The case adds so much value. That quality of a carrying case for such a big device is something that they could easily charge $50-$60 for separately but instead every single customer gets one included with their steam deck. That’s how it should be for high end devices that need protection, I love that
It makes sense for them to do this financially. Selling more steam decks wont really make them more money compared to just having all the ones sold lasting as long as possible due to them subsidizing the hardware costs.
@@dhruvkumar7802 That's what I thought too but he showed a screen listing the differences between models and I saw carrying bag in the base model, unless that's different?
@@dhruvkumar7802 That is not true. All of the models come with a case, the 64 and 256 get the one shown in this video, the 512 model gets a "exclusive" case
This is such a big win for Linux, Valve and AMD. It would be very interesting to see what Nvidia has lined up for the next Tegra family and what they can offer to Nintendos next successor to the Switch.
@@documentthedrama8279 Will Nintendo even take on the updated chipset, idk, seems to me like Nintendo like to recycle whats already adapted to their existing ecosystem and library.
@@nix3l_ I don't think it's anywhere near as easy as windows yet. I've been running Linux exclusively for almost a year now and I've had tons of trouble getting games to work and some just wont work no matter what. I'd say maybe half of my library (at most) boots and works properly with no trouble. This not even mentioning all the trouble I've had with nvidia's drivers, stuff is maddening sometimes
I am so happy this exists. Even if I never own one - just the direction and future of gaming and the potential for improvement is so exciting. Pitting Linux for gaming against windows and forcing competition - steam deck and nintendo switch redefining "mobile gaming" and at affordable price points... yes to all of it.
This is true. Should be good for all gamers. Additionally if this becomes successful, it puts pressure on "closed" systems. Also no monthly subscription services like all consoles have now. You cant even have your save data in the cloud on a Switch without a subscription.
@@mave9330 You can't have saves in the cloud on Playstation without a subscription either, and when you do you still have to manually upload and download everything, it's a bummer, good thing atleast Microsoft has some decency aswell and do it all for free without you even noticing
7:20 gyro aiming is actually alot more accurate than stick aiming once you get used to it and find the best settings for you. (I highly recommend trying it)
I always thought so too. Whenever i use a controller to play PC games I almost always like to use gyro aiming along with stick aiming. The stick at a normal sensitivity and gyro at a small sensitivity for those micro corrections. Even more non-shooters like Minecraft, it helps alot and makes selecting what you want so much easier
I’m so excited for the competition and the Linux gaming support this console could bring to the table! I’m also very impressed how the platform isn’t locked down.
Seeing how it's based on Linux, Valve knew that if they for whatever reason decided to lock it down, people would've gotten through it extremely easily.
@@jacrich699 Native linux is great and all, but Proton is the real future. The reality is most game developers develop their games for Windows and DirectX. A lot of people don't know this, but Windows is the "black sheep" of the Operating Systems. Its clunky and weird, and absolutely everything is designed in a vastly different way to other operating systems. Android, IOS, MacOS, Linux, BSD, you name it, all share a lot of the same design philosophy and OpenGL. Windows and DirectX, however, do things completely differently, often doing the opposite of the others. And its the only operating system that does things that way. Even the Shader language for DirectX is absolutely not comparable to OpenGL. So, porting games from Windows to any other platform is really really hard to do natively, because you have to rewrite huge chunks of your software. Proton is a great solution, and takes on the heavy lifting of doing the translation. And its only a 10% or so performance penalty, which isn't much when you consider the thousands of software development hours you save on each game.
@@jacrich699 as a senior developer, this is the opposite of my experience. I find that portability is a myth. You'll eventually find lots of small nuances that are slightly different depending on the platform. Even libraries that are portable in theory end up having platform-specific code. Portable C and C++ especially is an oxymoron painted over with blood sweat and tears. Just putting in my two cents. Your experience might be completely different from mine, particularly if you're using frameworks or libraries that prioritize portability. I wish it were always that simple. But if it were, I might be out of a job.
This could be an excellent chance for Linux to appeal to more gamers if companies decide to develop native for the Steamdeck/SteamOS/Linux! Edit: I saw the comments. First of all: Calm down. Secondly: since most studios use gameengines anyway, exporting to linux is simply clicking another button. The problem is that they would have to provide anti-cheat software and support for Linux as well. The Steamdeck could be a reason for companies to finally care about that if it sells a few million units.
@@telgars Yeah prob dont need a native linux version but if they can develop it to get along with proton ideally then good enough. Especially then you don't have to create patches for both linux and windows.
Linux (what gnumers call "GNU/Linux") was a meme made by Linus Torvalds and Lennart Pottyring to keep unemployed NEETs busy typing at their keyboards, while all the Windows-chads are busy doing work. What Linux NEETs can do in 3 days, takes a Windows-chad 3 minutes. Linux will never be a real operating system (it's not, according to GNUmers), and BSD is no where closer. Linux was made as a server operating system, not a NEET freak machine. I can still smell your disgusting dorito flavored NEET hands right those this monitor (which is displaying a Windows 10 operating system by Microsoft, but you NEET's wouldn't know that)
7:48 THIS is what I think sets the Steam Deck apart from other handhelds/consoles ect, is how customizable it is! You can literally set up your games on it exactly how you want, which is cool :)
This makes me very excited for a gen 2. I see this thing is in the same development state as the first iPad. They definitely started on the right foot but with obvious ways to improve it further in future generations.
First off, I don’t know if I just haven’t noticed it before, but this 60fps looks great. Second, thank you for pointing out the battery life. Don’t know why people came at this thing with pitchforks over the battery life.
If you are referring to the "90 minute battery life", this explains it quite well: ruclips.net/video/UUh2qtjZu4E/видео.html But TLDR: Steve (the host) is quite salty of media outlets taking his numbers out of context, and reporting his "how fast can we possibly drain the battery"-test as if it was the average battery life.
"Don’t know why people came at this thing with pitchforks over the battery life." Because it's advertised as a portable device? I'm not saying that Valve was dishonest or anything, and the Switch faces similar issues. But at the same time, it's perfectly reasonable to be frustrated when a portable device isn't all that portable.
@@knyffen4534 exactly. When I referenced “people” it was for media outlets and everyday folk that seemed to take all this out of context. Seen some odd complaints about battery life because of it.
I would really recommend trying out gyro aiming some more, I feel like a lot of weirdness will go away with practice, like with any input method. Gyro aiming is particularly exciting for me in this kind of device since you can stand up and turn around freely while using it
Really cool that you showed PoE running on it! That's a big one for me, seeing how relatively well that seemed to work, even before official controller support on pc, is massive.
Dave looked so happy reviewing this thing. He looked like the child who wanted this as a gift n got it as a surprise gift for his birthday. Love u man. Great content n review as always!
this also has performance monitor software to see fps temps etc... also capable of voice chat without the need for any special subscription like all other consoles. also allows bluetooth audio for anything you can manage to connect to it. it pretty much covers small but important things consoles cant or had you paying, but for free.
The best part about the Steam Deck is how it completely changes the market, which is currently filled with devices that are offered at absolutely laughable prices. All these ridiculous Windows handheld units offered near or at premium gaming laptop prices is just hysterical; this will ensure that these companies will have to actually compete with devices available at sub-$1,000 price.
Yes but also no. Ive been in love with my gpd win 3 so much and was definitely worth the 999$ price tag. 1tb of internal storage really makes all the difference for these kinds of handhelds. You’re really looking closer to 800-900+$ for the deck which puts it in a similar range to other umpcs already on the market in terms of bang for your buck. Of course the deck slightly wins in this regard but not by much, and consider the advantages of win 3 like it being half the size, having a slideable keyboard, a ps vita style d pad that’s positioned well for fighting games, thunderbolt port etc
Those companies have no where near the volume of the steam deck. Plus they don’t have the ability to develop custom chips for their products, nor can they subsidise their hardware costs through game sales. I agree the price difference is huge but their margins are not as big as you think they are
7:20 funnily enough gyro aiming helps so much for that last bit of precise aiming that’s really hard to do with a joystick, it really bridges the gap between mouse and keyboard. You have to use both the joystick for large fast movements and the gyro for more fine and precise movements
well you don't always have to use the gyro for more fine and precise adjustments. I always see people say that's how it's supposed to be used but crank up that sensitivity and its a mouse alterative that rivals the speed and precision. You can use it for small adjustments or outright full aiming or even just full camera aiming if you want (I instinctively sometimes aim and turn mostly using gyro only sometimes). Depends on the game for me but on average I play on mid to high sensitivity, rarely using it for adjustments and I get great results with it.
this is basically the kind of review i've been looking for, I've seen so many super technical reviews, I understand what I should expect from the hardware, but nobody has really reviewed how it functions like this.
he upgrades the built-in memory to 512 gb and in doing so he voided his warranty for that i would be cranking the storage up to 2 tb if I were doing that to it for more space not doubling the storage when he's saying how small it is🤣
Really glad you put a review for one of these out! Love your objectivity! This is a really exciting device and I think it does a lot of the things it set out to do really well. Insanely impressed by the design and the concept. It is good to know battery life can be a bit rough, and the screen can be a bit muted, as well as the other things that might fall short. I wouldn't necessarily call them flaws, just things to be aware of. Glad to see you're excited about it too, and thanks again for the review!
