Weird how Microsoft got the auto-resume feature to almost a perfection in Xbox series but cannot do it in Windows.

My favorite part of the review was the relatability of having dozens of unplayed steam games and not playing older classics because of the fear of wasting money on hardware potential😂😂

Let's try not to forget, it's a portable PC that has extremely simple to use console-like interface. Amazing software at an awesome price, it would be kinda crazy to assume it's going to play every single AAA game when a desktop PC at the same price wouldn't even be able to play them at max settings either It's a tiny portable PC, it's wild to me how good it is. A lot of people get used to technology so quickly, this wasn't even possible not long ago. It's a cool time for gaming :)

I love mines and will not go to any other device atm, the support is unmatched and the sleep feature is a must, I kept my expectations in check by using it as a back catalogue device

The Steam Deck has helped to make Linux more relevant than ever, and it's great to see another option for an operating system going mainstream. Ubuntu is surprisingly easy to use, fyi, and you don't have to go with Steam OS. Valve has helped to make gaming better on other versions of Linux as well, and I find that Ubuntu is a great option even for people who have minimal PC skills. I actually switched my mom over to Ubuntu a few years ago because it was actually easier for her to use than Windows (for reasons I won't get into).

Have no qualms with the deck after a year. Just completed playing the new like a dragon gaiden on it and it runs perfectly (medium, 40hz/40fps, steamOS 3.5). Hell, its also my daily driver for light use browsing and management applications. Valve still reigns supreme with the the software and customer support which trumps hardware improvement and relying on bloody windows. But its nice to see the new competitors

Getting a Steam Deck this past August finally helped me start chewing through my 115-game Steam Library (with a ton of yet-to be claimed Humble Bundle games). And funnily enough, on my gaming PC I’d built in 2017 I barely played even 30 sessions in a given year *until* I got my Steam Deck in 2023; now I play both on a near-daily basis

In my experience streaming games with moonlight works better than with steam remote play. Its pretty easy to set up and I haven't had any performance/reliability problems with it so far. The only problem I have with it is that you cant stream outside of the lan if you have a double nat (my isp doesnt allow bridge mode on the modem)

Yo, the struggle is real when it comes to Steam sales and the backlog. Yes, steam deck definitely helps work though that backlog. I'm currently working through Bioshock on my Deck

I absolutely love my STEAM Deck. I play anything anywhere including AAA. My rig is a i7-13700k /4090 and I still game more on my Deck because of the portability. It's a backlog murderer! OLED is not good enough to get another one so I'll wait till the next gen deck. I'm a big sim player so ETS2, ATS, FS22 and so on work great. The Callisto Protocol, DEAD SPACE, THCOTW, ELDEN RING SNOWRUNNER, there are games that look almost as good as my PC. Bluetooth gamepad/keyboard/mouse and a portable 18" monitor I can do a nice set up quick anywhere right out of my travel pack. All my gaming is in the STEAM eco system so it's the most convenient. I've never been more happy and this is a guy who owned PONG in the 70's.

Dang Shout Out to everyone who waited to buy a Steam Deck

i love my steam deck for emulating old systems and the nintendo switch, and playing indie titles and through my backlog of my library! def going to buy the OLED. love the community support, the plugins, and SteamOS. playing old games on deck is such a great experience and i couldnt see myself using a windows handheld.

I have a backlog of about 750+ games on steam that I’ve never got to play because of all the reasons you listed. Bought my special edition OLED and I can’t wait to get it in the mail. You also mentioned being able to stream games onto the deck using a gaming PC. This sounds dope I’ll finally be able to play Cyberpunk and RDR2 maxed out with the native 800p resolution. Never did that on my main PC because I refused to play a game if I wasn’t able to slide all the graphics settings to max.

same with me talking about library of games, most of the games i bought i never played or rather may have forgotten until i got my steam deck and rediscovering the things i missed. very good review btw.

You could have mentioned that performance in games have consistently improved over time due to multiple updates. I recently played Spiderman and was surprised on how good it looks compared to the game's launch window. Of course it runs at a mediocre frame-rate, but it does looks better and plays better than before. But I agree with you, the SD is perfect for indie titles and less graphically demanding titles. Games that can not take advantage of an overpowered gaming pc. It's also a great couch co-op experience!

