Going to watch till the end, but just want to comment that this review is actually more relevant to vast majority of the people who would potentially buy this device, because they are indeed not hardcore gamers.
What I don't get, is how much people will pay to play retro games on a current device. I grew up playing video games since they were first introduced. I couldn't wait for more polygons and smooth graphics. The furthest back I'm willing to reach are games from the PS3 era. Any graphics before that were horrible.
@@busterhoodstar4447 Because with those limitations often came better and more creative games. Not to mention that retro games weren't a giant race to see who could come up with the most predatory monetization schemes/Live Service grind treadmills.
I love my Steam Deck. I have been a console player for years and a pc gamer since games were on cd's. I have had a Steam account for years and this little machine was what I always wanted. I was in the first hour of pre-orders so I've had mine a couple of months. I am a 67 year old grandmother and a gamer forever.
The Steam Deck is amazing and it's great that there's obvious areas where it can improve in future iterations. Valve went to great lengths to ship it at $399, but I'd like to see what they could make if they put another $100 into a future base model. It's a steep price, but I think people could see the value in it if Valve keeps hammering that it has a massive catalog and is tweakable, repairable, and a full-fledged PC to boot when docked.
JUST A WARNING YOU ARE GOING TO BE WAITING AT LEAST ANOTHER FOUR YEARS FOR VALVE TO COME OUT WITH A NEW STEAM DECK AND IF YOU THINK THEY WENT THROUGH ALL THIS TROUBLE TO MAKE THIS DEVICE WITH THESE ERGONOMICS JUST TO THROW IT TO THE SIDE LIKE AYA NEO AND DROP A NEW MODEL YOU ARE KIDDING YOURSELF I LOVE MY DECK JUST THE WAY IT IS AND AM NOT THINKING ABOUT A NEW DECK AT ALL INFACT I DONT THINK YOU HAVE A DECK IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A NEXT VERSION IM ALMOST SURE OF IT BUT HEY ITS YOUR WAIT IF YOU WANT TO WAIT FOR A NEW MODEL 😂😆😂
They need to put 10000mah battery just like the other chinese brands handheld, they have a good apu very power efficient, it will make the steamdeck 4 to 16 hours of gaming depending on what type of game
With a bigger battery and some custom chip from the next generation of APUs from AMD it could be like 2.5X faster while having the same/better battery life. Even with a custom chip from the 6000 APUs and the exact same components it could have up to 1.6X performance while having better battery life.
I think that's the big selling point, the massive catalog. The steam deck seems like the logical move to get that catalog into casual gamers' hands. Is the price steep? Maybe. But compared to buying a pc it's a good deal. You're getting a device that is just going to work. I think it's going to fill in the gap of people who don't want to buy a full on gaming PC. My friend who is a console gamer is already interested in purchasing it.
If I had a Steam Deck I'd barely spend any time gaming, I'd be too busy experimenting with different Linux DE's and optimising them to work on a small screen and the input controls in desktop mode lol
Too true. While I haven't been messing with DEs, I have been just testing random games, and also seeing what other software I can get running on it without unlocking the read-only system partition.
I'd like to add that it can be worth occasionally retrying games from your library that are marked as "Unsupported". According to Valve's documentation, games are only marked "Unsupported" if there are game-breaking bugs with Proton or the game can't run due to hardware limitations. (quote from a table in the partner docs: "Unsupported: Your game does not function on Deck due to incompatibility with Proton or specific hardware components.") Since Proton receives frequent updates, it's possible that some games now work on the Deck, but just have not been re-reviewed yet. 2 examples from my library at the time of writing are "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky" and "Hunie Pop 2"
Yep. A good example from my library is Project Wingman. The game is marked Unsupported, but it was tested back in February, and it now works completely fine.
Do you know if any other games in the Trails series work? I know the Trails in the Sky the 3rd is verified but Sky SC is unsupported (I think it's been since February?), and Cold Steel II and Cold Steel III are also unsupported and the other two Cold Steel games are still unknown.
@@Mizufluffy Check ProtonDB. Many games that were tested in the beginning of the year by Valve and marked Unsupported, work fine now. User reports say Sky SC works now with minimal tweaking.
I’ve had mine for 2 weeks now. Love how I can play Battlefield 4, Apex Legends, GTA V, and some others where ever. I did format an external 5tb drive and set it up on the Linux desktop side to use when docked, but you need to modify fatab for that (although you might be able to use KDE Partition Manager).
I pretty much agree with everything in this review. Only thing I would add is that I'm not enjoying keyboard/mouse only games as much as I thought I would (with the 2 touch pads). I'm finding that I'd rather just play a game that works better with the gamepad controls. So my barrier is less with Linux compatibility and more with the controls. My son has also been living in the Linux desktop mode. He's loving learning Linux and has turned his deck into his casual desktop computer for things like watching youtube videos and playing indie games.
This is an incredibly helpful review. Thank you! I agree with other commenters that your reflections are relevant to such a wide range of people who are thinking of getting a Deck. You’ve included so many useful details.
You say you're a casual gamer, but you play PC, have a steam account and actually have some games on it. Most reviewer I've seem (including big one), this is the first time they've touched Steam (how is that even possible as a game/tech reviewer)!
Very good video! 👏 I for myself never invested into a PC for gaming or steam, I am amazed by this great creation of a device so I bought one. Steam gaming is awesome. So many special sales and games ! So much fun!
Like you, I am casual gamer with most of my game library on Steam. I bought a GPD Win 3 about a year ago. This is a good windows-based gaming handheld, but the screen is a bit small for my ageing eyes! I also reserved a Steam Deck on the day the reservation system went live but must wait until Q3 before I can place my order. I am a great fan of Linux operating system, so looking forward to receiving the larger display Steam Deck. Interested to see how works as a desktop pc.
@@felixlechat1780 - I have now received my Steam Deck and I am extremely impressed with its performance. Especially with regards emulation. It plays The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild using CEMU which is windows program running via a proton compatibility layer on Steam OS, and the game runs better on my Steam Deck than either my GPD Win 3 handheld (which runs CEMU natively on Windows) or my Nintendo Switch!