@@rainlama6480 to be fair, the product IS only available to reviewers. There was a "launch" date when this video dropped, but that was essentially just for reviewers to post their "final" videos all at the same time. Valve's newest update for potential release for consumers *with reservations* is "April" so we'll see; it could change vastly (again) by the time it actually hits the market.
@@rainlama6480 what's there to be bitter about? I have loved Dave for years, and this is the first time I see him this excited about an unfinished product.
this is amazing! the fact that you can use this as a normal pc with keyboard and mouse is really the cherry on top for me i will definitely be getting one
I'm so happy that Valve gave release day review units to you, Linus and GamersNexus instead of Unbox, Marques or Justine(like they got the consoles). To be clear I believe Dave, Linus and Steve do better day 1 coverage for something that is gaming(or otherwise, I digress) related.
Super interesting review: Ltt praised the speakers yet Davie didn’t like them. Ltt and GN accidentally pressed the buttons on the back, Davie didn’t. Just interesting to see how the reviews found certain features. Also nice to see Davie doesn’t get influenced by others for products and provides his honest opinion. Cool!
When it comes to the speakers I trust Linus' judgement seeing how he is well aware of what good sound is, knows what he's talking about when reviewing high end headphones, like the audeze lcd gx, and he's using the hd600 as a daily driver.
@@vali69 I notice that too. Someone who uses huh duh six hungos by almighty senny on a day-to-day may get the idea how a good quality tuning speaker would sound like
This man is one INCREDIBLE reviewer. MY GOODNESS. Shared all of the details, honorable and not so much with such enthusiasm. Kept it 💯all the way through the video and got right to the point. LOVE IT!! (subbed and this is the very first vid i've seen of you #Dave2D).
Hopefully after Valve's takes all this feedback into consideration and starts developing the *Steam Deck 2,* I just hope that they end-up calling it the *Steam Engine!*
I really hope Valve makes another Steam Controller as I can't find any controller with a trackpad + gyro on market. Only PS4/5 and Switch Pro have gyro but I don't want gaming FPS games with analog, it's awkward as hell.
@@thesupreme8062 I suppose if you get the email it lets you know the dates to expect anything & when to be able to purchase the Steam Deck at the consumer level. We just haven't found anyone that's happened to for our story we were hoping to release tonight.
This needs to sell decently well first. I'd imagine anything under 5 million units sold in the first year would be a bad look for Valve. I also assume they are selling these units at a loss like MS/Sony, and hoping to make it up with software sales. Time will tell how this plays out.
Proton was the perfect coup: They broke the cycle. The last time, they couldn't make it big, because few games were available. But companies didn't make games available, because SteamOS wasn't big. With Proton, Steam Deck is going to have a lot of games from the begin with and can get big. With it getting big, more companies are going to develop native versions.
@@progenitor_amborella Right now BattlEye support is up to the developer to check a box in the latest build of BattlEye. Arma 3 and DayZ run perfectly through proton now with BattlEye and I have finally been able to join my friends again without having to switch to Windows.
@@progenitor_amborella Microsoft is going to do everything in their power to make sure their games don't work on Steam OS 3.0... they even said, you play Destiny 2 on Linux you will get banned. It would take them 5 minutes to solve this, but they won't because they want you to buy Windows.
@@Skeletoncross I disagree. Linus tends to over complicate benchmarks when it comes to the visuals. Dave is superior with his simplity and how neat he is. Also Dave doesn't tend to bootlick corporations and their products Like Linus(Nvidia debacle cough*).
This thing would just be a dream come true with frame interpolation, render 30 FPS, enjoy 60 FPS with minimal artifacts. I don't understand why this is only becoming a thing for VR, it just works so damn good even today
@@universegaming1353 well because it has to create a new frame that fits between the last frame and a frame that doesnt exist yet (and there lies the problem, interpolating frame for say a movie, to get a higher frame rate image of a video, the next frame already exists and so it can be used to create a frame in between two real ones. Video games, cant do that, the next frame doesnt exist yet), rather than rendering an entire new frame it would take what information it can from inputs it has received, mostly just things that would effect player position/movement and camera movement. then based on what that input would change in the game, have the gpu distort the previous frame to look kinda like it should do. for vr this is actually a lot easier, because youre distorting an image youre viewing through your eyes, that can only move as fast as your head can move (not very fast) and typically has no static gui over it. for a say 3rd person shooter, the camera can pan very rapidly and suddenly bring into view large areas that werent in a previous frame at all. they can also have interfaces overlayed onto that previous frame that needs to both move somewhere else and also be able to reveal what was behind it..... ideally the gpu would want a clean plate essentially, with no interface over the top. so its very much something that a game developer and the gpu makers have to work together to make work if it has any chance of being practical in regular none vr games. the more practical method for none vr games is upscaling. have the gpu render a low resolution version of the frame, and then upscale it. maybe they could do something with a combination of using a previous frame to upscale the interpolated frame, but that might not add anything since upscaling is already pretty effective, and wil get more efective as gpu makers create dedicated cores designed to do upscaling. at this point, since we are getting close to the resolution the human eye can detect, the step from 4k to 8k is most certainly going to be down to upscaling. that level of detail, while our eyes might be able to see it, if its not "Photo realistic", it wont matter. so an upscaled fake level of detail, with no flicker, will look real to us and there will be no reason to have the gpu render 4x the amount of pixels to get 8k, or 16x to get 16k..... etc. so thats when the benefit to frame rate really happens. when gpus get really good at churning out 4k, and then upscaling, they can churn out more frames rather than more resolution.
If you liked that one, imagine what "Steamdeck 2" or "Pro" will be able to do in a couple of years... Full blown today's desktop spec, but in a Steamdeck.
Fullblown desktop is a bit much, maybe laptop. Doubt it will match the new consoles unless they make it even bigger. I'd rather a small bump in power but an extreme boost to battery life and slim it down a ton. With settings maxed it lasts about 90 minutes
The image quality is insane, It's like noticeable how clean it is, the lighting is insane. I'm also way more excited for steam deck after these reviews
@@Greydawg I'm kinda confused at what you're saying here. You said earlier that only reviewers have them, and so I replied saying that the steam deck has already been sent and delivered to people at the top of the reserve list.
@@SubHumanGaming to be clear, we simply haven't found anyone yet who bought one at the consumer level for our story on the official launch date is all.
@6:00 The trackpads do NOT have motors under them. They have small speakers whose vibration is intended to emulated haptic feedback. Gabe Newell said it saved space, money, and battery life so they chose that route to keep the base model under $400. Although he did say they will continually update them with software updates to improve their performance.
Same! It's just frustrating the "launch" was only for reviewers. Everyone I know with a reservation at the consumer level is now being told "April" so who knows?
Steam Deck with their massive library and the future 4nm chip will be an absolute beast. It'd be impossible for other handhelds to compete at that point.
Excellent review as usual Dave, I think steam did a good job with this one, and it's powerful for something this small, takes compatible to a whole new level
I'm glad you mentioned the case, because exactly! You get an incredible device with a high quality case included! You don't have to spend that money separate on top of the asking price, that is huge! I love that. It just says quality literally right out of the box. The finish looks good, the design looks good, it's functional and practical. I like how many different control options you get with this. Alright all the reviews are in I hope to get one :D
It has 4 type of controls. That's so many ways to customize & play.. Damn!!! 1) Button controls 2) Joystick controls 3) touchpad controls 4) Gyro controls
@@deejeysam9747 Yes, one of the best things I hear about SteamDeck is the amount of different control options and seeing the different layouts available for each game is pretty nice.
@@Huyjimmy I love it. It's not perfect but I still love it. Some games run well but the controls are way unusable. It takes some trial and error but you can get the controls just how you like them. Worth every penny.
@@lilBugger35 not yet. I found a seller that is selling his 512g steam deck for 700. Will meet him on Sunday to purchase it. Brand new......pretty sure he played a little on it lol
FWIW, no consumer *with a reservation* is getting them until at least April per Valve's latest update; the "launch" was just for review videos to all drop at the same time.
