, the Deck can basically bring gaming back into you life. And that is value that's damn hard to quantify. Thank you for your comment!
Fucking LOL! By "home theater PC" do you mean a five thousand dollar blu ray player? Also, you bought a steam deck even after acknowledging that you dont have free time to use your PC? Have fun trying to justify that purchase!
I have a Series X and made the jump to a Steam Deck 2 months ago. I find I dont care as much about 4k RTX gaming as much as I used to. I watched a youtube video that really speaks to me about why I love the Steam Deck. I get to treat video games like books. With resume and poritibilty. I play for 10 min here, 20 min there and its so simple. When I get home I doc my Deck and play like a console with 1080p upscalling. Im in love and my poor Xbox is getting neglected.
"4K", "RTX ON", "DLSS 3.0", "8K gaming (lul)" all of these buzz words sound nice and surely they are "nice to haves" but... not only are they pricey, they can be impractical. What you described with your situation works perfectly for many adults particularly ones with a family. We unfortunately don't have countless hours to sit at a TV or desk to game -- and that sucks. Portables like the Deck can be gamechangers in those scenarios. Thanks for your comment!
I was hesitant to get my Deck because I didnt really need it....but I'm so glad I did. It's a fantastic piece of tech. And, I can play online with no real issues using my phone's hot spot.
People will complain no matter what, but there are so many things that the Deck can do and at very aggressive pricing compared to the competition. This year things should be different, but the support Valve provides is surely worth something that even competitors can't put a price tag on. Thanks for your comment, glad you're enjoying the device!
I've been totally content with the deck 6 months later. The broad array of pc titles it plays still has kept my attention. I thought it was a great system as it was then I discovered its emulation capabilities. It is imo a must have gadget pc handheld (whatever you want to call it) of this generation. Amazing
I've got the "gadget itch" after xmas and although I have a low end gaming laptop that does what I need I still really feel like the Steam Deck would be a better gaming experience. Thoughts?
@@HuwPewPew What do you have in your laptop CPU/GPU wise? Also what is your intended use case? Primarily PC gaming? Do you intend to do any emulation or use it as a desktop?
@@HuwPewPew I have an i9 11th gen CPU laptop that can't play games deck can, so unless it's AMD as the CPU the Deck would win vs Intel. It's a blast playing doom eternal then jumping to emulation in a blip of a second
Track pads are a godsend for playing mouse based games and I'm so glad they're included. Even when there's controller binds for games like citizen sleeper or disco Elysium, using the mouse/trackpad is often so much better
Today I ordered the 64gb version. I also have a 128gb micro sd card at home. Despite the high-end computer with the rtx4090, I found it tempting to be able to play games on the couch or in the hospital. I'm really looking forward to it.
Awesome! Yeah the use case scenarios are quite large even if you have a good desktop at home. Please do check out the guide on the channel on how to upgrade the internal storage if you end up doing so. Thanks for the comment!
The trackpads are the best thing ever... I cannot stand using most handhelds for mos games because I hate the dumb little joysticks, and hardly ever use them... I use the trackpads for almost everything, and they work so fantastic. The Deck would be useless for me without the trackpads. I never got how anyone can do first person aiming good with joysticks, and its so much easier with the trackpad, it reminds me more of using a thumb trackball and is very precise. I also rarely find any community layout I like and make my own controller layout for everything.
That's absolutely a fair point. They do work really well and something I forgot to mention in the video is that the haptics/force feedback on them are actually quite nice too, more than you'd expect anyway. At the same time I'd wager you're not the average user if you're making/modifying your own community layouts -- I did say I was too lazy for that though... lol. Thanks for your comment!
I have to agree, my aim is drastically better with the trackpads against them keyboard folk on overwatch 2. Edit: it also pretty much locks me into valves ecosystem bec of it lol😅
@@sonicandroxas absolutely fair point. I did say I'm trash with shooters so... The good news there is that it seems Valve is unlikely to ditch the trackpads in a refresh -- the leaked images of their prototype decks also had larger trackpads If I recall correctly.
Nice review! The Steam Deck looks like a really nice and solid device for playing my JRPGs on the go though I’ll probably wait for a 2nd gen with (hopefully) an OLED display option. Coming from an OG Vita OLED, Switch OLED and currently Console and PC gaming on an LG C2 OLED, it’s kind of hard to go back to an IPS LCD 😅
Thank you! There is a good possibility of that it seems. Valve was recently on record saying they're more likely to opt for changes like a display change rather than changing internals. That probably makes more sense from a business cost standpoint as well -- the easiest thing to modify in the production line would be things like that. And it ABSOLUTELY is great for JRPGs on the go! Thanks for your comment~
@@gamers-generation there's no confirmed date but Iv seen multiple articles if u jus look up steam deck 2 that they won't release one for a bit cuz they wanna wait a bit sins the first one jus came out n they wanna wait for better graphics technology n stuff so when they do release the 2 it will be way more advanced an better then any of there competitors
I thought the trackpads we're useless until I got a good game that doesn't have controller support. Actually a controller would be impossible , but th re are some community profiles that combine trackpads with the controller. Now I appreciate them because I'm addicted to this game ("Iratus: Lords of the Dead")
Very good point! I imagine RTS games like the Civilization/AOE series would also be pretty terribad with just the analog sticks for navigation too.... thanks for your comment!
Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2 both use the trackpads in their default controller schemes and, in my opinion, makes playing them on the Steam Deck one of the more enjoyable ways to play them. Disco Elysium plays pretty similarly, too. They all run perfectly on deck.
@@TheFallingFlamingo Very fair point, I haven't played much of Divinity. But I imagine its not very fun/accessible without the trackpads or an external mouse which is a whole other can of worms.
I wanted one so bad for Christmas I bought 256gb model for $1500 because Im I'm Australia and they don't ship them or sell them here so you have to pay a big amount of money to get one of someone that imported it from America. I have been using it for about 4 days now and it is absolutely amazing... I am playing games that i never thought I would ever play just because there are so many good games on Steam that are so so good to play on the steam deck. I think everybody should have one of these they are absolutely amazing. And it is amazing how these updates are making it better and better.... In 2 years from now the steam deck will be amazing
I'm glad you're enjoying it -- I wish you didn't have to pay that kind of price though. Have they not started shipping overseas yet? I agree completely about playing things you didn't expect you would!
If you get the 64gb model I'd HIGHLY suggest upgrading to a 512gb or higher nvme. Otherwise if you have a 1tb sd card it will fill your internals with shaders and optimizations before you fill that sd card (Other category). Then you wont be able to launch any games until you download a program to locate and delete some of those "other" files.
Thanks for the tip! I think this is sound advice -- the other catch is if you install Steam games on the Micro SD then decide to upgrade the internal storage... you'll be waiting a while to move those files over... which is fine only if you enjoy watching paint dry I think.
Thank you for acknowledging that many of us will skip to the end, and thus create a concise tl;dw conclusion. Good points!! I'm looking forward to getting one!
Glad it was helpful, just trying to keep it real. Hopefully you'll skip on back I mean stop on back for some of the other "Quick" content. Thanks for your comment!
Just got mine about a week ago and I’m absolutely hooked! One little thing that nobody really mentioned (which is kinda driving me insane) is the joysticks paint flaking off from hitting the edges. Happened within the first hour or so of playing… how didn’t Valve notice this??
You know what.. I don't think I've ever noticed this on my unit.. but I will say I have heard that the Q3+ (units also being shipped now0 have a different paint/finish on them... so I'm not sure if that's related...
Bough mine a week ago also, this is not happening to me. Sounds like you got a buggy unit. You could contact valve. That’s definitely not normal and it’s also why people don’t mention it.
Thats crazy! I personally found the stock joysticks to be way too slippery for my fingers, so I bought some Razer universal griptape and cut out holes using a punch tool to stick to the joysticks. heard about it on reddit, and now they are protected and suuuper grippy, I love it.,
I actually prefer the track pad for fps games. It's surprisingly similar to a mouse. And if you buy the 64 gig it will play EVERYTHING the switch does except those switch exclusives ( but there's always emulation baby!) And on top of that the games are significantly cheaper and the freeking console won't fall out of your hands because it's a 1/4 in thick with nowhere for your big man hands to go.
Thanks for your detailed reply! Yeah I imagine the trackpads and gyro are a lot more functional for someone less trash at FPS than I am (lul). Big deck boi is definitely more comfortable in hand than the switch for sure! (That's what she said!)
Do you mean a door for the SSD for easy swaps/installs? I believe there's a 3rd party case like that in the works but I agree that would be nice. As for OLED, that *might* happen for Steam Deck 2 or the refresh... but we shall see... Thanks for your comment!
Personal complaint from someone that’s getting one soon enough, I really wish that they had made the controllers more organized, like why are all the buttons so high up then these huge, almost useless, mouse pads. If it were me, I’d move it down and make the buttons and spiny circle things similarly to a Nintendo Switch
I totally understand your complaint. It was part of my personal gripe in this video also... The good news there is I feel like there are enough Windows handhelds out there to fit your preferred layout... the downside is of course that they're nowhere near the price range of the Deck (right now anyway)... Thank sfor your comment!
Reading some of your comments helped me understand a bit better so in a few years there will be a steam deck 2 but in the meantime they could improve things like battery life and maybe the screen, I've been going through videos to help me decide if I want to buy it or not.
Hi there, thanks for going the extra mile! That is my understanding based on Valve's most recent interview with The Verge. One factor I didn't mention in my video was where you're located. Assuming you're in the US., the base $400 Deck is really aggressive pricing. But there are places where you can't buy it officially, and in those places because of the scalping, it makes it a harder then to recommend or choose a Windows handheld vs. a Steam Deck. Hope the video was helpful to you, thanks for the comment!
What no one is telling us is HOW BAD THE STORE IS ON THE DECK. The Store is SO bad on the Deck---I still use my PC (or even my phone) to buy/browse the Store, & it's the one piece of advice I would sincerely recommend to anyone considering buying a Steam Deck. I have no idea why not a single review brings the Store's issues up, but that may be implicitly why Valve hasn't addressed it since I got a Deck at launch. This is a great video, for sure! But we all seem to gloss over how bad the Store is "because the rest of the Deck is so good." It's true, but yeah, it's an inescapable outlier that likely & literally every Deck owner has experienced, yet nobody brings it up (or makes an excuse for it). Going over the UI in this video, for example, the Store experience on the Deck seems like a glaring omission---I'm not mad, just not sure what to do about it, know what I mean? It SEEMS like a fixable problem but nobody mentions it outright, which is the strangest thing to me. Still, the Store is absolutely atrocious on the Deck & I don't know how or why it's still as bad after a full year except that nobody notices enough to mention it in spite of likely everyone having the same horrid experience.
Thanks for your comment. Would you mind elaborating on what exactly you find so bad about the store on Deck? There were issues previously with tabs not autoloading (like the "Great on Deck" tab) and not being selected automatically. As well as clicking "More" or trying to load more titles which sent you into a loop at the top of the store page, but those have been fixed as far as I know.
@@gamers-generation Things like the wishlist having no sorting capability still in spite of it being added in an update to the phone app & easily accessible on PC & Linux & even big screen mode, or how often entire rows of games aren't browsable without cutting half the images off, or when you go "back" a page but then the inputs don't function correctly outright (ex., pressing up may actually & literally scroll down, rather than right where you left off), missing highlights to know where you are selecting, even the cart can completely "crash" & lose stored items when buying more than one title, the lack of installation prompts when buying a game (vs. when installing a game you already own) may be a design choice rather than a functionality issue (but still feels oddly jarring), & the performance level itself I can overlook, it's simply the functionality issues & their persistence through a year now that I find difficult to understand why I've never found a video that even mentions it in their reviews. It's not meant to be critical, sincerely, but just as sincerely it feels like a fixable problem that Valve otherwise has no idea exists by nature. Of all things, the Store itself seems like the last place Steam would want such inescapable functionality issues on their flagship handheld. I love my Deck, make no mistake, but I end up buying games elsewhere when I'd absolutely rather it be at least as seamless & enjoyable on the Deck itself.
Fair criticisms. Thank you for the detailed response. I can't say I had the same experiences, but I don't really use wishlist so what you've said all makes sense -- and another reason why it's all sort of "WIP" and not a "true console experience" IMO. Thank you again for the reply!
@@gamers-generation Thanks again. For clarification, it's more than just using the Store, but it's how *all* Steam interaction works; the wishlist, reviews, guides, mods (you "subscribe" to them in the UI, & mods being functional on the Deck was an explicit talking point from Valve & in many reviews), essentially any & all participation in Steam's own vast community is as hindered on the Deck as it was since launch. That's why it feels like such a glaring problem, & for it to be so consistently overlooked by so many in comprehensive reviews will always feel strange, if nothing else. Thanks again for what you do, always.
Thank you for your honesty and support. I understand its hard to fully review an item in a timely fashion as I am very guilty of taking my time with it, I suppose the good news here is that the store can be refined/fixed, I would say I agree it's a bit of a glaring omission though if Valve hasn't done anything to fix things... I wonder if they even realize this?
You got me ;) I have to leave an comment. By the way awsome video, love the way you explain things ;). The funniest part is "This video is.....oh....nonono" hahahahha love it.
Thing I still don’t understand : the one with 512go is it more powerful, faster with better performances ? Or it’s only about storage which is possible to upgrade it by myself easily ?
It's really only the storage that's larger and the screen that has a non-reflective (matte) finish (on the 512gb model). Other than that, all three of the Steam Decks are exactly the same. Thanks for your comment!
I sure hope they make a more powerfull deck that can handle latest games as well. I just want to play resident evil 4 remake next. Its a cool device, but still havent decided to buy one over xbox right now.
Unfortunately we'll probably be waiting a couple of years if what they've said recently is true about "one performance level". HOWEVER... if you're willing to check out those Windows handhelds, I expect those to be much more affordable in the next year or so. Please check out the reviews (two of them AYANEO 2 and AOKZOE A1) are on the channel now. Thanks for the comment!
@@gamers-generation i guess for the price, steam deck is un matched. Valve also seem like a safer company so to speak. But they can easily make a more powerfull if deck is succesful. Just found out about these handheled pcs and they look interestibg.