@@mannkeithc Are you having the weird issue where grass has a grainy black "shadow line" on it up to a certain distance away? That's the only thing keeping me from replaying BOTW on the deck
Lol I thought the same. I have like 10 games in my library and I'm considering the steam deck. I'm also interested in emulation, which it seems perfect for.
It's easy to aquire a ton of games over the years through bundles and sales and whatnot. I think I have about a hundred and probably haven't played most, and probably put significant time into less than 10.
Windows 10 installed on a micro SD card using rufus, a windows iso, and the windows to go option I find gives you the best of both worlds. SteamOS for Steam games, desktop mode for emulators and anything you can do on linux, and Windows 10 on the micro SD card for xbox game pass, epic games games that don't work well on linux, and other windows dependent software.
@@GaryExplains sorry to hear that.. but there's still nobody here on yt test phones with the same level of understanding as yours. maybe you can make them as a short here on this channel instead? or even a community post.. so at least we still have a general idea about something like wether the newest exynos is a flop or not.
One part you saidis that unlike the Switch it has active cooling. The Switch also has active cooling you just don't hear it as much. If you run Splatoon 2 on the lobby menu you can actually hear the Switch fan kick into high gear and the system really heat up while docked
Just to note, I would NOT recommend that people keep their games across multiple microSD cards, and swap them out a lot. microSD cards, especially as you get up there in storage, are prone to corruption, and constantly swapping them about is just asking for trouble..
The 1/6 number really surprised me. In practice, almost everything works, verified or not. The biggest exception are multiplayer games with intrusive anti cheats but it doesn't sound like that's something you'd find in your library.
Same here. But if I were to guess, I think that probably 4/6 of Gary's library games are in the unknown status, because they are niche, indie games that aren't played by many, and Valve didn't got to test them yet.
I don't have the Deck yet (it's currently being shipped) but at the moment about 40% of my Steam Library is Verified or Playable, about 12% is Unsupported and about 48% are still Unknown. This is with about 700 games in the Library so about 280 are either Verified or Playable. There is almost equal amount of Verified and Playable games (about 20% each), and out of the Verified games there are about 80 games that I'm more or less interested in playing on the Deck. I hope they can verify even more games, both those that are in unknown category but also improve Proton so that even some unsupported games may become supported eventually. (edit: I got my Deck on August 10th, 2022)
I am currently playing 2 unsupported games right now on my steam deck. Hardspace Shipbreaker and Lego Worlds... I have no clue why they are unsupported.
Games get the "Unsupported" label when the game has bugs due to Proton, or can't run because of hardware limitations. Since Proton gets updated so frequently, the most likely scenario is that those games simply have not been re-reviewed yet.
Just got mine a few days ago and really disappointed. Games crash from time to time, the popup keyboard is really flaky, the UI is also slow and flaky - not impressed :-(
i think the Steam Deck has a the potential to become the target for PC games developers. An enormous effort is needed to make, say, GTA 6 for Linux. But very little effort is needed for developers target Steam Deck and Proton - which will also work on Windows and with Valve and their compatibility checking. So it's a baby step for PC developers and one that means uncoupling yourself from Microsoft in small steps. So do I think Linux native game will boom... nope... I think Steam Deck (software) will become the target for developers that allows them options away from Microsoft, but still running on Windows. It's a vital tool for providing that easy slope away from Microsoft lock-in. That's why I genuinely think Steam Deck is a game-changer. Also the fact that some games run faster on Proton than Windows should be a source of shame for Microsoft.
@@ghostlegit nah not most, a big list of games run better on Linux and even they were a couple fps behind, a average user won't notice, care or some might even know it runs Linux
you said that you can't play non-steams games on the steam deck, this is not true, you can download non-steam games and play them like you would any other games, you can even add them to the steam deck game mode UI, you can do things like download emulators and such, which is nice, even if a company doesn't support it there might be community made solutions like the heroic launcher, which lets you launch your EA and GOG games using proton, just like steam games, although with this you would have to check websites like proton db before buying games from those stores.
About you saying that only 25 Games or whatever are verified. I am currently actively playing 2 games that are "unsupported" according to valve, and by my ecperience, most games that are "unknown" play good as well.
Another way to improve performance/battery life, reduce the game's resolution below the screen's native 720p/800p, and then use the AMD FSR scaling to upscale back to 800p. This can improve things a lot for visually demanding games, though it won't help much with CPU demanding games.
@Airgeddon1337 A fancy driver isn't gonna help battery life on the SteamDeck more. The AMD APU is simply very powerful, though it is flexible. It'll last hours if you're browsing the web, watching videos, playing minesweeper, or even some last-gen games. But Forza is going to drain your battery in 1-3 hours because those graphics don't come free, and the SteamDeck's GPU will deliver that power if you let it. So if you want better battery life, the simple answer is that you have to limit how much a game demands from the hardware, either through the game's settings, or through the SteamOS settings. At this point, the SteamDeck is fighting physics, not software(though better optimized PC ports would also help).
@Airgeddon1337 The Steam Deck already does a good job of saving power when not playing demanding games. I get several hours when just doing random stuff in Desktop mode. In Game mode you have complete control over how much performance you let a game have, so if you really want a long battery life you can strangle a game as much as possible before making it unplayable. Plus, the Steam Deck's ability to suspend in the middle of a game, so you can save power when you need to go off and do something else for a while, helps save power too.
gamers advice please- have just got the steam deck email but I have short window to make up my mind. I have a family and we have 2 switches, a series x and s and a ps5. I love gaming but never really used steam except for football manager. I was interested because of the power increase over the switch but it seems there aren't alot of games that I can't just play elsewhere with similar or better performance. Am I better off getting a laptop? Be it that the kids can use it for school work? Thanks all
I just got my deck and I love it. There are still a ton of games that are unverified but work perfect on it. You can always add it to a keyboard and mouse and use it like a Linux computer.
