Who has a steam deck and are you happy with it?

[ODYSSEYMEMPHIS]

Thinking of getting a steam deck oled for my son and doing research. He plays a lot of xbox games and I know steam runs on Linux with option for windows. Has anyone used an emulator to play Xbox game pass with Linux and if so how does it run for you? I dont want to install windows if I can avoid it. Also what are your complaints about the steam deck if any?

 

[PBAC]

Thinking of getting a steam deck oled for my son and doing research. He plays a lot of xbox games and I know steam runs on Linux with option for windows. Has anyone used an emulator to play Xbox game pass with Linux and if so how does it run for you? I dont want to install windows if I can avoid it. Also what are your complaints about the steam deck if any?

can a steamdec be used for normal laptop functions too?

 

[method115]

Thinking of getting a steam deck oled for my son and doing research. He plays a lot of xbox games and I know steam runs on Linux with option for windows. Has anyone used an emulator to play Xbox game pass with Linux and if so how does it run for you? I dont want to install windows if I can avoid it. Also what are your complaints about the steam deck if any?

You would need to install windows if he's using game pass. If he just wants certain xbox games you can go to the steam website and see if they are steam deck verified. All xbox games are also on Steam.

 

[Jose Beehive]

I have two close friends who both have em, the newest model just came out too which naturally makes the last one a bit cheaper than it was a few weeks/months ago.

I hear its good for emulation of older stuff, think some modern games it struggles with and some it's fine, seems very circumstantial, but anything that is heavy on the Online functions I hear can struggle a fair bit.

They seem great though, but i'd never get off the bloody thing.

 

[Fedorisbest]

I have one. It's good selling it though because I upgraded to a legion go. Need the bigger screen

 

[Madmick]

You would need to install windows if he's using game pass. If he just wants certain xbox games you can go to the steam website and see if they are steam deck verified. All xbox games are also on Steam.

For this reason, since it sounds like your son is truly ingrained in the Xbox Game Pass ecosystem, it would be better to buy the competitor to the Steam Deck, the Asus ROG Ally. It comes with Windows 11 Home natively:

ROG Ally | Gaming Handheld | ASUS US

Experience AAA gaming in the palm of your hands with the ROG Ally handheld gaming console. The ROG Ally delivers incredible portable gaming performance anywhere you go.

www.asus.com

There are two versions: Ally ($399) or Ally Extreme ($599). The Ally performs a bit below the Steam Deck ($399) or its OLED revision ($549), but its hardware is more advanced which will have benefits to the battery and temps. The Ally Extreme is overwhelmingly more powerful while being more advanced. In fact, outside only VRAM bandwidth, the Ally Extreme is significantly more powerful than the PS4 Pro.
ROG Ally GPU specs
ROG Ally Extreme GPU specs
Steam Deck GPU specs
Steam Deck OLED GPU specs

	Steam Deck / Steam Deck OLED​	ASUS ROG Ally​	ASUS ROG Ally Extreme​
Pixel Rate (Gigapixels/s)	25.6​	20.0​	86.4​
Texture Rate (Textels/s)	51.2​	40.0​	129.6​
Processing Power (TFLOP)	1.638​	2.560​	8.294​
Memory Bandwidth (GB/s)	88.0​	51.2​	51.2​

Asus ROG Ally vs. Steam Deck: here’s how they compare​

PC Gamer: Steam Deck review vs. ASUS ROG Ally review

MMORPG: ASUS ROG Ally (Z1 Extreme) Review​

 

[GtehMVP]

I love my Steam Deck, have the LCD version. The battery is shit, though I always have a battery pack with me. The Deck's LCD screen is also meh. It's better after the update, as you can control saturation/colours better, but it's still meh compared to what I normally use.

Like @Madmick said, the ROG Ally Z1 extreme is more powerful, and it has the benefit of native windows 11 (and Gamepass) support and a beautiful screen. I keep hearing that windows will come to the Deck natively, but nothing so far.

I had been going back and forth on getting a Deck Oled, or the Z1 Extreme, but now I'm only debating getting the Deck Oled.

I tried the Z1 Extreme a few weeks ago and the buttons/triggers/sticks feel like a shitty knock off controller.

