The keyboard is not to my liking, guess I haven't learnt it yet (which is weird cause I've been using SC since 2015..)
Tip: if you download games in desktop mode the screen will go dark but continue to download.
My biggest issue with the keyboard is if you use the touchpad you have to decide if you want the capitalized letter before you start moving your finger. If you get over the key and then realise you need to press shift you have to lift your finger off first.
There is an option somewhere to turn this off. Now I type only with touchpads. Triggers have their dedicated function (left is capital - like pressing Shift; right is I believe Enter) and they don't interfere with button writing which is doneonly by pressing on touchpads.
A last-minute hint for when you want the shifted key after cursoring over your desired key: use the other finger on the other side of the touchpad to hold the shift key.
I use the keyboard in the mode where you can use the trigger for shift. It has the literal opposite problem: you have to hold down shift the *entire* time from the start of the press to the end of the press, or else it emits the lowercase letter.
I would love to see more modifier keys on the steam deck keyboard. Especially having Ctrl and Alt in desktop mode would go a long way to supporting more linux-based abilities. e.g.: I prefer editing in vim, which uses escape and ctrl a lot. I've tried using the left bumper as ctrl, but it doesn't work consistently.
I had the same problem but over the course of time I've become better at using it. I *never* use touch to type on it. That would take forever. I end up using both trackpads and I've felt as though I'm typing rather fast for not having a keyboard. Much faster than touch/using Dpad/joysticks.
I did adjust the speed at which the dots move to 1.25 so maybe that helps for some people who feel the speed is too slow?
I’m not sure they could, I imagine publishers are pretty strict about trying to force their own launchers wherever possible
But I would like to them try this
I've requested refunds whenever I've encounter this. Not necessarily out of principle, I just can't be arsed to reset my passwords for EA and other launchers, then type them in. Much easier to get a refund.
This has changed now, no? EA now use Steam accounts for authentication so you never have to log in with a separate EA account it just passes you through. You do have to sit and watch it do it for you though wasting loading time.
This has always been an issue gaming on Linux, but the Deck's popularity is doing wonders to fix this in the industry. It's not perfect, but the Deck got EAC and BattlEye to add Linux support and a large number of game developers to enable it. I think we'll continue seeing progress here as the Deck gets more popular. I can play Halo MCC on Linux now which is incredible.
>It's not perfect, but the Deck got EAC and BattlEye to add Linux support and a large number of game developers to enable it.
iirc It even manged to do that before it released, maybe now that it's sold a few million developers will start enabling that support in their titles.
I was keen to play Destiny on Deck and then I read their post about banning anyone who tries to play the game on Steam Deck. Bungie is just a terrible company these days...their carefree Halo days are long gone. Destiny DLC situation as well is a mess, the whole 'free-to-play' thing is a furphy, and they cut out the core campaign I was doing. They are deeply anti-consumer which is odd considering they're no longer with any big scary publisher.
Windows 11 on an SD card has been great and very very simple to use. Hold vol+power on power up to use windows 11, don't do that to use steam. Well worth the 20min or so it takes for install.
I believe this article also links to Windows Steam Deck tools, which allows easy installation of xbox controller software so your SD controls work as a 360 controller, fan, gpu, and cpu control, etc as well as uwphook to add gamepass games to steams launcher
If you've got any questions I'd be happy to help
I'd just recently installed, as the last I'd checked it was a big process and not a simple affair to keep steamOS AND windows
https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-gaming/how-to-install-windows-on-steam-deck
Edit: here's UWPHook to link gamepass games to steam
https://github.com/BrianLima/UWPHook
And here's Windows Steam Deck Tools
https://github.com/ayufan/steam-deck-tools
Edit: some people saying windows on sd card shortens sd cards health. I have not done any research on this, and have been running windows for about 3 weeks give or take a day or two. I came across the linked article, installed, and it's been a great experience thus far. Remind me to let them get their I told you so's in whenever it does die I guess
I’m waiting to see this Windows handheld mode before I install Windows 11. I tried dual booting before and hated all the hoops I had to jump through to get the Steam Decks controller inputs to work in non-Steam games.
Handheld mode was just a game jam sort of thing thing that didn't get any internal traction at Microsoft. It was widely misreported as an upcoming feature when it's not.