A year ago i bought a second hand laptop on eBay for about $650. So a bit more than the most expensive steam deck. It has a ryzen 4800h paired with a radeon 5600m. According to digital foundry the *rough* equivalent to the steam deck gpu is a 1050ti, which is about half the speed of my 5600m. I realized that a lot of the scenarios where i would play on the deck were scenarios where i could plug in my laptop and play on that instead. I don't live in an area with good public transit and the steam deck is too large to fit comfortably in a pocket so you need to bring at least a bag anyway. So it made a lot more sense to just stuff my laptop, charger and a controller into a backpack when i want to game out of the house. Im not saying there is no scenario where the handheld form factor wouldn't be cool but in most of my potential use cases the laptop made much more sense

I found if I look up settings videos for games it helps a lot. I was amazed at how Gta 5 runs after getting the settings right. Its crazy that the steam deck actually out performs consoles in some ways. A lot of feature are missing in console games but the steam deck has pc settings. I get a lot better variety of cars in Gta 5 on the steam deck compared to console versions because I can adjust that setting. I am getting the new oled version.

I, also, find the bumpers to be just out of what I would consider a comfortable position. Excellent video!

Very interesting for me i'm in about the same boat as you as far as why i'd use one. I'm seriously considering the oled one when it comes out. I have a laptop for not at the desk gaming but its kind of a lot too honestly. Thanks dude great content as usual 👍

I feel like the steam deck is incredible for most games generally released before 2022. I wouldn’t use it for super demanding titles.

Hahaha. Just bought a 4090, and I've only played Terraria this week so I kinda feel your sentiment.

very relatable, thinking of picking up the steam deck for my backlog, 100s of games older ones mostly.

Very on point. i received mine very shortly after Launch and i have no regrets. The biggest advantage to the Steam Deck over all the other ones is a huge Software and Versatility advantage. Using a Custom version of Arch Linux and relying on open-source software tools for the Deck means that it's divorced from having to rely on Windows proprietary software or API's, which is a big deal. Then you have the massive versatility in controls configuration and being able to configure a variety of things on the fly without having to mess with an external app or anything. Just about every other company wanted to rush in with 'technically' better hardware, at a higher price tag, but much worse software, and much worse customer service in general, almost entirely relying on the windows ecosystem itself just so they can sell something fast.

It's really funny, I was considering buying the Steam Deck OLED and I was looking at my library to see which games would be great for it and I decided that Hades and Slay The Spire would be ideal since I've been meaning to play both for a while. You name dropping those 2 games was a crazy coincidence and affirmed my decision to buy it.

wow, revisit backlog idea is so on point. thank you for pointing this out!

Never had a Steam Deck, looking forward to buying the OLED model, but I'm considering whether I should get the 1TB one with the anti-glare glass (worried because it might make the colors dull and with less contrast) or the 512GB one and if I end up needing the extra storage or anti-glare, I can always buy a screen protector

I have a question that I can’t get answered anywhere one of y’all can probably find it real fast but I can’t. On the steam deck Desktop mode I lost my recent or opened apps on the start bar at the bottom. When I open an app it doesn’t have the icon at the bottom. Is there a way to bring this back please and thank you.

Really appreciate the perspectives you bring to the tec space! I relate with alot of what you said. I hope the Steam Deck will help me to find new titles and genres rather than simply defaulting to Cod or something similar (as fun as those games are).

Very happy with mine and the sleep/resume is indeed my favorite unique feature. Steam nailed all the basics, but sleep is just such a nice add-on. Also upgrading to the OLED and selling my original because it's very compelling to me personally. The Deck is just so good for my back catalog and matches well with my buy-old-games-on-sale style.

Thank you! I’ve always been on the fence about it! My bro has one and loves it, I’m convinced now. Also try banner saga, I think you’ll love it.

I got a steam deck recently and think this is a great review, your thoughts on it are on point, I’m loving the steam deck for the right reasons

It makes for a great catchup machine as well for people like me who had left pc gaming for a long while. I last pc gamed in 2017 and they were alot of other pre 2017 games i had never played so even though 2023 titles and onwards dont play so well i have a long list of AAA and indie games to still enjoy

The Ally for me is what makes the most sense because I do plan on playing some newer games. I was just playing RDR2, 900p fsr 2 set to quality, and mostly medium settings with High textures and I get 60fps average. Especially with the Bios update today. And this is at 18w

Have you tried using parsec or moonlight to gamestream on the steam deck?

After Gamers Nexus' coverage of the differences between OLED and original, I'm glad I didn't opt into the early version. I have a hard time now even thinking of buying the new version, as it seems like it's just another generational console. I get that it's a great option away from home, but...I've got a crappy laptop that runs many strategy games well; I'll muck around on there if I really feel like it, and have a keyboard for quickly writing notes...

For the controller button layout, have you tried using your pointer finger on shoulder buttons and have your middle finger on the triggers?

Can the oled model half rate vsync lock to 45 fps?