@@Greydawg it's a bit annoying because I wasn't able to be at a computer to preorder one when the steam deck launched, so I had to wait a couple hours 😅 But I appreciate that Valve put that que system in order to prevent scalpers, and to make it more orderly of a process for fans. At least I know I'm assured to get one! Just. I want it now darn it! 😅
@@wickersticks Heard! I'm just saying it's a bit historic; I don't think there's ever been a launch for any console product like this but without the launch date having anything to do with the actual market, and may not for still several more months. The thought of a month-2 and month-3 review, for example, I'm sincerely curious if review videos like these help Valve continue to change the product right up until it hits the consumer market in April or after.
Yeah, you're right. At first, trying trackpad + gyro on Steam Controller, I almost sell that thing as a learning curve was a hell. But after quite a while, I can play CSGO with it and still can wreck Mouse/KB players. Now, I'm really hoping Lord Gaben would make Steam Controller V2 so I don't have any anxiety thinking my current controller would break at any time as getting this controller nowadays after they discontinued is very hard.
Wait… was that Diablo 3 I saw playing about 1 minute in?? That’s one of the games I’m hoping to put many hours on the deck with. It’s my most used on switch by far. Awesome seeing it run in some capacity!
I feel like an hour and a half at 60fps is really good for a portable device. I know for myself personally, if I wanted to game more then that I would use my series X or PC. It’s the fact the steam deck can even run 60fps, if the game supports, for an hour and a half. Same with the speakers. If I wanted a really good audio experience I would use headphones or a dedicated speaker. This thing is awesome
@@cl114c0777498d well visual novels really doesn't need high FPS, you basically press a key on the keyboard (or button on console) to see the next dialogue box and sometimes CGs are shown. I would say that resolution matters way much than framerates in visual novels, but yeah 30 FPS is more than fine
This doesn't strike me as a portable or handheld per-say. You can't fit it in your pocket, and it isn't quite the longest lasting, but man......it delivers so much for such a portable device. It looks so frickin satisfying! They did not hold back on the quality of the controller system. It's honestly exciting. This is big. This will do the trick if you're on the bus, train, airplane, visiting friends, or just laying in bed, y'know? And it can play SO MANY GAMES. SO MANY GENRES! WOW. This is the future.
This is definitely a super cool product. I may never get one but I respect the hell out of what valve is trying to do here. I bet the next version of this that comes out will be significantly better. I do wish dave went over how the games perform on docked mode though.
Steam deck is basically going to be THE place for AA and indie games for me. I love the value proposition (steam sales🤑) and community features of steam ( a lot of great indies also take some time to come to console) but couldn't care less about gaming on a PC, i play AAA only on console. This will lock me into steam. Oh and there's the not so small thing about emulators too...... 😁
Same,I use the switch for the same reason but the game outside of indie are very expensive,while with the steam deck I can buy games far cheaper with all the store available for it,plus you can play all you're steam games already
@@HOkayson probably the smallest device ever (apart from some micropcs maybe) that can play AAA, it almost feels like a proof of concept, cut it some slack
@@romanlinnik7441 there have been plenty of handhelds that play AAA in recent years; some even shown in this video. granted, you pay a big premium for any of these devices, but the steam deck is in no way the smallest of the bunch. that thing is a monster
Your video has to be the best one I've seen yet. Everything was really explained well from star to finish. I'm pretty new to RUclips and just subbed to your channel. I just paid Friday for my 64gb really excited to receive it. Thank for your input look forward to more.
I'm not personally eyeing one of these as I'm perfectly content with having a gaming PC and then just taking my Switch or Vita on the go with me if I absolutely want to, but it is a device I think has potential to carve out its niche in terms of handheld PCs. I don't see it ever cornering Nintendo in the handheld market but I hope it finds its audience
Don't worry it will definitely find it's audience. Plus I don't see this as a niche product. It is infact much more of an accessible product that has capabilities not only as a handled PC/Linux gaming device but as a desktop replacement for some. Get a USB hub, keyboard, mouse and hook this up to a monitor and BAM you got a Linux desktop. Great thing is you might be able to even install windows if you'd like. So in conclusion, yeah definitely a product for a wide audience, priced perfectly, feature rich and bound to be a success.
@@alexrobles9708 It does have a replaceable SSD slot. However I do believe it is not the standard NVMe size. It's the more compact one that looks like your wifi card (sorry I don't know the exact technical name of that type of storage). Anyways Linus from LinusTechTips mentioned that higher capacity ones were coming out. So you can probably get 2tb+ storage capacities easily in the future. I can't confirm though. And there is always external SSD or mass storage.
@@lakibadhikari7930 I was just gonna say: we got Windows handhelds at work which are 3 times the price of the Steam Deck and not even remotely that powerful. Some colleagues and I, as we are in the IT, are already joking about just buying Steam Decks instead.
@@odian3099 what do you use those handhelds for mainly? Remote site work? Yeah you should get one of these bad boys but, they are more general/private use for now. Windows drivers are coming but, no TDA.
High quality cases like these are like $6 each with 500+ MOQ in China. You can even customize the foam mold inside to exactly fit your device for like $50 per mold (a one time cost). I don't get why tech companies don't invest in these things for their products. It's such a low cost low investment thing and yet creates a massive 'worth it' feeling for consumers.
Review was cool, but honestly finding out that you're a member of the FGC made my day and you've elevated yourself from my favorite reviewer to godlike status
1:45 for that I find 40fps is the very sweet spot here, it's day and night difference for just 10 more fps, of couse 60fps still better but this stable 40fps is fantastic
This makes me want to see the emulation performance, due to the CPU cores I really want to see how it performs in PS3 games! Also, the next Aya neo with zen3+ might be an amazing competitor!
@@Enzed_ Already look the video, it's fine overall but it seems the emulator is heavily based on Intel... Which is not good (mostly use 2 cores and therefore the faster the better), also zen 2 have problems maintaining an specific GHz in boost time, so yeah it's seems a little bottleneck due to the CPU... Hopefully they can fix that via hardware RPCS3 is still in development overall. What I don't like about the video in particular is that it didn't show the battery consumption just the wattage consumption, at 25watts most of time on RPCS3 that might less than an hour which is definitely not ideal. Hopefully we could see Aya neo with zen3+ to se a comparison, in AMD papers you can see the power consumption is heavily optimized in zen3+ to the point of actually defeating Intel 12 gen and zen 2 in a big margin in regards of battery use (double the battery in most test). I hope valve consider a pro version with a not custom CPU, maybe a Ryzen 6700U, that might be amazingly good!
@@DebasedAnon I mean, Steam deck is not offering the highest hardware either, If I want to buy a zen 3+ ryzen 6800 I will definitely had to buy the Aya Neo version. Steam is not offering more sadly.
Great review Dave. My only complaint is I keep seeing reviewers say things like "for $399", I don't think that's very accurate. If you buy the 64gb version you WILL be buying either a replacement internal drive, or a micro sd card. The price of the entry system I would say is going to be closer to maybe $450 if you buy a smaller micro sd, and honestly, I would say buy at least the 256. The os takes up nearly half of 64gb, so you are getting roughly 30gb of space to play with which is nothing.
Great video! But you almost lost me when you talked about installing windows on it. Win is such an UNoptimized OS that would choke your deck so much. And now with proton 7 you can run almost any game on steamos so I see no point in doing that. But yeah, it's a computer you can do whatever you want with it and it is amazing! Thanks Dave!
Great review Dave. I have a question. If I have a separate SD card that contains one or two games and another that contains one or 2 games. Is it seamless to just change the SD card to be able to load and play the games? Essentially it could mean having SD cards for particalr games to load from? Thanks
I've been a fan of this thing ever since I saw it's preview last year in July. I have a massive steam library and I travel very often for work. Xbox and PS weren't just cutting it for me. It's finally here but not here in my country 🙄
IMO the future of handheld gaming would be the successors of the ASUS ROG Flow X13/Z13 with a detachable grip for Joy Con like controllers. ATM you got a beautiful 13.4" 16:10 4K 60 Hz or 1080p 120 Hz pen supportet touchscreen that can display games in stunning graphics + full Windows functions. What needs to be improved is battery life. More storage and a bit less weight would be nice too. But as it is now, it's incredible! We just need that grip!
Hear me out. ROG flow X13 and it's successors will be the future of work. Especially creative work. Teaching, programming, artistry, CAD, research, etc. The combo of decent hardware, good battery life, the pen, portability, is supreme. Many people are not leveraging the benefits of the use cases it unlocks, but the next, more technologically competent, generation will. I love being able to present ideas clearly with the pen, conduct presentations on the go, have godlike control over the screen and canvas with touch, create content, render serious 3d and easily game whenever on break. All this, anywhere, anytime.
