Steam Deck questions

After the retro console post, I’ve found short sessions on a handheld is perfect for me at the moment.

Looking at a Steam Deck for a bigger screen than the Anbernic console I have.

Has anyone got a Steam Deck and any issues with them?

There’s a lcd and oled version.

I’ve been impressed with my Steam Deck (original medium one) but I don’t have much experience of other systems to compare it. It runs everything I’ve thrown at it, occasionally you have to look up a settings hack to optimise things. The battery isn’t great, but there’s only so much you can do without it weighing too much. I understand the oled version has a better battery and also uses more power so works out much the same.

Plenty of reviews out there, mainly saying that the oled is better but not worth upgrading to if you already have the older one.

Looking at getting one myself.

I was looking at a refurb lcd 512gb for £319.

That or a new oled for £479.

Is there a cooling fan and is it noisy?

Non stealthy ad.

I’m got a *mint* condition non oled one I updated to 512gb, I’m an ex electronic engineer so it was done by the book. Screen protector on before I even touched the screen. Got the official dock too.

It got me into gaming again so build up a gaming pc as I’ll never get used to joypad controls after thousands of hours on counter strike. Lol

Keep meaning to put it on FB market place or eBay but can’t take be arsed with the faff

If buying the OLED I’d out serious consideration into whether you’re better off buying the cheapest version then upgrading the SSD, the anti-glare on the top tier isn’t all that from what I’ve gathered.

There are other competitors (ROG Ally, Legion etc) but more expensive and not quite as polished.

Forgot to say that, it’s what I send with the 64gb to upgrade when I bought mine as I didn’t like the antiglare screen at all.

Cheers poopscoop let me know how much you are thinking.

Was leaning towards the oled but open to led screen.

I know what you mean with the joysticks. I only use mouse and keyboard for online shooters. Couldn’t use a joystick for those games.

Where are you based mate? I’m in Kent.

Lancashire ☹️

Getting used to thumbsticks took me a while, having used keyboard & mouse previously. I’ve used the deck with a keyboard & mouse, which works (tinkering required for some games) but sort of defeats the object of the gadget. You’re able to fine tune the deck controls to an impressive degree.

Slight tangent – anyone got a view on how steam deck stacks up against Lenovo Legion Go?

Slight tangent – anyone got a view on how steam deck stacks up against Lenovo Legion Go?

I don’t own any handhelds, but I am an avid PC gamer so i have some insight… IMO teh steamdeck OLED is probably the best overal package.

Theres some info here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I37mxlDqLrk  its a long vid though, you might want to skip to 30mins for the summary!

But also, its the 1% lows in the frame rate I think clinch it… the deck doesn’t have the highest overall frame rate, but its the momentary dips to lower frame rates that make the experience janky… and the deck doesnt drop very low compared to teh competition.

This vid concentrates more on the steamdeck OLED

I bought a non OLED deck the day before the new one was released. Sent it back unopened and reordered an OLED.

I’ve been very pleased with it. I have the version with the anti glare and it’s not been a problem. Battery life is good unless you’re playing AAA games. I never notice the fan.

I’ll often use it rather than firing up the PC (to lazy to go upstairs) and obviously good for travel.

Downsides..any game with text can be hard to read, and it’s limited in its processing power so not all of the newer games work so well. I’ve not found a problem with those games verified by Steam

I’ve not found a problem with those games verified by Steam

That’s a pertinent point.. the steam deck runs some flavour of Linux, with steam OS on top of it, rather than running MS windows with a steam client installed.

Most games on the steam store, for arguments sake, are assuming you are running the steam client ontop of MS windows, so with a deck, it’s important to check the compatability/verified by steam status for use on the steam deck.

Forza horizon 5 for example, wasn’t verified for use on the deck, last I checked… you can get it to work, but it’s not guarenteed to be glitch free, or even work at all.

Works well for me – surprisingly powerful and can even handle Hogwarts Legacy at highish settings.

If the game is on Steam then ?.

If it’s on the Epic Store then even with Heroic Launcher and a lot of messing around it’s still a crapshoot.

If the game is on Steam then ?.

Its a question of looking up that game on the steam app/OS… for example Forza horizon 5 is listed as ‘playable’ rather than ‘verified’ on steam deck.

V’s:

Hogwarts is verified, if you buy it from steam.. if you are launching it from Epic store/launcher, your millage may vary.

I’ve got a 512gb oled model.

I bought for gaming whilst travelling, as I’ve travelled a lot this year. Battery life is good for a couple of hours when playing valheim.

Online gaming with friends works well, but I do still prefer my desktop for that (bigger screen). Synchronization with cloud is great, no issues switching between devices.  10/10

If the game is on Steam then ?.

That question mark was meant to be a thumbs up symbol… I guess the STW typewriter is still to be fitted with its emoji ribbon.

As the screenshots say, “verified” means it has to work 100%, with no need to use the touchscreen/touchpads – ie a console-like experience. Lots of older stuff gets knocked down to “playable” just because there’s a launcher you need to tap on, or you need to set up the controls once, or do a bit of graphics settings tweaking.

Only game I had not work was Riders Republic, I got a refund on Steam as I couldn’t be bothered with workarounds – I see there’s an update now to make it Steam Deck compatible. There is some modern stuff like the later Call of Duty games that have a Windows-based anticheat system which won’t work unless you install Windows on the deck.

I don’t really use mine enough but it’s great for the odd bit of downtime, mostly the older and indie stuff in my steam library that works well with a controller. It’s also great as a PS4 remote play device with chiaki, and I don’t have xbox live but it apparently works great for streaming games off that too.

It’s a great device if you aren’t expecting to be able to play every game on it. There’s a lot of verified games that work perfectly and a lot of others you can get working with some tweaking.

The OS and hardware feel polished. It’s easy to pick up and play Steam games but you always have the option of switching to desktop mode  to do whatever you want with it. The control configuration is very flexible and can do a decent job at mouse navigation once you get used to the touchpads.

My biggest annoyance so far is inconsistent performance with playstation games. Some are fine, Gran Turismo 2 runs terribly and i haven’t had any luck finding a combination of emulator settings to get it working. The deck doesn’t have the power to brute force acceptable performance like a desktop PC could.

Yep, I forgot my biggest bugbear is the Origin/Epic games I’ve accumulated (mostly free offers to be fair) and the hoops you have to jump through for those. I’ve pretty much stopped bothering, more than enough to get through on Steam.

Some good info above from everyone. I would like the posts but it’s still not working.

Possibly will be going for the lcd refurb as it’s a lot cheaper. And if I like it can always look at the Deck 2 whenever that comes out in a few years.

Perfect timing, My soon to be 18 year old has asked for a Steam deck for his birthday, where is best to get an OLED one from?

If you’re buying new then get it from Steam directly, I don’t think anyone’s offering better prices.