@@j.l.larsson1472 Yoiu're absolutely right about being a "safer company". The chinese companies of course have a dodgy history, I will however say that the dodgy histories are generally tied in my experience to slow responses and returns/repairs, not from devices not actually getting delivered as far as I know. I've dealt with 3 companies so far all of which have been crowdfunded projects -- all have delivered. The delivery times and quality of support has varied greatly though. And, they are serious powerhouses (the 6800U devices anyway).
Pass for me. I'll patiently wait for the next STEAMDECK. At this point that device is still in its infancy stage. Version 2.0 will be a game changer for me.
Fair point about being in infancy. 2023 will be VERY interesting for this market assuming you're willing to dabble in the used/refurb market. I expect a SD2, even with potentially a slightly better screen/battery will be competing in a space with these (current) 6800u Windows handhelds, which I also assume will have dropped a reasonable amount by that time. Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation I would like to see the next STEAMDECK to utilize a far more superior and power efficient chipset than the AMD 6800u, that can deliver 1080p at 60-120hz. Right now I can't see myself joining the hype for this device. I'm a patient man, waiting is my game. Lol
valve insider has teased that a new iteration of steamdeck is near production. its not a replacement or successor. just incremental improvements like oled screen, magnetic joy stick, snap-on side controllers via magnet (like onexplayer), smaller bezzel, slightly slimmer and lightweight; and fingerprint power button. they said that the chip will still be the same (or just slightly faster) nothing revolutionary. the current 64gb and 512gb maybe discontinued making this the highest tier offering.
I may be mistaken, but I think there's been some loose interpretation of some statements Valve has made in recent interviews. I don't recall them saying anything about detachable controllers (like joycons or OneXplayer2). Here's one source of an interview that states they're looking to keep "one performance level" www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview-late-2022
I am thinking about purchasing this simply for NES/SNES/PS1/PS2 generation games assuming they arent not already available on Steam. I already have a high end PC so it feels a little redundant to buy this instead of maybe a dedicated emulation device like a Retroid 3. My reason for buying this over a dedicated emulation machine is so I can purchase older games on Steam if they are available. (I rather not get games unscrupulously if I don't have to.) I currently own a budget laptop from 2020 which has as i5 10300H & a 1650 4GB so I told myself I won't buy the Steam Deck until I at least sell that laptop, feels even more redundant and wasteful to have a desktop, laptop, and steam deck. What do you all think?
I had that same feeling and its an understandable one. But if you're on the go enough, or away from your PC enough, you can definitely argue that it's not redundant. Thanks for your comment!
Just got mine about 2 weeks ago and it’s like is glued to my hand, can’t stop playing. Don’t need to sit in front of the tv or monitor and also a lesser energy bill 😉
Glad you're enjoying it! It really is a game changer, maybe not for everyone -- but for many people who can't, won't, don't want to sit in front of the tv or monitor as you described -- there really is nothing that does the same job. Thanks for the comment!
Do you mean who do I think wouldn't care about that? I suppose someone who is good at shutting down their games or someone who isn't "always on the go/run" wouldn't think that much about that function. But it's a really nice qualiy of life feature that doesn't work so well on Windows in my experience. Sorry If I misunderstand your comment.
Great video! I really like titles like Skyrim and Witcher which I play in university. I must admit I am a terrible gamer. In China, we call whoever that sucks at games electronically erectile dysfunctional. But I love it when I see the nice scenery in Skyrim. So my question is do you still get the chills when you play Skyrim in SteamDeck, like when you see the mammoth in the wild or enter snow capped mountains for the first time?
Thank you! I haven't truthfully played much Skyrim at all on the Deck. I assume though that whatever vanilla graphics look like on the device, it looks THAT much better with vibrantDeck (a plugin that increases gamma/saturation of the screen). With that said, are you into Skyrim modding? It's possible on the Steam Deck too, just a little annoying because there are a bunch of steps you need to jump through compared to on PC which something like Vortext can handle very easily.
So, I'm a little torn about whether or not I'm going to hold on to mine. I got the premium model because of the storage just to realize it would have been cheaper to go with the base model and get an SD card. But that's just one of a list of things at the moment. That being said, I am hoping that it will separate my computer and my gaming.
Pretty much exactly my situation as well. I'm now doing content for the channel with the Deck but it truthfully doesn't get much use either because I don't have the time to tinker, and instead actually game on the Windows handheld.... that's sort of why I gave the conclusion that I did -- it's a great device, but there are without a doubt a few caveats people should be aware of. Any ideas or thoughts on how you plan to separate the computer and gaming? Thanks for your comment!
Selling mine due to limitations of the system. Maybe Deck 2 in the future. I have a mini PC running Steam OS / Windows 11, so I don’t need it. And I hate the not have a dock connector on the bottom of the system.
@@Xanduur I understand your gripes very well! Steam Big Picture mode now on a windows device almost makes SteamOS irrelevant at this point... Thanks for your comment!
Had mine since September and I love it. I'm really more into handheld these days versus console 🤷 my Xbox has officially become my TV/movie player only now. Really enjoying Hogwarts legacy on the deck, for hours on end 👍
Really great to hear! That was exactly my experience with my other devices. Loving that you are enjoying Hogwarts Legacy, please check out my latest video on how to mod it! th-cam.com/video/bA6FL6ZD_8Y/w-d-xo.html
@@gamers-generation thank you for this! Saved it for later to go back to. Want to play through first as is, but will definitely dabble in mods at some point
So I’m still on the fence but I have an Oculus Rift, a PS 1-5, an XB1, a Switch and my PC rig which is powerful enough so I’ll probably pass. The Switch has decent content for mobile gaming and is satisfying enough. Moral of the story is you don’t need the so-called latest and greatest because there’ll always be something else on the horizon to take your loot and time.
Fair decision. If you didn't have all those other pieces of hardware and only had one or two (like your desktop and switch) the deck would probably still be a pretty good deal for you, but I agree, you don't need the "latest and greatest" because you'll end up chasing "the dragon" more often than you realize. Thanks for your comment!
I have nerve damage in my arms can’t play pc but just found out I can play switch then found out about steam deck so I’m a wow addict and thought I’d never get to play it again how does wow run on the deck
Sorry to hear about your nerve damage. For WoW, as far as I know, it's quite playable but because it's not a native Steam game, you'll have to do a couple of things in order to get it running (as it uses the battle.net launcher). Thanks for your comment!
Waiting for mine to come in. Already an Arch Linux user and play most of my games that way, so I know what I'm getting into and how to fix any potential issues. While I prefer to use Arch over Windows, I do believe an option to choose an OS out of the box would be nice, especially for those who prefer Windows. But since Windows is so much harder to customize for the hardware outside of working directly with Microsoft, I understand why they didn't offer that choice of out the box.
That's exciting! Let me know how it works out for you! I understand completely your suggestion. That would indeed be nice to give users the choice, I think though that in Valve's case they do want to push SteamOS forward, so having Windows as an "option" makes more sense for them as a business -- not to mention that's good PR that it can do both (though technically the latter will likely run into issues that you're on your own for). Thanks for your detailed comment!
I got the 64gb. I’m not huge in emulating any old games. I need to figure out how to do this still. But, I set up geforce now on it, and it’s frustrating that geforce doesn’t recognize my controllers as a gamepad automatically.
Unfortunately GeforceNow is... a mess. The good news is that other apps like Moonlight and/or Chiaki work quite well for game streaming as far as I know. If you do want to emulate games at some point, it is much more streamlined than on a PC I would say. Thank sfor your comment!
I mostly play fifa but unfortunately FIFA 23 is not supported on the stem deck yet.. the rating is currently borked. So I think I will wait to get a steam deck 2 with hopefully future support of FIFA 23/24.and so on :)
Unfortunately you may be waiting longer than you think if you're holding out for a Steam Deck 2. The last word was that they won't be changing anything hardware wise except for the screen/battery (if they do actually change it). So you're left to EA to fix things... which isn't a good place to be. Have you checked out any Windows handhelds? They aren't without their own issues but thankfully game compatibility is typically not one of them. (P.S., there are two handheld reviews on the channel!). Thanks for your comment!
@@bearsj3 You absolutely can do that. I wouldn't expect 100% compatibility. Meaning you'll still likely run into driver issues at some point. The deck is also not powerful enough for my purposes (production work). I also don't personally want to deep-dive into this potentially time consuming solution.
I have a steamdeck I bought the expensive one. I love it like you said, I don’t even turn on my desktop anymore. I can pretty much play every single game except for seven days to die because it just takes too long for the download in the map. The one thing that annoys me the most is setting up an external solid-state drive because you need to make up a password, but when you put down the password, it doesn’t type at all for some stupid ass security thing and I was frustrated and so I hit enter and now I don’t know the password and I’m completely locked out and steam even though I sent in a request for help has ignored me
Hi there, thanks for your comment and detailed response. I was about to say I'm glad you're enjoying your experience but then I read the rest of your comment.. ugh. I'm really sorry that's happening -- I hope they respond soon. In my experience when I had to reset my password it was just automated responsed. Was this not the case for you? I didn't realize attaching an external drive was that troublesome.
@@gamers-generation yup and those guys that make videos to explain how to do it not one of them thought that they should say when you’re entering in your password, nothing is going to show no dots no stars nothing that would’ve been great because then I would’ve been like OK but instead feel like I already did my password, so I’m not gonna change it and that’s how you change it. So I was like it’s not working what the hell.
Sorry for the late reply. I can see how that'd be frustrating -- I did notice when I plugged in my own drives before that they had to be reformatted -- sign. Have they gotten back to you?
Some people are saying that Windows works perfectly fine now. I've not bothered to see if driver/crashing issues are all gone, but it would definitely give you options. Depending on your budget, your plan is 100% a good one. You could even dual boot with one of the OSes installed internally, and then the other on a separate drive, like through a USB-C SSD drive. That way you can experience both. Please do check out the M.2 upgrade video on the channel if you decide to go that route! Thanks for your comment!
This is literally the tinkerer's dream device so a statement like "I am too lazy to mess with the settings" (paraphrased) makes me wonder if I am in the right place. What I got out of this is you hate the screen and the rest is Meh... Just my observations as a person researching a steamdeck purchase.
Thanks for your comment. So I should probably clarify a few things. I don't recall saying "I am too lazy to mess with settings" or that I "hate the screen". It was more like, I was too lazy to configure the back buttons -- and that I've seen better displays. In terms of tinkering, it's not that I don't want to, or that I haven't -- it's that for me personally time is quite limited. So jumping through hoops just to get a game to work when you know you can simply get it to work on a different OS is far from ideal. It's absolutely a personal preference and were I a regular Linux user, I'm sure I would be more than willing to put up with whatever flaws exist on SteamOS, because that's what I'd be used to. Don't get me wrong, the Deck is an amazing device, especially for the price (of the base model). My conclusion was just this, and that people should know they're getting a device that has its quirks, many of them have been addressed and I assume even more will be addressed in a refresh (or Steam Deck 2); but it's not a "perfect device" by any means. Thanks again for your comment.
I like the Deck although it has its quirks, right now I have 23 games installed which isn't shabby for a handheld. Verified games work like a charm and don't crash, Borderlands 3 is classed as playable along with Forza Horizon, both games randomly crash spitting you out back to the desktop. I'd say the device works well most of the time and I'm still happy to be an owner.
What you described is exactly what I experienced too. And absolutely the reason why I suggested people who TRULY want that "console experience" to avoid the Deck. Obviously there are performance issues with consoles (look at Gotham Knights and the new Pokemon games) but you can **guess** those will be fixed sooner rather than later, whereas with Deck, it's anyone's guess as to when (or if) the issues are fixed, given how many games there are out there on Steam. Thanks for the comment!
Hi Is there any news about hardware changes or upgrates in Steam Deck soon? I want to buy one but don't know maybe better to wait a bit? Looking for advise, thanks
Hello! As far as I know, Valve has only stated they will be updating the Deck in ways other than performance (like maybe display or battery). Other than that, I think there are a lot of people saying things that Valve hasn't said on record. Source: www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview-late-2022 Scroll down to "A second-gen Steam Deck is coming but maybe not a "Pro" Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation Thank You for answer. I really enjoyed Your video. Maybe do You know does Valve ship now Steam Deck with "better fans from Delta Electronics" or I missunderstood the part about fans?
@@sterindo5260 You're most welcome. From what I had heard, they ship only the HUAYING (quieter) fans with newer Steam Decks. Although there's a possibility those newer Steam Decks have "worse" performing m2. SSDs. The fans have a different noise profile (Gamers Nexus did an extensive video on this) which makes it "less pleasant" to listen to. As far as how effective the fans are themselves, I don't recall there actually being any real difference between them. Hope you stick around and check out the other videos on the channel!
Why would you prefer a different device just for the sake of Windows if you are just playing games in full screen mode and you have virtually no interaction with the underlying OS at all? I guess the only reason is better game compatibility, but the price you pay in terms of higher price as well as missing features in Windows (performance tuning, suspend, saved disk storage, etc) is not worth it in my opinion.
It's mostly because of my work and lack of Linux experience. I don't really have the time to spend troubleshooting a Windows install and/or dealing with incompatibilities on SteamOS. Basically everything I research/test on the Deck now is for the channel, so it becomes a big time sink in that way. Absolutely fair point about it not being worth it., despite what I said about bugs and things (eventually) breaking on SteamOS, Deck does so many things so well, and at such an aggressive price point -- it's hard to say no. Thanks for the comment!
I think so! I don't play many Indie games, but many of the most popular games on Steam Deck are indie games I believe (like Hades, Vampire Survivors). Thanks for your comment!
It's a tough decision! I think you'll probably be satisfied with either purchase.. but the better buy probably comes down to your preferences. I think some questions you should ask yourself are: 1. Do I want the portability? 2. Do I play PS exclusives primarily? 3. How soon do I want this? For 1, if portability isn't really a thing, since maybe you work remotely, or you have another device to play your PS5 games through remote play then maybe PS5 is better for you? For 2, if you play a lot of exclusives.. that's kind of non-negotiable then. Even though I personally expect most if not all exclusives to hit PC eventually, it might be a long wait before that happens. For 3, There are rumors for a PS5 refresh, like a PS5 pro or something; while that might be a good amount more money, there's a good chance it will be a nice performance bump too -- and if it's just a PS5 slim, there might be a price drop (hopefully). As for the Steam Deck, while a Steam Deck 2 won't give better performance, there might be improved battery life or screen down the line if you can wait. Thanks for your comment!