You have to consider what you're going to be using it for. If you're always going to be sat at a desk, but just need to be able to move it around sometimes then getting a laptop and an Xbox/PlayStation controller is likely the better option. If you want to be able to play games on the move while on a bus/train/plane, or give it the kids to use in the back of the car then it's a no brainer that the Deck is a better buy for that purpose. Also, if your budget is tight then the Deck probably wins there too, since you're getting a lot of power for your money, especially if you reserved the cheapest one. That said, if you decide against making the order and if there's any way to share your reservation I'd gladly take it off your hands, I'm in the post-Q3 group, even though I reserved last year :'(
@@dan_ thank you. Do you think the deck has longevity? Although reasonably powerful now, it doesn't have proprietary games for it and so my concern is that it in a few years time, it won't be that much of an option for AAA games in the go and will be used OK the same way that the switch is now. Just smaller indie titles.
@@samreimann4233 the custom AMD APU that the Steam Deck has is going to last very long, I mean RDNA 2 is still at it's infancy and has a lot of years to grow and improve. I mean people still buy the Nintendo Switch despite having an ARM CPU from 2012
13:55 I have to incredibly disagree that this isn't for console people. I feel that was MADE to convert console people into PC games because it IS a console. It's a simple environment just to run games.
It’s a bit big for a portable (I want to use it when I travel) and battery life could be an issue for me so I will hold off for now. Very promising though. Looks like a good product.
... And THIS is what essentially kills the system. Its got great perks, but just ENOUGH shortcomings to "hold off for now". Why arent there any OTHER age groups ever making review of the Steam Deck? Is it just not getting the young generations attention? Is the Steam Deck already categorized as an old mans hobby toy?
it's so ergonomic it doesn't matter. its not very heavy even without that fact. The carry case included is super nice and protective. I haven't taken mine anywhere out of the house yet but I don't see it ever being a issue. My first reaction when opening it was "holy shit this is huge!" but I honestly think that thought was a bit of an overreaction after using it for a bit.
@@tylergarrett8066 it’s just annoying how companies always miss that one aspect in their products. Switch and Switch lite almost perfectly fit the portable standards , but are weak under the hood. OneXPlayer and Aya Neo have plenty under the hood, but real portability slips away. Sony makes badass designed hardware, but have little to no support for niche markets. Deck is super capable and versatile , but it’s size is just past the range of catchy portable and it’s versatility is frustrating at times. In this age, something the size of a Game Gear, with the large screen and chunky enough to incorporate good hand controls would be the device to break into the mainstream. The real mainstream. Probably a Deck Lite lol.
Non hardcore gamer here... best feature suspend... finally I can try to get through some games without trying to have save states in game when I need to step away.
The reason Nintendo owns the handheld market from Tetris till now is quality of catalog paired with an efficient battery usage. It's interesting to attempt higher amperage draws with the same amount of cooling space while needing to keep it silent...... Nintendo crushing it. I am a mainly PC gamer who fully appreciates the awesomeness of the switches environment.
Greatest video but I had to rectified that a Steam Deck is not only for PC gamers. I’m not, and I love my Stead Deck as I can play all retro games, I can can play my Xbox Game Pass games with Xcloud, and I can stream my PS5 games on it. On top of that, I’m now discovering a ton of great indie games that were only available on PC. In short, the Steam Deck is for any type of gamers
I see the Steam Deck in a very similar State than the first iPad. Lots of Potential but with very obvious ways to make improvements in the future. I think getting more than one USB Port, overall better battery life and a 1080p Screen would be such things. But if Valve rests on their laurels ( as they often like to do with a product ) I hope at least other companies can push the form factor forward.
2 года назад
Or just use USB-C how its meant to be sued. Connect your wired peripherals into the display and use display as a hub. Brilliant. What's the problem?
Great review. I still have mine reserved but at this point I may pass it up. I'm in between casual and hardcore gamer but within the last 12 months I upgraded my main rig with a 3080 and my old laptop with one with a 3080 so now I'm so use to playing at 60-144fps depending on the game that I can't even stomach playing at 30fps. Howevever, I love the direction that Valve is going with this one and would certainly consider the second version if 60fps is feasible in more games.
@OddKashi yeah if 60fps was achievable in the vast majority of games I'd be in for one. However, once you get used to high refresh fps, going back down to 30fps is downright jarring. I know because I still have my old laptop with a 960M and sometimes test out to see what it can do in today's games. Mostly 30 fps and yeah it's rough lol
Great review Gary, I'm getting mine Q3 2022, and To be honest, I've been back and forth as to if I need it, and if it's a good thing. What I've settled on is that it's a hand-held I can program, which runs linux, and by purchasing the highest tier model, I'm pushing back on the "Linux users want everything for free" and "Linux users don't want to game" mindsets, often cited by those not supporting Linux. So far valve delivery has been terrible, their specs are not as great and apparently the device has lots of areas for improvement / obvious oversights. While the machine is cheaper than a laptop, I hope valve or someone else does better in the future...
I ordered min in October, I believe. From the looks of it I'll get my invitation mid 2023. I'll probably just save for a gaming laptop as my target is 60fps in elden ring and the steam deck isn't quite good for that. I hope they can ramp up production on the next iteration as this one will be obsolete by the time they get all the pre-orders fulfilled. Last I heard they were still working on day 1 pre-orders 😂. Love the tech though, and windows can stuff it. I hope Linux does become as good as windows at PC gaming!
I think I will wait a few years for Steam to improve compatibility. I would love to ditch windows as I do not like Gates or Microsoft. (Though I do like the windows os well enough minus a few issues.) I just got a gaming laptop, but in a few years (assuming the great reset or 2nd coming doesn't happen,) when that laptop dies, I will probably buy the steam deck 2. Personally, I wish Steam would make an app for my phone that would run steam games on the phone itself. Or maybe Steam could make a steam smartphone-pc that is like the steam deck but much smaller.