Very relatable I got the steam deck when it first came out didn’t enjoy it because it didn’t have windows and felt the screen sucked with huge bezels and heavy bulky feeling. so I sold it and bought a smaller more powerful handheld (gpd win 4) but using it made me realize why the steam deck is the way it is. THERE IS NO CHIP THAT IS AS EFFICIENT AS THE ONE IN THE DECK and newer chips are more powerful but at a sacrifice usually at the price of efficiency and battery life. This is why I’ll be the first one to get a special edition steam deck oled because it fixes many of the issues that I had with the original

Totally relate, just my STEAM library (not including xbox, epic, gog, or all the developers launched games) is at 116 and my completed games might be half of it. Same with the wanting to use my pc only on the most demanding games, feels like I'm doing my top end pc injustice if I run games that have lower system requirements.

I think to fix the back button problem they could curve the steam deck into a slight trapezoid shape grip and moving the back paddles to where your ring and pinky finger can comfortably land in

Can you turn off buttons (switches) so that you don't inadvertently press them? And if not, would it be something that can be moded in Linux?

Thank you for bringing to light the L1/R1 bumper issue. I hate them and it's no way as easy or accessible as the dualshock. The OLED screen changes how the bumper is activates so it gets clicked with a wider activation range in terms of where you press it, so that was their way of 'fixing' this issue without a redesign that would affect case compatability.

I love the Steam Deck, I still see it as a hardware/software marvel due to how well constructed the device is.... I personally tend to play a mix of emulation, indies, older AAA games (Dishonored, Prey, Witcher 3), and some modern AAA games (like Cyberpunk, Baldur's Gate III etc). In terms of modern AAA games I am much more forgiving on the Steam Deck since it is a handheld. I find it absolutely incredible that I can play Cyberpunk at a solid 30fps with the TDP set to 9W (3hours battery life), This would never be possible on the ROG Ally, since it doesn't perform nearly as well below 13W. Same goes for BGIII, it runs mostly at 30fps at a TDP of 10W, but drops/stutters from time to time. However, since it's a slow paced-, tactical game it doesn't completely ruin the experience. Sure, in AAA games I would much rather for them to be played on my gaming setup, however, in case of Cyberpunk I have found that doing "gigs" on the Steam Deck, while doing main story missions on the PC is a perfect compromise. That way I get to experience the graphical splendor, while also being able to enjoy the game when I am out and about (like visiting my girlfriend, family etc.) Not to mention that when I am at home I can lie in bed and Stream modern AAA games from my powerful PC. :)

14:40 Have you looked into Moonlight/Sunshine with a dummy HDMI/DP plug for game streaming?

I’m hoping Valve and Nvidia are actively working on bringing GeForce Now to Linux as a native app rather than through limited browser support. I play the newer, more demanding games over GFN after configuring the browser version to run on Steam Deck, but I’d like a more native implementation.

Hibernate has worked well for me on the ROG Ally. Much better than sleep, but takes a bit longer to resume ofc. Also I bought the ROG Ally mainly because of the screen, if I were to buy a new handheld now, I'd go for the OLED Steam Deck.

i am getting 6800xt and 3080 10gb for same price of 400$ which one would you recommend?

Usually, You can fiddle with BIOS options to make the laptop not use any power while closed (apart from hibernation). But not on every model obviously.

One thing I would like to clarify is that you can use Game Pass for streaming games to the Steam Deck. You just can't use it to actually install games locally. It is a bit of a pain to install Microsoft Edge for Linux and add Game Pass to Steam as a non-Steam game, but it can be done. It seems like the bumper/trigger issue could be solved with a differently modified grip or by mapping one of the rear buttons to double for one of those buttons.

It is far more capable than I ever imagined it really could be. But yet, not quite enough sometimes. It's definitely best as a backlog burner. Bought mine about 6m ago. Then the Ally released, followed by the Go, and now the SDOled. I do wish I'd waited just a bit longer. I wish I could have the power of the Ally/Go with the efficiency-price of the SDOled. Personally for me, I think a reasonable Laptop is arguably the better choice.

