I had an old MSI gaming laptop from 2016 which was amazing for me (I always had slow, 2nd hand laptops before) and now I’ve sold it and my PS Vita in order to buy a Steam Deck. I want to play Elden Ring, the Souls series, Sekiro and some indie games like Vampire Survivor. I also want to emulate games (Gameboy gen up to PS2 gen). Would that be a good investment or should I just go for a PC? I travel frequently because of my job.
Sounds like a Steam Deck would be perfect for you tbh. Unless you are planning to play some rather intensive games, you probably don’t need a PC.
You won’t be getting 60fps in Elden Ring most of the time and as time moves on, there will be more and more games that won’t hit 60fps on the steam deck but can still be played. Starfield is a notable example.
If you aren’t bothered by that, go for it.
The deck is an absolute beast for indie games and the controls are incredibly good, so you can play stuff like factorio almost as well as with a mouse. If you fly often, factorio alone could make the deck worth it. They call it cracktorio for a reason, it just makes time fly.
I haven’t emulated much, but emudeck made it super easy (I’d almost say foolproof) for SNES and C64. Wii games are a bit of a pain because of the controls, but older stuff is generally fine.
I don’t have to play games on ultra 8k 4trillion fps. I could barely run Dark Souls 3 on lowest settings on my old laptop. So I’m happy if it runs well and looks okay
You will love the deck then
IMO 40 with some drops is your best bet. My experience is that the drops are mostly during exploration and not in combat. I don’t think I’ve been killed because of drops.
Forcing 30 adds noticeable input lag.
Visually, it’s technically not impressive once you get the performance where it should be, but I think the design looks really good. There are spots, especially in some of the castle/dungeon like areas, where you can look over a ledge and recognize all the stuff you just climbed and battled through that really give the whole thing a beautiful sense of scale.
I would also argue the new portable from said company emulates incredibly well on most titles.
As a fellow traveler, a Steam Deck is an absolute game changer
Oh yeah I bring my steam deck with me on all my work trips (and fun ones too ofc). It’s makes work trips much more bearable.
It’s much easier to carry around compared to a laptop, less heat, you can use it on a plane all the time without being cramped, you can play it a few minutes, switch it to standby and then resume later whenever you have a few minutes more…
Yeah you’re constantly stopping and starting while traveling so the standby feature is clutch.
What you have listed is perfectly fine for the steamdeck, you can load in plex and spotify as flatpaks and then add them as a non-steam program to broaden it’s useful ness when away.
Not OP, but do you know if I could do something like join a Google Meet while playing a game? Bit specific but it’d really be useful to me.
Definitely possible but you’d probably want a dock and a couple of monitors at the least. And your gaming performance would likely be compromised as videoconferencing is a relatively intensive task.
You can use Discord as there is a flatpak I would imagine meet would run as a web-app so open the steam browser login and go or make an electron/web-app from the page would be my goto.
Cheers!
Neat! (As a non-Steam Deck owner but eyeing with desire) I hadn’t thought about putting Plex on it.
I’ve sold it and my PS Vita in order to buy a Steam Deck
Sounds like you’re more looking for affirmation rather than asking a question. Also posting here is likely to get you the answer you’re looking for. So here it is:
Yes, you should absolutely buy a SteamDeck.
You can even use it as a laptop if you really want to.
No I’m broke. I had to sell it in order to get something new. I also sold my old laptop. And I still need 20$. I know not having money is not an issue for some of you guys but for me every penny counts.
I don’t understand why you replied to me with this. I didn’t say anything about money.
Being a 40s gamer with bad eyes, the only thing I dislike about the Deck is the small screen size, which keeps me from using it handheld as much as I’d like to.
But it’s my only PC currently, and it’s fantastic docked with Bluetooth M&K. In every other way but the native screen, it’s exceeded my expectations.
Down the road when it’s time to upgrade, I’ll probably get a device with a larger screen, but I will always love the Deck, which has convinced me that I’ll probably never main a laptop again.