The screen on the 64gb is great for what it is. You can get a quality blue light screen protector which actually works better in comparison to the screen on the 512gb model. My advice is to go with the 64gb model Because for the $250 difference you can buy a large SD card, Case, Skin, thumb grips, blue light screen protector, dock, Type C Converter, etc. Lol. I've seen the tests where there is barely a difference in speed between the SSD storage and a quality SD Card. In fact, in the tests that I saw some games were actually quicker being launched from the SD Card. Steam Deck is a no brainier if you are looking to get into PC gaming as it can also be connected to a monitor or if you are Already a PC gamer who is looking to play their titles on the go. Cost to Performance comparison there is nothing like it available as it runs today's top triple AAA games smoothly. 👍
10000% agree with you. And that's exactly why I can't personally recommend the 512GB (or even the 256GB) model. I have the 512GB model which I upgraded internally for the channel - but realistically, had I gone with the 64GB and then did what you suggested with a MicroSD card, I could have spent basically the same amount of money as the 512GB model while having a 1TB MicroSD AND a 1TB NVMe drive for the price difference.
You absolutely can install Windows on a Steam Deck, but there have been issues with doing so, such as no audio from the on-board speakers (now patched), and random bluescreens (this one I'm unsure of). The hardware, while capable of running Windows, just wasn't designed specifically for it. In the interest of my own time, I prefer to not go to the length of troubleshooting issues like that (other than for researching for the channel), so I personally prefer not to have to "figure things out for myself" when possible.
Just to elaborate further. If I really needed the Windows environment and didn't have my desktop or the Windows handheld, I would probably then try to install Windows on a separate drive/USB. I'm sure some people are willing to do that in order to play games that are simply broken currently on Deck (like Valorant) because of Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC).
@@gamers-generation Okay fair enough thanks for the info. I have a Xbox Game Pass subscription and was planning to install Windows as soon as I get a Steam Deck. Maybe the GPD Win 4 is a better choice for me. 😅
@@bboy349833591 Thanks for understanding. You have a bit of a unique decision as well. With Game Pass, as far as I know, it can be used (though only through streaming apparently) with the Deck natively. Otherwise you'll have to install Windows as you originally planned. The Win4 is very competitive for its price at the lowest tier. I think it's a very debatable choice if you're comparing the top end (512gb) Steam Deck to the base Win4, both price, and feature wise. I won't be reviewing the Win4 on this channel but I do intend to review other Windows handhelds here. Stay tuned!
*insert "Why not both?" meme* But in all seriousness, you can do some production work with the Deck! Won't be the most efficient/powerful set up, it can work! Thanks for the comment!
@@gamers-generation Most definitely. I will test the productivity side of this device when I get it. I am currently on the Switch, but there's no solid hitman games, Metal Gear, etc (I'm a Playstation guy). So I heard this device can play hitman emulators. Glad to be of support 🙌🏽
@@Rizzlyricist Thanks for the response Rizz! YongYea did do a video where he made the entire video (linked in the description) on the Deck, basically less than ideal, but you could do it. As for Hitman and Metal Gear, it probably depends on specifically which one... but as far as I know, the Deck can play many PS3 (and pretty much all PS2 and PSX titles) when emulated.
@@Rizzlyricist Hahha -- wait! Watch the video before you commit, I don't want you to come back and say it's all my fault when performance isn't S-Tier! ;)
I like my deck for the most part but I can’t recommend it to people who are used with windows OS in general and don’t want to mess with their gaming pc a lot. The experience on learning or tweaking Linux on a steam deck is painful. Many mods will not work unless you are lucky enough to find a work around with pages of tutorials to look at. Some steam games, like Judgment, is a stuttering mess. It runs almost perfect on my old OXP 1165G7 windows handheld with a presumably ‘weak’ Xe iGPU from Intel. But the truth is some games are just runs much better on windows and al out of mods and games are not working on Steam OS, yet. It’s been over a year since valve released the deck, I don’t know if things will getting better next year. There are many more Chinese handheld PCs coming out now, steam deck need to catch up with official windows steam is dual boot at least Imo.
I'm glad you mentioned this. Thanks for your comment. There are some people here mentioning that I could have just installed Windows -- but it's not as if that isn't without issues as well (like the audio drivers not being released until October I believe it was). Definitely for anyone wanting to use mods in their games.. the Deck can be both frustrating and eye-opening. If someone wants to do the legwork to get it to work, hey more power to you -- but I personally don't have the time or energy to put towards that.
Unfortunately you might be waiting awhile for that to happen, since the Steam Deck refresh/pro/2 or whatever they'll call it seems most likely they'll modify just the screen and the battery. Have you looked into the GPD Win 4? Thanks for your comment!
I got the 512gb version then I deceded to return it immediately after it kept freezing when I tried launching PPSSPP emulator and games such as GTA IV , GTA V, Bioshock I and II , Mafia I, II and III.
Did you try to run PPSSPP after a manual install? Or through Emudeck?? GTAV is on PSP...??? That's news to me... but also I imagine they had to cut down a lot of things to make it playable on PSP. Thanks for your comment!
@Gamers' Generation I was talking about different things that i tried, but none of them worked. I installed the ppsspp from the system appstore when u switch to the desktop version and none of the psp games worked for me. I tried dos games, and only about 30 % of the screen is visible cause the game was zoomed into a corner and there weren't any settings to change it. Finally, I tried to install games from the Steam app itself from the Steam mode, I checked the compatibility list, and they were supposed to be compatible, but somehow, they didn't work either. The games that I tried to install from Steam were : GTA V, GTA IV, Bioshock( I, II , and infinite ), mafia ( I, II, and III). And pubg. It gets hot like an old PC . My thoughts on the Steam console are that the concept is great but there are lots of things need to be improved which they will in the future to make it more desirable: 1) better screen resolution, like a 4k 2) bigger screen 3) better battery life 😤 4) better specs to make thr games compatible and running without any problems 5) better design 6) less bulky yo make it easier to carry around 7) better speaker to make it great for watching contents and not just for games 8) different colors just like iPad and other devices 9) fix the problem with getting hot
@@7offman Oh I see.. so the Discovery Store. I'm sorry you decided to return it already... I would have advised you try to use Emudeck which is much more streamlined now. As for the other games... at least some aren't natively supported so... that's where the whole Linux gaming thing has its own issues. Have you looked at any of the Windows handhelds? There are two reviews up on the channel for them. They're a good chunk more money, but for "ease of use" as a Windows user, I think they're more valuable in that way than people might realize. Thanks for replying and clarifying though.
@@gamers-generation yea bro I checked the reviews, I think these handheld consuls are a bad investment for now because they are still at the early stages . 2-3 years from now, we will see better specs at much cheaper prices because more companies are going to compete with each other…Can’t wait to see that )
@@7offman Some of these handhelds have been out for years now (Like in the case of AYANEO and GPD Win), AMD has really changed the game with how powerful these APUs are, but I do really think this year will make things VERY interesting on the used market, assuming you're willing to go that direction.
I think someone who wants the "true" console experience gets it with this device. Put yourself in the shoes of a console-only person: They buy the device, get recommended only Verified games in the shop, so they can just download and play them. If you are a PC gamer who wants to get all of their PC games they already own to work, then yeah, maybe you have to tinker a bit. But then you're not actually the console person you're talking about.
I think what you said **mostly** applies for the console experience. Like with what I said with Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it was previously playable, and then it's listed as unsupported -- even though you absolutely can still play it with some tinkering. So while the Verification status usually works, it's not always going to be a trouble-free experience. For your second statement, I mostly agree with. It can be frustratig when you tinker with no results though, so that's something to keep in mind even if you *thought* you were willing to tinker with it in the first place. Thanks for your comment!
I am thinking of getting the 64gb because I don’t wanna spend alot for more storage, where I could buy a microsd with less. If anyone knows, is the 64gb worth it?
Yeah this is the model I'm recommending (in the conclusion of the video). I think whether you decide to get a micro SD card, or if you plan to upgrade the internal storage (check the channel for a guide!), both are great paths given the price point. Thanks for your comment!
All of the DA games have "Gold" rating or higher, according to ProtonDB, so they should work -- but the EA App might be finicky and require a few restarts and will probably need Proton Experimental. www.protondb.com/search?q=dragon%20age Thanks for your comment!
That's a fair point. And from the latest interviews they have said they may be improving the screen/battery life in a Steam Deck refresh. I wouldn't personally hold my breath for a much better screen, but the price is still very aggressive (for the base model). Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation only thing putting me off is the screen... the system is huge and I know it's good my friend has one but I have the oled switch what I use for travelling with work and commutes etc so I'm not too bothered as I use the ps5 at home.. If it had a larger screen cos they could dor sure expand it with the layout I just dont see the point in me upgrading to it... love the channel mate ✌
@@Marcelo83uk To be fair, I don't think the screen is as bad as people online with their pitchforks make it out to be -- especially for the base model @$400. With that said... it's not going ot win any awards -- which is why people do things like install vibrantDeck (like we have on the channel!). On the point of bigger/better screens though, are you familiar with all the Windows handhelds?
@@gamers-generation to be fair I dont really see the reactions and pitchforks... I was just meaning from when I got to try it out on my friends console. For me I'm not in a hurry cos I still play so much on my switch on the go... the screen is just my preference so not really too fussed about upgrading just yet as I want a bigger screen. The system itself I'm super impressed with and maybe soon I'll give it a try... good info on the vid I'll certainly be keeping an eye open
@@Marcelo83uk It's mostly just people on reddit and discord.. you know how it is. A refresh **should** present a better screen, and by that time there'll be more competition from even more Windows handhelds too! Thanks for your detailed response!
One thing nobody seems to mention is steam stream. I want to be able to play games on the couch while my wife watches TV but my MS Surface is too clunky a solution.... Is this good for just streaming from my high horse power PC in my house or is the latency not worth it
You've brought up a great niche case, thanks for the comment! I didn't really include it because it's a pretty particular use case (given you need a good connection, and also a fairly powerful PC as well). However, I will say it does work, though not flawlessly. In my testing, games that will work best are the Deck verified games -- if you try to play somethin glike Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it might bug out and/or have streaming issues. Otherwise, it seems to work as intended. One thing though.. you meention your MS Surface -- I assume that's NOT what you mean when you say "high horse power PC" right?
@@gamers-generation also worth noting that I'm on a wifi 6 mesh intended for streaming to an Oculus. In the past I've noticed that the valve's steam link hardware was a FAR superior experience to streaming to another PC. The laptop was noticably choppier/less responsive than the link. I'm curious as to which camp the deck would fall under. It technically is a self running computer... But it's made by valve to run valve software like the link.
@@TorqueKMA Wow you've got all the great questions/points! I'm thinking it works like Steam Link (through the Deck) but I haven't tested many games in my library. I'm also thinking you won't have many issues given your WiFi 6 network and beefy big rig (what a beast!). You've also made me wonder now if its possible to stream VR games to the Deck... but I'm thinking no given either SteamOS or something else I'm not considering.
It really depends significantly on the game you're playing. Some older titles you can get an upwards of 3 hours even, but if you play anything new and AAA, I'd be surprised if you can push past 1.5 hours. Thanks for the comment!
For the life of me i cant decide if i should get one... I already have a pretty beefy gaming laptop to begin with. Then there is the thing that i live in Europe so if the deck shits the bed i have to send it back to the US... That would be an absolute pain in the ass. On the other hand i just would love to play in the bed in the night sometimes for couple of hours without plugging in stuff...
I apologize for not knowing, but is Valve not yet selling them there officially yet? The good news about anything Deck related breaking down hardware wise is that if you're willing to "get dirty" many if not most of the parts I believe can be purchased separately. I understand the dilemma! At times, the use of these handhelds completely makes sidesteps the need to have a powerful laptop/desktop. So... it really does come down to use cases I feel. Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation Dont apologize. You did nothing wrong. 😉 Well... When i go on my Steam account the price is in Euro but i think that they ship it from the US since it takes weeks to get it. My real dilemma is that i dont want to mess around. I do enough messing around with the Laptop... I just want to pick it up turn it on and play like a Switch for example. I dont want to run circles to get apps/games to work. I dont know if that is possible with it or not...
TLDR: I speculate that it costs Valve just on the hardware alone around $1600- $1900 dollars per unit. Given that you can get off the shelf components like AOKZOE for around $1400ish on the low end specs relatively easily, we can surmise that the cost of the AOKZOE is around $1300 to make and after you tack on the 7% to 10% profit margins that companies usually take it can bump that up to the cost you purchase for high $1300s to low $1400s but the range of the price can also be almost at cost with the company taking a 2% profit margin (this isn't anything new in the tech space for profit margins) some companies will sell at cost to stay competitive. Valve went for a custom SOC so their costs would be slightly more. Their costs could also have been reduced later on if you buy in bulk you save more. But to keep things simple $1600 - $1900 is my guesstimate. One thing is for sure though, Valve is taking a MASSIVE loss per unit, and my $1600 - $1900 estimate is JUST on the hardware. It can balloon WAY passed that when you factor in R&D and Q&A and on going support costs per update. it's quite insane to see them pull something like this off. I can only imagine that Lord Gaben is puking with every deck sold, but they can easily make this up with all the games sold because they have a platform that can help subsidize these losses. Also tax write offs, cant forget about those.
Hi there, thanks for your detailed response! I personally think your estimate might be a little high, but generally speaking I think your thought process makes sense. I have little to no doubt that Valve is taking a loss for at the very least the base model and possibly the 256gb model -- I'm not so confident about saying that for the 512gb model simply based on the price difference between them (being $120, which is surely not the price difference between those two SSDs. That said though, it's just hardware and doesn't factor in R&D and Q&A as you mentioned, as well as their RMA if that's separate from Q&A. We can probably also surmise that the costs involved to bring the Deck to where it is now is one of the primary driving factors to why a Steam Deck 2 or Steam Deck Pro will be more of a "refresh" with a display or battery rather than actual internal (APU) upgrades -- they need to see ROI on the Deck first. Thanks again for your comment!
I’m just an average gamer. I don’t play PC, I never have. I just want a cool handheld gaming device. First I thought about the Nintendo Switch but now I’m seeing this and the AYN Odin and the decision is becoming more difficult on what I should get.
