Is Steam Deck worth buying?

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Steam Deck came out raw, but now it’s a huge success” – that was the headline of an article on the respected portal The Verge a year after the release of the portable console. Many media outlets in 2022 were cautiously writing their first Steam Deck review. But, unfortunately, Valve’s portable console took a lot of work to come by, even in the US. The battery drained quickly; the fan was noisy; the SD card didn’t let me move games around; the automatic brightness adjustment didn’t work, and so on.

Now, however, the situation has changed. Valve has worked hard and, in less than 12 months, has released over 100 minor and major fixes to the handheld. And now, Steam Deck can be confidently called one of the best gadgets on the gaming market. Gambling lovers are waiting for the pure win app and other similar online casino software with slots to be available on this device because it is not difficult to implement. 

What is Steam Deck

Steam Deck is a portable console manufactured by Valve. It is a famous company that gave gamers worldwide the most convenient gaming platform on the PC – Steam. It is a store, a launcher, and a forum of interest for hundreds of millions of gamers worldwide. In January 2023, a record was set for the simultaneous number of users online – over 30 million were active on Steam, and over 10 million were playing something.

The connection with the Steam platform by default is the main advantage of the console. When you buy Steam Deck, you link the console to your Steam account. Almost your entire library of games will be available to play on Steam Deck. There are no extra purchases of the games themselves or any special patches. It isn’t a Nintendo Switch; you must purchase games separately. Elden Ring, Red Dead Redemption 2, Hogwarts Legacy, Marvel’s Spider-Man – everything you played on PC will now be available on Steam Deck. It means you can comfortably lie on the couch and play your favorite video game.

Appearance and Controls

Many portable consoles are referred to as pocket consoles. But the Steam Deck is different. Despite the 7-inch screen, the console is quite massive – it weighs 669 grams. The Nintendo Switch OLED with the Joy-Con weighs a third less at 420 grams. The dimensions aren’t compromised, either. You can pack the Steam Deck in a bag or backpack, but it’s too big to slip into a jacket. Even the Asus ROG Zephyrus 14 gaming laptop is only 1.25cm wider, even though it’s considerably heavier than the Steam Deck.

Much of the Steam Deck’s body consists of control surfaces and sticks, which are much more comprehensive than the Joy-Con on the Switch. Also, unlike the Nintendo console, the controls on the Steam Deck are not removable. There are the standard dual analog joysticks, ABXY buttons, two shoulder buttons on each side of the device, four additional buttons on the back, and two touchpads. These are below the analog joysticks and the Steam and Options buttons. It’s worth noting that the width of the grips ensures that your thumbs and palm won’t accidentally touch the trackpads or block the speakers below the Steam and Options buttons.

Screen

The Steam Deck has a screen similar to the Nintendo Switch OLED – they measure 7 inches. However, Valve’s device has a slightly higher resolution: 1280 by 800 pixels (the Switch display is 1280 by 720). In addition, Valve chose an IPS LCD at 60 Hz instead of an OLED. It allows the screen to be bright and easy to read. However, it lacks the deep black and contrasting colors you get with OLED technology.

Advantages and disadvantages of the Steam Deck

Pros 

• Massive library of Steam games.
• Ability to install emulators, third-party loungers, and stores.
• Great assembly from quality materials.
• Cloud saves work perfectly – you can continue the game started on PC.
• If you do not have a gaming PC, Steam Deck can replace it, even if you have to play on medium but sometimes high graphics settings.
• Very convenient management.
• Ability to connect your keyboard, mouse, and gamepad.
• Powerful for its size.
• Nice screen with an adjustable refresh rate in games (thanks to recent patches).
• You can stream from a powerful PC to Steam Deck. If you have a PC with an RTX 3000 or 4000 series graphics card, games on Steam Deck will look even better. There is no lag in streaming.

Cons

• The battery doesn’t make the Steam Deck a device for playing games on long trips – AAA projects drain it in two hours.
• The console is quite massive.
• The fan has been improved but can still make many people uncomfortable.
• Steam Deck still has problems with multiplayer games.
• The IPS screen has advantages (like brightness), but the OLED on the Nintendo Switch looks preferable.
• There are occasional problems with Bluetooth-connected headphones, but Valve is trying to fix them.
• Games can still only be downloaded by turning off the screen.

What games will Steam Deck pull

Given the word “will hold” in the title of this section, it is assumed that we are talking about the major projects, not some Vampire Survivors. It’s unclear whether all modern AAA games are adapted for Steam Deck, but almost all will run on the device and show a good performance with excellent graphics.

Steam Deck turns all the former PlayStation exclusives on PC into portable titles. It’s something Sony fans couldn’t dream of even in the days of the PSP. You can play Deathloop (a former temporary exclusive), God of War, Horizon Zero Dawn, Days Gone, Death Stranding, Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, and other masterpieces- all games will run perfectly, showing an average of about 40 frames per second, which is enough to enjoy the game.

Modern image scaling technology helps a lot. AAA games, almost by default, have FSR support built into their settings. FidelityFX Super Resolution is a temporal image scaling technology developed by AMD to be used in real-time and increase the resolution of lower-resolution images to a higher resolution. Conventionally, you run a game at 720p, set it to high settings, turn on FSR, and play as if you had a default 1080p image. On small screens, graphics artifacts (such as large pixels) are almost invisible.

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