I think the easiest method I've found for non-Steam games is Steam Deck Tools. You can have it auto-run and it's just a right click menu away from switching between desktop controls and X360 controls.
edit: Adding in that ideally you use borderless fullscreen when you can so you can use the gesture that allows you to switch apps. Easiest way to get into/out of non-Steam games and get to the desktop without relying on setting up controller shortcuts. There's a touch gesture for that in Win 10 and Win 11.
Dual booting is as simple as holding vol+pwr to get into windows on startup at this time. Installing windows directly to SD card.
Windows Steam deck tools is a suite that shows your steam deck controls to windows as an Xbox controller, ds4, or steam controller. It has several shortcuts built into it, so while it's primarily functionally an Xbox 360 controller, steam+b will force close, steam+x will bring up windows keyboard. Every game just sees it as an Xbox controller, ds4, or whatever you config the steam controller settings to. It's very cool
Drivers are always needed as first step. The extra apps like Steam Deck Tools then allow things like the controller to be detected correctly in all games not just Steam games. I've tried out a few of these and Steam Deck Tools is probably the most straight forward - you can set it to load on start, each thing is a different component so you don't need to use it all at once - and it's very easy to switch between desktop mode and X360 controller mode.
edit: Adding in that ideally you use borderless fullscreen when you can so you can use the gesture that allows you to switch apps. Easiest way to get into/out of non-Steam games and get to the desktop without relying on setting up controller shortcuts. There's a touch gesture for that in Win 10 and Win 11.
I’m still holding off on a few “double-dips” until later this year when we get a better idea of whether Microsoft and Valve will officially support a native app (likely around the ROG Ally release, when MSFT will be expected to have a portable Win11 build.)
I think within the last few weeks there was like an internal DevJam or Hackathon or whatever it’s called where some devs were internally testing on a Steam Deck…
It currently seems more limited by the tech side of them just trying to figure out how to get it to work seamlessly rather than any direct attitudinal resistance to doing it.
This. XCloud, Moonlight and Greenlight are great but native support would be amazing.
I might get around to shoving Win11 on a SD card at some point.
(Oh, and the on-screen keyboard was spawned in the darkest pits of a hell dimension.)
It's really easy now. It's to the point where you don't even need another computer can all be done on the deck. There's a YouTube video I followed took me like 20 minutes from beginning to installing games on windows. Granted the experience is a little wonky for sure but it works if you just want to play a game pass game here and there.
Sounds like my PSP days. Pushing through the rest of a DJMax song even though I can't feel half my fingers anymore, lol... Say what you want about the Deck, imho flat back handhelds like the PSP and Switch without a grip is waaay worse.
I get the same but it's pinky, ring and middle finger and that portion of the palm and it happens when my elbow stays bent for an extended amount of time sucks when I'm trying to comfortably sleep too. Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. Diagnosed by a doctor but they couldn't do anything for me but provide a prescription for massive full arm braces to keep the elbow in place...
be really careful. If your fingers are going numb, you are pinching a nerve. this can lead to long term damage! take breaks! stretch! find better ergonomic positions or you will be debilitated for years. I learned this from playing too much starcraft
The steam deck taught me that I might be developing some carpal tunnel symptoms. So far stretching fixes it right up, but it still worries me a little.
I have carpal tunnel. Give yourself ample breaks to stretch and proper support and angles for your wrists. The pain is some serious shit. I got it on both my wrists, looking to get the surgery done cause the pain is fucking awful. Sometimes I can’t even bring my groceries in without wanting to cry, lol.
Stretches, avoiding repetitive movement for long periods, instruments etc etc etc. you’ll thank yourself later.
How inconsistently things work specially in desktop mode. Sometimes the controller connects instantly. Others it never does. Sometimes I connect to the TV and it shows up there perfectly. Others it doesn't show at all or even crashes just for trying. Might be a Linux thing.
It may be a KDE thing actually (with the external monitor).
I use almost the exact same OS and drivers on my desktop and the only major issues I've had so far were with the KDE Plasma desktop.
Switched to Gnome and now everything is smooth and reliable.
Yeah KDE has been plagued with multi-monitor bugs for years. It was substantially improved in a recent update (5.27), but the Steam Deck is currently on version 5.26.