@@anotoman123 Absolutely, it's awesome isn't it! What I forgot to mention, since they're the first two models of its kind and without competition, the price tag is still very high. To become more suitable for the average user, it should become cheaper. At least in my case I could replaced with the X13+XGM my old gaming PC, laptop and tablet, since those three are all combined in the X13.
What I find weird is how contradictory many reviews are. Dave said that the joysticks are amazing but the speakers are meh, whereas Linus from LTT said the exact opposite, that the joysticks are mediocre and that the speakers are outstanding.
I just reserved the 256 GB steam deck a few hours ago. I was worried that the 64GB storage is not enough because some 3A games take 50 GB for their base game, and they might have extra DLC contents. I suggest anyone who are curious about it to reserve it now. The reservation fee is $5. When you get the deck, if you don't like it, you can sell it for more money as a lot of people wouldn't wait in the line for Steam Deck. That's my thought.
@@douganderson7002 If you open the device and add memory card into it, you might take the risk to break the machine although the risk is very low. Also it might not be good for the protection guarantee since you change the device by yourself.
It's a PS4 in your pocket for $50 more than a Switch OLED. Even though reviews have been mixed which was also the same case with the Switch initially, I say it's worth it. Half price as other competitors.
@@sko1beer Valve claims the sticks are of high enough quality it won't be an issue. And even if it is, you'll be able to buy replacements on ifixit's store.
Tip: don't install Windows on the Steam deck, it just doesn't make sense, not only will you lose performance and have bugs, and the Steam deck loses all meaning, it's not just a portable console, it's a platform that really competes with Windows , using Linux as a base. (year of Linux has finally arrived).
I'm gonna wait and see how it goes. I always wait to buy until the first round has been out a while, and I'm definitely excited to see how it turns out!
CAUTION! Do NOT install Windows on this thing: I know some people have said it's possible. But they don't know what they're talking about. There aren't supported Windows drivers for it, so you won't be able to play your games. Even if you had drivers, Windows takes up most of the ram and is not optimized for this machine. I wish big RUclipsrs would advice people not to do that.
5:50 This means a lot to me. Not just the FPS community, but the FGC community too. Very important bits of advice, and something tells me Valve will learn from this.
Never watched your vids before... but I'm glad you (and so many others) are loving the Steam Deck! I can't wait to get my hands on one and mess around with it :)
@@zicuvalentin2251 so here's the thing... I played the first AC back in the day and loved it, then I tried AC2 and I couldn't really get into it for some reason so I never played another one... is ACO worth checking out even if I didn't like other AC games?
@@SeanDS89 i played all the old assassins are not as fun as odyssey not even origins or valhalla were not fun at all .... i play for fun ... and the order is .... odyssey 2400 hours ... batman arkham knight 410 hours ... origins 350 hours ... then other games
Getting mines in less than a week, cannot wait. Valve def took a hit making this device. The specs are very impressive for the price, can't wait to play some RE2R in the go.
Repasting it with Noctua NT-H2 was a mistake. NT-H2 works very badly for laptops which have bare crystals instead of lids, as it gets pumped out and you will need to repaste it just several months later. I repasted my Ryzen laptop with Cooler Master Mastergel Maker and it works great - it's been 11 months now.
![BLACK BAG - Official Trailer [HD] - Only in Theaters March 14](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Du0Xp8WX_7I/mqdefault.jpg)
When you remember Dave is in his 40's but he still looks like a grad student lol
He is in his 40s???
@@derlangsame4471 he has 2 kids
@@cardboardpackage he looks like a college student
@@Hamox WHAT
Omg
The case adds so much value. That quality of a carrying case for such a big device is something that they could easily charge $50-$60 for separately but instead every single customer gets one included with their steam deck. That’s how it should be for high end devices that need protection, I love that
It makes sense for them to do this financially. Selling more steam decks wont really make them more money compared to just having all the ones sold lasting as long as possible due to them subsidizing the hardware costs.
@@artemisplank1246 damn that was an angle i never really consideref
Case is not free with base models
@@dhruvkumar7802 That's what I thought too but he showed a screen listing the differences between models and I saw carrying bag in the base model, unless that's different?
@@dhruvkumar7802 That is not true. All of the models come with a case, the 64 and 256 get the one shown in this video, the 512 model gets a "exclusive" case
This is such a big win for Linux, Valve and AMD. It would be very interesting to see what Nvidia has lined up for the next Tegra family and what they can offer to Nintendos next successor to the Switch.
DLSS for the switch 2 will beat this... wish the steam deck had dlss because i hate nintendo
I gotta be honest if the benchmarks for Windows performance come back the same, that's all I want.
love what it has done for linux. made gaming on linux almost as easy as on windows.
@@documentthedrama8279 Will Nintendo even take on the updated chipset, idk, seems to me like Nintendo like to recycle whats already adapted to their existing ecosystem and library.
@@nix3l_ I don't think it's anywhere near as easy as windows yet. I've been running Linux exclusively for almost a year now and I've had tons of trouble getting games to work and some just wont work no matter what. I'd say maybe half of my library (at most) boots and works properly with no trouble. This not even mentioning all the trouble I've had with nvidia's drivers, stuff is maddening sometimes
I am so happy this exists. Even if I never own one - just the direction and future of gaming and the potential for improvement is so exciting. Pitting Linux for gaming against windows and forcing competition - steam deck and nintendo switch redefining "mobile gaming" and at affordable price points... yes to all of it.
This is true. Should be good for all gamers.
Additionally if this becomes successful, it puts pressure on "closed" systems. Also no monthly subscription services like all consoles have now.
You cant even have your save data in the cloud on a Switch without a subscription.
@@mave9330 You can't have saves in the cloud on Playstation without a subscription either, and when you do you still have to manually upload and download everything, it's a bummer, good thing atleast Microsoft has some decency aswell and do it all for free without you even noticing
Steam Phone?
"affordable price points"
Meanwhile every Nintendo game on switch : 60$ each
@@David_Ace_Rej_Ollsan it's one time payment
7:20 gyro aiming is actually alot more accurate than stick aiming once you get used to it and find the best settings for you. (I highly recommend trying it)
I always thought so too.
Whenever i use a controller to play PC games I almost always like to use gyro aiming along with stick aiming. The stick at a normal sensitivity and gyro at a small sensitivity for those micro corrections. Even more non-shooters like Minecraft, it helps alot and makes selecting what you want so much easier
yup. Stick aiming for large movements, gyro for small. Completely eliminates the need for console aim assist( or as I call it, aim botting)
It’s super accurate with PlayStation controllers!
Just don’t do it public. You’ll look silly unless you don’t care lol
Is this Nerrels alt account?
I’m so excited for the competition and the Linux gaming support this console could bring to the table! I’m also very impressed how the platform isn’t locked down.
Seeing how it's based on Linux, Valve knew that if they for whatever reason decided to lock it down, people would've gotten through it extremely easily.
@@AllyTheProto has valve ever locked down anything they made!?
If we start getting more native Linux versions of games I will be very happy
@@jacrich699 Native linux is great and all, but Proton is the real future.
The reality is most game developers develop their games for Windows and DirectX. A lot of people don't know this, but Windows is the "black sheep" of the Operating Systems. Its clunky and weird, and absolutely everything is designed in a vastly different way to other operating systems.
Android, IOS, MacOS, Linux, BSD, you name it, all share a lot of the same design philosophy and OpenGL. Windows and DirectX, however, do things completely differently, often doing the opposite of the others. And its the only operating system that does things that way. Even the Shader language for DirectX is absolutely not comparable to OpenGL.
So, porting games from Windows to any other platform is really really hard to do natively, because you have to rewrite huge chunks of your software. Proton is a great solution, and takes on the heavy lifting of doing the translation. And its only a 10% or so performance penalty, which isn't much when you consider the thousands of software development hours you save on each game.
@@jacrich699 as a senior developer, this is the opposite of my experience. I find that portability is a myth. You'll eventually find lots of small nuances that are slightly different depending on the platform. Even libraries that are portable in theory end up having platform-specific code. Portable C and C++ especially is an oxymoron painted over with blood sweat and tears.
Just putting in my two cents. Your experience might be completely different from mine, particularly if you're using frameworks or libraries that prioritize portability. I wish it were always that simple. But if it were, I might be out of a job.
This could be an excellent chance for Linux to appeal to more gamers if companies decide to develop native for the Steamdeck/SteamOS/Linux!
Edit: I saw the comments. First of all: Calm down. Secondly: since most studios use gameengines anyway, exporting to linux is simply clicking another button. The problem is that they would have to provide anti-cheat software and support for Linux as well. The Steamdeck could be a reason for companies to finally care about that if it sells a few million units.
There isn't a strong incentive to go native when they can just rely on proton. Which is also good.
that is really wrong, proton is the only way.
