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The biggest problem with the Steam Deck is the performance is less than ideal when paired with a 4k tv. I don't mean performance as in "the games run bad" I me

The biggest problem with the Steam Deck is the performance is less than ideal when paired with a 4k tv. I don't mean performance as in "the games run bad" I mean performance as in "I can't get this thing to reliably treat my Oled TV as a primary monitor, Swich to 4k resolution, and shut off the Steam Deck's second screen when I dock it with the official dock." I don't think this system is ever going to be competitive with the Nintendo Switch and the inevitable Switch 2 at seamlessly docking between desktop and handheld mode. (Which I read developers need to support to be approved on the Nintendo Eshop.) On the other hand the Steam Deck can play The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD and The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD in handheld mode, which for some bizarre reason is not something the Nintendo Switch can currently do.

chii 4y ago
> I can't get this thing to reliably treat my Oled TV as a primary monitor... Is this a general problem with the steam deck? Or is it just some quirk of your setup, and not many others have the issue? I'd be surprised if this is a general issue, since the steam deck is just a PC and I've not heard of such problems on a PC tbh.
- Gigachad 4y ago
  It sounds like the problem is games don’t reliably switch resolution/aspect ratio in the middle of running. This is something you rarely do on a PC and you’d accept having to restart games after plugging in a new monitor.
  - staticman2 4y ago
    That's one of the issue but it's not just the middle of running a game. On the Switch you never have two screens running at once. So Nintendo knows to automatically Switch off screen 1 and start displaying everything on screen 2 when you Switch to Dock mode. On the Deck some people want to plug in the display and use it as a second screen, while some may want to plug it in and use it like a Nintendo Switch for couch gaming. Then there's separate settings for Desktop mode and game mode. If I'm using a gaming PC with a mouse and keyboard at a desk it's not a big deal to change the display settings after I plug the PC in. In contrast if I'm plugging the Deck into a 77 inch OLED and I don't get the default display I want I'm often left hunched over a 7 inch screen next to the OLED, which is annoying.
- staticman2 4y ago
  The Steam Deck isn't really just a PC, it's a PC with a lot of hacky overlays to try to get it to operate like a console. Here's the Steam Beta patch notes from September 22, 2022, it says they added 3 features: "Added external display output resolution and refresh rate selection UI in Display Settings (requires Steam Client Beta) Automatically avoid problematic resolutions like 4096x2160 or 30Hz modes on external displays) Fixed aspect ratio and resolution not properly switching in the Steam UI after reconnecting an external monitor" https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/3308480236507039963 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/3308480... It took Value from the Deck's launch in February 25 to September 2022 to have buggy beta support of features you would need to make it usable on a 4k TV, such as giving the user the option of changing the resolution to 1080p. Previously if you plugged the Deck into a 4k TV you'd have to run everything at 4k because there was no resolution switching. It's widely speculated the Steam Deck Dock was delayed until October 6 2022 because Valve knew their software for 4k TVs was not ready. It's been a month or two since I retested my Steam Deck with a 4k TV, so perhaps some updates have improved things, but last time I tried it the experience was frustrating.

chii 4y ago

> I can't get this thing to reliably treat my Oled TV as a primary monitor... Is this a general problem with the steam deck? Or is it just some quirk of your setup, and not many others have the issue? I'd be surprised if this is a general issue, since the steam deck is just a PC and I've not heard of such problems on a PC tbh.

Gigachad 4y ago
It sounds like the problem is games don’t reliably switch resolution/aspect ratio in the middle of running. This is something you rarely do on a PC and you’d accept having to restart games after plugging in a new monitor.
- staticman2 4y ago
  That's one of the issue but it's not just the middle of running a game. On the Switch you never have two screens running at once. So Nintendo knows to automatically Switch off screen 1 and start displaying everything on screen 2 when you Switch to Dock mode. On the Deck some people want to plug in the display and use it as a second screen, while some may want to plug it in and use it like a Nintendo Switch for couch gaming. Then there's separate settings for Desktop mode and game mode. If I'm using a gaming PC with a mouse and keyboard at a desk it's not a big deal to change the display settings after I plug the PC in. In contrast if I'm plugging the Deck into a 77 inch OLED and I don't get the default display I want I'm often left hunched over a 7 inch screen next to the OLED, which is annoying.
staticman2 4y ago
The Steam Deck isn't really just a PC, it's a PC with a lot of hacky overlays to try to get it to operate like a console. Here's the Steam Beta patch notes from September 22, 2022, it says they added 3 features: "Added external display output resolution and refresh rate selection UI in Display Settings (requires Steam Client Beta) Automatically avoid problematic resolutions like 4096x2160 or 30Hz modes on external displays) Fixed aspect ratio and resolution not properly switching in the Steam UI after reconnecting an external monitor" https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/3308480236507039963 https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/1675200/view/3308480... It took Value from the Deck's launch in February 25 to September 2022 to have buggy beta support of features you would need to make it usable on a 4k TV, such as giving the user the option of changing the resolution to 1080p. Previously if you plugged the Deck into a 4k TV you'd have to run everything at 4k because there was no resolution switching. It's widely speculated the Steam Deck Dock was delayed until October 6 2022 because Valve knew their software for 4k TVs was not ready. It's been a month or two since I retested my Steam Deck with a 4k TV, so perhaps some updates have improved things, but last time I tried it the experience was frustrating.