Unfortunately I am not that well versed in the Odin lineup but as far as I understand its a slightly different segment of product. Please correct me if I'm wrong. AFAIK Odin (and Anbernic, Retroid Pocket)'s primary use cases are for retro game emulation, streaming games, and playing mobile android games. The deck is primarily for playing PC games, but is capable of doing pretty much all of those other things as well. So before making any recommendation I'd like to ask you the following: 1) What do you plan to play on the device? 2) What's your budget? (or how much do you want to spend?) 3) Do you have other consoles/gaming devices? Thanks for your question!
@@gamers-generation I have a ps3 and ps4 I recently bought a ps3 to play Dead Space 2. Right now I’m leaning towards a Nintendo switch oled, it’s a straightforward gaming device and I’m hella worried about getting anything else and something weird happens because I don’t know how to tweak devices or troubleshoot anything.
@@sirsyncalot9147 Thanks for your detailed response Sir! Based on what you said, I think it's going to matter a lot then on your patience and willingness to put up with changes/updates.. And So the Deck right out of the box CAN function just like a console (like with the verification status I mentioned above). Another positive of going this route is later down the line, if you buy/build a gaming PC or move over to a Steam Deck 2, you'll still have that library of games. This is in addition to what I also said about emulation. The switch on the other hand will give you the true console experience, but I think LONG TERM it'll be both more costly and (potentially) have better resale value. This is partly because the Nintendo physical cartridges don't go on sale as often as Steam games do, so they should retain some value if you plan to resell. On the other hand, if you plan to just buy digital copies from the Nintendo eShop... you might want to think harder about the costs involved long term. Hope this helps!
Great if you love Steam OS to play 1/3rd of the games you own. Not great for windows or anything else. I have windows on an sd card. Half the time its great. The other half it constantly freezes, stuff doesnt work, etc. Crapshoot on what works and what doesnt.
THANK YOU for this comment. If you sift through the comments you'll see a lot of "just install Windows"... if only it were that simple. People sometimes forget just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should -- in the Deck's case, it can run WIndows, but it wasn't designed for it...
That comes only with the 512gb model. If you scroll back further in the video you'll see a comparison between the 64gb case (its also the same for 256gb) and the 512 case.
@@DrYohns I apologize, I misread your message. I wonder if they changed the case. Did you notice any other differences? Which model do you have? And when did you get it?
I sold my deck after a couple months, I feel like you waist to much time learning the Steam OS and fixing stuff than enjoying the game ,like you I'm attached to Windows and that's my next console I ordered a Win 4 now I'm just can wait to try it.
We're pretty much exactly on the same page. Some comments have said "just install Windows on it" but it's not as if that's a perfect solution either. I feel more and more that unless you're willing to put up with that "learning experience" you end up spending more time messing with things than actually gaming -- which is fine if that's what you want -- but for an adult with a full time job (and even more true for one with a family) your time is very limited and probably not worth spending on tweaking settings just to play some games. Thanks for your comment!
The deck is the best when not in desktop mode. It is getting better but you should wait for the second Deck to come out and decide. Every game I tried in Gaming mode works. But if you want emulation, that is the one of the costs for emulation. Emulation is the opposite of console as it is more stealing of games.... I actually felt like I had to relearn going from XBox to PS to XBOX and then back. They keep on changing their layout every generation. I stopped when they both went to subscription for any multiplayer.
@@minisithunknown5568 Thanks for your comment. Just to clarify though, emulation isn't stealing if done properly/legally. As in, it is legal to dump your own games and emulate them. It's also legal to emulate games that are no longer sold retail/the license has expired (known as abandonware).
$750 USD? Yikes... yeah so in that scenario... maybe a Windows handheld might be a better use of money? You'd have to compare what's available locally unfortunately... Thanks for your comment.
I want the steam deck but I was thinking of waiting for the steam deck 2 as this is a first generation product and AMD is bringing out some kick-ass mobile APUs. Waiting for a 1 TB version too
That makes sense. To be fair, Valve has been tweaking things during this "1st Generation" as other creators have shown slight variations in chassis finish, storage devices (the m.2 inside basically). I wouldn't hold my breath for more performance, but there is a good possibility of an improved screen and bump in battery life based on what Valve has said in a recent interview. Thanks for your comment!
Honestly, I see that as a waste of time. I don’t see valve releasing a 2nd gen this year. Maybe, next year, and that will be tow the end of the year around christmas most likely. So you will essentially wait almost 2 years for the next gen. If you’re willing to do that, then all power to you. However, you could just use the current steam deck now. Also, performance won’t be that much of a massive improvement. We’ve gotten to the point where cpu/gpu performance is difficult to improve due to the laws of physics. Sure if the second gen was coming out within a year it would be worth, but I just don’t see it. Just my 2 cents.
@@bear532 Absolutely fair points as well. Another problem with "waiting for Steam Deck 2" is that then you could argue you're always "chasing the new thing" and never making use of what's available now or enjoying what can be used at the moment. Thanks for the comment!
They did say that was one of their goals for the "Steam Deck 2" or "Steam Deck Pro", basically battery/screen improvement rather than performance improvement. So here's hoping! Thanks for your comment!
The trackpad was very necessary to include, I play mostly city building games and grand strategy games, most of the time the trackpad is the only option if you want to play the game. I hardly use joysticks, the trackpads are good as is.
Very fair point. It's definitely a subjective thing. I don't play 4X/Sim games really so it doesn't have much use for me, but I can absolutely see the necessity for that. One question I have for you is whether you think both trackpads are useful or not. The symmetrical trackpads are likely for balancing (of weight and haptics) but I do wonder if we could "get away" with just having one trackpad. Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation Maybe, but it feels like this Deck is made for variety of games to include any game for any player. I could see them implementing your ideas for the second one for better battery and screen. I would love for them to try to hit the same price point on the second one though.
@@minisithunknown5568 based on the most recent interview with The Verge, we're most likely to get a 'refresh' with a slight bump in battery/new screen. That would likely resolve most "complaints" even though I don't personally think the screen is that bad. Still, at that price point (even if say the OLED screen starts at $450) that's one hell of a deal. The Deck can't do **everything** but it does so many things, and very well! Thanks for the follow up message.
@@lalapalooza6467 Agreed. Have you seen this new ROG controller? It has this large trackpad like surface (only on the left side) which to me is reminiscent of the Steam Controller...
@@TheLotw Yeah, I do mention that as the sore points of the two devices I've reviewed (please check those out on the channel if you haven't already!). That said, come later this year, when people try to sell their used Windows handhelds or the companies offload their refurbished units, I think the prices will get pretty aggressive. There was a recent sale for the AOKZOE A1, which has its issues, but it was starting at $800 which I think is quite reasonable for that price. Thanks for your comment!
I have a desktop pc that is really good and I wanted to get into emulation and I would like to have a pc to have when I go home from college on the weekends but not a necessity would it be worth it
Depending on how much time you spend on campus and away from your actual desktop it could totally be worth it, particularly for the base model Deck, and assuming you have decent Wi-Fi when you're away from your desktop. Reasons being, in addition to emulation ability, you can directly stream many (I won't say all) games directly from your desktop to your deck, and get basically all of your desktop performance (with the catch being how fast your connection is to your desktop).
@@gamers-generation I've actually decided on the gcloud has enough power for emulation that I want to do and has enough cloud games to keep me happy also is down to 250 which is a justifiable price for me
@@aidanlenz5519 Glad you're happy with going for that price. One thing I'll warn you of with the Gcloud and (pending Razer cloud device) is that you'll of course potentially run into the situation where you don't have a connection, or have a spotty connection (maybe if you're traveling long distance to go home), in which case it becomes a worse mobile phone for gaming. Thanks for the follow up!
You know, I know at least a few people who have been saying that's EXACTLY why they want one of the Windows handhelds... so... can't blame you if that's specifically what you want! Thanks for your comment.
Living in Ukraine and with frequent blackouts looking for something autonomous to play, while there is no light. Gaming laptops go two times more expensive🤔 Is Steam Deck a good way to spend time with no light?🌝 I heard about battery being not long-lasting tho🙁
Hello Tara, thank you for your message. I'm sorry to hear of your situation. The Deck is great at a lot of things, though battery life is surely not amazing. If you plan to play more 2D or older games, you can get a decent amount of battery (maybe around 2 hours or 2.5 hours), but it will be maybe just over an hour or so with newer AAA titles. Are you able to secure a battery pack or packs that you can charge? That may help with battery issue over time. The screen however is quite bright.
I love my Steam Deck and have had it for about 6 months as well. There are some really annoying things if you want to tinker like me. I actually had a dual boot system installed and it worked amazingly, but after a few Steam OS updates had issues where the Deck thought there was just no OS at all to boot from and just yesterday my Windows just completely broke and I stopped using that for now.
For me it is just an addition to my decent gaming pc and could never really be a replacement, but I love bringing it to a friends house to game on a TV with a bunch of people either in native or emulated party games. I used to bring my desktop PC to those occasions sometimes and it was a pain in the butt for me.
It is a device that almost forces you to tinker at least a bit if you want to use it to its full potential, but it is surprising what it can do then.
Thank you so much for your detailed reply. In fact, I'm going to pin your message, because I've had a ton of comments saying "bruh just install Windows!" but it's not as if that doesn't come with its own issues as you very clearly pointed out.
It sounds like we have very similar use cases, or were looking for very similar use cases., I couldn't agree more with everything you've said.
Thank you again!
@@gamers-generation I will try to get Windows running on an SD card now, just to play around with it a bit more and to avoid breaking any boot tables. One SSD with two operating systems has never been great.
Anyways, glad I could contribute. I absolutely love the Steam Deck and I think it is an amazing piece of tech for a great price. And i don't fault it for not playing everything, the same would be the case if I turned on my PlayStation or Xbox, or a MacBook for that matter. There are always some limitations, but there have been way less than I expected with the Deck.
Thank you for another well worded reply. I agree again about it being an amazing piece of tech for a great price, and that we can't fault it for not playing everything -- or doing everything. People are absolutely entitled to feeling disappointed or letdown by something (or someone) but perspective is very important, not everyone shares the same goals and ideas!
I'd love to hear about how things go on the SD card, please don't hesitate to follow up!
@@gamers-generation Sure. Will do. I will have to buy another SD for that though, because I only have the one fast SD that I use for games storage in Linux
I’ve had mine for a week and I’m still blown away by it. So far I have 20 PS2 games, 2 PS3 games, and 3 Wii U games, and I haven’t even dove into PC games yet. This thing is incredible. I remember not that long ago, it was damn near impossible to emulate PS2 games well on even decent PCs, and now we have them running perfectly on a freakin’ handheld lol. This is gonna be my sole gaming device for the next 10 years. Freaking love this thing.
Glad you're enjoying it! It really is one of those devices that can replace (almost) everything. Thanks for your comment!
I’m pretty tech illiterate but did you use PCSX2? I’m so close to buying a steam deck, I just want to make sure I can do the things I want to do before I buy it
@@jamandcracks8875 Actually I think it already has Emudeck installed (which has all the emulators). It's pretty easy. All I did was follow a TH-cam tutorial on Emudeck and it was a breeze. All you need to do is download the Bios file online and put it in the bios folder, then put your roms in the rom folder and run Emudeck. It's pretty streamlined.
@@jamandcracks8875 I've used it (sparingly) through Emudeck (basically a program that installs a number of emulators and configures them for you). Are there certain titles you intend to play on it? Thanks for the comment.
The deck 2 will probably be out by 25!
Hey man I just want to say, after binge watching a million steam deck videos when im bored af even though I already have one, this video was refreshingly original and high-quality. I really felt like you meant what you were saying and that all of your points were honest and well-justified. Most of the Steam Deck youtubers just spit out the same bs, talking about the specs and repeating what they heard from other people's videos, taking any useless information they can get to make their videos longer. These people probably barely even use their Decks if at all. I can tell that you actually used these devices and thoroughly tested them yourself and are not making anything up. Anyway I think you've got a lot of potential as a reviewer and hope you continue making excellent, original content. Cheers!
Wow. Thank you, just thank you! Your detailed reply and kind words are serious motivators!
It is unfortunate the state of content creation can be either a lot of clickbait or fluff to appease the algos. I genuinely appreciate your comment, and will strive to remain honest and approachable to the audience. Happy Holidays!
@@gamers-generationearned a sub here. :)
@@iyekski Thank you, thank you!
I spent $5k building my last PC about 3yrs ago. However, free time feels like a rare commodity these days and it's since been relegated to a home theater PC. I just ordered the 64gb unit because I want casual access to my gaming needs.
If only I could Like this comment even more. This is basically my situation as well.
For anyone always on the go, or that has a family, the Deck can basically bring gaming back into you life. And that is value that's damn hard to quantify.
Thank you for your comment!
Fucking LOL! By "home theater PC" do you mean a five thousand dollar blu ray player? Also, you bought a steam deck even after acknowledging that you dont have free time to use your PC? Have fun trying to justify that purchase!
I have a Series X and made the jump to a Steam Deck 2 months ago. I find I dont care as much about 4k RTX gaming as much as I used to. I watched a youtube video that really speaks to me about why I love the Steam Deck. I get to treat video games like books. With resume and poritibilty. I play for 10 min here, 20 min there and its so simple. When I get home I doc my Deck and play like a console with 1080p upscalling. Im in love and my poor Xbox is getting neglected.
"4K", "RTX ON", "DLSS 3.0", "8K gaming (lul)" all of these buzz words sound nice and surely they are "nice to haves" but... not only are they pricey, they can be impractical.
What you described with your situation works perfectly for many adults particularly ones with a family. We unfortunately don't have countless hours to sit at a TV or desk to game -- and that sucks. Portables like the Deck can be gamechangers in those scenarios.
Thanks for your comment!
I was hesitant to get my Deck because I didnt really need it....but I'm so glad I did. It's a fantastic piece of tech. And, I can play online with no real issues using my phone's hot spot.
People will complain no matter what, but there are so many things that the Deck can do and at very aggressive pricing compared to the competition. This year things should be different, but the support Valve provides is surely worth something that even competitors can't put a price tag on.
Thanks for your comment, glad you're enjoying the device!
Do install windows?
