A mistake buying the Steam Deck?

[day7326]

Does anyone feel they made a mistake buying their Steam Deck? I've had mine for just over a month now and whilst I have enjoyed using it, I've not been blown away with it if I'm being totally honest. I bought it purely for gaming reasons. I also own a series x and a switch, although I would only consider myself as a casual gamer.

Do you think the SD is worth it for casual gamers like myself or is it more for people who like to tinker about with settings and understand the mechanics of a PC (which I don't unfortunately 😅). I'm not knocking the SD at all because it is an impressive piece of hardware, although I'm still unsure if I've made a bit of an expensive mistake or not.

[Mahjik]

I'm not sure I would call someone who owns a Switch and an Xbox as a casual gamer.

[NuLife]

i don't tinker with mine, i just download games and play them, i may reduce the TDP to save battery but that's not tinkering its in the settings like how games have settings to adjust,
I love my deck had it for 3 months or so and don't regret it one bit, its nice to just chill on the sofa with and its so comfy to hold.
The sd its for all gamers as long as they don't expect it to play AAA at max lol

And at the price point it cant be matched by the competion

[einlanzer]

I'm enjoying mine other than the fact that I think it's really buggy, clunky, and unstable especially when you're trying to do specific things in desktop mode. Input randomly stops working, random things will occur on-screen , etc. It really feels like it needs a lot more polish.

In particular, I have a lot of problem with the "steam" button working consistently. It will just randomly fail on a regular basis and I'll be forced to reboot the whole system. Quite a frustrating experience.

[NuLife]

Originally posted by einlanzer:

I'm enjoying mine other than the fact that I think it's really buggy, clunky, and unstable especially when you're trying to do specific things in desktop mode. Input randomly stops working, random things will occur on-screen , etc. It really feels like it needs a lot more polish.

In particular, I have a lot of problem with the "steam" button working consistently. It will just randomly fail on a regular basis and I'll be forced to reboot the whole system. Quite a frustrating experience.

see i use mine just for playing steam games and thats all i bought it for, thats why i probably enjoying it alot, but i do get the desktop is clunky, but im going get a dedicated windows handheld for that side of things

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by einlanzer:

I'm enjoying mine other than the fact that I think it's really buggy, clunky, and unstable especially when you're trying to do specific things in desktop mode. Input randomly stops working, random things will occur on-screen , etc. It really feels like it needs a lot more polish.

In particular, I have a lot of problem with the "steam" button working consistently. It will just randomly fail on a regular basis and I'll be forced to reboot the whole system. Quite a frustrating experience.

I wouldn't say your experience is normal (unless you are using the Preview or Beta branches).

[@R+5]

you can also start "tinkering" by just exploring whats available. even basic "tinkering" will improve a lot your experience, and allow you to take advantage of a lot of options that are not very obvious to most new users.

check this:
https://steamcommunity.com/app/1675200/discussions/0/3716063566028904646/

[golephish]

almost 2 months in... I too thought it would just be another device to watch netflix on - but I have had much fun restoring it, installing windows and virtual machines. I can totally understand being underwhelmed, but there is so much this can do until you get into the Odin.

[Ben Bernanke]

u can install windows and connect keyboard and mouse. it will have more performance per dollar than any other computer u can buy.

could only be a waste if u hate steam or already had a good desktop or laptop to play pc games on?

[ZombieKidzRule!]

Whether or not buying the Steam Deck is a mistake is entirely user specific. I consider myself a casual, mouse and keyboard, PC gamer who enjoys more of original and old school games over the newer, console style games. And the only time I have played a console was when my kids were young and we had the first version of the Playstation and whatnot.

But I love my Steam Deck and I pretty much use it daily. Much more so than I use my laptop now since I can quickly and easily boot up the Steam Deck and play pretty much anywhere.

I don't really tinker and you don't have to, depending on what you want to do. I very rarely go in to Desktop mode.

I do somewhat regret purchasing my OneXPlayer Mini AMD while I waited for my Steam Deck. I liked the OXP at first, but once I got my Steam Deck, There really isn't a comparison for my use case. For me, the Steam Deck is hands down a better choice.

I can't imagine not having a handheld device like the Steam Deck now. And if the Nintendo Switch had allowed me to play the vast majority of my Steam library, without having to buy games all over again, I would have gotten a Switch years ago.

TLDR: I don't regret buying the Steam Deck, but I do somewhat regret buying my OXP.

[GoalieG]

I absolutely LOVE my SD and I am not one to ever tinker with anything (I am completely tech-helpless). I just download and play my games. But, I'm a handheld gamer (I went from PSP to Vita to SD as my platform of choice).

[shimsham29]

I don't tinker with mine and think it is a really cool piece of tech and don't regret buying it. I mainly got it for retro gaming but I do like to play a few Steam games on it as well. My only issue is I have way too many games and other things I like/want to do and the Deck often gets neglected because of that, as do numerous other things.

I need more time to do/play all the stuff I want to do/play and I am retired and single with no kids so it's not even like I don't have a bunch of free time as is. PC games, retro games, VR games, getting better at billiards and darts in my basement, spending more time outside, catching up with attitude era WWF programs and PPVs, watching some movies and shows I want to re-watch or watch for the first time, using my Steam Deck more, trying to get better at drawing...the list goes on and on. It's kind of funny as i have a super simple/basic life but at the same time too much stuff to do. Can't even imagine what it would be like if I had a wife, kids, or other more social/"real world" type commitments. Or if I still worked for 8 hours a day.

[PrivateXTC]

Originally posted by shimsham29:

Can't even imagine what it would be like if I had a wife, kids, or other more social/"real world" type commitments. Or if I still worked for 8 hours a day.

Its not that bad. I got a girlfriend, a baby and full time job. Most of the time youre too tired to even play any way. Can get maybe an hour a day gaming. 2 or 3 on a good day.

[Gojak_v3]

It's exactly what I was looking for. A handheld PC to play games on. And it has by far the best price point when compared to similar devices. I'm not someone that's gonna tinker with it too much other than making sure I can use mods for games like Skyrim. Which I hear is easy enough to do.