Considering a steam deck

Worth it 100% for me, I love mine. I didn't think I would use it much, I honestly bought it initially to just support the project and help FOSS friendly hardware and software.

But once I started playing on it, I fell in love. I play lots of indie games and smaller studio games, like Brotato, Hollow Knight, Battle for Wesnoth, Core Keeper. I also installed RetroArch and play all of my favorite Game Boy games. I play Old School Runescape with my friend, some kart racing games, some fighting games.

I also have Jellyfin installed on there, so I use it docked to my TV as a box for streaming from my Jellyfin server to my TV for movie nights. Discord runs pretty well on it in the background, so it works well for group party games like Pummel Party with my friends. Also games like Table Top simulator to play DnD, and virtual board games.

Idk, it's just a perfect device for me. Super moddable, repair friendly, FOSS friendly, powerful enough to play most games without issue, works with every kind of Bluetooth device I've tested it with, controllers, headphones, etc. And now that it's been out for well over a year, all of the most severe and annoying bugs have been fixed, so the general experience is very smooth and stable.

Deck just went on sale for summer sale great time to get one. I love mine :)

It's been really great for me with that exact use case. I want to play some more intensive games but would still like to hang around in the living room. My wife and I both have one, we can play games alone or together and also hang out on the couch and watch something.

I've barely used my desktop for gaming since I got the Steam Deck last May. It's been great for playing on the go, or just sitting on the couch and gaming while my partner watches a show. Definitely recommend.

I love my Steam Deck. I do a lot of gaming on my regular PC. But I appreciate my Deck when I'm on the go. It's a great portable gaming device and all the games I'm interested in have worked fine.

What might be beneficial to know in your face, since you have your family and want to be close is the "suspend" feature. In the middle of a PC game, you can simple click the power button to Suspend the game and when you're done, just turn it back on and you'll be right where you left it.

Absolutely. That's the exact reason I got mine. After a couple of days, my wife started wanting to play some. Now, she has her own deck, and we play LAN coop and LAN PvP games as well as remote play together. It's awesome!

Well you probably won't interact while gaming anyways. Little billy won't get attention when you're on a dark souls boss.

100% yes. Have loved mine, and others I know have had similar experiences.

It's actually so great. It isn't the most powerful system but you can play most of the top games from the past decade at 60 fps and the more recent unoptimized games could potentially get a patch via proton to make them enjoyable before official updates (elden ring was an example of this).

The basic user can enjoy most of games that don't suck on steam without any effort or issues. Couch and bed gaming friendly, fairly easy to pack with included carry case, decent battery life, and will work as a desktop in a pinch with a usbc dock/hub.

With willingness to use the Linux desktop mode you can do a bunch of extra stuff:

protonup via built in app store (discover) to get proton-ge for largely increased game compatibility and performance, ymmv by game. It also has steam tinker launcher which enables much more tweaking to the benefit of modding and cheat/trainers among other things. (As a working adult I totally support cheats in single player games since ain't nobody got time for grinding)

cryotools for more performance improvements

heroic, lutris, bottles, probably others. stores other than steam, games not from stores, programs that aren't even games, etc.

emudeck for basically every emulator mostly preconfigured. BYOB, that means bring your own baby bios. Yuzu pineapple etc will require further intervention.

steam deck refresh rate unlock for what it says. under and overclock. mine flickers at 30fps/30hz but my brother's doesn't. 70fps/70hz works for me too on games the system has enough power for.

steamos btrfs for more game storage via compression. I recommend only on the microsd. The odd game that has mods that mysteriously bug out usually works by making the correctly located and named folder for it on the ext4 system drive and toggling case folding before installing normally (can only toggle empty folders). I actually just delete and redownload because I have a steam cache server. btrfs doesn't have case folding.