I've been totally content with the deck 6 months later. The broad array of pc titles it plays still has kept my attention. I thought it was a great system as it was then I discovered its emulation capabilities. It is imo a must have gadget pc handheld (whatever you want to call it) of this generation. Amazing
It really is a jack of all trades, or swiss army knife if you will. Thanks for your comment and input!
I've got the "gadget itch" after xmas and although I have a low end gaming laptop that does what I need I still really feel like the Steam Deck would be a better gaming experience. Thoughts?
@@HuwPewPew What do you have in your laptop CPU/GPU wise? Also what is your intended use case? Primarily PC gaming? Do you intend to do any emulation or use it as a desktop?
@@HuwPewPew I have an i9 11th gen CPU laptop that can't play games deck can, so unless it's AMD as the CPU the Deck would win vs Intel. It's a blast playing doom eternal then jumping to emulation in a blip of a second
Track pads are a godsend for playing mouse based games and I'm so glad they're included. Even when there's controller binds for games like citizen sleeper or disco Elysium, using the mouse/trackpad is often so much better
Valid points! Thanks so much for your comment!
Today I ordered the 64gb version. I also have a 128gb micro sd card at home. Despite the high-end computer with the rtx4090, I found it tempting to be able to play games on the couch or in the hospital. I'm really looking forward to it.
Awesome! Yeah the use case scenarios are quite large even if you have a good desktop at home. Please do check out the guide on the channel on how to upgrade the internal storage if you end up doing so.
Thanks for the comment!
The trackpads are the best thing ever... I cannot stand using most handhelds for mos games because I hate the dumb little joysticks, and hardly ever use them... I use the trackpads for almost everything, and they work so fantastic. The Deck would be useless for me without the trackpads. I never got how anyone can do first person aiming good with joysticks, and its so much easier with the trackpad, it reminds me more of using a thumb trackball and is very precise. I also rarely find any community layout I like and make my own controller layout for everything.
That's absolutely a fair point. They do work really well and something I forgot to mention in the video is that the haptics/force feedback on them are actually quite nice too, more than you'd expect anyway. At the same time I'd wager you're not the average user if you're making/modifying your own community layouts -- I did say I was too lazy for that though... lol. Thanks for your comment!
I have to agree, my aim is drastically better with the trackpads against them keyboard folk on overwatch 2.
Edit: it also pretty much locks me into valves ecosystem bec of it lol😅
@@sonicandroxas absolutely fair point. I did say I'm trash with shooters so... The good news there is that it seems Valve is unlikely to ditch the trackpads in a refresh -- the leaked images of their prototype decks also had larger trackpads If I recall correctly.
I subbed when you did the promo. Well done.
Thank you! You've made my day!!!
Like always really great video and editing! :D
You're the best! Thanks so much!
Nice review! The Steam Deck looks like a really nice and solid device for playing my JRPGs on the go though I’ll probably wait for a 2nd gen with (hopefully) an OLED display option. Coming from an OG Vita OLED, Switch OLED and currently Console and PC gaming on an LG C2 OLED, it’s kind of hard to go back to an IPS LCD 😅
Thank you! There is a good possibility of that it seems. Valve was recently on record saying they're more likely to opt for changes like a display change rather than changing internals. That probably makes more sense from a business cost standpoint as well -- the easiest thing to modify in the production line would be things like that.
And it ABSOLUTELY is great for JRPGs on the go! Thanks for your comment~
Jus a tip I looked into it n the next one isn't coming out till the end of 2023 so it's gonna be a bit
@@cudisogzombie Thanks for the reply! Do you have a source for that news?
@@cudisogzombie that's early this console just cameout
@@gamers-generation there's no confirmed date but Iv seen multiple articles if u jus look up steam deck 2 that they won't release one for a bit cuz they wanna wait a bit sins the first one jus came out n they wanna wait for better graphics technology n stuff so when they do release the 2 it will be way more advanced an better then any of there competitors
I thought the trackpads we're useless until I got a good game that doesn't have controller support. Actually a controller would be impossible , but th re are some community profiles that combine trackpads with the controller.
Now I appreciate them because I'm addicted to this game ("Iratus: Lords of the Dead")
Very good point! I imagine RTS games like the Civilization/AOE series would also be pretty terribad with just the analog sticks for navigation too.... thanks for your comment!
Divinity: Original Sin 1 & 2 both use the trackpads in their default controller schemes and, in my opinion, makes playing them on the Steam Deck one of the more enjoyable ways to play them.
Disco Elysium plays pretty similarly, too.
They all run perfectly on deck.
@@TheFallingFlamingo Very fair point, I haven't played much of Divinity. But I imagine its not very fun/accessible without the trackpads or an external mouse which is a whole other can of worms.
If you install vibrant deck you can max out the saturation making the colours pop!
Yup! Thanks for the tip, I do have a guide up for how to install it with Decky Loader!
I wanted one so bad for Christmas I bought 256gb model for $1500 because Im I'm Australia and they don't ship them or sell them here so you have to pay a big amount of money to get one of someone that imported it from America. I have been using it for about 4 days now and it is absolutely amazing... I am playing games that i never thought I would ever play just because there are so many good games on Steam that are so so good to play on the steam deck. I think everybody should have one of these they are absolutely amazing. And it is amazing how these updates are making it better and better.... In 2 years from now the steam deck will be amazing
I'm glad you're enjoying it -- I wish you didn't have to pay that kind of price though. Have they not started shipping overseas yet? I agree completely about playing things you didn't expect you would!
If you get the 64gb model I'd HIGHLY suggest upgrading to a 512gb or higher nvme. Otherwise if you have a 1tb sd card it will fill your internals with shaders and optimizations before you fill that sd card (Other category). Then you wont be able to launch any games until you download a program to locate and delete some of those "other" files.
Thanks for the tip! I think this is sound advice -- the other catch is if you install Steam games on the Micro SD then decide to upgrade the internal storage... you'll be waiting a while to move those files over... which is fine only if you enjoy watching paint dry I think.
@@crashdude7589 Pin this guy's comment.
Thank you for acknowledging that many of us will skip to the end, and thus create a concise tl;dw conclusion. Good points!! I'm looking forward to getting one!
Glad it was helpful, just trying to keep it real. Hopefully you'll skip on back I mean stop on back for some of the other "Quick" content. Thanks for your comment!
Just got mine about a week ago and I’m absolutely hooked! One little thing that nobody really mentioned (which is kinda driving me insane) is the joysticks paint flaking off from hitting the edges. Happened within the first hour or so of playing… how didn’t Valve notice this??
You know what.. I don't think I've ever noticed this on my unit.. but I will say I have heard that the Q3+ (units also being shipped now0 have a different paint/finish on them... so I'm not sure if that's related...
Bough mine a week ago also, this is not happening to me. Sounds like you got a buggy unit. You could contact valve. That’s definitely not normal and it’s also why people don’t mention it.
Thats crazy! I personally found the stock joysticks to be way too slippery for my fingers, so I bought some Razer universal griptape and cut out holes using a punch tool to stick to the joysticks. heard about it on reddit, and now they are protected and suuuper grippy, I love it.,
@@wardog3d they sell silicon rings on amazon to remedy the issue so it’s def a thing
Had mines for 2 months. Never had that issue.i seen pictures though
I actually prefer the track pad for fps games. It's surprisingly similar to a mouse. And if you buy the 64 gig it will play EVERYTHING the switch does except those switch exclusives ( but there's always emulation baby!) And on top of that the games are significantly cheaper and the freeking console won't fall out of your hands because it's a 1/4 in thick with nowhere for your big man hands to go.
Thanks for your detailed reply! Yeah I imagine the trackpads and gyro are a lot more functional for someone less trash at FPS than I am (lul). Big deck boi is definitely more comfortable in hand than the switch for sure! (That's what she said!)
Gave a thumbs up just for the Raid jumpscare lmao. In all seriousness, this is a good video.
Hahaha! Glad it **got** you! Thank you thank you!
I just wish it had a better screen like the Switch OLED, a door covering the SSD, and a stand, again like the Switch.
Do you mean a door for the SSD for easy swaps/installs? I believe there's a 3rd party case like that in the works but I agree that would be nice.
As for OLED, that *might* happen for Steam Deck 2 or the refresh... but we shall see... Thanks for your comment!
great video! I just ordered a 512gb last night. Can't wait for it!
Thanks so much for your kind words! Please feel free to follow up with your experience! Cheers!!!
Seems like the way to go
For PlayStation exclusive PC ports without a PlayStation.
Really great point! Thansk for your comment!!!
4:38 KolboldKare caught red handed
Ya got me, I was looking at a title Valve was recommending hahahaha. Thanks for the comment.
@@gamers-generation Nobody can escape dummy thicc lizard women
@@starliamshakewars3635 What did I start here... I may have made a huge mistake...
Personal complaint from someone that’s getting one soon enough, I really wish that they had made the controllers more organized, like why are all the buttons so high up then these huge, almost useless, mouse pads. If it were me, I’d move it down and make the buttons and spiny circle things similarly to a Nintendo Switch
I totally understand your complaint. It was part of my personal gripe in this video also... The good news there is I feel like there are enough Windows handhelds out there to fit your preferred layout... the downside is of course that they're nowhere near the price range of the Deck (right now anyway)... Thank sfor your comment!
Reading some of your comments helped me understand a bit better so in a few years there will be a steam deck 2 but in the meantime they could improve things like battery life and maybe the screen,
I've been going through videos to help me decide if I want to buy it or not.
Hi there, thanks for going the extra mile! That is my understanding based on Valve's most recent interview with The Verge.
One factor I didn't mention in my video was where you're located. Assuming you're in the US., the base $400 Deck is really aggressive pricing. But there are places where you can't buy it officially, and in those places because of the scalping, it makes it a harder then to recommend or choose a Windows handheld vs. a Steam Deck.
Hope the video was helpful to you, thanks for the comment!
What no one is telling us is HOW BAD THE STORE IS ON THE DECK.
The Store is SO bad on the Deck---I still use my PC (or even my phone) to buy/browse the Store, & it's the one piece of advice I would sincerely recommend to anyone considering buying a Steam Deck.
I have no idea why not a single review brings the Store's issues up, but that may be implicitly why Valve hasn't addressed it since I got a Deck at launch.
This is a great video, for sure! But we all seem to gloss over how bad the Store is "because the rest of the Deck is so good." It's true, but yeah, it's an inescapable outlier that likely & literally every Deck owner has experienced, yet nobody brings it up (or makes an excuse for it). Going over the UI in this video, for example, the Store experience on the Deck seems like a glaring omission---I'm not mad, just not sure what to do about it, know what I mean? It SEEMS like a fixable problem but nobody mentions it outright, which is the strangest thing to me.
Still, the Store is absolutely atrocious on the Deck & I don't know how or why it's still as bad after a full year except that nobody notices enough to mention it in spite of likely everyone having the same horrid experience.
Thanks for your comment. Would you mind elaborating on what exactly you find so bad about the store on Deck? There were issues previously with tabs not autoloading (like the "Great on Deck" tab) and not being selected automatically. As well as clicking "More" or trying to load more titles which sent you into a loop at the top of the store page, but those have been fixed as far as I know.
@@gamers-generation Things like the wishlist having no sorting capability still in spite of it being added in an update to the phone app & easily accessible on PC & Linux & even big screen mode, or how often entire rows of games aren't browsable without cutting half the images off, or when you go "back" a page but then the inputs don't function correctly outright (ex., pressing up may actually & literally scroll down, rather than right where you left off), missing highlights to know where you are selecting, even the cart can completely "crash" & lose stored items when buying more than one title, the lack of installation prompts when buying a game (vs. when installing a game you already own) may be a design choice rather than a functionality issue (but still feels oddly jarring), & the performance level itself I can overlook, it's simply the functionality issues & their persistence through a year now that I find difficult to understand why I've never found a video that even mentions it in their reviews. It's not meant to be critical, sincerely, but just as sincerely it feels like a fixable problem that Valve otherwise has no idea exists by nature.
Of all things, the Store itself seems like the last place Steam would want such inescapable functionality issues on their flagship handheld. I love my Deck, make no mistake, but I end up buying games elsewhere when I'd absolutely rather it be at least as seamless & enjoyable on the Deck itself.
Fair criticisms. Thank you for the detailed response. I can't say I had the same experiences, but I don't really use wishlist so what you've said all makes sense -- and another reason why it's all sort of "WIP" and not a "true console experience" IMO. Thank you again for the reply!
@@gamers-generation Thanks again.
For clarification, it's more than just using the Store, but it's how *all* Steam interaction works; the wishlist, reviews, guides, mods (you "subscribe" to them in the UI, & mods being functional on the Deck was an explicit talking point from Valve & in many reviews), essentially any & all participation in Steam's own vast community is as hindered on the Deck as it was since launch. That's why it feels like such a glaring problem, & for it to be so consistently overlooked by so many in comprehensive reviews will always feel strange, if nothing else.
Thanks again for what you do, always.
Thank you for your honesty and support. I understand its hard to fully review an item in a timely fashion as I am very guilty of taking my time with it, I suppose the good news here is that the store can be refined/fixed, I would say I agree it's a bit of a glaring omission though if Valve hasn't done anything to fix things... I wonder if they even realize this?
Brilliant video. Totally agree with your conclusion.
Thank you so much for your kind words!
Not perfect but as a lifelong enthusiast and collector of video games this would be the one and only console i would choose if i could only keep one
Absolutely on point comment! The Deck is most definitely not perfect, but it does SO many things so well. Thank you for saying so!
You got me ;) I have to leave an comment. By the way awsome video, love the way you explain things ;). The funniest part is "This video is.....oh....nonono" hahahahha love it.
If only I could like your comment even more! Thank you for your kind words, it really means a lot and truly motivates me to keep making more content.
Thing I still don’t understand :
the one with 512go is it more powerful, faster with better performances ?
Or it’s only about storage which is possible to upgrade it by myself easily ?
It's really only the storage that's larger and the screen that has a non-reflective (matte) finish (on the 512gb model). Other than that, all three of the Steam Decks are exactly the same. Thanks for your comment!
I sure hope they make a more powerfull deck that can handle latest games as well. I just want to play resident evil 4 remake next. Its a cool device, but still havent decided to buy one over xbox right now.
