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That's really neat. I always wanted to get one, but have hard time substantiating it given that I already have Nintendo. can anyone talk from experience if it w

That's really neat. I always wanted to get one, but have hard time substantiating it given that I already have Nintendo. can anyone talk from experience if it was worth it?

jgtrosh 3y ago
If you're happy with your Switch, maybe you don't need anything else. If you want to do PC gaming on the go, the Steam Deck is massively worth its cost.
placatedmayhem 3y ago
I have all 3 of the major consoles since their respective launches and a well-spec'd gaming machine from 2019. In the year I've had the Steam Deck, I've played more games on it than all other systems in my house combined. Second place goes to the Switch. I can't even remember when I last turned on the Xbox. I've also started and finished more games this past year than the couple years prior to getting the Deck. There are a couple things I've noticed that makes me play the Deck more. First, being able to play on the couch while others are watching the TV helps a lot, although this is also true of the Switch. Also, emulation is so easy on the Deck, I find myself picking smaller sessions of older games (mostly SNES and GBA). I have a couple of other hobbies that consume my free time. Since getting the Deck, I've allocated more time to playing games on the Deck and a bit less from the other hobbies. I'm not sure what would make me buy the next generation of other consoles. It'd need to be something fairly compelling, but I don't see a gap in my personal gaming that's going unfulfilled. I think I could slim down to just the Deck or its successor for the next gen (and maybe the gaming PC, depending on performance). One significant attribute that I suspect separates me from many other gamers is that I have nearly zero interest in games that are heavily oriented towards online multiplayer, like most FPS. This keeps social network effects from pulling me into any one of the consoles. Some of these have games cross play, but that wasn't the majority a few years ago.
Hamuko 3y ago
The last time I picked up my Switch after having spent some hundred hours with my Steam Deck, I noticed that the Switch has so much worse ergonomics and speakers than the Steam Deck. If I have the choice between the two, I’d always pick up the Steam Deck.
wudangmonk 3y ago
I have both and the switch has been relegated to stay connected to the tv in case the kids want to play together on it. Since the steam deck can also play all my switch games plus a lot more, this is what I tend to use and carry around for my personal use. The only problem was installing and letting them know that they can play roblox and minecraft on it so now they constantly want to use it instead of their switch.
TheBozzCL 3y ago
If you’re only gonna use it for gaming then maybe stick to the Switch. That being said, the Deck is definitely more versatile because it’s just a little PC - you can do far more than the Switch will let you. Also, having access to Steam’s frequent discounts - a lot more frequent and generous than Nintendo’s - is really nice. EDIT: forgot to mention - there’s also the fact that you can get other game stores to work, you can even install Windows if you really want to. I also trust PCs more than Nintendo when it comes to future portability and compatibility: I know for sure I’ll be able to play all my PC games in the next iteration of the Deck, and other PCs of course, and even if Valve folds I’ll be able to use the Deck for whatever I want. You can’t say that at all for the Switch - eventually Nintendo will pull support and bring down the store like they did for the 3DS, and they even patched it one last time to make jailbreaking harder! For a DEAD console! EDIT: A point in favor of the Switch though: games come in cartridges so if you don’t want to trust online stores in the long term then that’s something to consider. All this being said, I found the Deck to be a little too underpowered for my use case - it struggles with some of the games I like to play. I ended buying a Razer Blade 14 with a 4070 and an AMD chipset. Not as portable, but still very portable, plenty performant and with great battery life.
- themoonisachees 3y ago
  Personally i think the deck is plenty powerful, if you consider its price point. The blade 14 is not a comparatively priced laptop, and neither are any gaming laptops currently available, because the deck is most likely sold at cost or at a loss by valve. Right when it came out, I was looking for a laptop I could use on the train to game and do some compute with without breaking the bank and it's one of the best price/performance ratios out there.
  - TheBozzCL 3y ago
    Absolutely true, that's why I said "for my use case". The Deck is amazing, it just doesn't have enough juice to give me the gaming experience I want.