This has to be the must relatable video you've made to date!

your right about it being the library slayer, but for me out of my deck and rog ally i usually play the ally, there are some games that SHOULD work great on deck that sometimes fall short, for example signalis is a great handheld retro resident evil style experience but on deck it will drop below 60 at times while on ally its far more consistent, i also think 800p presents some issues you dont get on the ally and other higher res displays, some small writing in certain games just break up on deck at 800p and look bad while being crystal clear on ally (yakuza/judgement games for eg), games like rocket league are basically unplayable on deck due to the resolution, again so much better on ally. I also do not think the windows experience is that bad at all, i can get into a game almost as quick as i can on the deck, perhaps takes 10-15 seconds longer on ally while you wait for the software to boot up at launch but that software means you dont need to interact with windows to launch/close games etc, so its really not the negative i think its too often made out to be, cant speak for other handhelds though, i hear the legion go software is just not as good.

i play all sorts of games emulated to AAA. with proton and wine i mostly have no issues. however, if you own a powerful PC AAA games may be too compromised for you. i for one am just happy to play the games without spending $1k on a rig and sub 30fps doesnt bother me too much. elden ring and armored core 6 ran great, alan wake 2 and jedi survivor less so, but still totally playable. the 64gb is now $350 if youre on a budget. thats a steal.

Do you have small hands? I've never used one finger for bumper and triggers I use two different fingers

Very nice "review" of your steam deck, thanks Daniel !! ✌

Slay the Spire is a banger for sure!

The Steam Deck is absolutely awesome for older games and emulation. For newer games it's very much a night and day difference between low settings, 30fps and then blown up at 4k ultra settings over 100fps over on my main desktop. Hope for the next Steam Deck they have some sort of external dGPU through the dock or something.

Heya Daniel.....I"m going to be upgrading to a new pc the end of this month.....do you typically see better deals for Black Friday, or Cyber Monday? (As in, is one better than the other)

I just ordered the steam deck oled and the things that you brought up are absolutely my thoughts as well. I’m gonna start playing my backlogs and those indie roguelike games while in bed.

thank you for this deep review, can't wait for the OLED Steam Desk

Good review, thank you!

I'm getting one for christmas because I just want it for car journeys and simple chill games, which is why I'm looking forward to it

The take about not enough power for latest AAA is something I agree but if you see the top played games on deck each week it's always games like cyberpunk, Baldurs Gate, rdr 2 etc

If you mainly play docked, is the performance still bad?

i really fell you with the backlog and totally resonate with new vs older games. I just bought the oled for all thoes indies and clasic games for in between. And for AAA i would just fier up my PS5

If you're at home on a good network can you just run the AAA games through steam link?

Hi Daniel, thank you for your honest thoughts. I would have the same use case as you do and might consider buying a steam deck. Could you please comment on latency/input lag when playing in a session hosted and rerndered by your Gaming PC while playing on the steam deck?

I can relate to every single word you said in this video. Backlog slayer and boy do I have a massive backlog. Portal 2 on the Deck, yep, just finished it. Arkham Knight. Yep. Shadow of the Tomb Raider. I have a ton of those 10/10 games I've been buying forever. My only complaint is the AAA RayTracing gems, and my hope is that Valve makes a Steam OS steam machine that can suspend resume seemlessly to my Deck while streaming to it at home.

I use both index and middle fingers for B and T buttons so no issue for me

That HDR in gamescope may open the door for many mods.

I feel you 100% on the bumper problems. Been playing through rdr2 recently on the deck and having constantly hold down LB to access the weapon wheel is just flat out bad to use

For the bumper issues why not switch the layout?

I love my ROG Ally and play on it instead of my gaming laptop (RTX 2070 115W) or desktop (RTX 3090)!

Hey Daniel, do you have a switch? Very similar situation, great indie game machine and quick sleep/wake feature too. plus I can help you find deals all the time haha

old 3d games also run great (like those using unreal engine 3) they also look better on a 720p screen than on my 50 4k tv, I agree with you on the usage, AAA gaming for the most part feels like a waste, because I could get a better experience with my main pc gaing, also the steam deck its probably one of the few consoles where I could stomach something like heroes3

What do you think of AMD coming work with a 5500/5700X3D which are binned 5800 parts obviously. If the 56003DX didn't really do much compared to it's X variant I don't expect the these too either but currently the 5700X is £199 should that drop even lower I'll be buying one for another system

I am still planning to buy a Steam deck OLED because I'll be doing a job for 5 months with lots of traveling and I feel the exact same way as you do about the Steam Deck I think you give some very good advice.

I have been a gamer since a cousin of mine from Canada gifted his NES to me when my family visited them when I was like 4 or so. Got married, had kids and gaming and me drifted apart. Got a Switch and my love for gaming ignited as I could play during my commutes etc. Just a few months ago my dearest aunt asked what I wanted. I jokingly told her I was eyeing a Steam deck dor a PS5. We talked about the pros and cons of both and she decided to get me a Steamdeck. At this point as long as it's playable I won't ask for much. Plus Emudeck. If you're busy and have a lot of issues and gaming is your therapy but have no time at home I implore you to save for even a second hand older lcd model regardless of anything anyone says. When you finally get it you'll fall in love all over again. My Switch and Steam deck saved me.