Unfortunately we'll probably be waiting a couple of years if what they've said recently is true about "one performance level". HOWEVER... if you're willing to check out those Windows handhelds, I expect those to be much more affordable in the next year or so.
Please check out the reviews (two of them AYANEO 2 and AOKZOE A1) are on the channel now.
Thanks for the comment!
@@gamers-generation i guess for the price, steam deck is un matched. Valve also seem like a safer company so to speak. But they can easily make a more powerfull if deck is succesful. Just found out about these handheled pcs and they look interestibg.
@@j.l.larsson1472 Yoiu're absolutely right about being a "safer company". The chinese companies of course have a dodgy history, I will however say that the dodgy histories are generally tied in my experience to slow responses and returns/repairs, not from devices not actually getting delivered as far as I know. I've dealt with 3 companies so far all of which have been crowdfunded projects -- all have delivered. The delivery times and quality of support has varied greatly though.
And, they are serious powerhouses (the 6800U devices anyway).
Pass for me. I'll patiently wait for the next STEAMDECK. At this point that device is still in its infancy stage. Version 2.0 will be a game changer for me.
Fair point about being in infancy. 2023 will be VERY interesting for this market assuming you're willing to dabble in the used/refurb market. I expect a SD2, even with potentially a slightly better screen/battery will be competing in a space with these (current) 6800u Windows handhelds, which I also assume will have dropped a reasonable amount by that time. Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation I would like to see the next STEAMDECK to utilize a far more superior and power efficient chipset than the AMD 6800u, that can deliver 1080p at 60-120hz. Right now I can't see myself joining the hype for this device. I'm a patient man, waiting is my game. Lol
I'm going to get one. Very excited to play my library on the go
Happy to hear you're going to take the plunge! Thanks for the comment!
valve insider has teased that a new iteration of steamdeck is near production. its not a replacement or successor. just incremental improvements like oled screen, magnetic joy stick, snap-on side controllers via magnet (like onexplayer), smaller bezzel, slightly slimmer and lightweight; and fingerprint power button. they said that the chip will still be the same (or just slightly faster) nothing revolutionary. the current 64gb and 512gb maybe discontinued making this the highest tier offering.
Source?
I may be mistaken, but I think there's been some loose interpretation of some statements Valve has made in recent interviews. I don't recall them saying anything about detachable controllers (like joycons or OneXplayer2). Here's one source of an interview that states they're looking to keep "one performance level"
www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview-late-2022
I am thinking about purchasing this simply for NES/SNES/PS1/PS2 generation games assuming they arent not already available on Steam. I already have a high end PC so it feels a little redundant to buy this instead of maybe a dedicated emulation device like a Retroid 3. My reason for buying this over a dedicated emulation machine is so I can purchase older games on Steam if they are available. (I rather not get games unscrupulously if I don't have to.) I currently own a budget laptop from 2020 which has as i5 10300H & a 1650 4GB so I told myself I won't buy the Steam Deck until I at least sell that laptop, feels even more redundant and wasteful to have a desktop, laptop, and steam deck. What do you all think?
I had that same feeling and its an understandable one. But if you're on the go enough, or away from your PC enough, you can definitely argue that it's not redundant. Thanks for your comment!
Just got mine about 2 weeks ago and it’s like is glued to my hand, can’t stop playing. Don’t need to sit in front of the tv or monitor and also a lesser energy bill 😉
Glad you're enjoying it! It really is a game changer, maybe not for everyone -- but for many people who can't, won't, don't want to sit in front of the tv or monitor as you described -- there really is nothing that does the same job.
Thanks for the comment!
Who would you that the sleep/start function of a handheld devices wouldn't matter much?
Do you mean who do I think wouldn't care about that? I suppose someone who is good at shutting down their games or someone who isn't "always on the go/run" wouldn't think that much about that function. But it's a really nice qualiy of life feature that doesn't work so well on Windows in my experience.
Sorry If I misunderstand your comment.
Great video! I really like titles like Skyrim and Witcher which I play in university. I must admit I am a terrible gamer. In China, we call whoever that sucks at games electronically erectile dysfunctional. But I love it when I see the nice scenery in Skyrim. So my question is do you still get the chills when you play Skyrim in SteamDeck, like when you see the mammoth in the wild or enter snow capped mountains for the first time?
Thank you! I haven't truthfully played much Skyrim at all on the Deck. I assume though that whatever vanilla graphics look like on the device, it looks THAT much better with vibrantDeck (a plugin that increases gamma/saturation of the screen).
With that said, are you into Skyrim modding? It's possible on the Steam Deck too, just a little annoying because there are a bunch of steps you need to jump through compared to on PC which something like Vortext can handle very easily.
So, I'm a little torn about whether or not I'm going to hold on to mine. I got the premium model because of the storage just to realize it would have been cheaper to go with the base model and get an SD card. But that's just one of a list of things at the moment.
That being said, I am hoping that it will separate my computer and my gaming.
Pretty much exactly my situation as well. I'm now doing content for the channel with the Deck but it truthfully doesn't get much use either because I don't have the time to tinker, and instead actually game on the Windows handheld.... that's sort of why I gave the conclusion that I did -- it's a great device, but there are without a doubt a few caveats people should be aware of.
Any ideas or thoughts on how you plan to separate the computer and gaming?
Thanks for your comment!
Selling mine due to limitations of the system. Maybe Deck 2 in the future. I have a mini PC running Steam OS / Windows 11, so I don’t need it. And I hate the not have a dock connector on the bottom of the system.
@@Xanduur I understand your gripes very well! Steam Big Picture mode now on a windows device almost makes SteamOS irrelevant at this point... Thanks for your comment!
ahaha ok did not expect the "thats what she said"
"You've always left me completely satisfied." Thanks for your comment!
Short answer: yes. :D
Glad you think so! Thank you for the comment~
Had mine since September and I love it. I'm really more into handheld these days versus console 🤷 my Xbox has officially become my TV/movie player only now.
Really enjoying Hogwarts legacy on the deck, for hours on end 👍
Really great to hear! That was exactly my experience with my other devices.
Loving that you are enjoying Hogwarts Legacy, please check out my latest video on how to mod it! th-cam.com/video/bA6FL6ZD_8Y/w-d-xo.html
@@gamers-generation thank you for this! Saved it for later to go back to. Want to play through first as is, but will definitely dabble in mods at some point
@@SkylarkMoon Fantastic, looking forward to your progress and to hear what you think about the game! And Thank **YOU**!
So I’m still on the fence but I have an Oculus Rift, a PS 1-5, an XB1, a Switch and my PC rig which is powerful enough so I’ll probably pass. The Switch has decent content for mobile gaming and is satisfying enough. Moral of the story is you don’t need the so-called latest and greatest because there’ll always be something else on the horizon to take your loot and time.
Fair decision. If you didn't have all those other pieces of hardware and only had one or two (like your desktop and switch) the deck would probably still be a pretty good deal for you, but I agree, you don't need the "latest and greatest" because you'll end up chasing "the dragon" more often than you realize.
Thanks for your comment!
thanks, nice video
Cheers, sir!
I have nerve damage in my arms can’t play pc but just found out I can play switch then found out about steam deck so I’m a wow addict and thought I’d never get to play it again how does wow run on the deck
Sorry to hear about your nerve damage. For WoW, as far as I know, it's quite playable but because it's not a native Steam game, you'll have to do a couple of things in order to get it running (as it uses the battle.net launcher). Thanks for your comment!
Waiting for mine to come in. Already an Arch Linux user and play most of my games that way, so I know what I'm getting into and how to fix any potential issues. While I prefer to use Arch over Windows, I do believe an option to choose an OS out of the box would be nice, especially for those who prefer Windows. But since Windows is so much harder to customize for the hardware outside of working directly with Microsoft, I understand why they didn't offer that choice of out the box.
That's exciting! Let me know how it works out for you!
I understand completely your suggestion. That would indeed be nice to give users the choice, I think though that in Valve's case they do want to push SteamOS forward, so having Windows as an "option" makes more sense for them as a business -- not to mention that's good PR that it can do both (though technically the latter will likely run into issues that you're on your own for).
Thanks for your detailed comment!
I got the 64gb. I’m not huge in emulating any old games. I need to figure out how to do this still. But, I set up geforce now on it, and it’s frustrating that geforce doesn’t recognize my controllers as a gamepad automatically.
Unfortunately GeforceNow is... a mess. The good news is that other apps like Moonlight and/or Chiaki work quite well for game streaming as far as I know. If you do want to emulate games at some point, it is much more streamlined than on a PC I would say. Thank sfor your comment!
I mostly play fifa but unfortunately FIFA 23 is not supported on the stem deck yet.. the rating is currently borked. So I think I will wait to get a steam deck 2 with hopefully future support of FIFA 23/24.and so on :)
Unfortunately you may be waiting longer than you think if you're holding out for a Steam Deck 2. The last word was that they won't be changing anything hardware wise except for the screen/battery (if they do actually change it). So you're left to EA to fix things... which isn't a good place to be.
Have you checked out any Windows handhelds? They aren't without their own issues but thankfully game compatibility is typically not one of them. (P.S., there are two handheld reviews on the channel!).
Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation y not window11 steamdeck?
@@bearsj3 You absolutely can do that. I wouldn't expect 100% compatibility. Meaning you'll still likely run into driver issues at some point. The deck is also not powerful enough for my purposes (production work).
I also don't personally want to deep-dive into this potentially time consuming solution.
I have a steamdeck I bought the expensive one. I love it like you said, I don’t even turn on my desktop anymore. I can pretty much play every single game except for seven days to die because it just takes too long for the download in the map. The one thing that annoys me the most is setting up an external solid-state drive because you need to make up a password, but when you put down the password, it doesn’t type at all for some stupid ass security thing and I was frustrated and so I hit enter and now I don’t know the password and I’m completely locked out and steam even though I sent in a request for help has ignored me
Hi there, thanks for your comment and detailed response.
I was about to say I'm glad you're enjoying your experience but then I read the rest of your comment.. ugh. I'm really sorry that's happening -- I hope they respond soon. In my experience when I had to reset my password it was just automated responsed.
Was this not the case for you? I didn't realize attaching an external drive was that troublesome.
@@gamers-generation yup and those guys that make videos to explain how to do it not one of them thought that they should say when you’re entering in your password, nothing is going to show no dots no stars nothing that would’ve been great because then I would’ve been like OK but instead feel like I already did my password, so I’m not gonna change it and that’s how you change it. So I was like it’s not working what the hell.
@@yngvie659 Really sorry to hear that... ugh. I hope you can sidestep this issue somehow in the future when everything is resolved!
@@gamers-generation there’s two ways to do it one that I saw was very hard and then the easier way is the format the system I’m like no my roms
Sorry for the late reply. I can see how that'd be frustrating -- I did notice when I plugged in my own drives before that they had to be reformatted -- sign. Have they gotten back to you?
Was thinking of getting a 64gb steam deck, adding a 512mb m.2 and slapping windows on there. Clunky but very useful... To me. Worth it?
Some people are saying that Windows works perfectly fine now. I've not bothered to see if driver/crashing issues are all gone, but it would definitely give you options.
Depending on your budget, your plan is 100% a good one. You could even dual boot with one of the OSes installed internally, and then the other on a separate drive, like through a USB-C SSD drive. That way you can experience both.
Please do check out the M.2 upgrade video on the channel if you decide to go that route! Thanks for your comment!
What is the protective case that you are using? It looks pretty cool
Here's an affiliate (not sponsored) link for the skin/cover:
amzn.to/3IBfYNQ
Thank you for the comment!
Onexplayer 2/onexplayer mini pro/aya neo 2/aya neo geek/gpd win 4/gpd win max 2/ayn loki.... etc
Sorry, these are the devices you want reviewed on the channel? Thanks for your comment!
As long as I can play madden im good. That’s literally the only game I want it for
No NBA2K? lol I kid. Apparently it is playable on deck, just has a few issues like small text and needing otuse the onscreen keyboard.
This is literally the tinkerer's dream device so a statement like "I am too lazy to mess with the settings" (paraphrased) makes me wonder if I am in the right place. What I got out of this is you hate the screen and the rest is Meh... Just my observations as a person researching a steamdeck purchase.
Thanks for your comment. So I should probably clarify a few things. I don't recall saying "I am too lazy to mess with settings" or that I "hate the screen". It was more like, I was too lazy to configure the back buttons -- and that I've seen better displays.
In terms of tinkering, it's not that I don't want to, or that I haven't -- it's that for me personally time is quite limited. So jumping through hoops just to get a game to work when you know you can simply get it to work on a different OS is far from ideal. It's absolutely a personal preference and were I a regular Linux user, I'm sure I would be more than willing to put up with whatever flaws exist on SteamOS, because that's what I'd be used to.
Don't get me wrong, the Deck is an amazing device, especially for the price (of the base model). My conclusion was just this, and that people should know they're getting a device that has its quirks, many of them have been addressed and I assume even more will be addressed in a refresh (or Steam Deck 2); but it's not a "perfect device" by any means.
Thanks again for your comment.
I still think the steam deck is the best purchase for a pc gamer. A totally game changer
I hear you, it really is hard to beat! Thanks for your comment!
I like the Deck although it has its quirks, right now I have 23 games installed which isn't shabby for a handheld. Verified games work like a charm and don't crash, Borderlands 3 is classed as playable along with Forza Horizon, both games randomly crash spitting you out back to the desktop.
I'd say the device works well most of the time and I'm still happy to be an owner.
What you described is exactly what I experienced too. And absolutely the reason why I suggested people who TRULY want that "console experience" to avoid the Deck. Obviously there are performance issues with consoles (look at Gotham Knights and the new Pokemon games) but you can **guess** those will be fixed sooner rather than later, whereas with Deck, it's anyone's guess as to when (or if) the issues are fixed, given how many games there are out there on Steam. Thanks for the comment!
Hi
Is there any news about hardware changes or upgrates in Steam Deck soon?
I want to buy one but don't know maybe better to wait a bit?
Looking for advise, thanks
Hello! As far as I know, Valve has only stated they will be updating the Deck in ways other than performance (like maybe display or battery). Other than that, I think there are a lot of people saying things that Valve hasn't said on record.
Source:
www.theverge.com/23499215/valve-steam-deck-interview-late-2022
Scroll down to "A second-gen Steam Deck is coming but maybe not a "Pro"
Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation Thank You for answer. I really enjoyed Your video.
