figured i would lay down some thoughts after using it basically nonstop since i got it about 8 hours ago, in bullet point form because i just.. can’t write about lots of things about something any other way.
- first time setup was fast and easy
- idk if i used a weird button combo without thinking when turning it on but i accidentally turned it on to the uefi boot options screen which.. damn uefi has improved.
- logging into my steam account Kinda Sucked because i use a long and complex password that i almost always have my password manager autofill. i kinda wish there was a “scan qr code” option like discord or telegram but i extremely understand why there isn’t and most of me hopes valve never adds it
- less of my steam games are “valve tested, gamer approved” than i thought there’d be. i have 1521 games on steam and 320 are “great on deck”
- this thing gets Warm. not noticeable much during gameplay really but touching the screen or having my hand over the vent there’s really a decent amount of heat
- the haptics are so good
- gyro is honestly improved for being activated with the capacitive sensor on the right thumbstick
- the touchpads are nice and i’m glad valve kept the mouse/scroll functionality from the original steam controller (which i still have and still love)
- boot times are a little long.. or, well, i don’t mind a boot time but it would be reassuring to have Something on the Screen while i’m Waiting
- kde is still an absolute banger i love it
- sometimes when valve say a game Does Not Work (verified 100% real not clickbait), they are Lying. hard space ship breaker is marked as explicitly unsupported but it runs Fine As Fuck
- this thing runs games real well. there are so many frames and all of them are appearing in very quick succession.
- the touchscreen is..kinda unresponsive? i dunno if i’m handling it too daintily or what but it’s just not that responsive. during the aperture employmence game that shows off all the steam deck features, it had me sign my name on the touchscreen and Wow it did not pick up most of my strokes.
- holy fuck proton is impressive
- none of my powerbanks are powerful enough to charge this thing while i’m gaming
- it’s extremely entertaining to see this Serious Gamer Device with a bunch of gay furry things in the steam library
i have some more thoughts about it!!
overall still very positive about it and frankly the steam deck is, in my eyes, the single proof that linux as the operating system a person might actually use graphically and on purpose may have a real fighting chance.
my thoughts are, as ever, formatted as a list because i can’t express my thoughts in any other way
- hardware defects do exist, they’re real and they tried to suck my dick. the fan has some kind of bearing issue that causes it to trundle, and the right analogue stick squeaks and is stiff to move in a way that would normally imply a need for lubrication. hey gabe, how did you manage to make an analogue stick thirsty? none of these are dealbreakers; i could RMA the device but i frankly am enjoying it too much to be willing to part with it. the problematic parts are easily replaced and i’ve had worse hardware defects with devices more than double the cost of a steam deck, so i think it’s not much of an issue.
- this thing is pretty comfortable to hold, but the tendons in my wrist start hurting if i’m using it lying down for a long time.
- steam’s controller shit has come a very, very long way. i played euro truck sim 2 last night and discovered that, at least on the steam deck, key bindings and axis assignments don’t exist because the game exposes all of its controls directly to steam, allowing me to assign actions to buttons rather than keycombos. it also shifts between different control schemes dependent on whether you’re in the pause menu or driving, and what kind of gearbox you’re using. extremely slick, super impressed.
- sd card is indeed not noticeably slower in my unscientific vibes-based opinion
- cookie clicker is great on this thing
- the on screen keyboard that uses the dual touchpads has also come a long way and is mostly usable but i wish it had a higher framerate.
- the classic steam UI theme for the keyboard and for kde plasma was a sweet little touch that i very much appreciate
- i played Stray from start to finish on the steam deck and had zero complaints through the whole thing
- sometimes the wifi will think it’s disconnected from the steam servers after you manually connect after being out of range of the AP you’re connected to and honestly i can’t fault it because i still remember the dark old days of b43-fwcutter so wifi on linux will always be tainted with those memories
- the L/R4 and 5 buttons on the back are really neat but i wish they were a little higher up
Use the boost to get through!
