Steam Deck

I'm bedridden, so it's my primary gaming device. But I got a new table for my laptop so that has taken up video playing duties which previously were done by the Deck.

Just picked up a used 64gb version a few weeks ago for just over $300. My expectations were blown away. I've been a PlayStation and Nintendo guy since the mid 2000's, but now my plan is to fully transition to the PC gaming ecosystem this year.

I have a PS5 and Nintendo Switch currently and while I like both, my biggest gripe with them is that if I buy a game on one, I can't continue it on the other. Typically this leads to me having to buy games twice in some instances if I want to play on the TV and in handheld mode. Sure the Switch can dock to the TV, but the power is not enough for the bigger games. I also hate paying for online and backwards compatibility is lacking on both.

The deck shows me the possibilities of a PC future though. Any games I buy on Steam for the deck I will be able to play at higher graphics on a proper PC setup for no extra charge. I also love emulating all my favorite games from the PS2 and GameCube era. The deck shows what true backwards compatibility should be like. PS3 emulation has been limited, but you can buy many of the PS3 games on Steam for cheap anyway, so hasn't been a big issue.

My goal this year is to build a mid PC setup that can replace my PS5 for TV gaming. Very excited about the future of Steam and PC and now I'm looking to upgrade the storage on the deck to 1tb this weekend.

every single day for me. it's my home device. I have other consoles, I just like this one.

it does everything I need so far.

I use mine on the train to and from school, and on some flights, but was nowhere near my pc playtime according to the steam replay 2023. I hit about 150 hours per two weeks frequently there, and the steam deck is more like 18 hours.

I've actually been using it as my primary pc while overseas in china, too.

I've been playing it a lot more since I got the OLED. It turns out that I disliked the LCD on the original Deck more than I realized. And not just the difference from OLED itself, but the screen size and 90hz refresh also. Those chunky bezels really did suck, and now the screen feels more like it "fits" the device size.

The larger battery capacity has sure helped too.

I've only had it for a couple of weeks, but it's been ~95% of my gaming time. I have a decent desktop gaming rig (I need a video card for work, so I built a computer last year), but I have a time-consuming job and I want to be present for my kids. My only gaming time is in the evening, which is also my only time to spend with my wife (without kiddos), so I'm not going to leave her to have on the other end of the house. I play in bed next to her.

I'm a patient gamer, too, so it's a plenty powerful machine for all the games I play anyway. I've mostly been playing Stardew Valley since it doesn't require complete attention, so I can also watch a show with my wife at the same time and catch most of it.

I have so many games I want to play on it, but I'm in no rush. I'll be using the Deck for many years, I'm guessing. With the OLED screen, I don't see why I'd need to upgrade, either. I don't need a faster machine. I literally have 100+ PC games and even more console games I want to play that the Deck can handle, so I'm completely happy with this device's capabilities.

Almost exclusively use mine for games. There are a few games like Deep Rock that I only really enjoy with a mouse, but everything else is Steam Deck only now.

I’m definitely still in a honeymoon phase with my OLED Deck, my first. My poor ps5 would have started collecting dust if it weren’t for how amazing Chiaki is.

I’ve used Mac for work, and Sony, Nintendo for gaming since forever, so deck is my first gateway into a lot of classic PC/Microsoft gaming history. By all rights, Deck is now my dedicated retro handheld and it’s nearly perfect for it (limited PS3). Right now I’m playing Star Wars: Dark Forces on the force Engine with the intention to play through the series. I have Daggerfall Unity installed as well, and I will be able to play Morrowind and Oblivion for the first time. Same same goes for the Halo series.

I can also finally play some games online with friends who don’t appreciate consoles as much as I do.

I’ll keep adding newer Games to my PlayStation library on PS5, but deck gives me access to a lot of PC ports to older console games I loved as well. I can repurchase them on the cheap and have them back in my library with deck.

The timing actually bit me in the ass, as I got my SD only a few months before building a new 4k 120hz rig and TV update.

It gets its use more casual, quick gaming. When it is 930 PM I don't want to take over my living room to game for an hour before I have to go to bed. So I pop on Shovel Knight Dig of whatever and dick around. Very rarely now is it my main gaming machine.

BUT

I use it in desktop mode for one of my two living room TVs. Its so FUCKING awesome having a full PC I can charge and keep alive with just a high powered USB C cable. Its an amazing media PC because of its size and doomed profile.

I am using mine fairly regularly, the display is absolutely amazing, I like the portable form factor and the beautiful screen. I have a PS5 as well but don't play so much on it anymore. But there are some games that are simply better on a bigger screen, no two opinions about that, plus I would have liked it to be a bit more powerful as constant fiddling with graphical settings is tiring.

Apart from that I think Valve did an amazing job.