If you aren't scared of opening it up, or drive reimaging, and can get an authentic and reasonably priced 2230 nvme, I recommend getting the base model and putting in the larger nvme. Just slide the wrapper off the old one and put it on the new one. Also get the gulikit hall effect sticks off AliExpress. It's basically necessary for jank ass minigame inputs like FF7R darts... They just released the new version that supports both stick types. My brother has the 512 and the screen difference is negligible, and nonexistent if you put a tempered glass screen protector which I can see no reason not to do.

tl;dr: great as is, so much extra great stuff if you are a Linux nut or willing to follow guides.

I love mine. It's my primary (and only) gaming machine. I've gotten a lot of use out of it. I play it docked, with a controller, more often than not; but it's also really nice to bring on a trip for downtime at a hotel, playing outside on the patio, etc. Would be great for sitting on the couch with family. I play it in bed sometimes, too, but it's a bit too heavy for that for a lot of people. I just let it rest on a pillow, or even on its case, when I'm playing in bed.

Overall it was a great purchase. Very pleased with it.

What you're describing is almost exactly my main use for the Steam Deck. I do some travelling for work and that was my excuse for getting one - and it's absolutely wonderful for that. What I wasn't expecting was how much time I would play it on the sofa, so I could spend some time with my wife while she play Sims or watches TV.

i love my steam deck. i havea similar same issue where i now work from home and dont want to spend any more time at my desk than i have to. The controls are fantastic, it also is the most comfortable grip ive ever experienced on any hand held or controller. The only down side is that it's not the greatest for strategy games like civ that really lend themselves to keyboard and mouse. shooters, action/adventure games, and rpgs. it runs emulators really well also.

I bought it last year, and I could not have been happier. It is awesome. Although I also have a gaming laptop, I reach for Steam Deck more often - it's because of it being a hand held.

The moment that there will be a next version of Steam Deck, I am ordering it.

I love mine. I used it as a remote PC for 2 years on my skoolie bus conversion. If your work is compatible with linux and don't need a lot of intense specs (or can cloud all the heavy labor), then you'll be just fine.

My Steam Deck experience has been very positive, it’s a great way to play games away from the desk. For me the controls are great, and game compatibility continues to surprise me.

I would say the only problem with the Deck is the size - it’s big. When I got mine it seemed a lot bigger than I realised, and that was after watching/reading a lot of reviews. Depending on your hands the size might be an issue. If you know anyone else with a Steam Deck I would recommend trying it out for size before buying.

I don’t have one yet and I think it’s worth it. I will be getting one shortly, everything I have read and seen shows it’s truly one of a kind.

Once I get my money it will be purchased.

The Deck has become my main pc since months now. When I want to play, it's just perfect as it has been designed for that (and yes, I do agree with the many comments about playing on the couch or bed).

But when I need to do something non-gaming related I boot from a dedicated SD card with WinasapOS where I have a full and unlocked linux OS on which I can install and run everything I need. I even occasionally run a Windows 10 VM from there when I needed to flash some peripheral's firmware.

The Steam Deck is a quite decently powerful machine for its price, so why don't use all its potential?

Others here have probably mentioned it, but I've heard the Deck is fantastic in situations where you use a main powerhouse PC to run a game (especially at the Deck's resolution of 800p), then stream it through your local network to the Deck.

I don't do that, but I daily drive a Steam Deck and can attest that it's a fantastic device handheld. It'll play a TON of stuff at low/medium settings natively, and you have a big PC to handle the top tear graphics-card-melters, which you can stream from (in that scenario the Deck is fine as it takes very little of the load).

My only caution point is the small screen. It's 7 inches diagonal, so small print in games can be tough, especially if you have 40s eyes like me. Otherwise, it's exceeded wildly beyond my expectations.

I'm considering getting one as well. Putting it off until a gifting holiday as they're expensive. Only debating between the cheapest and second cheapest size - I would get a microSD expansion either way but I'm not sure if it's better to have the additional space or not. Odds are I would only have two or three games installed at a time really.