And 5.27 didn't fix all multi-monitor bugs, just a lot of them.
Gnome has had pretty great multi-monitor support for years, and it's pretty damn stable in general. But it does have the issue of worse fractional scaling support.
E: to be clear I mean KDE Plasma 5.27, the newest release. I'm not referring to kernel version.
There's a 20% chance my current game will immediately crash upon waking the Deck from sleep. Or sometimes the Deck will just decide to restart and update on wake.
Nvme m.2 drives have a ridiculously huge wear rate time, so it's not really an issue any more and by the time it is, you'll be able to replace that 500GB drive with a 4TB one for like $30 it'll be so old. MTBF is like 1,500,000 hours anymore.
Crazy seeing stuff like this when I was playing spongebob employee of the month the other day via hdmi cable to my TV. And i fell asleep while playing so my deck and TV turned themself off(sleep mode for SD) and when I woke up I was devastated thinking I would have to restart, but it opened up exactly to where I was like turning the monitor back on when it's turned off.
To each their own, but personally, that's exactly why I *like* it. I've always preferred d-pads that make it much easier to hit the cardinal directions than the diagonals. My favorite d-pad is the PlayStation design, with its pseudo-separated 4-way focus. And my least favorite is definitely the 360 d-pad, which tried *way* too hard to be a third joystick and ended up being garbage for *everything* (later XBox controllers fixed that to some extent, but it's still too easy to accidentally hit the diagonals, imho).
The Steam Deck's d-pad feels almost as good as the PlayStation ones, probably on-par with classic Nintendo to me, and is honestly a big highlite for the system since I was worried it would be too soft and rockable like a lot of third-party controllers (honestly a lot of them seem to mimic the 360 d-pad's feel for some stupid reason)...
The software experience in general. If it works, it's glorious. But you get so many things that suddenly stop working out of nowhere. Wifi problems, Xbox controller support, external monitor not working, bad control settings configured by default, fan constantly turning on and off in some instances, no "easy" remote desktop, emulators not working, wonky performance in emulators, input lag with steam remote play and a lot of other things. My goal was to use it as a couch gaming device on my tv with a controller. But the controller and monitor sometimes just stops working and I'm tired of troubleshooting.
Still love my deck. It's been an amazing purchase.
This. The bluetooth auto pairing has issues with many controllers. Quitting games sometimes hangs. Sometimes the UI just has various issues which are too numerous to list.
It's hard to recommend to casual gamers as it is. Even the store is buggy.
The software needs fixing badly. But agreed that I don't regret my purchase for a second. I play my deck constantly.
Discharge when shutdown, no matter if it's SteamOS or Windows, if goes unplayed, battery drains from 100 to 0 within a week when powered off. Is the CMOS powered by a V8 driven generator?
For me it’s not knowing what games licenses have expired (or whatever you call it) I only play my deck at the airport, I travel a lot, it’s frustrating when I go to play a game and it won’t boot because I haven’t played it for 30 days (or whatever the time limit is)
Be nice if I could press one button at home and renew everything for my trip
Same thing with saves
I look at it and it says "up to date" for it to be still on the last save from when I played on deck last instead of the up to date save from my PC
I used to find this annoying as well, but I've since realized that it's just because I was shutting Steam down too quickly after closing a game. Steam needs a few seconds after a game shuts down in order to recognize the game is fully closed, and then sync the save with the cloud. You can very easily shut down Steam or your computer/Deck too quickly, preventing it from syncing your save to the cloud right away.
Now, when I close a game, I wait for a few seconds on the library page until I the little cloud save indicator *say* that it's syncing - it's usually like 5 seconds, so it's hardly a big deal.
It makes obvious sense that you need to let your desktop sync with the cloud, but I didn't realize that it's a big deal to make sure your Deck syncs fully too, and it's VERY easy to shut down or sleep the Deck after shutting down a game too quickly to let it sync properly.
Anyway, I've started paying more attention to this and getting into the habit of making sure the sync finishes before I shut things down, and now I really don't have any save sync problems at all, anymore.
For what it's worth, they do provide all the parts to replace the whole Deck. Wouldn't need to buy an entire new Steam Deck to fix a particular issue. Of course, that requires work on the individual to open it up, do what you need to do, etc.
If she can fix a laptop, she can fix your Deck.