@@telgars Yeah prob dont need a native linux version but if they can develop it to get along with proton ideally then good enough. Especially then you don't have to create patches for both linux and windows.
I kinda feel like that was also one of the things they were looking for
Linux (what gnumers call "GNU/Linux") was a meme made by Linus Torvalds and Lennart Pottyring to keep unemployed NEETs busy typing at their keyboards, while all the Windows-chads are busy doing work. What Linux NEETs can do in 3 days, takes a Windows-chad 3 minutes. Linux will never be a real operating system (it's not, according to GNUmers), and BSD is no where closer. Linux was made as a server operating system, not a NEET freak machine. I can still smell your disgusting dorito flavored NEET hands right those this monitor (which is displaying a Windows 10 operating system by Microsoft, but you NEET's wouldn't know that)
I'd like to invite everyone to appreciate the demonstration quality at 6:35. Love this man.
Really love that part ;)
You mean the close up right....
Not the sound
The sound is... The vibrator's feedback a feature...i know you know that 😂 just pointing out
@@sreeharikr9480 Ngl, I realized that right after I posted the comment. Still though...
You wont poke it with a microphone 🥲
7:48 THIS is what I think sets the Steam Deck apart from other handhelds/consoles ect, is how customizable it is! You can literally set up your games on it exactly how you want, which is cool :)
This makes me very excited for a gen 2. I see this thing is in the same development state as the first iPad. They definitely started on the right foot but with obvious ways to improve it further in future generations.
@Jeric White Yeah exactly, the iPad is fully proprietory whereas the Steamdeck has a lot more freedom
The way they mention how easy it is to repair I think we might see some upgrades we can do ourselves if tech savvy enough!
Yep, as long as Valve doesn't decide to cash in on the success and increase the price in like 50% the Deck Gen 2 will be a must have for every gamer
@@franciscofarias6385 Unfortunately this is something very likely to happen
They also want other companies to make their own steam deck like asus and msi do with graphics cards.
First off, I don’t know if I just haven’t noticed it before, but this 60fps looks great.
Second, thank you for pointing out the battery life. Don’t know why people came at this thing with pitchforks over the battery life.
If you are referring to the "90 minute battery life", this explains it quite well: ruclips.net/video/UUh2qtjZu4E/видео.html
But TLDR: Steve (the host) is quite salty of media outlets taking his numbers out of context, and reporting his "how fast can we possibly drain the battery"-test as if it was the average battery life.
I feel like this is his first video in 60fps, I noticed it as well.
"Don’t know why people came at this thing with pitchforks over the battery life."
Because it's advertised as a portable device? I'm not saying that Valve was dishonest or anything, and the Switch faces similar issues. But at the same time, it's perfectly reasonable to be frustrated when a portable device isn't all that portable.
@@knyffen4534 exactly. When I referenced “people” it was for media outlets and everyday folk that seemed to take all this out of context. Seen some odd complaints about battery life because of it.
@@jonathanbaird Realistically, what's the solution? People won't compromise on graphics or framerate.
I would really recommend trying out gyro aiming some more, I feel like a lot of weirdness will go away with practice, like with any input method. Gyro aiming is particularly exciting for me in this kind of device since you can stand up and turn around freely while using it
@@tydendurler9574 if you turn the sensitivity real high (like i do) you dont even gotta move it much at all
gyro is so fun
Really cool that you showed PoE running on it! That's a big one for me, seeing how relatively well that seemed to work, even before official controller support on pc, is massive.
Same here. I now know that PoE will only get better on Linux.
indeed, consider it's a grindy game, the fact you can play it everywhere is just amazing.
I was shocked he showed PoE. Def my fav game.
For a moment I got very excited because I thought it can run of Power over Ethernet (PoE)
Dave looked so happy reviewing this thing. He looked like the child who wanted this as a gift n got it as a surprise gift for his birthday.
Love u man. Great content n review as always!
$ talk
@@designtechnology2083 the frack bro. you seem bitter mate.
this also has performance monitor software to see fps temps etc... also capable of voice chat without the need for any special subscription like all other consoles.
also allows bluetooth audio for anything you can manage to connect to it. it pretty much covers small but important things consoles cant or had you paying, but for free.
The best part about the Steam Deck is how it completely changes the market, which is currently filled with devices that are offered at absolutely laughable prices. All these ridiculous Windows handheld units offered near or at premium gaming laptop prices is just hysterical; this will ensure that these companies will have to actually compete with devices available at sub-$1,000 price.
Yes but also no. Ive been in love with my gpd win 3 so much and was definitely worth the 999$ price tag. 1tb of internal storage really makes all the difference for these kinds of handhelds. You’re really looking closer to 800-900+$ for the deck which puts it in a similar range to other umpcs already on the market in terms of bang for your buck. Of course the deck slightly wins in this regard but not by much, and consider the advantages of win 3 like it being half the size, having a slideable keyboard, a ps vita style d pad that’s positioned well for fighting games, thunderbolt port etc
Those companies have no where near the volume of the steam deck. Plus they don’t have the ability to develop custom chips for their products, nor can they subsidise their hardware costs through game sales.
I agree the price difference is huge but their margins are not as big as you think they are
Steam decks are a loss leader to push games. No other company can do that. It won't change the market, it'll kill it.
@@stone301 the spec is over delivered hence the high price. Would love to see these makers do a practical specs with cheaper price after this.
@@stone301
Yeah... I’ll spend $550 for a deck and a 1tb sd card. The minor advantages the gpd has doesnt make it worth twice the price
7:20 funnily enough gyro aiming helps so much for that last bit of precise aiming that’s really hard to do with a joystick, it really bridges the gap between mouse and keyboard. You have to use both the joystick for large fast movements and the gyro for more fine and precise movements
Another option is to use touchpad+gyro
well you don't always have to use the gyro for more fine and precise adjustments. I always see people say that's how it's supposed to be used but crank up that sensitivity and its a mouse alterative that rivals the speed and precision. You can use it for small adjustments or outright full aiming or even just full camera aiming if you want (I instinctively sometimes aim and turn mostly using gyro only sometimes).
Depends on the game for me but on average I play on mid to high sensitivity, rarely using it for adjustments and I get great results with it.
this is basically the kind of review i've been looking for, I've seen so many super technical reviews, I understand what I should expect from the hardware, but nobody has really reviewed how it functions like this.
he upgrades the built-in memory to 512 gb and in doing so he voided his warranty for that i would be cranking the storage up to 2 tb if I were doing that to it for more space not doubling the storage when he's saying how small it is🤣
Man what amazes me is that AMD can pretty much pack so much power in small devices I am so excited what will be they able to do 5 years from now
I am really hope they keep support on the idea,like steam deck versions
What will be they?
Definitely living up to their name I'd say
Really glad you put a review for one of these out! Love your objectivity!
This is a really exciting device and I think it does a lot of the things it set out to do really well. Insanely impressed by the design and the concept.
It is good to know battery life can be a bit rough, and the screen can be a bit muted, as well as the other things that might fall short. I wouldn't necessarily call them flaws, just things to be aware of.
Glad to see you're excited about it too, and thanks again for the review!
This is game changing. I'm excited to see the future of this device, linux gaming, portable gaming and more!
I might be getting one soon too :D
Haven’t seen Dave this excited about a product for a while.
It's cuz he got paid $$$ bruh
@@designtechnology2083 the frack bro. you seem bitter mate.
@@rainlama6480 to be fair, the product IS only available to reviewers. There was a "launch" date when this video dropped, but that was essentially just for reviewers to post their "final" videos all at the same time. Valve's newest update for potential release for consumers *with reservations* is "April" so we'll see; it could change vastly (again) by the time it actually hits the market.
You should see Dave with the Optimus Prime video.
@@rainlama6480 what's there to be bitter about? I have loved Dave for years, and this is the first time I see him this excited about an unfinished product.
The joysticks have capacitive touch surfaces according to LTT. That's so cool
this is amazing! the fact that you can use this as a normal pc with keyboard and mouse is really the cherry on top for me i will definitely be getting one
I'm so happy that Valve gave release day review units to you, Linus and GamersNexus instead of Unbox, Marques or Justine(like they got the consoles).
To be clear I believe Dave, Linus and Steve do better day 1 coverage for something that is gaming(or otherwise, I digress) related.
?
lol yeah those would've been the totally wrong crowd.
Because they do not game
Marque got one, he made a short video
@@Soumya041 they got the consoles
Super interesting review: Ltt praised the speakers yet Davie didn’t like them. Ltt and GN accidentally pressed the buttons on the back, Davie didn’t. Just interesting to see how the reviews found certain features. Also nice to see Davie doesn’t get influenced by others for products and provides his honest opinion. Cool!