Now is the best time to switch to Linux...it has come a long way and it's much better than Windows now without all the telemetry spying! First thing before you switch is watch a beginner tutorial of the distro you want to use or just a simple Linux tutorial in general. This will help you to at least know how to navigate the OS and how to install apps. Then try to find a Linux distro that you are comfortable with. I highly suggest Manjaro Linux KDE Plasma edition as it resembles Windows more than the others. Next find Linux equivalent of the Windows app you often use. You'll be surprised... I found some in Linux that looks and runs better than what I used to use in Windows. Just keep playing with the distro you choose until you think you're familiar and confident enough to switch. Good luck! 👍
I am very happy with steam OS but I do a lot of modding of my games and this is the area that suffers most. However I have had some success installing mods but many mod managers do not work even after many hours troubleshooting
i dont know what todo hand held small screen console. why buy big monitors if play small screen anyway LOL and phone is not game machine you call with it. text on 4k resolution 40inch monitor is small by default 8 pixel becoz developers thing its good quality when font is small and so more pixel on game what. same scene lol. and font look better on more pixels. quality more pixels? LOL c64 had nice 8 pixel font
Lol picturing my boss's face when I roll into a meeting "Hang on just a sec, I gotta setup my steam deck to take notes... yeah its far superior to a laptop, its so portable, you just plug this usb c extension in here, set the deck up on a stand, plug a hub into the extension, plug a keyboard and mouse into the hub, reboot into desktop mode... wait for it. Oh I forgot to hook up to power. Can I scoot closer to that outlet if you don't mind? Alright, ready to roll.
PC gaming is at a dead-end. It must go ARM/Risc-V as soon as possible and fully go on Linux. Failaing to do any of this will kill gaming on pc. Steam Deck is a compromize : it eat too much power for what it does compared to ARM soc and it heating way to much. Games on windows compiled for a deprecated legacy arhitecture : x64 is killing pc gaming. Steam has solved the windows problem. Now only the x64 problem remains. X64 cannot go faster, it cannot use less power and it is a serious hurdle to replacing pc architecture with a much better SOC one.
@@GaryExplains Because of the need for emulation of past x64 consoles. And to be faire other than Apple M1-M2 SOC, x46 is still the most powerful.... but at the high price cost, energy and the huge footprint with all the cooling necessary.
@@GaryExplains My point is : Intel/Amd are expensive for what they do, they have not gain any speed in 15 years, they require 115v outlet to operate, they require a lot of space for cooling, they use power to cool themselves.
The Nintendo Switch _does_ have active cooling, it's just really quiet. I should know, since I had to buy and install a replacement fan after the one it came with started failing, and making loud noises.
![Seungmin "그렇게, 천천히, 우리(As we are)" | [Stray Kids : SKZ-PLAYER]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/kAzmhLHePqU/mqdefault.jpg)
Going to watch till the end, but just want to comment that this review is actually more relevant to vast majority of the people who would potentially buy this device, because they are indeed not hardcore gamers.
Poor me waiting for a cheap used one
What I don't get, is how much people will pay to play retro games on a current device.
I grew up playing video games since they were first introduced. I couldn't wait for more polygons and smooth graphics. The furthest back I'm willing to reach are games from the PS3 era. Any graphics before that were horrible.
@@busterhoodstar4447 Because with those limitations often came better and more creative games. Not to mention that retro games weren't a giant race to see who could come up with the most predatory monetization schemes/Live Service grind treadmills.
Comment is bull
I love my Steam Deck. I have been a console player for years and a pc gamer since games were on cd's. I have had a Steam account for years and this little machine was what I always wanted. I was in the first hour of pre-orders so I've had mine a couple of months. I am a 67 year old grandmother and a gamer forever.
The Steam Deck is amazing and it's great that there's obvious areas where it can improve in future iterations. Valve went to great lengths to ship it at $399, but I'd like to see what they could make if they put another $100 into a future base model. It's a steep price, but I think people could see the value in it if Valve keeps hammering that it has a massive catalog and is tweakable, repairable, and a full-fledged PC to boot when docked.
JUST A WARNING YOU ARE GOING TO BE WAITING AT LEAST ANOTHER FOUR YEARS FOR VALVE TO COME OUT WITH A NEW STEAM DECK AND IF YOU THINK THEY WENT THROUGH ALL THIS TROUBLE TO MAKE THIS DEVICE WITH THESE ERGONOMICS JUST TO THROW IT TO THE SIDE LIKE AYA NEO AND DROP A NEW MODEL YOU ARE KIDDING YOURSELF I LOVE MY DECK JUST THE WAY IT IS AND AM NOT THINKING ABOUT A NEW DECK AT ALL INFACT I DONT THINK YOU HAVE A DECK IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT A NEXT VERSION IM ALMOST SURE OF IT BUT HEY ITS YOUR WAIT IF YOU WANT TO WAIT FOR A NEW MODEL 😂😆😂
They need to put 10000mah battery just like the other chinese brands handheld, they have a good apu very power efficient, it will make the steamdeck 4 to 16 hours of gaming depending on what type of game
With a bigger battery and some custom chip from the next generation of APUs from AMD it could be like 2.5X faster while having the same/better battery life. Even with a custom chip from the 6000 APUs and the exact same components it could have up to 1.6X performance while having better battery life.
When the most pre ordered unit was the most expensive one..I dont think a extra couple hundred dollars will sway those that want this.
I think that's the big selling point, the massive catalog. The steam deck seems like the logical move to get that catalog into casual gamers' hands. Is the price steep? Maybe. But compared to buying a pc it's a good deal. You're getting a device that is just going to work.
I think it's going to fill in the gap of people who don't want to buy a full on gaming PC. My friend who is a console gamer is already interested in purchasing it.
If I had a Steam Deck I'd barely spend any time gaming, I'd be too busy experimenting with different Linux DE's and optimising them to work on a small screen and the input controls in desktop mode lol
Too true. While I haven't been messing with DEs, I have been just testing random games, and also seeing what other software I can get running on it without unlocking the read-only system partition.
You can install Linux for free on your Windows PC
I'd like to add that it can be worth occasionally retrying games from your library that are marked as "Unsupported". According to Valve's documentation, games are only marked "Unsupported" if there are game-breaking bugs with Proton or the game can't run due to hardware limitations. (quote from a table in the partner docs: "Unsupported: Your game does not function on Deck due to incompatibility with Proton or specific hardware components.")