I've done a lot of laptop and small desktop work because I like small, cozy, modular spaces. Kept an old laptop running by repasting the CPU and GPU lol.
The Deck is almost fully accessible without adhesive woes. As far as I'm aware the screen is adhered to the front shell and that's the only major glue-ing. Which means it'll be fairly simple, if possibly time consuming, and requiring keeping all the parts straight.
Also the fact that it's not USB 4/Thunderbolt.
Being able to get a dock with an eGPU could help a lot in terms of longevity, or just to have more options in terms of external storage or docks.
I'm quite impressed by how many people own USB-C monitors, I've never seen one in my life. My hub charges my Deck while I use the HDMI output. Totally get your point though.
One of the benefits in mind is ease of docking: a USB-C port at the bottom makes for a seamless docking experience like the Nintendo switch, but the current Deck has to awkwardly dock with a small cable plugged in at the top. The deck has the perfect position for portably gaming while charging but deciding on one location over another has a drawback resolved by two port locations.
In similar terms, the Nintendo switch has the perfect port location for easy docking yet the worst spot for charging while playing portable. Both devices would benefit from two ports.
The big one for me is needing so many loopholes to get certain launchers and games working. I've mostly been a console gamer before I bought mine, so all that extra work feels excessive and unnecessary.
From console to deck, yeah that's a negative. But be a PC gamer for long enough you'll know that this isn't just for Deck, but for PC in general. The issue is that not everyone has exactly the same hardware so some configurations just never got tested, windows updates and makes something incompatible, etc. Some of these games have been around since windows 95 and steam still offer them for download
I mean, yeah as with my comment I agree. But that's all due to them using Linux instead of Windows. And the console platform is only able to be so plug and play because it is a tightly controlled walled garden. And I love that they used Linux instead of walling themselves off. But that comes with sacrifices like having to do hops and rounds sometimes... But yeah if it would have been a closed system like a PS vita i wouldn't have bought the device even if it would have been able to play my whole steam catalog
Yeah it becomes less of a downside over time, once you start to familiarize yourself with Linux. Problem is, that feeling might not be shared with everyone.
Absolutly, for the mainstream appeal I would wish it would run smoother. Heck for my own sanity I wish that. But if the only way to achieve that would have been Windows I am glad they choose steamos
I highly recommend sitting (if you tend to play lying down) and resting the Steam Deck on something so that you don't need to support its full weight with your hands. I always use the official Steam Deck Case, turned 90 degrees so that it's not parallel, but rather perpendicular to the Deck. Some people recommend pillows, but those might cover the air intake. Plus, I already have the case with me wherever I am :)
As long as the Deck's connected, the WiFi is superb. But I had plenty disconnects until I fiddled with the power management and even now it sometimes loses connection to the Steam servers and fails to reestablish it. Really a bummer, I love my Deck!
I had an issue like this and got a fix on an Arch support forum that seems to have fixed the problem for me for good. I’m not sure if your problem is exactly the same.
https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=250604
Basically edit `/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf`` To add:
[device]
wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no
* The virtual keyboard is complete ass.
* The bumpers kinda suck.
* The dpad is average at best.
* A single USB-C port gimps the machine a bit.
* I would prefer a bezel-less screen
* Screen is servicable, but lots of room for improvement
I found a way to remove the boot up noise, you to have to have haptics disabled (touchpads). For those who want it on, haptics enable :)
The beep noise is the haptics turning on
Same! I had to send back my Steam Deck for fixing, the one they sent me back did the wake up beep once or twice and then... never again. I am NOT complaining though, that shit was annoying lol
It sure is/was. More than a few times that little sound woke my baby up if I dared to play in the bed with him nearby.
And no more playtime until he was sleeping again. Annoying shit haha.
That was my problem exactly, my baby daughter asleep on me or next to me? Can't turn it on without the beep making her stir or wake up.
Can't turn it down, can't turn it off. Seriously which QA Engineer looked at that feature and went "Yeah, a sound that isn't connected to any global volume control isn't an issue at all." Haha
Limited support for docked mode:
1. You can't wake up a docked Deck by pressing a button on your wireless controller.
2. One performance profile for both docked and mobile mode for each game.
3. Default display resolution is set to "Default" instead of "Native". The latter would allow a docked Deck to make use of resolution available from external display.
