Current Events > Someone talk me out of buying a Steam Deck

(+) Yeah! (+)

loafy013 posted...

But PC gamers say console gaming sucks because it is too streamlined?

Nah, I'm just being snarky. Thanks for giving an actual answer. When I think PC gaming, I still picture the old setups of huge ass tower, tube monitor, dot-matrix printer on the side in front of a stiff wooden chair. I know that's not really accurate anymore, but the bulky images in my mind are part of why I never embraced PC gaming. Condensing and/or simplifying it down to a single unit for gaming and I can see the appeal.

Yeah, the pre-built PCs tend to be highly priced, while buying all the parts and building it yourself can be intimidating. Then you have install all the drivers/software and pray the games you want to play work well with the hardware you got/chose. Support is often limited.

But while consoles don't have those problems they also tend to be very locked down. Software and customization is purely up to the developer. The Deck tries to bridge the gap by including the style, convenience, and (for game devs) familiarity of the console, while retaining most of the freedom of the PC in terms of software, mods, and graphical tweaks.

It's not perfect, but it's a step in a more appealing direction for PC gaming.

I bought a prebuilt PC a couple years ago because I was living at my parents house and didnt have room to put on together, and also cause Ive never set up water cooling before and I was scared. It does suck that everything is bolted shut so I cant fix stuff myself if anything goes wrong. I have my own place now so if this one ever breaks Ill probably send it in to get fixed but also just build my own in the meantime

Masked-One posted...

Yeah, the pre-built PCs tend to be highly priced, while buying all the parts and building it yourself can be intimidating. Then you have install all the drivers/software and pray the games you want to play work well with the hardware you got/chose. Support is often limited.

But while consoles don't have those problems they also tend to be very locked down. Software and customization is purely up to the developer. The Deck tries to bridge the gap by including the style, convenience, and (for game devs) familiarity of the console, while retaining most of the freedom of the PC in terms of software, mods, and graphical tweaks.

It's not perfect, but it's a step in a more appealing direction for PC gaming.

Thing is... it doesn't have to be. I have a pc repair shop near me that offers to build a computer for you and they will guide you every step of the way. You tell them what kind of pc your wanting to build (school, work, gaming, social) and they go on pcpartpicker with you and build it from scratch based on your budget. They order all the parts from various websites as its usually cheaper than what they sell in store, and they only charge an extra 100 to put it all together, make sure everything works and they stick a warranty on it good for 3 years.

I always tell people that if you don't have the money for a big budget gaming pc, just focus on the essentials and you can build over time when you get the money. Just get a repair shop to put the parts in for you for a small fee if your not comfortable with doing it yourself.

As long as they don't do what my cousin does, they should be fine. He would message me with "Is this a good deal" and before I can even answer him he's already bought it. He bought a shitty 150 CAD computer that barely runs internet explorer because he couldn't wait or afford the 400 dollar one I was going to sell him, which I custom built 10 years ago and still runs low-med games fine.

Stop. Don't.

Will be obsolete soon

You should buy two, in case one is stolen

It's basically capped at 100 unless you get an autoclave.

--Zero- posted...

Its a $500+ handheld with bad battery life and will likely be outdated in a few years since its biggest selling point is being able to play modern pc games.

It's biggest selling point is that it's portable not that it can play modern PC games.

The thing is a great indie game machine

$370 + a 1tb nvme is an amazing deal imo. I'd jump on this if I didn't have a steam deck already

jdb78 posted...

Not gonna try to talk anyone out of buying a Steam Deck. If you're gonna use it, BUY IT. I love mine so much, I was in your situation.

Wait 5 or 6 hours till the Summer Sale starts in case they do go on sale again. I recommend the mid-tier version and a micro SD card. A couple people I know got the expensive one and regret it because they hate the screen.

Good luck!

What's wrong with the screen? That's the one I would get because it has the most space.

Revelation34 posted...

What's wrong with the screen? That's the one I would get because it has the most space.