Maybe do You know does Valve ship now Steam Deck with "better fans from Delta Electronics" or I missunderstood the part about fans?
@@sterindo5260 You're most welcome. From what I had heard, they ship only the HUAYING (quieter) fans with newer Steam Decks. Although there's a possibility those newer Steam Decks have "worse" performing m2. SSDs. The fans have a different noise profile (Gamers Nexus did an extensive video on this) which makes it "less pleasant" to listen to. As far as how effective the fans are themselves, I don't recall there actually being any real difference between them.
Hope you stick around and check out the other videos on the channel!
Why would you prefer a different device just for the sake of Windows if you are just playing games in full screen mode and you have virtually no interaction with the underlying OS at all? I guess the only reason is better game compatibility, but the price you pay in terms of higher price as well as missing features in Windows (performance tuning, suspend, saved disk storage, etc) is not worth it in my opinion.
It's mostly because of my work and lack of Linux experience. I don't really have the time to spend troubleshooting a Windows install and/or dealing with incompatibilities on SteamOS. Basically everything I research/test on the Deck now is for the channel, so it becomes a big time sink in that way.
Absolutely fair point about it not being worth it., despite what I said about bugs and things (eventually) breaking on SteamOS, Deck does so many things so well, and at such an aggressive price point -- it's hard to say no.
Thanks for the comment!
Is the steam deck worth buying for indie games. I have an Xbox series x
I think so! I don't play many Indie games, but many of the most popular games on Steam Deck are indie games I believe (like Hades, Vampire Survivors). Thanks for your comment!
I’m stuck between deciding to buy a ps5 or steam deck 😅
It's a tough decision! I think you'll probably be satisfied with either purchase.. but the better buy probably comes down to your preferences. I think some questions you should ask yourself are:
1. Do I want the portability?
2. Do I play PS exclusives primarily?
3. How soon do I want this?
For 1, if portability isn't really a thing, since maybe you work remotely, or you have another device to play your PS5 games through remote play then maybe PS5 is better for you?
For 2, if you play a lot of exclusives.. that's kind of non-negotiable then. Even though I personally expect most if not all exclusives to hit PC eventually, it might be a long wait before that happens.
For 3, There are rumors for a PS5 refresh, like a PS5 pro or something; while that might be a good amount more money, there's a good chance it will be a nice performance bump too -- and if it's just a PS5 slim, there might be a price drop (hopefully). As for the Steam Deck, while a Steam Deck 2 won't give better performance, there might be improved battery life or screen down the line if you can wait.
Thanks for your comment!
The screen on the 64gb is great for what it is. You can get a quality blue light screen protector which actually works better in comparison to the screen on the 512gb model. My advice is to go with the 64gb model Because for the $250 difference you can buy a large SD card, Case, Skin, thumb grips, blue light screen protector, dock, Type C Converter, etc. Lol.
I've seen the tests where there is barely a difference in speed between the SSD storage and a quality SD Card. In fact, in the tests that I saw some games were actually quicker being launched from the SD Card.
Steam Deck is a no brainier if you are looking to get into PC gaming as it can also be connected to a monitor or if you are Already a PC gamer who is looking to play their titles on the go. Cost to Performance comparison there is nothing like it available as it runs today's top triple AAA games smoothly. 👍
10000% agree with you. And that's exactly why I can't personally recommend the 512GB (or even the 256GB) model. I have the 512GB model which I upgraded internally for the channel - but realistically, had I gone with the 64GB and then did what you suggested with a MicroSD card, I could have spent basically the same amount of money as the 512GB model while having a 1TB MicroSD AND a 1TB NVMe drive for the price difference.
So regarding Windows why can’t you just install it on the Steam Deck? What’s the experience like? From other videos I watch it seems pretty good.
You absolutely can install Windows on a Steam Deck, but there have been issues with doing so, such as no audio from the on-board speakers (now patched), and random bluescreens (this one I'm unsure of). The hardware, while capable of running Windows, just wasn't designed specifically for it.
In the interest of my own time, I prefer to not go to the length of troubleshooting issues like that (other than for researching for the channel), so I personally prefer not to have to "figure things out for myself" when possible.
Just to elaborate further. If I really needed the Windows environment and didn't have my desktop or the Windows handheld, I would probably then try to install Windows on a separate drive/USB. I'm sure some people are willing to do that in order to play games that are simply broken currently on Deck (like Valorant) because of Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC).
@@gamers-generation Okay fair enough thanks for the info. I have a Xbox Game Pass subscription and was planning to install Windows as soon as I get a Steam Deck. Maybe the GPD Win 4 is a better choice for me. 😅
@@bboy349833591 Thanks for understanding. You have a bit of a unique decision as well.
With Game Pass, as far as I know, it can be used (though only through streaming apparently) with the Deck natively. Otherwise you'll have to install Windows as you originally planned.
The Win4 is very competitive for its price at the lowest tier. I think it's a very debatable choice if you're comparing the top end (512gb) Steam Deck to the base Win4, both price, and feature wise.
I won't be reviewing the Win4 on this channel but I do intend to review other Windows handhelds here. Stay tuned!
I'm seriously considering this....but I need to work on music first....discipline.
*insert "Why not both?" meme*
But in all seriousness, you can do some production work with the Deck! Won't be the most efficient/powerful set up, it can work!
Thanks for the comment!
@@gamers-generation Most definitely. I will test the productivity side of this device when I get it. I am currently on the Switch, but there's no solid hitman games, Metal Gear, etc (I'm a Playstation guy). So I heard this device can play hitman emulators. Glad to be of support 🙌🏽
@@Rizzlyricist Thanks for the response Rizz! YongYea did do a video where he made the entire video (linked in the description) on the Deck, basically less than ideal, but you could do it.
As for Hitman and Metal Gear, it probably depends on specifically which one... but as far as I know, the Deck can play many PS3 (and pretty much all PS2 and PSX titles) when emulated.
@@gamers-generation Sold 🤑🤣
@@Rizzlyricist Hahha -- wait! Watch the video before you commit, I don't want you to come back and say it's all my fault when performance isn't S-Tier! ;)
I like my deck for the most part but I can’t recommend it to people who are used with windows OS in general and don’t want to mess with their gaming pc a lot. The experience on learning or tweaking Linux on a steam deck is painful. Many mods will not work unless you are lucky enough to find a work around with pages of tutorials to look at. Some steam games, like Judgment, is a stuttering mess. It runs almost perfect on my old OXP 1165G7 windows handheld with a presumably ‘weak’ Xe iGPU from Intel. But the truth is some games are just runs much better on windows and al out of mods and games are not working on Steam OS, yet. It’s been over a year since valve released the deck, I don’t know if things will getting better next year. There are many more Chinese handheld PCs coming out now, steam deck need to catch up with official windows steam is dual boot at least Imo.
I'm glad you mentioned this. Thanks for your comment. There are some people here mentioning that I could have just installed Windows -- but it's not as if that isn't without issues as well (like the audio drivers not being released until October I believe it was).
Definitely for anyone wanting to use mods in their games.. the Deck can be both frustrating and eye-opening. If someone wants to do the legwork to get it to work, hey more power to you -- but I personally don't have the time or energy to put towards that.
Hopefully the next version is smaller It's a pass for me do to the size way too big to take around
Unfortunately you might be waiting awhile for that to happen, since the Steam Deck refresh/pro/2 or whatever they'll call it seems most likely they'll modify just the screen and the battery.
Have you looked into the GPD Win 4? Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generationGPD is out of my price range I'm patient anyway I have my Switch lite and psvita they'll do for now
I got the 512gb version then I deceded to return it immediately after it kept freezing when I tried launching PPSSPP emulator and games such as GTA IV , GTA V, Bioshock I and II , Mafia I, II and III.
Did you try to run PPSSPP after a manual install? Or through Emudeck?? GTAV is on PSP...??? That's news to me... but also I imagine they had to cut down a lot of things to make it playable on PSP. Thanks for your comment!
@Gamers' Generation I was talking about different things that i tried, but none of them worked. I installed the ppsspp from the system appstore when u switch to the desktop version and none of the psp games worked for me.
I tried dos games, and only about 30 % of the screen is visible cause the game was zoomed into a corner and there weren't any settings to change it.
Finally, I tried to install games from the Steam app itself from the Steam mode, I checked the compatibility list, and they were supposed to be compatible, but somehow, they didn't work either. The games that I tried to install from Steam were : GTA V, GTA IV, Bioshock( I, II , and infinite ), mafia ( I, II, and III). And pubg.
It gets hot like an old PC .
My thoughts on the Steam console are that the concept is great but there are lots of things need to be improved which they will in the future to make it more desirable:
1) better screen resolution, like a 4k
2) bigger screen
3) better battery life 😤
4) better specs to make thr games compatible and running without any problems
5) better design
6) less bulky yo make it easier to carry around
7) better speaker to make it great for watching contents and not just for games
8) different colors just like iPad and other devices
9) fix the problem with getting hot
@@7offman Oh I see.. so the Discovery Store. I'm sorry you decided to return it already... I would have advised you try to use Emudeck which is much more streamlined now. As for the other games... at least some aren't natively supported so... that's where the whole Linux gaming thing has its own issues.
Have you looked at any of the Windows handhelds? There are two reviews up on the channel for them. They're a good chunk more money, but for "ease of use" as a Windows user, I think they're more valuable in that way than people might realize.
Thanks for replying and clarifying though.
@@gamers-generation yea bro I checked the reviews, I think these handheld consuls are a bad investment for now because they are still at the early stages . 2-3 years from now, we will see better specs at much cheaper prices because more companies are going to compete with each other…Can’t wait to see that )
@@7offman Some of these handhelds have been out for years now (Like in the case of AYANEO and GPD Win), AMD has really changed the game with how powerful these APUs are, but I do really think this year will make things VERY interesting on the used market, assuming you're willing to go that direction.
I had mines for 5 months and if I could do it again I would’ve waited I don’t have time to play the ps5 and Deck
That's very understandable. Did you know you can stream your PS5 games to your Deck? That is if I'm not mistaken anyway... thanks for the comment!
@@gamers-generation yup I do it sometimes thanks 👍🏾
I think someone who wants the "true" console experience gets it with this device. Put yourself in the shoes of a console-only person: They buy the device, get recommended only Verified games in the shop, so they can just download and play them.
If you are a PC gamer who wants to get all of their PC games they already own to work, then yeah, maybe you have to tinker a bit. But then you're not actually the console person you're talking about.
I think what you said **mostly** applies for the console experience. Like with what I said with Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it was previously playable, and then it's listed as unsupported -- even though you absolutely can still play it with some tinkering. So while the Verification status usually works, it's not always going to be a trouble-free experience.
For your second statement, I mostly agree with. It can be frustratig when you tinker with no results though, so that's something to keep in mind even if you *thought* you were willing to tinker with it in the first place.
Thanks for your comment!
I am thinking of getting the 64gb because I don’t wanna spend alot for more storage, where I could buy a microsd with less. If anyone knows, is the 64gb worth it?
Yeah this is the model I'm recommending (in the conclusion of the video). I think whether you decide to get a micro SD card, or if you plan to upgrade the internal storage (check the channel for a guide!), both are great paths given the price point. Thanks for your comment!
Does anyone know if dragon age origins and or dragon age 2 work well on the steam deck?
All of the DA games have "Gold" rating or higher, according to ProtonDB, so they should work -- but the EA App might be finicky and require a few restarts and will probably need Proton Experimental.
www.protondb.com/search?q=dragon%20age
Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation ok thank you
@@DOOMSDAY500 Thank you for your comments, if I'm able to test these particular games in the future I'll report back and let you know.
For something as awesome as this and an upgrade to the switch the screen needs to be bigger
That's a fair point. And from the latest interviews they have said they may be improving the screen/battery life in a Steam Deck refresh. I wouldn't personally hold my breath for a much better screen, but the price is still very aggressive (for the base model).
Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation only thing putting me off is the screen... the system is huge and I know it's good my friend has one but I have the oled switch what I use for travelling with work and commutes etc so I'm not too bothered as I use the ps5 at home..
If it had a larger screen cos they could dor sure expand it with the layout I just dont see the point in me upgrading to it... love the channel mate ✌
@@Marcelo83uk To be fair, I don't think the screen is as bad as people online with their pitchforks make it out to be -- especially for the base model @$400. With that said... it's not going ot win any awards -- which is why people do things like install vibrantDeck (like we have on the channel!).
On the point of bigger/better screens though, are you familiar with all the Windows handhelds?
@@gamers-generation to be fair I dont really see the reactions and pitchforks... I was just meaning from when I got to try it out on my friends console.
For me I'm not in a hurry cos I still play so much on my switch on the go... the screen is just my preference so not really too fussed about upgrading just yet as I want a bigger screen.
The system itself I'm super impressed with and maybe soon I'll give it a try... good info on the vid I'll certainly be keeping an eye open
@@Marcelo83uk It's mostly just people on reddit and discord.. you know how it is. A refresh **should** present a better screen, and by that time there'll be more competition from even more Windows handhelds too! Thanks for your detailed response!
One thing nobody seems to mention is steam stream. I want to be able to play games on the couch while my wife watches TV but my MS Surface is too clunky a solution.... Is this good for just streaming from my high horse power PC in my house or is the latency not worth it
You've brought up a great niche case, thanks for the comment! I didn't really include it because it's a pretty particular use case (given you need a good connection, and also a fairly powerful PC as well).
However, I will say it does work, though not flawlessly. In my testing, games that will work best are the Deck verified games -- if you try to play somethin glike Mass Effect Legendary Edition, it might bug out and/or have streaming issues. Otherwise, it seems to work as intended.
One thing though.. you meention your MS Surface -- I assume that's NOT what you mean when you say "high horse power PC" right?
@@gamers-generation no the Surface was my first solution to the problem that predated the deck by a few years. Big rig is a 7600x+4080
@@gamers-generation also worth noting that I'm on a wifi 6 mesh intended for streaming to an Oculus. In the past I've noticed that the valve's steam link hardware was a FAR superior experience to streaming to another PC. The laptop was noticably choppier/less responsive than the link. I'm curious as to which camp the deck would fall under. It technically is a self running computer... But it's made by valve to run valve software like the link.