That's really neat. I always wanted to get one, but have hard time substantiating it given that I already have Nintendo. can anyone talk from experience if it was worth it?

jgtrosh 3y ago

If you're happy with your Switch, maybe you don't need anything else. If you want to do PC gaming on the go, the Steam Deck is massively worth its cost.

placatedmayhem 3y ago

I have all 3 of the major consoles since their respective launches and a well-spec'd gaming machine from 2019. In the year I've had the Steam Deck, I've played more games on it than all other systems in my house combined. Second place goes to the Switch. I can't even remember when I last turned on the Xbox. I've also started and finished more games this past year than the couple years prior to getting the Deck. There are a couple things I've noticed that makes me play the Deck more. First, being able to play on the couch while others are watching the TV helps a lot, although this is also true of the Switch. Also, emulation is so easy on the Deck, I find myself picking smaller sessions of older games (mostly SNES and GBA). I have a couple of other hobbies that consume my free time. Since getting the Deck, I've allocated more time to playing games on the Deck and a bit less from the other hobbies. I'm not sure what would make me buy the next generation of other consoles. It'd need to be something fairly compelling, but I don't see a gap in my personal gaming that's going unfulfilled. I think I could slim down to just the Deck or its successor for the next gen (and maybe the gaming PC, depending on performance). One significant attribute that I suspect separates me from many other gamers is that I have nearly zero interest in games that are heavily oriented towards online multiplayer, like most FPS. This keeps social network effects from pulling me into any one of the consoles. Some of these have games cross play, but that wasn't the majority a few years ago.

Hamuko 3y ago

The last time I picked up my Switch after having spent some hundred hours with my Steam Deck, I noticed that the Switch has so much worse ergonomics and speakers than the Steam Deck. If I have the choice between the two, I’d always pick up the Steam Deck.

wudangmonk 3y ago

I have both and the switch has been relegated to stay connected to the tv in case the kids want to play together on it. Since the steam deck can also play all my switch games plus a lot more, this is what I tend to use and carry around for my personal use. The only problem was installing and letting them know that they can play roblox and minecraft on it so now they constantly want to use it instead of their switch.

TheBozzCL 3y ago

If you’re only gonna use it for gaming then maybe stick to the Switch. That being said, the Deck is definitely more versatile because it’s just a little PC - you can do far more than the Switch will let you. Also, having access to Steam’s frequent discounts - a lot more frequent and generous than Nintendo’s - is really nice. EDIT: forgot to mention - there’s also the fact that you can get other game stores to work, you can even install Windows if you really want to. I also trust PCs more than Nintendo when it comes to future portability and compatibility: I know for sure I’ll be able to play all my PC games in the next iteration of the Deck, and other PCs of course, and even if Valve folds I’ll be able to use the Deck for whatever I want. You can’t say that at all for the Switch - eventually Nintendo will pull support and bring down the store like they did for the 3DS, and they even patched it one last time to make jailbreaking harder! For a DEAD console! EDIT: A point in favor of the Switch though: games come in cartridges so if you don’t want to trust online stores in the long term then that’s something to consider. All this being said, I found the Deck to be a little too underpowered for my use case - it struggles with some of the games I like to play. I ended buying a Razer Blade 14 with a 4070 and an AMD chipset. Not as portable, but still very portable, plenty performant and with great battery life.

themoonisachees 3y ago
Personally i think the deck is plenty powerful, if you consider its price point. The blade 14 is not a comparatively priced laptop, and neither are any gaming laptops currently available, because the deck is most likely sold at cost or at a loss by valve. Right when it came out, I was looking for a laptop I could use on the train to game and do some compute with without breaking the bank and it's one of the best price/performance ratios out there.
- TheBozzCL 3y ago
  Absolutely true, that's why I said "for my use case". The Deck is amazing, it just doesn't have enough juice to give me the gaming experience I want.