Thank you I find it really heartwarming that you still play video games.
Why? I mean those who first grew up with games can be 50+, and it’s not like all games are for children.
I’m 47 and love my steam deck!
I replaced my PS4 with it. I game on the couch handheld style when I don’t want to annoy my wife. I game on the TV with MnK blue tooth or my old ps4 controller when i do.
@morgan_423 @neku Never say never. I think maybe I should get a ps5. I know I am missing out gaming at high settings.
Steam Deck is excellent for work travel. Easy to set up and play in bed at a hotel.
I’m in a long distance relationship and regularly go 4h by train
The Steamdeck is so worth it if you travel regularly
Steamdeck will be a good replacement for a gaming laptop and less expensive. Mine is 1 year old. Almost every games work well on Linux thank to Valve and Wine, i don’t see any problems with your games. And you can emulate old game on Linux but i never tried it.
There is some issue :
- you can’t play Kenshi, City Skyline. You will need a dock, keyboard and maybe a bigger screen.
- Some game use a launcher that will block ya from playing it. Hence why some player decide to install Windows. (Blame the editor, not Valve)
- The Steamdeck handle well AAA title but it will drain its battery quickly. Elden ring can last 2h i think.
And imho, you should never install Windows. Why ? To increase Linux market share. So game editor will work on their launcher and make them compatible with Linux. And there is plenty gaming console on Windows, lot PC on windows. Windows’s gamers have plenty options (ROG). So just for this one, we should accept the Steamdeck as a Linux gaming machine, for once.
When you say you can’t play Skylines, that’s just because you don’t like the control experience, right? I used to play it with a Steam Controller occasionally so I feel like I wouldn’t mind too much haha.
Yeah, it was slow i tried to lower the resolution but it was sluglish :( Maybe connecting to a bigger screen with a keyboard will improve the experience. did you see, there is city skyline 2 that is coming out soon ! this is a great year for gamers ! :D
Well worth it given your use cases.
I’d definitely utilize Proton DB to figure out what games work well on the Steam Deck. The verified badge on steam doesn’t usually give an accurate assessment of what will play well on it.
I got one for my wife last Christmas, but our 19-year-old daughter countermanded it, and has something like 15000 hours logged, while maintaining a near-perfect GPA.
So apparently it works.
I have had great times with my Deck, I picked up the 256 GB and upgraded with a 1TB MicroSD. I have to say, as hardware goes, it’s quite solid. It’s also very easy to get into the Linux backend and set it up for emulation and other side loading, and it does 6th Gen and back reasonably well, with a couple forward for the Nintendo line. I haven’t tried it myself but as I understand it, it’s a reasonably good build even for the switch. I’m not usually a device fanboy but I’m actually looking forward to the next iteration.
As for high performance, I can verify for Elden Ring, as with pretty much all of the modern titles, it runs at a steady 30 FPS 720p, with the occasional dip. If you fly long flights a lot, it’s great - just be cognizant of the low battery life and run on AC where you can.
Steam Deck seems great for you! Most of the games you mentioned work great on Deck.
Keep in mind that the Steam Deck can struggle with recent AAA releases. You probably won’t be able to hit 60 FPS in Elden Ring, but if you can handle 30 or 40 fps, you would enjoy it on Deck. Do some research on the games you want to play to make sure the Deck can run them well enough for you.
The Steam Deck is a phenomenal device for emulation. I adore playing retro games on this thing, it’s a spectacular experience. Games with a 4:3 aspect ratio look fantastic on the Steam Deck’s 16:10 screen!
The Deck can emulate a lot of systems very well. It’s excellent at emulating GameCube and Wii games. I don’t think it does all Wii games perfectly, but all the games I’ve tried work like a charm, even very intense Brawl mods. 3DS runs swimmingly as well, and while I haven’t tried Wii U emulation, it seems to work pretty well from what I’ve seen. The Deck is a monster for retro Nintendo emulation!