Since Proton receives frequent updates, it's possible that some games now work on the Deck, but just have not been re-reviewed yet. 2 examples from my library at the time of writing are "The Legend of Heroes: Trails in the Sky" and "Hunie Pop 2"
Yep. A good example from my library is Project Wingman. The game is marked Unsupported, but it was tested back in February, and it now works completely fine.
Very good point!
Do you know if any other games in the Trails series work? I know the Trails in the Sky the 3rd is verified but Sky SC is unsupported (I think it's been since February?), and Cold Steel II and Cold Steel III are also unsupported and the other two Cold Steel games are still unknown.
@@Mizufluffy Check ProtonDB. Many games that were tested in the beginning of the year by Valve and marked Unsupported, work fine now. User reports say Sky SC works now with minimal tweaking.
I didn't expect you to review the Steam Deck! :P
Ah, well, you see it runs Linux!
I’ve had mine for 2 weeks now. Love how I can play Battlefield 4, Apex Legends, GTA V, and some others where ever. I did format an external 5tb drive and set it up on the Linux desktop side to use when docked, but you need to modify fatab for that (although you might be able to use KDE Partition Manager).
GTA V and Battlefield 4 are very old so not surprising it can run them at medium settings
@@alvzcizzler try IT on switch
I pretty much agree with everything in this review. Only thing I would add is that I'm not enjoying keyboard/mouse only games as much as I thought I would (with the 2 touch pads). I'm finding that I'd rather just play a game that works better with the gamepad controls. So my barrier is less with Linux compatibility and more with the controls.
My son has also been living in the Linux desktop mode. He's loving learning Linux and has turned his deck into his casual desktop computer for things like watching youtube videos and playing indie games.
This is an incredibly helpful review. Thank you! I agree with other commenters that your reflections are relevant to such a wide range of people who are thinking of getting a Deck. You’ve included so many useful details.
the switch has also active cooling but because of it using a nvidia tegra X1 Arm chip is it less needed
Was looking for this comment!
You say you're a casual gamer, but you play PC, have a steam account and actually have some games on it. Most reviewer I've seem (including big one), this is the first time they've touched Steam (how is that even possible as a game/tech reviewer)!
I can't comment on what other reviewers do or don't do. But with me I will always be upfront and honest.
Very good video! 👏
I for myself never invested into a PC for gaming or steam, I am amazed by this great creation of a device so I bought one. Steam gaming is awesome. So many special sales and games ! So much fun!
Welcome to Steam brother! You made a fantastic choice.
Like you, I am casual gamer with most of my game library on Steam. I bought a GPD Win 3 about a year ago. This is a good windows-based gaming handheld, but the screen is a bit small for my ageing eyes! I also reserved a Steam Deck on the day the reservation system went live but must wait until Q3 before I can place my order. I am a great fan of Linux operating system, so looking forward to receiving the larger display Steam Deck. Interested to see how works as a desktop pc.
The performance will be not much then a true laptop
@@felixlechat1780 - I have now received my Steam Deck and I am extremely impressed with its performance. Especially with regards emulation. It plays The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild using CEMU which is windows program running via a proton compatibility layer on Steam OS, and the game runs better on my Steam Deck than either my GPD Win 3 handheld (which runs CEMU natively on Windows) or my Nintendo Switch!
@@mannkeithc Are you having the weird issue where grass has a grainy black "shadow line" on it up to a certain distance away? That's the only thing keeping me from replaying BOTW on the deck
Casual gamer with 173 games in library? That sounds to me like hardcore gamer :D Good review. Thank you!
He's in denial. 😁
Lol I thought the same. I have like 10 games in my library and I'm considering the steam deck. I'm also interested in emulation, which it seems perfect for.
It's easy to aquire a ton of games over the years through bundles and sales and whatnot. I think I have about a hundred and probably haven't played most, and probably put significant time into less than 10.
@@MonkeyPunchZPoker I have 17 years on Steam and a library of just under 700 games 😅
Windows 10 installed on a micro SD card using rufus, a windows iso, and the windows to go option I find gives you the best of both worlds. SteamOS for Steam games, desktop mode for emulators and anything you can do on linux, and Windows 10 on the micro SD card for xbox game pass, epic games games that don't work well on linux, and other windows dependent software.
What games did you play to switch to a controller? Have never used one and need training wheels :). Cheers
hi gary.. are you going to do a speed test g coverage again in the future or is that project already abandoned?
Unfortunately it wasn't as popular as I had hoped. It is on pause at the moment.
@@GaryExplains sorry to hear that.. but there's still nobody here on yt test phones with the same level of understanding as yours.
maybe you can make them as a short here on this channel instead? or even a community post.. so at least we still have a general idea about something like wether the newest exynos is a flop or not.
One part you saidis that unlike the Switch it has active cooling. The Switch also has active cooling you just don't hear it as much. If you run Splatoon 2 on the lobby menu you can actually hear the Switch fan kick into high gear and the system really heat up while docked
Yes, my bad, several others have mentioned that.
Just to note, I would NOT recommend that people keep their games across multiple microSD cards, and swap them out a lot. microSD cards, especially as you get up there in storage, are prone to corruption, and constantly swapping them about is just asking for trouble..
to add to this, you get what you pay for in regards to pricing. Don't cheap out on a card if you want more reliable storage.
@@TheKeksadler How likely will I hit corruption for those Sandisk ones?
@@SnowTerebi I have a Sandisk 1 TB sd card in my deck. I bought mine off Amazon and it was $170. No problems but you do get what you pay for.
Hi Gary, what happened to the SpeedTest G channel? Why aren't posting there?
I truly think that it was one of kind!
It wasn't as popular as I had hoped. The channel is on pause at the moment as I consider its future.
@@GaryExplains I truly was hooked to Speed Test G. I’m sure with some more exposure it will be quiet popular.
The 1/6 number really surprised me. In practice, almost everything works, verified or not. The biggest exception are multiplayer games with intrusive anti cheats but it doesn't sound like that's something you'd find in your library.