Bought the deck, upgraded to a 2tb SSD, upgraded the cooling, swapped the shell, added additional grips on the sticks, pads, triggers, rear buttons, did some overclocking and undervolting, spent many hours tweaking various setting and plugins, etc. I've played a couple of hours of Mario golf on yuzu, and haven't otherwise touched it for a single other game. I've had it for 8 months. And the $2k gaming laptop that I ended up with a couple of months ago really kind of put the nail in the coffin. I had big plans for the Deck when I bought it(and the many accessories, upgrades, and mods), and those plans just kinda.... didn't become a thing.

I've been thinking about pulling the SSD and putting the 512gb back in, and just selling. The only thing stopping me is that I have some ideas on possible major life changes for this time next year(think tiny and/or mobile living arrangements), where the form factor of the Deck would/should be beneficial. That was the original intended purpose of me buying it to begin with. But even there, the laptop is plenty small, and vastly more powerful. Just not sure I see a reason to have both, and if forced to choose one or the other, I mean...

I’ve slowly been playing less and less on my deck, cause i got a new computer, and am taking full advantage of it with cyberpunk 2077. I’m still probably gonna start using my deck more when the new computer awe goes away.

Over the last 6 months I have played my steamdeck more than my desktop. As a dad of young children, my weekday gaming in done on my deck after my kids go to bed. Then on the weekends, I game on my desktop in the basement with my buddies from college.

In the last month I have spent more time working on learning some new skills and reading books instead of gaming during the weekdays. This has taken the place of my normal deck gaming time. I will probably go back to adding in some gaming in a few months. That will all be on my deck.

It's not my primary device but it fills a couple niches really well. And travel device isn't even the most important, though obviously I love it for that.

Sometimes I game with it over my PC when I want to be outside in the summer.

But most of the time I end using it with the tv. I have the dock and it's become more like a Nintendo switch than a Sega game gear. My friends and blasted through Streets of Rage 4 in an afternoon for example. And im in a couple discord movie servers and when I'm watching I just switch to desktop mode and full screen it.

So yeah I'm not using it the way I thought, but it gets used couple times a week minimum, a lot more if I have along bus or train ride.

I've been playing the newish Wolfenstein games on mine and they run so incredibly well. I haven't played a campaign game before this since Death Stranding.

Probably more than 50% on steam deck over the last 6 months, though overall I've slowed down quite a bit since getting it a year ago.

The last major game I got was Endless Dungeon when that released (maybe in October?), and I did maybe 2 sessions on pc, then played the rest of the time on the deck. So it's still my preferred platform.

I got Jagged Alliance 3 over the holiday, and found it visually a bit too small on the deck, so I plan to play some on PC until I have a good handle on the game, then switch back to the deck. It's kind of similar to Solasta, which I first played on pc, but now primarily play on Deck.

1% of my gaming time but it's hooked up to my TV and I use it as a mobile pc media center.

When I first got my Deck, I was playing a lot on it. I then kinda transitioned back into PC gaming for a while and that continued into the beginning of 2023. However, I started gaming a lot more on the Deck in the past few months. I've mostly been working through some of the indie or older games that are in my backlog. Right now, I only really play on PC when I am playing my primary multiplayer games that don't run (or run poorly) on the Deck.

Before getting the Deck, I pretty much gave up on gaming because I started working fulltime remotely and I didn't want to just continue sitting on the same desk after work and continue gaming there. It's bad for my physical and mental health.

Since getting my OLED end of November, I've been playing an average of 3h per day despite fulltime work and spending holidays with family and friends… oops :D I think it will definitely go down once the honeymoon phase is over, but its impact is already made. Through it I've found a new way to fit an old hobby back into my life.
I'm also using it to watch stuff on TV in docked mode. The portable format is just perfect for it.

Bought it for on the go and used it as such. I did use it a few times to do coop games too

Depends. Lately I’ve been playing things that are not… ideal on the Deck. For example American Truck Simulator runs very well, BUT! I kinda doze off if it’s night, so my way around that is a big screen, less comfortable position (plain old sitting at a desk) and a secondary screen with Netflix or something. Snow runner I prefer the Deck. It just feels right. Also my main game got me playing regularly again, and when it’s the PS version… can’t really play it on the Deck.

So yeah, it’s down. Hilariously too, if you consider that for ATS I’m just using my Mac!

Side note: it hurts bad to see Baldur’s Gate running… smoother than on anything else I have, because it’s lightweight enough graphically, but the base M2 whips both the Deck’s cpu (fair enough) and the Ryzen 3600 in my gaming pc that should be better because of the RTX 3060…

I haven't touched my desktop in quite some time now

It's my main PC gaming device since my laptop is even struggling with TF2, and occasionally Ultrakill (which I only play there because I want M+K, and I might just start plugging those into my Deck), so it has been more than 95% of my PC playtime since I got it 1,5 years ago.

Which I'm fine with since I can't bother with a desktop, and gaming laptops are too loud/hot, both from older experience and seeing others.