@@TorqueKMA Wow you've got all the great questions/points!
I'm thinking it works like Steam Link (through the Deck) but I haven't tested many games in my library. I'm also thinking you won't have many issues given your WiFi 6 network and beefy big rig (what a beast!).
You've also made me wonder now if its possible to stream VR games to the Deck... but I'm thinking no given either SteamOS or something else I'm not considering.
arch linux is one of the most up to date operating systems/distros so there will be a lot of updates even if valve holds some back.
Makes sense. Thanks for the comment!
battery life is not good if you gamed a lot
It really depends significantly on the game you're playing. Some older titles you can get an upwards of 3 hours even, but if you play anything new and AAA, I'd be surprised if you can push past 1.5 hours.
Thanks for the comment!
What case is that?
It's a silicon case off Amazon, here is the link (affiliated, not sponsored):
amzn.to/3ju7OfH
For the life of me i cant decide if i should get one... I already have a pretty beefy gaming laptop to begin with. Then there is the thing that i live in Europe so if the deck shits the bed i have to send it back to the US... That would be an absolute pain in the ass. On the other hand i just would love to play in the bed in the night sometimes for couple of hours without plugging in stuff...
I apologize for not knowing, but is Valve not yet selling them there officially yet? The good news about anything Deck related breaking down hardware wise is that if you're willing to "get dirty" many if not most of the parts I believe can be purchased separately.
I understand the dilemma! At times, the use of these handhelds completely makes sidesteps the need to have a powerful laptop/desktop. So... it really does come down to use cases I feel. Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation Dont apologize. You did nothing wrong. 😉 Well... When i go on my Steam account the price is in Euro but i think that they ship it from the US since it takes weeks to get it. My real dilemma is that i dont want to mess around. I do enough messing around with the Laptop... I just want to pick it up turn it on and play like a Switch for example. I dont want to run circles to get apps/games to work. I dont know if that is possible with it or not...
TLDR: I speculate that it costs Valve just on the hardware alone around $1600- $1900 dollars per unit. Given that you can get off the shelf components like AOKZOE for around $1400ish on the low end specs relatively easily, we can surmise that the cost of the AOKZOE is around $1300 to make and after you tack on the 7% to 10% profit margins that companies usually take it can bump that up to the cost you purchase for high $1300s to low $1400s but the range of the price can also be almost at cost with the company taking a 2% profit margin (this isn't anything new in the tech space for profit margins) some companies will sell at cost to stay competitive. Valve went for a custom SOC so their costs would be slightly more. Their costs could also have been reduced later on if you buy in bulk you save more. But to keep things simple $1600 - $1900 is my guesstimate. One thing is for sure though, Valve is taking a MASSIVE loss per unit, and my $1600 - $1900 estimate is JUST on the hardware. It can balloon WAY passed that when you factor in R&D and Q&A and on going support costs per update. it's quite insane to see them pull something like this off. I can only imagine that Lord Gaben is puking with every deck sold, but they can easily make this up with all the games sold because they have a platform that can help subsidize these losses. Also tax write offs, cant forget about those.
Hi there, thanks for your detailed response! I personally think your estimate might be a little high, but generally speaking I think your thought process makes sense.
I have little to no doubt that Valve is taking a loss for at the very least the base model and possibly the 256gb model -- I'm not so confident about saying that for the 512gb model simply based on the price difference between them (being $120, which is surely not the price difference between those two SSDs.
That said though, it's just hardware and doesn't factor in R&D and Q&A as you mentioned, as well as their RMA if that's separate from Q&A.
We can probably also surmise that the costs involved to bring the Deck to where it is now is one of the primary driving factors to why a Steam Deck 2 or Steam Deck Pro will be more of a "refresh" with a display or battery rather than actual internal (APU) upgrades -- they need to see ROI on the Deck first.
Thanks again for your comment!
I’m just an average gamer. I don’t play PC, I never have. I just want a cool handheld gaming device. First I thought about the Nintendo Switch but now I’m seeing this and the AYN Odin and the decision is becoming more difficult on what I should get.
Unfortunately I am not that well versed in the Odin lineup but as far as I understand its a slightly different segment of product.
Please correct me if I'm wrong. AFAIK Odin (and Anbernic, Retroid Pocket)'s primary use cases are for retro game emulation, streaming games, and playing mobile android games.
The deck is primarily for playing PC games, but is capable of doing pretty much all of those other things as well. So before making any recommendation I'd like to ask you the following:
1) What do you plan to play on the device?
2) What's your budget? (or how much do you want to spend?)
3) Do you have other consoles/gaming devices?
Thanks for your question!
@@gamers-generation I have a ps3 and ps4 I recently bought a ps3 to play Dead Space 2. Right now I’m leaning towards a Nintendo switch oled, it’s a straightforward gaming device and I’m hella worried about getting anything else and something weird happens because I don’t know how to tweak devices or troubleshoot anything.
@@gamers-generation my budget is 500
@@sirsyncalot9147 Thanks for your detailed response Sir!
Based on what you said, I think it's going to matter a lot then on your patience and willingness to put up with changes/updates.. And
So the Deck right out of the box CAN function just like a console (like with the verification status I mentioned above). Another positive of going this route is later down the line, if you buy/build a gaming PC or move over to a Steam Deck 2, you'll still have that library of games. This is in addition to what I also said about emulation.
The switch on the other hand will give you the true console experience, but I think LONG TERM it'll be both more costly and (potentially) have better resale value. This is partly because the Nintendo physical cartridges don't go on sale as often as Steam games do, so they should retain some value if you plan to resell. On the other hand, if you plan to just buy digital copies from the Nintendo eShop... you might want to think harder about the costs involved long term.
Hope this helps!
Great if you love Steam OS to play 1/3rd of the games you own. Not great for windows or anything else. I have windows on an sd card. Half the time its great. The other half it constantly freezes, stuff doesnt work, etc. Crapshoot on what works and what doesnt.
THANK YOU for this comment. If you sift through the comments you'll see a lot of "just install Windows"... if only it were that simple. People sometimes forget just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you should -- in the Deck's case, it can run WIndows, but it wasn't designed for it...
I did not get the strap on the inside of the case or I didn’t get the sleeve that the charger goes in. Anyone else?
That comes only with the 512gb model. If you scroll back further in the video you'll see a comparison between the 64gb case (its also the same for 256gb) and the 512 case.
@@gamers-generationyes but I see that both cases have the strap on the inside of the case how ever the one I have does not.
@@DrYohns I apologize, I misread your message. I wonder if they changed the case. Did you notice any other differences? Which model do you have? And when did you get it?
I sold my deck after a couple months, I feel like you waist to much time learning the Steam OS and fixing stuff than enjoying the game ,like you I'm attached to Windows and that's my next console I ordered a Win 4 now I'm just can wait to try it.
We're pretty much exactly on the same page. Some comments have said "just install Windows on it" but it's not as if that's a perfect solution either. I feel more and more that unless you're willing to put up with that "learning experience" you end up spending more time messing with things than actually gaming -- which is fine if that's what you want -- but for an adult with a full time job (and even more true for one with a family) your time is very limited and probably not worth spending on tweaking settings just to play some games.
Thanks for your comment!
The deck is the best when not in desktop mode. It is getting better but you should wait for the second Deck to come out and decide. Every game I tried in Gaming mode works. But if you want emulation, that is the one of the costs for emulation. Emulation is the opposite of console as it is more stealing of games.... I actually felt like I had to relearn going from XBox to PS to XBOX and then back. They keep on changing their layout every generation. I stopped when they both went to subscription for any multiplayer.
@@minisithunknown5568 Thanks for your comment. Just to clarify though, emulation isn't stealing if done properly/legally. As in, it is legal to dump your own games and emulate them. It's also legal to emulate games that are no longer sold retail/the license has expired (known as abandonware).
Nah I order Win4 I like that you can put it in your pocket the deck is way too big
@@adnerayala3409 Makes sense, Win4 is super sleek looking and has a nice little footprint.
Buy it
Quick, and to the point. Just how I like it! Thanks for the comment!
Steam deck 64 is 750$ in Bangladesh
$750 USD? Yikes... yeah so in that scenario... maybe a Windows handheld might be a better use of money? You'd have to compare what's available locally unfortunately... Thanks for your comment.
Android 17 doing reviews now
How did you know? Don't tell my sister k?
I want the steam deck but I was thinking of waiting for the steam deck 2 as this is a first generation product and AMD is bringing out some kick-ass mobile APUs. Waiting for a 1 TB version too
That makes sense. To be fair, Valve has been tweaking things during this "1st Generation" as other creators have shown slight variations in chassis finish, storage devices (the m.2 inside basically).
I wouldn't hold my breath for more performance, but there is a good possibility of an improved screen and bump in battery life based on what Valve has said in a recent interview.
Thanks for your comment!
Honestly, I see that as a waste of time. I don’t see valve releasing a 2nd gen this year. Maybe, next year, and that will be tow the end of the year around christmas most likely. So you will essentially wait almost 2 years for the next gen. If you’re willing to do that, then all power to you. However, you could just use the current steam deck now. Also, performance won’t be that much of a massive improvement. We’ve gotten to the point where cpu/gpu performance is difficult to improve due to the laws of physics. Sure if the second gen was coming out within a year it would be worth, but I just don’t see it. Just my 2 cents.
@@bear532 Absolutely fair points as well. Another problem with "waiting for Steam Deck 2" is that then you could argue you're always "chasing the new thing" and never making use of what's available now or enjoying what can be used at the moment.
Thanks for the comment!
actualy i m realy too much traveling. and i test it on vocation.They MUST FIND A NEW BATTERY TECNOLOGY. its so fcking short to play :).
They did say that was one of their goals for the "Steam Deck 2" or "Steam Deck Pro", basically battery/screen improvement rather than performance improvement. So here's hoping! Thanks for your comment!
can't beat the steamdeck ecosystem and community.
True! There's unquantifiable value in that! Thanks for the comment~
The trackpad was very necessary to include, I play mostly city building games and grand strategy games, most of the time the trackpad is the only option if you want to play the game. I hardly use joysticks, the trackpads are good as is.
Very fair point. It's definitely a subjective thing. I don't play 4X/Sim games really so it doesn't have much use for me, but I can absolutely see the necessity for that.
One question I have for you is whether you think both trackpads are useful or not. The symmetrical trackpads are likely for balancing (of weight and haptics) but I do wonder if we could "get away" with just having one trackpad.
Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation Maybe, but it feels like this Deck is made for variety of games to include any game for any player. I could see them implementing your ideas for the second one for better battery and screen. I would love for them to try to hit the same price point on the second one though.
@@minisithunknown5568 based on the most recent interview with The Verge, we're most likely to get a 'refresh' with a slight bump in battery/new screen. That would likely resolve most "complaints" even though I don't personally think the screen is that bad. Still, at that price point (even if say the OLED screen starts at $450) that's one hell of a deal.
The Deck can't do **everything** but it does so many things, and very well! Thanks for the follow up message.
@@gamers-generation both are necessary, in a game they both balance each other out. I also just kinda like how they feel when I play.
@@lalapalooza6467 Agreed. Have you seen this new ROG controller? It has this large trackpad like surface (only on the left side) which to me is reminiscent of the Steam Controller...
And a triple the price entry point...
For the Windows handhelds? or...?
@@gamers-generation Yes, most of them start at over $1k.
@@TheLotw Yeah, I do mention that as the sore points of the two devices I've reviewed (please check those out on the channel if you haven't already!).
That said, come later this year, when people try to sell their used Windows handhelds or the companies offload their refurbished units, I think the prices will get pretty aggressive. There was a recent sale for the AOKZOE A1, which has its issues, but it was starting at $800 which I think is quite reasonable for that price.
Thanks for your comment!
They were hype for Steam deck, but as for me, I am not convinced .
By they do you mean "Valve"? Thanks for your comment!
Couldn’t disagree more about the track pad
Yeah to each their own I guess. What do you like about them in particular?
9:27 name of gadget?
AOKZOE A1, a Windows handheld. Please keep on the lookout for an upcoming review! Thanks for the comment!
I have a desktop pc that is really good and I wanted to get into emulation and I would like to have a pc to have when I go home from college on the weekends but not a necessity would it be worth it
Depending on how much time you spend on campus and away from your actual desktop it could totally be worth it, particularly for the base model Deck, and assuming you have decent Wi-Fi when you're away from your desktop.
Reasons being, in addition to emulation ability, you can directly stream many (I won't say all) games directly from your desktop to your deck, and get basically all of your desktop performance (with the catch being how fast your connection is to your desktop).
@@gamers-generation I've actually decided on the gcloud has enough power for emulation that I want to do and has enough cloud games to keep me happy also is down to 250 which is a justifiable price for me
@@aidanlenz5519 Glad you're happy with going for that price. One thing I'll warn you of with the Gcloud and (pending Razer cloud device) is that you'll of course potentially run into the situation where you don't have a connection, or have a spotty connection (maybe if you're traveling long distance to go home), in which case it becomes a worse mobile phone for gaming. Thanks for the follow up!
@@gamers-generation changed my mind again steam deck here we come
I'll wait till steam deck can use an External GPU
You know, I know at least a few people who have been saying that's EXACTLY why they want one of the Windows handhelds... so... can't blame you if that's specifically what you want! Thanks for your comment.
Living in Ukraine and with frequent blackouts looking for something autonomous to play, while there is no light.
Gaming laptops go two times more expensive🤔
Is Steam Deck a good way to spend time with no light?🌝
I heard about battery being not long-lasting tho🙁
Hello Tara, thank you for your message. I'm sorry to hear of your situation. The Deck is great at a lot of things, though battery life is surely not amazing. If you plan to play more 2D or older games, you can get a decent amount of battery (maybe around 2 hours or 2.5 hours), but it will be maybe just over an hour or so with newer AAA titles.
Are you able to secure a battery pack or packs that you can charge? That may help with battery issue over time.
The screen however is quite bright.
You are wearing your watch on the wrong wrist
This is funny, I liked this comment just because I didn't think that was possible... unless it's on backwards! Thanks for your comment!
@@gamers-generation look it up bro
@@squishyfoosball7445 What am I looking up now? ;)
👍
Thanks for the thumbs up!
@@gamers-generation You're welcome 🙂
Strong BUY
Thanks for your recommendation and comment!