Same here. But if I were to guess, I think that probably 4/6 of Gary's library games are in the unknown status, because they are niche, indie games that aren't played by many, and Valve didn't got to test them yet.
I don't have the Deck yet (it's currently being shipped) but at the moment about 40% of my Steam Library is Verified or Playable, about 12% is Unsupported and about 48% are still Unknown. This is with about 700 games in the Library so about 280 are either Verified or Playable. There is almost equal amount of Verified and Playable games (about 20% each), and out of the Verified games there are about 80 games that I'm more or less interested in playing on the Deck. I hope they can verify even more games, both those that are in unknown category but also improve Proton so that even some unsupported games may become supported eventually. (edit: I got my Deck on August 10th, 2022)
I am currently playing 2 unsupported games right now on my steam deck. Hardspace Shipbreaker and Lego Worlds... I have no clue why they are unsupported.
I suppose their Q&A team hasn't gone through them yet.
Games get the "Unsupported" label when the game has bugs due to Proton, or can't run because of hardware limitations. Since Proton gets updated so frequently, the most likely scenario is that those games simply have not been re-reviewed yet.
You can add other launchers as non Steam games in the desktop client and use Lutrus to manage them all for you.
Just got mine a few days ago and really disappointed. Games crash from time to time, the popup keyboard is really flaky, the UI is also slow and flaky - not impressed :-(
Did you updated the software? The version that came with mine was a lot like you describe. But there have been several key updates since.
@@GaryExplains Just checked and it says it is fully up to date 😞
@@andrewfraser2760 😟
Epic and Gog can run with the Heroic Games Launcher without the need to install windows
Would love to get your thoughts on using it as a PC , and Steam OS 3.0. Especially once Valve releases Steam OS 3 for desktops.
It IS a PC.
i think the Steam Deck has a the potential to become the target for PC games developers. An enormous effort is needed to make, say, GTA 6 for Linux. But very little effort is needed for developers target Steam Deck and Proton - which will also work on Windows and with Valve and their compatibility checking. So it's a baby step for PC developers and one that means uncoupling yourself from Microsoft in small steps. So do I think Linux native game will boom... nope... I think Steam Deck (software) will become the target for developers that allows them options away from Microsoft, but still running on Windows. It's a vital tool for providing that easy slope away from Microsoft lock-in. That's why I genuinely think Steam Deck is a game-changer. Also the fact that some games run faster on Proton than Windows should be a source of shame for Microsoft.
Most games run better on windows but it is very impressive for it to out perform some windows games.
@@ghostlegit nah not most, a big list of games run better on Linux and even they were a couple fps behind, a average user won't notice, care or some might even know it runs Linux
Hello Gary do you think if steam product become popular will developers make native games for Linux
you said that you can't play non-steams games on the steam deck, this is not true, you can download non-steam games and play them like you would any other games, you can even add them to the steam deck game mode UI, you can do things like download emulators and such, which is nice, even if a company doesn't support it there might be community made solutions like the heroic launcher, which lets you launch your EA and GOG games using proton, just like steam games, although with this you would have to check websites like proton db before buying games from those stores.
although great video!
*without installing windows
About you saying that only 25 Games or whatever are verified. I am currently actively playing 2 games that are "unsupported" according to valve, and by my ecperience, most games that are "unknown" play good as well.
I actually have been able to get about 90% of the unplayable rated games to work with minor tweaks in the properties menu.
Strange payback for performance. The same modern Adreno has GPU computing power close to 1.7 Tflops and at the same time consumes much less energy.
Tflops is not everything. Architecture, memory configuration, cache layout, those all play a role too
Looking forward to see if it can be used for light desktop use. It'd be a perfect travel companion.
Here it is ruclips.net/video/Sz01iwPEoYs/видео.html 👍
What if you want to charge it while playing a game?
What happened with speed test g ???
Cant wait for my Steam deck i have soo many indie games and older games that will run great on it I can't wait!
A hardcore gamer watching a casual gamer who actually has his steam deck:
Drops phone and slowly walks into the ocean, never to be seen again...
Best review for me. Thanks.
Another way to improve performance/battery life, reduce the game's resolution below the screen's native 720p/800p, and then use the AMD FSR scaling to upscale back to 800p. This can improve things a lot for visually demanding games, though it won't help much with CPU demanding games.
@Airgeddon1337 A fancy driver isn't gonna help battery life on the SteamDeck more. The AMD APU is simply very powerful, though it is flexible. It'll last hours if you're browsing the web, watching videos, playing minesweeper, or even some last-gen games. But Forza is going to drain your battery in 1-3 hours because those graphics don't come free, and the SteamDeck's GPU will deliver that power if you let it. So if you want better battery life, the simple answer is that you have to limit how much a game demands from the hardware, either through the game's settings, or through the SteamOS settings. At this point, the SteamDeck is fighting physics, not software(though better optimized PC ports would also help).
@Airgeddon1337 The Steam Deck already does a good job of saving power when not playing demanding games. I get several hours when just doing random stuff in Desktop mode. In Game mode you have complete control over how much performance you let a game have, so if you really want a long battery life you can strangle a game as much as possible before making it unplayable. Plus, the Steam Deck's ability to suspend in the middle of a game, so you can save power when you need to go off and do something else for a while, helps save power too.
You can play Epic games on Linix as well. No need tp download Windows and get a wonky experience.
To note the 64gb version does have a slot for a nvme ssd
gamers advice please- have just got the steam deck email but I have short window to make up my mind. I have a family and we have 2 switches, a series x and s and a ps5. I love gaming but never really used steam except for football manager. I was interested because of the power increase over the switch but it seems there aren't alot of games that I can't just play elsewhere with similar or better performance. Am I better off getting a laptop? Be it that the kids can use it for school work? Thanks all
I just got my deck and I love it. There are still a ton of games that are unverified but work perfect on it. You can always add it to a keyboard and mouse and use it like a Linux computer.