I bought the OG 512gb anti reflective screen on preorder and though it was great. Bought the OLED maybe a couple months after release(non anti reflective screen) and I absolutely love it. The wifi 6e, for streaming from my gaming PC, Xbox x, ps5 ECT is flawless. Totally worth the update imo.

10:56 Dave2D mentioned you can do (some of) that now; they improved button actuation across the length of the bumper but the layout is about the same.

Valve also mention they tried to implement a save process for player to switch from steamdeck to pc seamlessly, I hope they can make it come true at last.

10:36 Whoa! I never thought to try using a controller that way. Thanks! That works really well.

Ha totally relatable!! I have countless steam games that bought for cheap sitting there. Bought 64gb SD put in my own 1tb 2 months before oled announced 🤦‍♂️. Also totally relatable on overkill pc. 5800x3d/ RTX 4080 running Ultrawide and mostly racing sims and WoW and could have gone with a 4070 😅 Bought steam deck to try and it’s nice for easy games when not wanting to be tied to a desk. Always enjoy your videos! Keep it up!!

Nice video and review with OLED now, Steam Deck have a nice upgrade. It will be great if Valve announce more region to offcially buy Steam Deck alongside with new OLED Version, but still nice upgrade.

you should consider using/trying Moonlight / Sunshine to stream to the Steam Deck - esp for non Steam games (and for going over 60fps - when you get your OLED model!)

I bought the SD for emulation mainly. The shader cache issue had it sitting on my desk for 9 or 10 months. I finally decided to try and fix it again the other day but ended up just doing a factory reset. I'm scared to load up emulators on it now and am just playing the Steam games that work on it. I regret it a little but not completely as it's still a pretty beat device.

I’ll be buying a Steam Deck OLED this week. Seems like a good gaming handheld system when on the go.

I ordered a oled steam deck, thanks for the insight

Completely relatable , i mostly use my steam deck to play some of my fav older games i might have never played again on my main pc such Prince of persia series , grid 2 , split second, old assassins creed games etc.

The one addendum I would add is that the new OLED model has brand new shoulder buttons (as well as trackpads, thumbsticks, steam, and QA buttons). I do not expect it to change your problem with the ergonomics, but I figured it was worth mentioning. As for my personal thoughts, I personally feel that the steam deck can definitely play the overwhelming majority of games out atm without compromising the fidelity. Some games just require some tweaking to get to that point, which is one of the biggest reasons I love the deck. Could I play them without doing so? Yes. Was it a great experience? Not really - compromised is definitely a good word to describe it. Should Valve make it so those tweaks aren't required? Definitely. But the fact that I can do them myself is what makes this device special.

No mention of the switch though?

For PC Streaming, I use Sunishine Server and Moonlight Client so it's more like a remote desktop experience. With this, all game states stays with my gaming PC.

Steam deck is awesome, if you are willing to... move through some grey areas on what you have on it. It is an awesome little emulating device. 100% great for that. If you are looking to play AAA titles? Not the choice you want to make. And that goes for all the clones too. They just don't have enough power. Now, that may change slightly with the release of (is it called dragon or pheonix from amd? I get them confused). The RDNA 3 SoC AMD is working on might be great for a steam deck. Unless they really ruin their chance at something good again. P.S. AMD start using enough silicon on your gfx to make it worth using.

Love my SD, looking forward to SD next gen in few years

For local streaming, Sunshine/Moonlight works way better than Steam remote play.

I find it super weird that you can't touch the bumpers without changing the grip from the triggers... I think valve constructed this perfectly as the bumpers are slanted. You actually don't hit them straight on, but rather at the lower angled part of them. I basically have my trigger grip and just slightly tilt my fingers to hit the lower side of the bumper. I don't even need to change grip... I agree that the bumpers don't feel particularly good when you try to hit the flat side of them. which you showcase when you are shifting your grip. Try to hit the slanted bottom part of the bumpers instead, and do it from your trigger grip.

Moonlight on steamdeck works flawlessly. I do think you need Wi-Fi 6 or LAN connection from the PC doing the local streaming. But my wife streams all her games from her PC to the deck because it increases her battery time 2.5x. She’s played modded Skyrim and BG3 hundreds of hours no issues. The only annoying thing is we can’t get wake on lan working so she has to manually turn on her PC manually.

I love Daniel. He is so wholesome, and I hope he has continued success here.

Have you tried using moonlight instead of Steams built in remote play? I planned to use moonlight instead of remote play as it's always just worked much better for me.

I have had both SD and ally. im switching back to the SD. I dont like the updetes constantly on the ally. SD is typically juat games 6 out of 7 days. Ally was daily.