If you're mainly planning on using a portable to use on a monitor, go for the Z1 Extreme. See if you can get both in your hands, maybe the Ally won't feel as badly for you. The Steam Deck for me fits like a glove, and the buttons/sticks and triggers feel great. It also has superior emulation support (Emudeck) but I hear that's also coming to the Ally.

One huge plus for the Deck are the track pads. I don't like their feel that much, but you can easily navigate the OS with them like a mouse. I hear they are improved on the Oled models.

 

[HHJ]

I've got a Switch,and think about grabbin one of these,but they are huge which kinda defeats the purpose of a portable a bit,and I feel like as soon as I plonk down $600 on one of these,a new better one will immediatley appear. Ill wait.

 

[Zer]

I've been pretty happy with mine. But sometimes I'll bust it out and can't get it to start up at all even though it's fully charged. Then I'll try again like 30 mins later and it starts up no problem. It's weird but it's fucked me a few times like this when I needed it the most

 

[GtehMVP]

I've got a Switch,and think about grabbin one of these,but they are huge which kinda defeats the purpose of a portable a bit,and I feel like as soon as I plonk down $600 on one of these,a new better one will immediatley appear. Ill wait.

I doubt we'll see a new iteration for a while

@Dizzy you get your replacement yet?

 

[CubicleGangster]

I love mine and use it daily.
Haven't had an issue running most games. Ran into frame drops a handful of times through out my hours of gaming. I also don't tweak my settings which could eliminate that issue. Getting it set up to run emulators was also very easy and its awesome seeing all those retro games sitting in my library.

But like @Madmick said in his post, the ROG might be a better option for the native windows support since your son is invested into the Xbox ecosystem.

 

[Dizzy]

I doubt we'll see a new iteration for a while

@Dizzy you get your replacement yet?

I actually fixed it lol. Just needed a hard reset and it’s been good.

Only played a bit of Doom Eternal on it and that screen is incredible. With moving and the holidays I haven’t had much time to do any gaming but I’ll definitely be firing it up more here soon.

 

[GtehMVP]

I actually fixed it lol. Just needed a hard reset and it’s been good.

Only played a bit of Doom Eternal on it and that screen is incredible. With moving and the holidays I haven’t had much time to do any gaming but I’ll definitely be firing it up more here soon.

Nice! Enjoy the holidays!

 

[Snouff]

yes i'm happy with it! =D

 

[Unknown Pleasures]

Definitely no buyer's remorse from me. I travel a lot and it's a great time killer.

 

[Wrath of Foamy]

I'm torn between Steam Deck and ROG Ally. I have Game Pass, but also an old Steam library that I haven't touched for years...

 

[PurpleStorm]

Yeah I'm happy with mine. Mainly play Uncharted, Sonic and some baseball games. Good for goofing around a bit and for the portability. Not meant for brand new triple A type games.

 

[Brandino]

I bought a Steamdeck when it first came out and then bought the special edition OLED a few months back. The OLED is amazing and I've used both decks far more then what I thought that I was going to. Usually watching TV or listening to podcasts and playing it on the couch.

The Steamdeck just works and is so easy to install emulators and other software and everything just works and it's ridiculously customizable.

My favorite purchase that I've made since the Xbox 360.

 

[GtehMVP]

I bought a Steamdeck when it first came out and then bought the special edition OLED a few months back. The OLED is amazing and I've used both decks far more then what I thought that I was going to. Usually watching TV or listening to podcasts and playing it on the couch.

The Steamdeck just works and is so easy to install emulators and other software and everything just works and it's ridiculously customizable.

My favorite purchase that I've made since the Xbox 360.

That's how I always describe it to console only people who ask me about it, channeling Todd Howard.

For basic Steam Games stuff, it's super intuitive, with tons of optional customizations if you want to use it as a pc. Outside portability, I think my fav thing about it is being able to pause any game by just putting it into sleep mode wit a push of a button.

 

[RemyR]

I got a Steam Deck and am very happy with it. Just buy the cheapest version and upgrade the hard drive yourself. I am by no means tech savvy but it's easy to do.