Deck or Laptop?

[Spruce]

Currently I share a desktop with some other family members and wanted to try and get a smaller, but still powerful option for myself. If so, should I settle for a Steam Deck or a gaming laptop?

[nullable]

I'd go for a laptop personally.

Although if your primary goal is to play games anywhere the Steam Deck would be nice. And I love my Switch.

A laptop will be leagues more powerful than a Steam Deck though. For perspective the Steam deck runs natively at 1280x800 which is about half as many pixels as 1080p. So I wouldn't call the Deck "powerful" its ability to run demanding games comes from running at a fraction of the resolution you'd expect from a gaming laptop or desktop.

[Brian9824]

Originally posted by Snakub Plissken:

I'd go for a laptop personally.

Although if your primary goal is to play games anywhere the Steam Deck would be nice. And I love my Switch.

A laptop will be leagues more powerful than a Steam Deck though. For perspective the Steam deck runs natively at 1280x800 which is about half as many pixels as 1080p. So I wouldn't call the Deck "powerful" its ability to run demanding games comes from running at a fraction of the resolution you'd expect from a gaming laptop or desktop.

Yeah but on the smaller screen you don't really notice the higher resolution that much.

Originally posted by cptspruce:

Currently I share a desktop with some other family members and wanted to try and get a smaller, but still powerful option for myself. If so, should I settle for a Steam Deck or a gaming laptop?

OP it really depends on budget. A decent gaming laptop will run you far more then the switch for instance, but also give you the added functionality of a laptop, but on the flip side require the space of a laptop.

if you are traveling a lot with it, the steam deck is definitely something easier to just pull out and play, but comes with limitations like the HD size and battery. So really its personal preference for what you want and your budget. You'd be hard pressed to find any decent laptop for gaming for the price of a Steam deck though.

[Electric Cupcake]

Building your own desktop is the most cost-efficient (at least during normal times when supply chains aren't in tatters).

If you've got the money to splurge on a good laptop, go for it, but you can expect to pay $2000 or so for the equivalent of a $1200 desktop.

Also, don't underestimate small-form-factor hardware running Linux. Without all the Windows bloat dragging things down, you can get excellent gaming performance out of a handheld gadget. Especially with Valve continuing Proton development support.

https://www.waveshare.com/product/raspberry-pi/portable-gaming.htm
https://retrododo.com/retropie-handhelds/

[Crazy Tiger]

Depends on your usage. If you want to be very mobile, the Deck might be good. If you want more than just gaming, a laptop is better.

A laptop will also be more powerful and unless you tinker with the OS on the Deck, it's possible that you will run into games that won't work happily on it (assuming you have windows on the laptop).

[isomorphic_projection]

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Building your own desktop is the most cost-efficient (at least during normal times when supply chains aren't in tatters).

If you've got the money to splurge on a good laptop, go for it, but you can expect to pay $2000 or so for the equivalent of a $1200 desktop.

I agree, he should go for a desktop. If something breaks, then it's more easier to repair. If the laptop breaks, it can still be repaired in the factory. But that means, that he needs to miss it for mostly a month. Also, if you want to upgrade. You just sell your older stuff and put the new one in. And then there's the fact that most laptops share memory between the gpu and the rest. No video ram.

[( ( < < <🤖> > > ) )]

Originally posted by Electric Cupcake:

Building your own desktop is the most cost-efficient (at least during normal times when supply chains aren't in tatters).

If you've got the money to splurge on a good laptop, go for it, but you can expect to pay $2000 or so for the equivalent of a $1200 desktop.

Also, don't underestimate small-form-factor hardware running Linux. Without all the Windows bloat dragging things down, you can get excellent gaming performance out of a handheld gadget. Especially with Valve continuing Proton development support.

https://www.waveshare.com/
https://retrododo.com/retropie-handhelds/

you dont actually need to build it yourself..

most computer stores will charge a build fee that is not that much
because it doesnt take that much to build and test and have
a working computer out of the box but if its your goal to build your own... go for it...

[Spruce]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Originally posted by Snakub Plissken:

I'd go for a laptop personally.

Although if your primary goal is to play games anywhere the Steam Deck would be nice. And I love my Switch.

