Steam Deck ~ PC Switch

[Abu Antar]

I received the email today and completed my purchase. Yeah, for indie games it seems ideal. Anyone from EU who got this? How long did it take to arrive?

Arrive?

 

[Biscotti]

I received the email today and completed my purchase. Yeah, for indie games it seems ideal. Anyone from EU who got this? How long did it take to arrive?

Completed the payment on a Thursday, it arrived the following Wednesday. I don't think I got a confirmation mail my unit was sent until Monday, so the actual delivery was pretty fast.

 

[Villagkouras]

I received the email today and completed my purchase. Yeah, for indie games it seems ideal. Anyone from EU who got this? How long did it take to arrive?

Completed the payment on a Thursday, it arrived the following Wednesday. I don't think I got a confirmation mail my unit was sent until Monday, so the actual delivery was pretty fast.

Thanks! Well, since I'm in Greece and things here move on a slower pace, I'll get it in 10-12 days.

 

[thesheeep]

I swear I'm not checking my reservation in the Steam store every single day to see if today is the day I can actually order the damn thing (should be Q2 2022, so around now).

At first, I just reserved it out of technical curiousity and being a Linux fanboy and all that.
But my plan now is to turn it into a veritable emulation station for me and my GF, something that actually makes sense when on the move or wanting to relax on the couch with something a little more simple than TW:WH and not requiring a big screen or kb&m.

 

[Bad Sector]

Thanks! Well, since I'm in Greece and things here move on a slower pace, I'll get it in 10-12 days.

Isn't there any tracking number or something like that?

 

[Biscotti]

I swear I'm not checking my reservation in the Steam store every single day to see if today is the day I can actually order the damn thing (should be Q2 2022, so around now).

At first, I just reserved it out of technical curiousity and being a Linux fanboy and all that.
But my plan now is to turn it into a veritable emulation station for me and my GF, something that actually makes sense when on the move or wanting to relax on the couch with something a little more simple than TW:WH and not requiring a big screen or kb&m.

Can confirm it's a fantastic device for emulation. Probably the best option you can get right now if you want portable emulation. Steam input mapping is also an insanely powerful tool: I played Thief 2 on my Deck and thanks to my own spin on a community config it's actually surprisingly comfortable to play.

 

[Paul_cz]

I am in EU and got mine over a month ago. Then I RMAd it due to unbearable noise. After a month I have a second unit and it still has that fucking noise, but significantly lessened due to firmware work on fan curve Valve did. So if I kept the original unit I might have saved myself the hassle. And had better right touchpad, which on the new unit is harder to press with less tactile feedback.

Fuck me, the unlucky git.

Anyway, despite these issues it is a great handheld PC otherwise.

 

[Biscotti]

I heard a lot of complaining about the whiny fan, and I think I have one too. I have to listen real hard to hear it over my headphones or speakers even under heavy load, so it doesn't bother me that much. Definitely not worth the hassle of RMA'ing it.

I think the fan curve patch is still on the beta branch, which I don't participate in. Interested to see how much of a difference it makes.

 

[Maxie]

I was under the impression it's the sort of hardware you look at on Linus Tech Tips and never actually bother to purchase it for the fear of being called gay

 

[Biscotti]

Sorry, I don't watch LTT. I'm not gay.

 

[Modron]

I was under the impression it's the sort of hardware you never actually bother to purchase for the fear of being called gay

You mean like a Switch?

 

[The Decline]

The Steam Deck is interesting, Valve has managed to produce a handheld PC that's cheaper and more powerful per watt than the Chinese made handhelds. As well as making Steam OS and Linux as a whole more relevant for gaming. It's even influenced Nvidia to transition to open source GPU drivers for Linux.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-open-sources-linux-drivers

 

[lightbane]

I wonder: what happens when future games released in a few years make the Deck's hardware start lagging behind? Will it get special ports like the Switch? I dunno if you can mess much with its internals to begin with.

 

[Caim]

I wonder: what happens when future games released in a few years make the Deck's hardware start lagging behind? Will it get special ports like the Switch? I dunno if you can mess much with its internals to begin with.

You replace it of course. If you want to just exchange the aged or broken parts, get a PC.

 

[The Decline]

I wonder: what happens when future games released in a few years make the Deck's hardware start lagging behind? Will it get special ports like the Switch? I dunno if you can mess much with its internals to begin with.

It would still be good for emulation and streaming from your main computer.

 

[Paul_cz]

I wonder: what happens when future games released in a few years make the Deck's hardware start lagging behind? Will it get special ports like the Switch? I dunno if you can mess much with its internals to begin with.

Same thing you do with aging PC or console, sell it/gift it and upgrade. Or keep playing any of the thousands of PC and consoles games made in the last 40 years.

 

[Villagkouras]

So, I received it. Good timing, my wife had knee operation and I wouldn't be able to play anything in order to help her, so I had some small gaming bursts.

Everything works fine, it's silent, battery life is fine and charges relatively fast. I would like a better screen, but it does its job.

I didn't have time to tinker it, but I also have zero experience with Linux, so desktop mode is on hold for now. I just installed games and try them (indie games, mostly).

I'm having a great time with Unexplored, currently, great roguelike and although unverified, it runs great.

 

[somerandomdude]

I'd be interested in the version 2, after they get the kinks ironed out. I'm not looking to get in on the front and be a beta tester for Valve on a device I paid $400+ for. Not happening.

 

[The Decline]

I think it's worth it at this point, I put up the $5 reserve fee for the next production run later this year. I'm very impressed with how Valve leveraging the Steam Deck to push Linux into the mainstream, especially since Microsoft is showing signs of even more totalitarian practices in the near future.

 

[Late Bloomer]

Interesting video regarding the two different types of fans used.

 

[Paul_cz]

Yeah imagine being unlucky SoB like me and getting that whiny cunt Delta not once, but twice.

ifixit needs to move and get the good fan in stock asap dammit

 

[jimster]

Yeah imagine being unlucky SoB like me and getting that whiny cunt Delta not once, but twice.

TWO Steam Decks

 

[Biscotti]

Fan curve update certainly makes a noticeable difference for me. The whine is obviously still there when the device is under considerable load, but it was completely silent on anything I emulated and any mid-tier PC game I tried out.

 

[POOPERSCOOPER]

Has anyone tried playing old RPGs and other games on these? Is it easy to do and does it work well?

 

[Bad Sector]

Has anyone tried playing old RPGs and other games on these? Is it easy to do and does it work well?

I'd expect it depends largely on the game and how much effort you're willing to put into customizing the controls (both on the game's side and the Deck side).

AFAIK with Steam Input you can create "button combos" that generate specific events so i'd guess any game that is fully controllable with the keyboard would work, so that should cover most pre-1995-or-so games. Also any game that can be played fully with the mouse (e.g. almost all Bioware's games while they were using their own engines) should also work thanks to the touchpads.

I don't know how scriptable Deck's input would be. Personally i added some key remapping system to Gamescope some time ago (mainly because i wanted to play Atom RPG with as much the same controls as Fallout as possible) but they didn't merge that in. However you might be able to use some Gamescope fork on Deck.