You have to consider what you're going to be using it for. If you're always going to be sat at a desk, but just need to be able to move it around sometimes then getting a laptop and an Xbox/PlayStation controller is likely the better option. If you want to be able to play games on the move while on a bus/train/plane, or give it the kids to use in the back of the car then it's a no brainer that the Deck is a better buy for that purpose. Also, if your budget is tight then the Deck probably wins there too, since you're getting a lot of power for your money, especially if you reserved the cheapest one. That said, if you decide against making the order and if there's any way to share your reservation I'd gladly take it off your hands, I'm in the post-Q3 group, even though I reserved last year :'(
@@dan_ thank you. Do you think the deck has longevity? Although reasonably powerful now, it doesn't have proprietary games for it and so my concern is that it in a few years time, it won't be that much of an option for AAA games in the go and will be used OK the same way that the switch is now. Just smaller indie titles.
@@samreimann4233 the custom AMD APU that the Steam Deck has is going to last very long, I mean RDNA 2 is still at it's infancy and has a lot of years to grow and improve. I mean people still buy the Nintendo Switch despite having an ARM CPU from 2012
13:55 I have to incredibly disagree that this isn't for console people. I feel that was MADE to convert console people into PC games because it IS a console. It's a simple environment just to run games.
I get mine in 2 day. I can’t wait.
What happened to your speed tests videos?
I have replied to that question a couple of times under this video and my previous one. Please look for my answer there. Thx.
It’s a bit big for a portable (I want to use it when I travel) and battery life could be an issue for me so I will hold off for now. Very promising though. Looks like a good product.
... And THIS is what essentially kills the system. Its got great perks, but just ENOUGH shortcomings to "hold off for now". Why arent there any OTHER age groups ever making review of the Steam Deck? Is it just not getting the young generations attention? Is the Steam Deck already categorized as an old mans hobby toy?
it's so ergonomic it doesn't matter. its not very heavy even without that fact. The carry case included is super nice and protective. I haven't taken mine anywhere out of the house yet but I don't see it ever being a issue. My first reaction when opening it was "holy shit this is huge!" but I honestly think that thought was a bit of an overreaction after using it for a bit.
@@tylergarrett8066 it’s just annoying how companies always miss that one aspect in their products. Switch and Switch lite almost perfectly fit the portable standards , but are weak under the hood. OneXPlayer and Aya Neo have plenty under the hood, but real portability slips away. Sony makes badass designed hardware, but have little to no support for niche markets. Deck is super capable and versatile , but it’s size is just past the range of catchy portable and it’s versatility is frustrating at times. In this age, something the size of a Game Gear, with the large screen and chunky enough to incorporate good hand controls would be the device to break into the mainstream. The real mainstream. Probably a Deck Lite lol.
Non hardcore gamer here... best feature suspend... finally I can try to get through some games without trying to have save states in game when I need to step away.
I was wondering what version of Linux it used, BTW I use Arch too.
Lutris and heroic will allow you access to games on other stores
Non-steam games can be added to your steam library. No limitations there
"from casual" proceeds to give the most in depth review of the machine I've watched.
Glad you found it interesting! 👍
But does it play Pong? :-D
incredible review. wow
I like it but won’t buy it!
Gary, what was the DOS game that ran on DOSBox?
Star Wars Dark Forces.
What has hapened with SpeedtestG?
What's the output resolution?
Does it benefit from SD rated as A2? Like android?
Yes, using an A2 SD card is the best you should get for the Steam Deck
Is it the new Nintendo switch?
I want one, but I think I'll wait for the next generation of the Steam Deck. We'll have to see if this becomes a one off, or not.
Same
you know the man aint lying about being a casual gamer, he took off the joycons one after the other.
Gary, what happened to Speedtest G
I have answered that question here in the comments already. Please take a look at my answer. Thx.
I can't wait to get mine. I got on late so it will be until October before I can buy one
The reason Nintendo owns the handheld market from Tetris till now is quality of catalog paired with an efficient battery usage. It's interesting to attempt higher amperage draws with the same amount of cooling space while needing to keep it silent...... Nintendo crushing it. I am a mainly PC gamer who fully appreciates the awesomeness of the switches environment.
Theyve set the bar pretty high. The fact that you can add a viper engine to a van, doesnt make it any sexier
Greatest video but I had to rectified that a Steam Deck is not only for PC gamers. I’m not, and I love my Stead Deck as I can play all retro games, I can can play my Xbox Game Pass games with Xcloud, and I can stream my PS5 games on it. On top of that, I’m now discovering a ton of great indie games that were only available on PC. In short, the Steam Deck is for any type of gamers
I see the Steam Deck in a very similar State than the first iPad. Lots of Potential but with very obvious ways to make improvements in the future. I think getting more than one USB Port, overall better battery life and a 1080p Screen would be such things. But if Valve rests on their laurels ( as they often like to do with a product ) I hope at least other companies can push the form factor forward.
Or just use USB-C how its meant to be sued. Connect your wired peripherals into the display and use display as a hub. Brilliant. What's the problem?
The problem is that the monitor I use doesn't support that.
@@GaryExplains ouch
Awesome review 🔥
Glad you liked it
Great review. I still have mine reserved but at this point I may pass it up. I'm in between casual and hardcore gamer but within the last 12 months I upgraded my main rig with a 3080 and my old laptop with one with a 3080 so now I'm so use to playing at 60-144fps depending on the game that I can't even stomach playing at 30fps. Howevever, I love the direction that Valve is going with this one and would certainly consider the second version if 60fps is feasible in more games.
@OddKashi yeah if 60fps was achievable in the vast majority of games I'd be in for one. However, once you get used to high refresh fps, going back down to 30fps is downright jarring. I know because I still have my old laptop with a 960M and sometimes test out to see what it can do in today's games. Mostly 30 fps and yeah it's rough lol
many old dosbox games like the one you shown, can be played on the SteamDeck/Steam/Linux using boxtron instead of proton
retroarch works too
*GARY!!!*
GOOD EVENING PROFESSOR!
GOOD EVENING FELLOW CLASSMATES!
STAY SAFE OUT THERE EVERYONE!