A laptop will be leagues more powerful than a Steam Deck though. For perspective the Steam deck runs natively at 1280x800 which is about half as many pixels as 1080p. So I wouldn't call the Deck "powerful" its ability to run demanding games comes from running at a fraction of the resolution you'd expect from a gaming laptop or desktop.

Yeah but on the smaller screen you don't really notice the higher resolution that much.

Originally posted by cptspruce:

Currently I share a desktop with some other family members and wanted to try and get a smaller, but still powerful option for myself. If so, should I settle for a Steam Deck or a gaming laptop?

OP it really depends on budget. A decent gaming laptop will run you far more then the switch for instance, but also give you the added functionality of a laptop, but on the flip side require the space of a laptop.

if you are traveling a lot with it, the steam deck is definitely something easier to just pull out and play, but comes with limitations like the HD size and battery. So really its personal preference for what you want and your budget. You'd be hard pressed to find any decent laptop for gaming for the price of a Steam deck though.

Well, currently I’m no full time worker since I’m still a high school student. I’ve considered maybe the SD if it’d help with things like college or something. I would say the deck fits more within my budget but a laptop would last a bit longer if valve ever makes a second generation of Steam Deck.

[Spruce]

Originally posted by Crazy Tiger:

Depends on your usage. If you want to be very mobile, the Deck might be good. If you want more than just gaming, a laptop is better.

A laptop will also be more powerful and unless you tinker with the OS on the Deck, it's possible that you will run into games that won't work happily on it (assuming you have windows on the laptop).

I do own a windows desktop, yes. Literally the only game concern I have in regards to running on a deck is Minecraft and that’s all. Every other game I play runs fine or is in active development. (Hoping that halo is being worked for the deck, anyway)

[UCEY]

I prefer a laptop because it has a bigger screen but a Deck would do better if you move around a lot

[nullable]

Originally posted by brian9824:

Yeah but on the smaller screen you don't really notice the higher resolution that much.

Well to be clear, I'm not dogging the Deck or anything. I'm not complaining about the resolution being low. I'm just stating that it is, and that's how it's able to run AAA games well enough.

The tradeoff is you're much closer to the floor/minimum requirements. You're closer to obsolescence. Will a Steam Deck be able to run AAA games in four or five years? A midrange gaming laptop would be in a bit better position to do so I would think. Starting from a higher bar gives you a bit more flexibility in resolution scaling.

Maybe it won't matter much, and for what the Steam Deck is, making those graphics compromises more for the convenience and portability may not be an issue. And putting my own biases aside I can't really say where the floor is for the average Steam Deck owner, where they'd agree the first generation Steam Deck has definitely aged out.

[Cathulhu]

Do not bother with RTX 3050.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SlobQZECwxE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlZRtP7ZoVs
Not to mention that videocards with just 4GB RAM are a really bad joke these days.

Stay away from Killer Ethernet. Unless you like having problems.

Do not believe marketing male cow excrement.

[Tsubame ⭐]

For the price Steam Deck, for gaming strictly.

If you plan on using extensively for work or study then I would get a laptop instead.

You can always consider a desktop, which will always be more bang for the buck performance wise, if portability is not an important factor.

[isomorphic_projection]

Removed killer ethernet a long time ago. I got accused of a sort of doss attack at the time. Something about pushing data, flooding the server. Still don't understand it fully. And the best gpu when it comes to ram memory. Is a rtx 3060 12gb. I myself have a kfa2 3060 ex 12gb. I could go for less a 2080 or 2070. But i am a modder, so i went for the 3060. Not that you need so many ram on a gpu. You can also buy a gpu with less ram on it. And instead a board that does not have a bottleneck or causing lag within the system itself. Then i suggest more normal ram memory, and designate it to the gpu.

[crunchyfrog]

Depends entirely on your use case.

What do you wish to do with it? If it's PURELY game and a Steam Deck suffices then go for it, but do be aware it IS a mobile device to some extent so it will be limited more in what it can play.

These are things you need to work out yourself. I'd recommend getting a simple plain old sheet of papaer, dividing it up into two columns - pros and cons. Then wrote down the things for each.

[AROCK!!!]

Laptop