On a downer note, PS2 emulation on Deck is not perfect. A decent amount of PS2 games work fine. Some PS2 games require tinkering on your part to get them working well. Some PS2 games might simply be out of the question depending on how much slowdown you’re willing to tolerate. If you want to do PS2, you might want to look into Powertools, which can let you disable “SMT” to improve performance. I can go into detail on Powertools if you want. (Actually, I’ve heard that Valve is gonna make an update for the Deck that makes this unnecessary, so you might not have to worry about that.) You might want to research the PS2 games you want to play to make sure they work on Deck.
@PastaRhythm @neku People really need a steam deck 2. Games are already being made with ps6 in mind
Eh, I disagree. Most AAA games are still releasing on eighth gen hardware. The Steam Deck’s keeping up decently well, depending on how low you’re willing to drop your settings. I wouldn’t want a sequel this early in the Deck’s life. Besides, if you want more power, there are devices like the ROG Ally that can handle AAA with flying colors, even Starfield.
Now that I think about it-- @neku, if you’re willing to pay a bit extra, you could consider a ROG Ally, or that Lenovo Legion go that’s releasing soon. I think the Steam Deck offers a better user experience than the Ally thanks to its controls and software, but it might be worth considering for its more powerful hardware if you’re not happy with how the Deck performs.
ROG Ally has a virus (Windows) pre-installed and it’s less optimized. Steam Deck feels like a console with the added desktop function. ROG Ally feels like a bad imitation of someone who wanted to fit a desktop PC in the handheld form. It’s also about community, tinkering and Linux in general which makes me like the Steam Deck more
Absolutely. I definitely feel like the Steam Deck is better than the Ally. SteamOS is amazing, and the Deck’s plethora of input options brings the gaming experience to the next level.
I wasn’t sure if you were aware of the Ally, so I brought it up just to make sure you know what options you have. I would still recommend the Deck over the Ally any day of the week, though.
I looked into the rog ally before I got my deck a few months ago, the integration was rough and the spec difference did not make up for it. I was close to getting one, but then I read a ton of reviews and came to the conclusion that the deck was still better, even with the spec difference. I only regret not getting it sooner, it’s an amazing device and has not disappointed once with any new game this far. Haven’t y tried Elden Ring, but Diablo, BG3? Heel yea
Yeah, that’s exactly my problem with a lot of the Deck’s competitors. They’re trying to out-spec the Deck, but there’s a lot more that factors into a fun experience than just power. SteamOS’s Game Mode might be the best UI I’ve ever used. I also love the Steam Deck’s controls to death and could go on a very long rant about them, but I’ll hold that in.
I bought an external travel monitor just recently. 15-16", 10800 mah battery, 1080p. Very thin. Plug it into the usb c and the screen even have touch. I can now play on a bigger screen without the need of a tv or even a power socket. Pair this with a dock, a small keyboard and wireless mouse and you basically have that laptop for when you need it. Brings cost up somewhat for sure. But now you can use it as handheld, on a screen, or on the tv.
I completed Elden Ring on the Steam Deck without problems and I assume the other Souls games would run even better. Vampire Survivor also runs fine, no surprise really.
It is awkward as a laptop, but for gaming it is really nice. It’s the closest you can get to a gaming console for PC games.
From what I’ve seen it looks and runs decently smooth even on a bigger screen
Yes, I played most of it docked to my TV using a PS5 controller and only some undocked. There is no difference between docked and handheld mode like for the Switch though so it is fine either way.
Just don’t expect the highest quality settings for any recent AAA game. Due to hardware specific optimizations it is seriously impressive what the machine can actually run.
Sorry, I cannot really answer this. I am using the docked USB ports for mouse and keyboard receivers and have never tried any external storage.
Hahahahahaha
If your computing needs are light, you can definitely use a steam deck as a laptop, but while traveling it won’t be a great experience for general computing. As a game system, it’s amazing. I absolutely love my deck.