I’ve never been a PC gamer (mainly cause I have always been in the Apple ecosystem), but have always wanted to get into it. Have felt like I’ve been missing out a lot.

I’ve considered a Steam Deck, because I’ve heard so many great things, including that it’s helped reignite passions for gaming in many people! But my concern is that I already am so busy and struggle to find time to sit down and game with my Switch or Xbox…I don’t know if getting a Steam Deck would even really make much of a difference in helping me play more at this point. Could be a pretty costly investment for myself if I don’t end up using it a ton.

Anyway, that’s my two cents. If you are gaming regularly and want to be able to do more “mobile” PC gaming, it’s probably a good option!

I really like my steam deck. But if you have problems with your eyes, they get tired very soon (especially after a long day at work). My most played games are No Man's Sky and Dead Cells. No Man's Sky has sometimes much text, which isn't really comfortable on the deck for me. The best advice is to consider which games you're gonna play on the deck. I can't recommend it for games with much text.

Not only does it work well for Steam games, it’s also really convenient for streaming PlayStation and Xbox games.

I was in exactly the situation you're in. Do it. You'll get your pc gaming time back. I went from "I never play anything" to "daily gaming again"

I think it is worth but it comes down to what games you currently play. I'd check to see how well your current games work on the Deck.

I think its worth because its more than just games. A full linux desktop with an unlocked bootloader. You actually own the device unlike a switch.

The Steam Deck is a great device.

Connecting it to a Gamepad and TV or Monitor is also possible.

Yes it's worth it, exactly for the reason you state. You can play it while also being in the same room with other people. Sure, not always being the best companion but when your spouse is watching a series you are still around.

@Johnpwrinkle Well worth it. It can handle quite a bit locally, and can stream from steam on your main pc (or be set up to several cloud services).

I can speak to exactly the issue you're having, you've got a family hanging out, you don't want to be all cooped in the office.

Get a steam deck dude. Do it. I work from home, my wife does too. We have an 8 year old. Not only do I get more gaming time in with my deck than I ever could previously, they're both happier about it. I can suspend power and do whatever, etc, it isn't an anchor at a desk.

And it can play the games. Keep in mind that steam themselves is very picky about their "this is great on the deck" blessing. There's a ton of games they only say will run, and even more they say won't run at all, that operate perfectly fine. More every month too, as Proton continues development.

You can also load all your GoG and Epic games easily, heroic launcher.

Seriously, get one. The mid or basic version is fine, sd cards are fine.

I'm going to offer an alternative.

Steam lets you streamplay games from your computer to another computer.
Your phone is a computer.

You don't like the built in controls for a phone.
You can pair xbox and ps5 controllers to androids phones with little to no effort. Not sure about other phone OS's, and quite frankly, not my bag baby.

So now you have a controller hooked up to your phone, and it's channeling games from your computer over wifi.

Never had a cause to try it personally, but I might just do that and come back to confirm it works.

Might save you a couple bucks for your kids college fund.

In my opinion, if you own a computer - a streamdeck is a great investment regardless.

I mostly use my computer for software development, and web development and i have to say that the streamdeck has been a lifesaver in those regards.
I do play games once in a while, including Euro Truck Simulator 2 on my other gaming rig and i wouldn't be able to play it without a streamdeck. I have mapped most of the binds to keys, and use my streamdeck to press those keys. Its really handy.
Same goes for the other car simulator i play, i use the streamdeck on Live For Speed to send pre-defined text messages, as well as ignition, lights, TC etc.

Anyway, i tried to keep this comment short. Sorry.
One last thing: I have had it for around 3 years now and would not be able to replace it anytime soon.

Yes. I use mine on my living room couch about 90% of the time it's ever used. It owns.

Non-Steam games can be a bit of a pain, and the biggest issue for me is the lack of native Game Pass support.

Otherwise, it's been fantastic for me. Performance is way better than specifications might suggest, so it's not like you're limited to simple games.

The best thing is being able to game in bed.