When you add a anti-glare coating it washes out bright colors. It's one of the reasons I went for the middle one instead of the expensive one. I'm not going to be out in the sun playing it anyways. As for the space issue, Costco sells half terabyte fast micro sd cards for fairly cheap.

Revelation34 posted...

What's wrong with the screen? That's the one I would get because it has the most space.

The anti-glare screen kinda dulls the colors, and adds a blurry reflection (while the normal screen adds a normal reflection; some prefer that).

Don't buy it or it will shrink ur peeper

Can you sync Xbox controllers to it? Was thinking about one for a living room PC.

OrangeCrush980 posted...

TC, you should buy a Steam Deck

I have one and love it. The ability to play up so many emulators on the go with the fact you got Steam there too is awesome. Plus battery life is not that bad, you get a good 6 to eight hours even more if you turn the brightest down. Honestly, if you have the money, get it.

Yeah fuck it, gonna bite the bullet. Guess I'll see in a week or two, whenever it gets here. <_<

Kim_Seong-a posted...

Yeah fuck it, gonna bite the bullet. Guess I'll see in a week or two, whenever it gets here. <_<

I ordered mine and within 10 days it arrived. I'm in the middle of nowhere, yours won't take that long to get to you.

Kim_Seong-a posted...

Yeah fuck it, gonna bite the bullet. Guess I'll see in a week or two, whenever it gets here. <_<

I bought mine the last time they had a sale, it said 1-2 weeks but I had it in a few days.

I thought about buying one but I'd probably just play extremely old games and VN

jdb78 posted...

I bought mine the last time they had a sale, it said 1-2 weeks but I had it in a few days.

Ivany2008 posted...

I ordered mine and within 10 days it arrived. I'm in the middle of nowhere, yours won't take that long to get to you.

Ok yeah it just came in. Freaking speedy lol.

Setting it up now. It begins.

So OP, you started tweaking things already?

Haven't really tweaked anything yet. Everything seems pretty straightforward. Though I probably should start diving into the settings and see what I can do.

As a piece of hardware it feels really nice. It does get pretty hot though, which is a minor problem I have to adapt to since I'm used to palming my Nintendo Switch in the middle when I go to pick it up. >_>

Playing on it is great though. Feels surreal to be playing Mass Effect while lying in bed. (Though the Legendary Edition is apparently always-online even for the single player, ugh. I'm seeing somethings online of people being able to run it in offline mode with some tweaking, but still, ugh. Goddamn you EA, this kind of shit is what drives people to pirate)

I have a Steam Deck and an ROG Ally and both are great devices with their strengths and flaws.

I'm not sure I'd recommend one over the other tbh, but seeing as you've already received your Steam Deck, enjoy it. I game on my PC handhelds more than my gaming desktop with a 3080Ti lol

I will say, the only thing I can't stand is the UI for the web browser and setting up wifi. It's really bad imo.

dont do it man

I don't wanna play PC games with a controller but that's just me.

Avirosb posted...

I don't wanna play PC games with a controller but that's just me.

What you mean? PC games are no different. I would say controllers are actually better for platformers and other games like brawlers where 8 ranges of motion is important. Keyboard/mouse is better for like shooters and games with a lot of bindings.

deoxxys posted...

What you mean? PC games are no different. I would say controllers are actually better for platformers and other games like brawlers where 8 ranges of motion is important. Keyboard/mouse is better for like shooters and games with a lot of bindings.

Strategy games or RPG-ish sims like Kenshi?
I wouldn't play a platform game on a PC.

Avirosb posted...

Strategy games or RPG-ish sims like Kenshi?
I wouldn't play a platform game on a PC.

Strategy games sure. If it's the kind where you need to select all troops with the mouse. RPGs are absolute shit without a controller.

Revelation34 posted...

RPGs are absolute shit without a controller.

Modern RPGs maybe. I don't think much of them.

Even shooters. A good player with mouse and keyboard will always be superior to a good player with a controller and aim assist.

Avirosb posted...

Modern RPGs maybe. I don't think much of them.

Even shooters. A good player with mouse and keyboard will always be superior to a good player with a controller and aim assist.

All RPGs since the old ones were all on console back then.