I’m using my steam deck right now as a gaming PC while moving across America.
It works really well. I got a dock from Amazon that gives me the ports to plug in my gaming mouse and keyboard. I can do HDMI out to the hotel TV or, better yet, lead out one USB-c cord to a fantastic portable monitor.
I only ran into two minor issues. The first is getting enough juice to the steam deck and heat. Both can be easily solved with a good fast charging station and better air flow (I use this tiny hyper fan and have had zero issues in 90 degree Florida winter weather).
Of note, I dual boot with Windows 11. It’s a bloated mess of an operating system, but I want to use certain mods and programs that windows only.
The best way to get the most out of the Windows environment is to run a debloater admin tool, which removes unnecessary programs on Windows 10+ systems. The difference between the performance is shocking, making it pretty much required for usage.
Umbreon@lemmy.world 1 year ago
A steam deck is definitely not a gaming computer replacement, get a good pc first imo
PainInTheAES@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Depends a lot on the type of games you want to play. AAA or competitive FPS probably gaming PC. Older games, casual, indie, etc. SteamDeck is great.
I have to say that the SteamDeck brought a lot of fun back to gaming for me. Everything’s in one package, it’s portable, I can play docked or lay in bed. I can suspend it and come back whenever.
I’ve mainly played the Witcher 3, Skyrim, Fallout 4, Noita, GC roms, Disco Elysium, Dishonored, and Stardew Valley. Some of those games I’ve owned for a long time and I never played them until I got the SD.
But it does make a great streaming device/glorified controller too when I want to run more demanding stuff on my PC.
cmhe@lemmy.world 1 year ago
I am currently playing a heavily modded version of Mass Effect Legendary Edition on my SteamDeck, works really well, even Mass Effect 3.
But I had to install a no-EA-link patch, because EA requires to be online to start the singleplayer game. Which hurts playing it on the go. But with that, great experience.
doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 year ago
You’re being down voted, but it’s the truth. Depends a lot on the particular computer though. The biggest consideration is personal value of mobile gaming.
Aside from that, it is damn hard to beat a steam deck in performance at the same price, but if you can stretch to even a bit most gaming desktops will handely out perform one
felixwhynot@lemmy.world 1 year ago
Depending on your definition of “gaming”, it definitely can be for some folks
Wahots@pawb.social 1 year ago
I love my deck, but yeah, if OP can get a full desktop, I’d recommend that first. More scalable over time.
Trollception@lemmy.world 1 year ago
My biggest problem after owning a deck for a year is the controls. If you like to play PC games designed around a mouse and keyboard the deck is just a chore. I struggle to play games on my deck when the controls make playing the game take far longer than on a PC where I can quickly hover my mouse over things or click and drag. Yes it has trackpads but it’s definitely not the same experience.
That said if it’s a console first game then it usually works pretty well.