At the end of the day things boil down to personal preference :)
When it comes to the speakers I trust Linus' judgement seeing how he is well aware of what good sound is, knows what he's talking about when reviewing high end headphones, like the audeze lcd gx, and he's using the hd600 as a daily driver.
@@vali69 I notice that too. Someone who uses huh duh six hungos by almighty senny on a day-to-day may get the idea how a good quality tuning speaker would sound like
@@vali69 Actually no, even for high quality headphones people have their own preferences. Many might like the HD600, but that is still not everybody.
@@felreizmeshinca7459 yeah but that's not the point. Is Dave as well versed into audio stuff like Linus is? That's the premise of my comment.
This man is one INCREDIBLE reviewer. MY GOODNESS. Shared all of the details, honorable and not so much with such enthusiasm. Kept it 💯all the way through the video and got right to the point. LOVE IT!! (subbed and this is the very first vid i've seen of you #Dave2D).
Hopefully after Valve's takes all this feedback into consideration and starts developing the *Steam Deck 2,* I just hope that they end-up calling it the *Steam Engine!*
I really hope Valve makes another Steam Controller as I can't find any controller with a trackpad + gyro on market. Only PS4/5 and Switch Pro have gyro but I don't want gaming FPS games with analog, it's awkward as hell.
They gotta release this first one initially, though; right now the new launch date for consumers *with reservations* is listed as "April" by Valve.
@@Greydawg if you get the email you gotta wait again?
@@thesupreme8062 I suppose if you get the email it lets you know the dates to expect anything & when to be able to purchase the Steam Deck at the consumer level. We just haven't found anyone that's happened to for our story we were hoping to release tonight.
This needs to sell decently well first. I'd imagine anything under 5 million units sold in the first year would be a bad look for Valve. I also assume they are selling these units at a loss like MS/Sony, and hoping to make it up with software sales. Time will tell how this plays out.
Proton was the perfect coup: They broke the cycle. The last time, they couldn't make it big, because few games were available. But companies didn't make games available, because SteamOS wasn't big. With Proton, Steam Deck is going to have a lot of games from the begin with and can get big. With it getting big, more companies are going to develop native versions.
I want BattlEye to work with Valve so SteamOS can finally kick Windows off it’s high horse. Imagine AAA titles on Linux! Destiny 2, please…
@@progenitor_amborella Right now BattlEye support is up to the developer to check a box in the latest build of BattlEye. Arma 3 and DayZ run perfectly through proton now with BattlEye and I have finally been able to join my friends again without having to switch to Windows.
@@progenitor_amborella Microsoft is going to do everything in their power to make sure their games don't work on Steam OS 3.0... they even said, you play Destiny 2 on Linux you will get banned. It would take them 5 minutes to solve this, but they won't because they want you to buy Windows.
It’s just looks so good. Simple design. Imagine two tone skins.
Daves format of doing benchmarks is still the industry's standard.
Agreed
It’s literally a copy paste form Linus tech tips……
@@Skeletoncross I disagree. Linus tends to over complicate benchmarks when it comes to the visuals. Dave is superior with his simplity and how neat he is. Also Dave doesn't tend to bootlick corporations and their products Like Linus(Nvidia debacle cough*).
@@M-Batman just when i thought Linus was amazing i guess you're always find people that don't like your work not matter what lol
This thing would just be a dream come true with frame interpolation, render 30 FPS, enjoy 60 FPS with minimal artifacts. I don't understand why this is only becoming a thing for VR, it just works so damn good even today
Yeah. Any simple TLDR on how Frame Interpolation works in the context of the Steam Deck? Would really appreciate it!! 👍
It would almost double the battery life as well
Dude, I know. I can't believe no one has this on a portable... you could literally make games look twice as good, without needing more power
@@universegaming1353 well because it has to create a new frame that fits between the last frame and a frame that doesnt exist yet (and there lies the problem, interpolating frame for say a movie, to get a higher frame rate image of a video, the next frame already exists and so it can be used to create a frame in between two real ones. Video games, cant do that, the next frame doesnt exist yet), rather than rendering an entire new frame it would take what information it can from inputs it has received, mostly just things that would effect player position/movement and camera movement. then based on what that input would change in the game, have the gpu distort the previous frame to look kinda like it should do.
for vr this is actually a lot easier, because youre distorting an image youre viewing through your eyes, that can only move as fast as your head can move (not very fast) and typically has no static gui over it. for a say 3rd person shooter, the camera can pan very rapidly and suddenly bring into view large areas that werent in a previous frame at all. they can also have interfaces overlayed onto that previous frame that needs to both move somewhere else and also be able to reveal what was behind it..... ideally the gpu would want a clean plate essentially, with no interface over the top.
so its very much something that a game developer and the gpu makers have to work together to make work if it has any chance of being practical in regular none vr games.
the more practical method for none vr games is upscaling. have the gpu render a low resolution version of the frame, and then upscale it.
maybe they could do something with a combination of using a previous frame to upscale the interpolated frame, but that might not add anything since upscaling is already pretty effective, and wil get more efective as gpu makers create dedicated cores designed to do upscaling. at this point, since we are getting close to the resolution the human eye can detect, the step from 4k to 8k is most certainly going to be down to upscaling. that level of detail, while our eyes might be able to see it, if its not "Photo realistic", it wont matter. so an upscaled fake level of detail, with no flicker, will look real to us and there will be no reason to have the gpu render 4x the amount of pixels to get 8k, or 16x to get 16k..... etc. so thats when the benefit to frame rate really happens. when gpus get really good at churning out 4k, and then upscaling, they can churn out more frames rather than more resolution.
If you liked that one, imagine what "Steamdeck 2" or "Pro" will be able to do in a couple of years... Full blown today's desktop spec, but in a Steamdeck.
increase the virgin population??
Fullblown desktop is a bit much, maybe laptop. Doubt it will match the new consoles unless they make it even bigger. I'd rather a small bump in power but an extreme boost to battery life and slim it down a ton. With settings maxed it lasts about 90 minutes
Loving the 60fps video Dave, ouch those sliders on the UI were laggy, hopefully a software update can fix that
The image quality is insane, It's like noticeable how clean it is, the lighting is insane. I'm also way more excited for steam deck after these reviews
You've seen one? So far only reviewers have them.
@@Greydawg no, they've released it a couple of days ago.
@@SubHumanGaming well, no, & that's OK, just kinda a fascinating launch in that there's never been one like it outright.
@@Greydawg I'm kinda confused at what you're saying here. You said earlier that only reviewers have them, and so I replied saying that the steam deck has already been sent and delivered to people at the top of the reserve list.
@@SubHumanGaming to be clear, we simply haven't found anyone yet who bought one at the consumer level for our story on the official launch date is all.
@6:00 The trackpads do NOT have motors under them. They have small speakers whose vibration is intended to emulated haptic feedback. Gabe Newell said it saved space, money, and battery life so they chose that route to keep the base model under $400. Although he did say they will continually update them with software updates to improve their performance.
I have even more respect for Dave for being a Street Fighter player and that FADC Ultra is a great test for fightpads
Placed my preorder in July, cannot wait for the day to come to get mine!
Same! It's just frustrating the "launch" was only for reviewers. Everyone I know with a reservation at the consumer level is now being told "April" so who knows?
Steam Deck with their massive library and the future 4nm chip will be an absolute beast. It'd be impossible for other handhelds to compete at that point.
Can’t anyone use SteamOS for their PC handheld?
@@dominicstocker5144 yes but valve can actually take the loss cause they make money indirectly
@@traestephen7276 right
Dave really becomes enthusiastic when he comes across products like this. It's a welcome break from all those almost samey laptops and smartphones...
Excellent review as usual Dave, I think steam did a good job with this one, and it's powerful for something this small, takes compatible to a whole new level
9:52 Use a USB ethernet adapter, WU will pull down drivers if there are any
This is one of the coolest tech ever. Seems like you can do so much on it. Being able to run windows was the biggest surprise to me.
I'm glad you mentioned the case, because exactly! You get an incredible device with a high quality case included! You don't have to spend that money separate on top of the asking price, that is huge! I love that. It just says quality literally right out of the box. The finish looks good, the design looks good, it's functional and practical. I like how many different control options you get with this. Alright all the reviews are in I hope to get one :D
It has 4 type of controls. That's so many ways to customize & play.. Damn!!!
1) Button controls
2) Joystick controls
3) touchpad controls
4) Gyro controls
@@deejeysam9747 Yes, one of the best things I hear about SteamDeck is the amount of different control options and seeing the different layouts available for each game is pretty nice.
Mine is coming tomorrow! I'm so excited!
How younlike your steam deck so far. I am in the Q4 so till than lol
@@Huyjimmy I love it. It's not perfect but I still love it. Some games run well but the controls are way unusable. It takes some trial and error but you can get the controls just how you like them. Worth every penny.