MARK ‼️
I reserve the 64 gb one and i have an external ssd the samsung t7 2 terabyte so ia good whit the cheapext version
Great review Gary,
I'm getting mine Q3 2022, and To be honest, I've been back and forth as to if I need it, and if it's a good thing. What I've settled on is that it's a hand-held I can program, which runs linux, and by purchasing the highest tier model, I'm pushing back on the "Linux users want everything for free" and "Linux users don't want to game" mindsets, often cited by those not supporting Linux.
So far valve delivery has been terrible, their specs are not as great and apparently the device has lots of areas for improvement / obvious oversights. While the machine is cheaper than a laptop, I hope valve or someone else does better in the future...
I got mine 3 days after I paid. Stop reading tabloids that are in the fictional world of the internet
Great video thanks
I've had mine Steam Deck for 2 weeks but maybe put 5 hours on it. Quarter of that time is probably from downloading.
I ordered min in October, I believe. From the looks of it I'll get my invitation mid 2023. I'll probably just save for a gaming laptop as my target is 60fps in elden ring and the steam deck isn't quite good for that. I hope they can ramp up production on the next iteration as this one will be obsolete by the time they get all the pre-orders fulfilled. Last I heard they were still working on day 1 pre-orders 😂. Love the tech though, and windows can stuff it. I hope Linux does become as good as windows at PC gaming!
How are you a casual gamer but have way more games than I do lol
Wait... am I a casual gamer?
Hype was real, I absolutely adore mine, zero issues, I love it 10 out of 10. Amazing review, thank you 🙏
It's also a strong emulation device
Casual gamers unite 🤞🏾
Good vid.
Only play Z-plane and MS Flight Simulator so not a true gamer.
I am a fan of your programming and hardware presentations.
damn i have 127 games and they all would work on the deck, only because i run linux on my pc
oooooo...Gary you cheeky fellow...you play games too....
Could you do a Speed test G on the exynos 2200 with RDNA 2 graphics.
Nintendo Switch does have active cooling and a fan.
Subbed more steam deck vids
I think I will wait a few years for Steam to improve compatibility. I would love to ditch windows as I do not like Gates or Microsoft.
(Though I do like the windows os well enough minus a few issues.)
I just got a gaming laptop, but in a few years (assuming the great reset or 2nd coming doesn't happen,) when that laptop dies, I will probably buy the steam deck 2.
Personally, I wish Steam would make an app for my phone that would run steam games on the phone itself.
Or maybe Steam could make a steam smartphone-pc that is like the steam deck but much smaller.
Now is the best time to switch to Linux...it has come a long way and it's much better than Windows now without all the telemetry spying!
First thing before you switch is watch a beginner tutorial of the distro you want to use or just a simple Linux tutorial in general. This will help you to at least know how to navigate the OS and how to install apps. Then try to find a Linux distro that you are comfortable with. I highly suggest Manjaro Linux KDE Plasma edition as it resembles Windows more than the others. Next find Linux equivalent of the Windows app you often use. You'll be surprised... I found some in Linux that looks and runs better than what I used to use in Windows.
Just keep playing with the distro you choose until you think you're familiar and confident enough to switch. Good luck! 👍
“ you will own nothing and be happy “
i miss speed test g tbh
Yeah, I wish things had worked out different.
I am very happy with steam OS but I do a lot of modding of my games and this is the area that suffers most. However I have had some success installing mods but many mod managers do not work even after many hours troubleshooting
👍
I found it useful
the switch has active cooling
Yes, several other people have also pointed out my faux pas.
@@GaryExplains its cool people make mistakes i should have figured others would have mentioned it lol
i dont know what todo hand held small screen console. why buy big monitors if play small screen anyway LOL and phone is not game machine you call with it. text on 4k resolution 40inch monitor is small by default 8 pixel becoz developers thing its good quality when font is small and so more pixel on game what. same scene lol. and font look better on more pixels. quality more pixels? LOL c64 had nice 8 pixel font
Enjoy your new toy!
Lol picturing my boss's face when I roll into a meeting "Hang on just a sec, I gotta setup my steam deck to take notes... yeah its far superior to a laptop, its so portable, you just plug this usb c extension in here, set the deck up on a stand, plug a hub into the extension, plug a keyboard and mouse into the hub, reboot into desktop mode... wait for it. Oh I forgot to hook up to power. Can I scoot closer to that outlet if you don't mind? Alright, ready to roll.
USB-C Docks just need power through.
PC gaming is at a dead-end. It must go ARM/Risc-V as soon as possible and fully go on Linux. Failaing to do any of this will kill gaming on pc. Steam Deck is a compromize : it eat too much power for what it does compared to ARM soc and it heating way to much. Games on windows compiled for a deprecated legacy arhitecture : x64 is killing pc gaming. Steam has solved the windows problem. Now only the x64 problem remains. X64 cannot go faster, it cannot use less power and it is a serious hurdle to replacing pc architecture with a much better SOC one.
Interesting comment since the PS5 and the Xbox both use x86-64 processors.
@@GaryExplains Because of the need for emulation of past x64 consoles. And to be faire other than Apple M1-M2 SOC, x46 is still the most powerful.... but at the high price cost, energy and the huge footprint with all the cooling necessary.
Well no not really. The PS3 used the Cell processor and previous Xbox models used the PowerPC.
@@GaryExplains My point is : Intel/Amd are expensive for what they do, they have not gain any speed in 15 years, they require 115v outlet to operate, they require a lot of space for cooling, they use power to cool themselves.
Not gained any performance in 15 years? 🤔
The Nintendo Switch _does_ have active cooling, it's just really quiet. I should know, since I had to buy and install a replacement fan after the one it came with started failing, and making loud noises.
Nintendo switch are more reliable and cheaper than steam deck
@@felixlechat1780 I have a zip-lock bag full of broken joysticks that I've gone through on one Switch. Cheaper? maybe, reliable? NOPE.
@@MansakeLabsOfficial pro controller is the answer
Tf2 is my favorite game
I am a casual player
Just buy the 512GB, don't bother with the other ones