Steam Deck Is Just a Fad and Here’s Why

[Cat Princess]

Alright, I’m gonna say it: the Steam Deck is overrated. Don’t get me wrong—it’s cool in theory, but does anyone actually think it’s a long-term competitor in the gaming space? Handheld PC gaming sounds amazing on paper, but the reality? It’s clunky, expensive, and feels like it’s trying too hard to be the “Switch for PC nerds.”

Let’s talk performance. Yeah, it can run AAA games, but at what cost? Cranked-down graphics, battery life that dies faster than your will to keep tweaking settings, and fans so loud they could double as white noise machines. And don’t even get me started on compatibility issues—oh, you wanted to play X game? Better hope Proton feels like cooperating today.

Also, portability? Yeah, right. Unless you’ve got cargo pants, this thing isn’t fitting in your pocket anytime soon. It’s more like a “lug it around” device than a true handheld.

Look, I get that people love their Decks, but I can’t shake the feeling that in a couple of years, this will be collecting dust on shelves while everyone moves back to gaming PCs or other consoles. Prove me wrong, though—if you can.

[deaddoof]

Look, I get that people love their Decks, but I can’t shake the feeling that in a couple of years, this will be collecting dust on shelves while everyone moves back to gaming PCs or other consoles. Prove me wrong, though—if you can.

What is the point of proving you wrong? Opinions are just that. You read them and realize it doesn't apply to you.

Everyone's opinions including mine.

[🌎Earth]

Do you seriously think people are buying this so that they never touch their PC or console again? That's not why people are buying their decks. A standard Switch won't fit in your pocket either so not sure why that comparison randomly gets brought up. You could also play the Steam Deck in a jungle unlike a PC so yeah, portable.

[Haruspex]

Bait.

[Cat Princess]

Originally posted by deaddoof:

Look, I get that people love their Decks, but I can’t shake the feeling that in a couple of years, this will be collecting dust on shelves while everyone moves back to gaming PCs or other consoles. Prove me wrong, though—if you can.

What is the point of proving you wrong? Opinions are just that. You read them and realize it doesn't apply to you.

Everyone's opinions including mine.

Some opinions are wrong. Like yours

[steven1mac]

Compatibility is the biggest issue with the deck, eventually it will be dated hardware, but all handhelds will have that problem in the near future.

[ingueferroque]

Steam Deck OLED has solved the battery life issues - it's not clunky at all, and handhelds haven't been pocket-able in years. It's fine. I carry it in a backpack. What about it is overpriced? It's basically the cheapest way to get into PC gaming.

Ever since I got a Deck I've been playing way more games, and have stopped using my gaming PC 90% of the time.

I just spent two months travelling with only a backpack, and had access to my entire PC library - and could play anything I wanted. It's liberating.

It kind of sounds like you really want a Deck and are trying to convince yourself not to.

[Pvt. Parts]

All I know is that in the 18 months or so that I have had my Deck, I have played a lot more games than I did before. I had previously played on an MSI gaming laptop (and still do for some games). But the laptop is even worse for portability, usability, and battery life. The laptop has vents on the bottom and gets hotter than heck, so I don’t often use it on my lap; it really needs a hard surface to rest on to assure adequate airflow. And the laptop doesn’t know it’s a laptop. Games run pretty chunky sometimes because they are optimized for a desktop that runs the same hardware, but has far more power supply and better cooling. The laptop throttles the CPU and GPU when running on battery so performance sucks, and it still dies in an hour. The Deck, despite its shortcomings and compromises, is better optimized to game on a battery, and the sleep mode makes picking it up and putting it down as needed so easy. My laptop freezes or crashes half the time when coming out of sleep while running a game.

[D. Flame]

It made people take proton and Linux seriously, so it will never be just a memory.

[Broseph Joseph]

I see people are just using chatGPT to bait jesters now.
Valve it really is time to just remove jester.

[RSebire]

I’m happy with my deck..
As long as I play basic games it’s good to go.
It doesn’t need all the bells and whistles.
And it is going to be supported for a long time yet.
Win win

[Objectionable]

since when do portables *need* to fit in your pocket? I've always kept mine in carrying cases out of fear of damaging the electronics

[MechaDeka]

Originally posted by Objectionable:

since when do portables *need* to fit in your pocket? I've always kept mine in carrying cases out of fear of damaging the electronics

Kids think the point of handhelds is to be able to hide them from the teacher.

[Mahjik]

Originally posted by Caitlyn77:

Look, I get that people love their Decks, but I can’t shake the feeling that in a couple of years, this will be collecting dust on shelves while everyone moves back to gaming PCs or other consoles.

Even if in a couple of years my Deck is collecting dust, it will have been a heck of couple great years.

I don't think portable gaming is going away. People said that about gaming laptops years ago and look where we are. There will always be some that will put portability as their top priority, and there will always be others that put performance at their top. That's why all these different ways to play games exist to allow everyone to play how "they" want.

[NeRvEaGeNt UK]

Sold mine fir an ally x its way better and can play all games

[DimwitPlasmid]

I have a refurb 512GB OLED (smallest I could get). I am disappointed with now many of my games don't work (10.7% of my 1200+ game catalog are Verified; 24% "work but with these problems..."). As such, I think it's overrated. BUT ...

- I'm confident more will be added to Verified or at least working well via Valve or, more likely, community efforts.

- I'm enjoying being able to carry it around and play wherever I wish without firing up my PC and being tethered. Bed, living room, etc.

- My deck doesn't have loud fans, even when running high resource/battery sucking games.

- Given that a "middle line" high-end Gfx card is still between $550 and $750'ish, I got a good deal on a portable PC gaming machine. As soon as I can add windows 11 and perhaps GOG and/or Epic to it, it will be a big bargain. (I should say IF I can add GOG/EPIC). This allows me to put off buying $1500 to $2000 worth of computer equipment to build a new top-notch gaming rig (using a lot of cannibalized parts).

As others have said, value is in the eye or the beholder and so are opinions. All opinions count, as long as they're well explained and not just Trolling.