@@lilBugger35 can't wait. Been purchasing games already that has been certified and on sale on steam, getting rdy for my email to purchase lol.
@@Huyjimmy Did you get it yet?
@@lilBugger35 not yet. I found a seller that is selling his 512g steam deck for 700. Will meet him on Sunday to purchase it. Brand new......pretty sure he played a little on it lol
Super excited for this product! I'm stuck in quarter 2 but I'm going to feel so cool playing on one of these on my campus LMAO
Wym
FWIW, no consumer *with a reservation* is getting them until at least April per Valve's latest update; the "launch" was just for review videos to all drop at the same time.
@@Greydawg it's a bit annoying because I wasn't able to be at a computer to preorder one when the steam deck launched, so I had to wait a couple hours 😅
But I appreciate that Valve put that que system in order to prevent scalpers, and to make it more orderly of a process for fans. At least I know I'm assured to get one! Just. I want it now darn it! 😅
@@wickersticks Heard! I'm just saying it's a bit historic; I don't think there's ever been a launch for any console product like this but without the launch date having anything to do with the actual market, and may not for still several more months. The thought of a month-2 and month-3 review, for example, I'm sincerely curious if review videos like these help Valve continue to change the product right up until it hits the consumer market in April or after.
Try using the track pads with the gyro for FPS games; there's a learning curve, but once you learn it, it's hard to go back.
Yeah, you're right. At first, trying trackpad + gyro on Steam Controller, I almost sell that thing as a learning curve was a hell. But after quite a while, I can play CSGO with it and still can wreck Mouse/KB players. Now, I'm really hoping Lord Gaben would make Steam Controller V2 so I don't have any anxiety thinking my current controller would break at any time as getting this controller nowadays after they discontinued is very hard.
Yes I can't wait to see the modding community with the Steam Deck.
Wait… was that Diablo 3 I saw playing about 1 minute in?? That’s one of the games I’m hoping to put many hours on the deck with. It’s my most used on switch by far. Awesome seeing it run in some capacity!
Path of exile
Path of Exile
Diablo 3 on pc does not have native controller support and complicated getting it to work. Weird but true
@@vilitakala6052 It does have native controller support, PoE doesn't which is why I was also confused but it interests me greatly
We gonna need a long term review of this thing.
I feel like an hour and a half at 60fps is really good for a portable device. I know for myself personally, if I wanted to game more then that I would use my series X or PC. It’s the fact the steam deck can even run 60fps, if the game supports, for an hour and a half. Same with the speakers. If I wanted a really good audio experience I would use headphones or a dedicated speaker. This thing is awesome
Too little life, even switch can last much longer than that
@@pwrsocket Yeah but the Switch has a low power ARM SoC, the Steam Deck is a gaming laptop crammed into the same form factor
This is gonna be an amazing Visual Novel machine.
That’s the first thing I thought when it was revealed lol
and they're probably fine to run at 30fps ;)
@@cl114c0777498d well visual novels really doesn't need high FPS, you basically press a key on the keyboard (or button on console) to see the next dialogue box and sometimes CGs are shown. I would say that resolution matters way much than framerates in visual novels, but yeah 30 FPS is more than fine
I was thinking the same thing.
I hate how right you are lol
Imagine how good the second generation of this thing will perform. Assuming Valve doesn’t can it like their past devices.
I'm convinced it's gonna be discontinued by the time I have the budget for one. It's gonna push the market either way, bless valve.
none, gen 2 will be from other companies
This doesn't strike me as a portable or handheld per-say. You can't fit it in your pocket, and it isn't quite the longest lasting, but man......it delivers so much for such a portable device. It looks so frickin satisfying! They did not hold back on the quality of the controller system. It's honestly exciting. This is big.
This will do the trick if you're on the bus, train, airplane, visiting friends, or just laying in bed, y'know?
And it can play SO MANY GAMES. SO MANY GENRES! WOW. This is the future.
This is definitely a super cool product. I may never get one but I respect the hell out of what valve is trying to do here. I bet the next version of this that comes out will be significantly better. I do wish dave went over how the games perform on docked mode though.
somewhat late reply, but it performs exactly the same when docked, the max TDP always stays the same, hence no performance difference.
it's insane that a portable device like this is more user-repairble than most ultrabooks nowadays.
5:30 I'm a huge fan of fighting games, I didn't expect Dave to play them! Respect.
Steam deck is basically going to be THE place for AA and indie games for me. I love the value proposition (steam sales🤑) and community features of steam ( a lot of great indies also take some time to come to console) but couldn't care less about gaming on a PC, i play AAA only on console. This will lock me into steam. Oh and there's the not so small thing about emulators too...... 😁
Will be amazing to play platformers and turn based RPG games on this.
Same,I use the switch for the same reason but the game outside of indie are very expensive,while with the steam deck I can buy games far cheaper with all the store available for it,plus you can play all you're steam games already
Great review Dave! I'm not concerned about battery life at all. Easily solved with a 30,000mAh power bank. That's 12-15 hours of AAA gaming at 60fps.
Well, near 60fps, on Low settings...but yeah it's still amazing for the form factor & price!
wtf 30.000mah power Bank? Is this a thing?
@@HOkayson probably the smallest device ever (apart from some micropcs maybe) that can play AAA, it almost feels like a proof of concept, cut it some slack
@@romanlinnik7441 there have been plenty of handhelds that play AAA in recent years; some even shown in this video. granted, you pay a big premium for any of these devices, but the steam deck is in no way the smallest of the bunch. that thing is a monster
That’s so lame. My smartphone has 50 hours of Screen on Time now because I carry powerbanks? 😅😂
Your video has to be the best one I've seen yet. Everything was really explained well from star to finish. I'm pretty new to RUclips and just subbed to your channel. I just paid Friday for my 64gb really excited to receive it. Thank for your input look forward to more.
This is so different from what The Verge just put out, I trust Dave more
I'm not personally eyeing one of these as I'm perfectly content with having a gaming PC and then just taking my Switch or Vita on the go with me if I absolutely want to, but it is a device I think has potential to carve out its niche in terms of handheld PCs. I don't see it ever cornering Nintendo in the handheld market but I hope it finds its audience
Don't worry it will definitely find it's audience. Plus I don't see this as a niche product. It is infact much more of an accessible product that has capabilities not only as a handled PC/Linux gaming device but as a desktop replacement for some. Get a USB hub, keyboard, mouse and hook this up to a monitor and BAM you got a Linux desktop. Great thing is you might be able to even install windows if you'd like. So in conclusion, yeah definitely a product for a wide audience, priced perfectly, feature rich and bound to be a success.
@@lakibadhikari7930 what about the storage capacity? I ask because i dont know but a lot of games easily take like 100 gb
@@alexrobles9708 It does have a replaceable SSD slot. However I do believe it is not the standard NVMe size. It's the more compact one that looks like your wifi card (sorry I don't know the exact technical name of that type of storage). Anyways Linus from LinusTechTips mentioned that higher capacity ones were coming out. So you can probably get 2tb+ storage capacities easily in the future. I can't confirm though. And there is always external SSD or mass storage.
@@lakibadhikari7930 I was just gonna say: we got Windows handhelds at work which are 3 times the price of the Steam Deck and not even remotely that powerful. Some colleagues and I, as we are in the IT, are already joking about just buying Steam Decks instead.
@@odian3099 what do you use those handhelds for mainly? Remote site work? Yeah you should get one of these bad boys but, they are more general/private use for now. Windows drivers are coming but, no TDA.
High quality cases like these are like $6 each with 500+ MOQ in China. You can even customize the foam mold inside to exactly fit your device for like $50 per mold (a one time cost). I don't get why tech companies don't invest in these things for their products. It's such a low cost low investment thing and yet creates a massive 'worth it' feeling for consumers.
Valve always impresses. I literally can't wait for them to sell full dive gear, pretty sure Gabe said he was working on it!
Catch you in another 30 years for that xD
Review was cool, but honestly finding out that you're a member of the FGC made my day and you've elevated yourself from my favorite reviewer to godlike status
FGC?
@@ChiGyu620 fighting game community!
1:45 for that I find 40fps is the very sweet spot here, it's day and night difference for just 10 more fps, of couse 60fps still better but this stable 40fps is fantastic
I thought the case only comes with the top $650 model?
Edit - all 3 gets a case. $650 model has special case
I think the $650 gets a special case. All of them come with a case though.
The case is used as packaging during shipping. It's brilliant.
This makes me want to see the emulation performance, due to the CPU cores I really want to see how it performs in PS3 games!
Also, the next Aya neo with zen3+ might be an amazing competitor!
Yeah, but PS3 emu needs zen3 and more cores.....
The phawx has a video on PS3 emulation on the steam deck
@@Enzed_ Already look the video, it's fine overall but it seems the emulator is heavily based on Intel... Which is not good (mostly use 2 cores and therefore the faster the better), also zen 2 have problems maintaining an specific GHz in boost time, so yeah it's seems a little bottleneck due to the CPU...
Hopefully they can fix that via hardware RPCS3 is still in development overall.
What I don't like about the video in particular is that it didn't show the battery consumption just the wattage consumption, at 25watts most of time on RPCS3 that might less than an hour which is definitely not ideal.
Hopefully we could see Aya neo with zen3+ to se a comparison, in AMD papers you can see the power consumption is heavily optimized in zen3+ to the point of actually defeating Intel 12 gen and zen 2 in a big margin in regards of battery use (double the battery in most test).
I hope valve consider a pro version with a not custom CPU, maybe a Ryzen 6700U, that might be amazingly good!
Not at the price points Aya is selling their stuff now. The Steam Deck has no competition due to pricing alone.
@@DebasedAnon I mean, Steam deck is not offering the highest hardware either, If I want to buy a zen 3+ ryzen 6800 I will definitely had to buy the Aya Neo version.
Steam is not offering more sadly.
Great review Dave. My only complaint is I keep seeing reviewers say things like "for $399", I don't think that's very accurate. If you buy the 64gb version you WILL be buying either a replacement internal drive, or a micro sd card. The price of the entry system I would say is going to be closer to maybe $450 if you buy a smaller micro sd, and honestly, I would say buy at least the 256. The os takes up nearly half of 64gb, so you are getting roughly 30gb of space to play with which is nothing.
not to mention that is also not including taxes, like for the 512 top end model it's nearly $700 after taxes
Great video! But you almost lost me when you talked about installing windows on it. Win is such an UNoptimized OS that would choke your deck so much. And now with proton 7 you can run almost any game on steamos so I see no point in doing that. But yeah, it's a computer you can do whatever you want with it and it is amazing! Thanks Dave!
Great review Dave. I have a question.
If I have a separate SD card that contains one or two games and another that contains one or 2 games. Is it seamless to just change the SD card to be able to load and play the games? Essentially it could mean having SD cards for particalr games to load from?
Thanks
I think it would take some time for the initial boot
But it should work!
Great review man. Really tempted now!
I've been a fan of this thing ever since I saw it's preview last year in July. I have a massive steam library and I travel very often for work. Xbox and PS weren't just cutting it for me. It's finally here but not here in my country 🙄
IMO the future of handheld gaming would be the successors of the ASUS ROG Flow X13/Z13 with a detachable grip for Joy Con like controllers.
ATM you got a beautiful 13.4" 16:10 4K 60 Hz or 1080p 120 Hz pen supportet touchscreen that can display games in stunning graphics + full Windows functions.
What needs to be improved is battery life. More storage and a bit less weight would be nice too. But as it is now, it's incredible! We just need that grip!
Hear me out. ROG flow X13 and it's successors will be the future of work. Especially creative work. Teaching, programming, artistry, CAD, research, etc. The combo of decent hardware, good battery life, the pen, portability, is supreme. Many people are not leveraging the benefits of the use cases it unlocks, but the next, more technologically competent, generation will. I love being able to present ideas clearly with the pen, conduct presentations on the go, have godlike control over the screen and canvas with touch, create content, render serious 3d and easily game whenever on break. All this, anywhere, anytime.
My rog flow x13 randomly died and they ended up replacing the motherboard and battery
@@anotoman123 Absolutely, it's awesome isn't it!
What I forgot to mention, since they're the first two models of its kind and without competition, the price tag is still very high. To become more suitable for the average user, it should become cheaper. At least in my case I could replaced with the X13+XGM my old gaming PC, laptop and tablet, since those three are all combined in the X13.
@@soliform3485 I guess that can happen to any device. But at least they replaced it.
9:07 Make sure you take the SSD EMI shield off the stock one and put it on the replacement!!!
What I find weird is how contradictory many reviews are. Dave said that the joysticks are amazing but the speakers are meh, whereas Linus from LTT said the exact opposite, that the joysticks are mediocre and that the speakers are outstanding.
Can't wait for the Steam Deck revisions :)
very good price point for what it offers and transparency + repairability also large community 👍
I just reserved the 256 GB steam deck a few hours ago. I was worried that the 64GB storage is not enough because some 3A games take 50 GB for their base game, and they might have extra DLC contents. I suggest anyone who are curious about it to reserve it now. The reservation fee is $5. When you get the deck, if you don't like it, you can sell it for more money as a lot of people wouldn't wait in the line for Steam Deck. That's my thought.
@@douganderson7002 If you open the device and add memory card into it, you might take the risk to break the machine although the risk is very low. Also it might not be good for the protection guarantee since you change the device by yourself.
It's a PS4 in your pocket for $50 more than a Switch OLED. Even though reviews have been mixed which was also the same case with the Switch initially, I say it's worth it. Half price as other competitors.
Let’s wait and see if the controls drift
@@sko1beer Valve claims the sticks are of high enough quality it won't be an issue. And even if it is, you'll be able to buy replacements on ifixit's store.
I can't reserve the steam deck in my country 😔
Same here :/
It is what it is. I guess everyone needs a US friend. 🇺🇸
8:50 Yeah storage is a big issue on the default 64gb one you can't even fit a single game on it depending on the size of it.
All Dave needs is a Dave 2d custom logo on his steam deck 👌
Tip: don't install Windows on the Steam deck, it just doesn't make sense, not only will you lose performance and have bugs, and the Steam deck loses all meaning, it's not just a portable console, it's a platform that really competes with Windows , using Linux as a base. (year of Linux has finally arrived).
This time it's for real, the year of the linux desktop
@@utfigyii5987 Year of the Linux portable console. But pretty close :D
@@utfigyii5987 yessssss 🎉🚀
I'm gonna wait and see how it goes.
I always wait to buy until the first round has been out a while, and I'm definitely excited to see how it turns out!
This is going to be an amazing device for linux users
It is basically a mini computer with arch
Xbox should make their version
it can never have such a huge library of games and a full fledged desktop experience so they should stick to making "closed" gaming consoles
6:12 My boy is playing THEY ARE BILLIONS.
I'm so glad this exists!
CAUTION! Do NOT install Windows on this thing:
I know some people have said it's possible. But they don't know what they're talking about. There aren't supported Windows drivers for it, so you won't be able to play your games. Even if you had drivers, Windows takes up most of the ram and is not optimized for this machine.
I wish big RUclipsrs would advice people not to do that.
It has been said by a lot of them already, I feel like you don't need to repeat it during every video.
FIRST?
5:50 This means a lot to me. Not just the FPS community, but the FGC community too. Very important bits of advice, and something tells me Valve will learn from this.
I was really impressed at that. 99% of tech reviewers are not fighting game players, so that was super nice to see.
Never watched your vids before... but I'm glad you (and so many others) are loving the Steam Deck! I can't wait to get my hands on one and mess around with it :)
I can't wait to play a.c odyssey on this device ... my favorite game
@@zicuvalentin2251 so here's the thing... I played the first AC back in the day and loved it, then I tried AC2 and I couldn't really get into it for some reason so I never played another one... is ACO worth checking out even if I didn't like other AC games?
@@SeanDS89 i played all the old assassins are not as fun as odyssey not even origins or valhalla were not fun at all .... i play for fun ... and the order is .... odyssey 2400 hours ... batman arkham knight 410 hours ... origins 350 hours ... then other games
@@zicuvalentin2251 ok thanks, I'm always looking for games to play on my future Steam Deck so I'll add this to my wishlist!
@@SeanDS89 you play batman arkham knight?...I play games with good graphics...
A lot of reviewers are saying the speakers sound awesome so I was surprised you said they aren't that great.
4:10 - Linus had an absolutely different experience with the speakers. He was blown away. How could you come to completely different conclusions?
He looks so happy and excited about it right from the beginning of the video I love it lol
Getting mines in less than a week, cannot wait. Valve def took a hit making this device. The specs are very impressive for the price, can't wait to play some RE2R in the go.
Repasting it with Noctua NT-H2 was a mistake. NT-H2 works very badly for laptops which have bare crystals instead of lids, as it gets pumped out and you will need to repaste it just several months later. I repasted my Ryzen laptop with Cooler Master Mastergel Maker and it works great - it's been 11 months now.
can’t wait for version 2
Dave: Battery life isn't great, speakers suck, screen is washed out
Also Dave: I love this thing!
Ok I'm buying one
Been waiting this for months- never been this excited since the release of ps2
5:37 I would love a steam deck that can do a flip screen like a Nintendo ds xl.