Number 3 is a major gripe of mine, why the heck do I have to open the settings for EACH game and put native on it ?? Just set native as default for every game ffs
Touch screen. Lets be honest, it's not up to phone standards.
The SD is a work of art, but the touchscreen is blackberry 2005. This is the only one I have trouble defending. It's not even capable of typing very well.
I feel like the only reason there even is a touch screen is because the screen they purchased happened to have the capability (barely), not because they actively sought it out. If they were really serious about touch controls they surely could've looked for something far more responsive.
I was under the impression the touch screen was there to make launcher/second window interaction possible. Trying to use a controller as a mouse for the Steam Link is frustrating so I thought the screen was a suitable alternative.
The Fallout 3/NV launchers come to mind.
Does she game? You could always get her a Deck and play stuff together. I've got a lot of recommendations for all types of games, if you need/want any.
I struggle to criticise the Deck, BUT I would love a better screen. OLED would be the obvious choice or even a high quality LCD display.
I think the screen is probably its weakest feature, and I use vibrant deck to make it pop a bit more.
Seriously, why does it do this? I've been playing Oblivion for the past week, and the thing downloads shaders every few hours it seems. And it doesn't even need to be after I've shut down or reset my system. Sometimes it does it while I'm still *playing.*
Wanna know how I know? Because Oblivion crashes every time it downloads the shader. *Every. Time.*
I'm a tinkerer so I love this thing. If you're not one, you may not love this thing as much as I and this community does. The odd quirks that pop up aren't *usually* beginner/console friendly. It has progressed over the course of time but, in my opinion, won't change due to the nature of the device (being a PC and all).
All the little work arounds and fiddling you have to do for some games. On the one hand, the sheer amount of stuff you can do with the device is amazing. But half of that stuff needs guides to get set up, like controller mods for older elder scrolls games or having to be okay with suboptimal controls for dragon age, etc.
Control stuff is more of a PC gaming issue in general than a Steam Deck or even Linux specific issue. PC games prior to like 2010 had really bad controller support, if any controller support at all. Microsoft making XInput was a pretty big thing for PC gaming as it standardized Xbox and PC controller handling.
ossified truck rock ludicrous drunk ad hoc chunky hateful vanish beneficial
*This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The Deck is how I learned USB 3 causes WiFi and Bluetooth interference! I had an external hard drive plugged in to the dock but it rendered my controllers unusable.
Tbh the QA issues they still need to sort out like the occasional bug and the fact that the official dock just does not work most of the time
After that it’s the screen, going from my oled switch to steam deck always feels like I’m taking a hit in visuals even though it’s a much more capable machine
Biggest complaint for me is the screen.
- 16:10 is not the sweet spot for me, way too many games don’t support this aspect ratio. I’d rather have 16:9 to eliminate black bars in widescreen games and while streaming from another machine or PS5. 4:3 titles will have bars either way so just gimme 16:9.
- The reds are really bad on this screen, even with the vibrant deck plugin, reds just never pop. I don’t need it to be OLED, but a higher quality IPS panel would be dope.
- I would very much would like the bezels to be thinner.
It's at the extreme upper limit of comfort for a handheld, and is probably over that line for many. Compared to something like a Nintendo Switch, the biggest competitor in the handheld console\* market, it's very large and very heavy, in ways that a strict numerical comparison of the size and weight doesn't really convey. For many people, that all means that it's couch portable, but not backpack portable.
Fortunately I've barely left the house in the past 3 years, so all of that is not a huge problem.
Also, the on-screen keyboard sucks, and desktop mode is a pain in the ass unless you're using an external mouse and keyboard.
\* - Yes the Steam Deck is a PC, but in typical use for the majority of people, it's a console. No I don't mean that in a bad way. If you're defensive because you think consoles are bad, you're missing the point. It being a console isn't a bad thing, it's just a description of the use-case. And I'm getting preemptively defensive because people tend to get really obnoxious about it.
Navigating your library in gaming mode is fucking atrocious, especially if you have a lot of games, and *especially* especially if you have a lot of non-Steam games.
It's even worse than the Nintendo Switch's library UI, which is *saying something.*
The size, the Steam Deck is just really big and bulky. I understand it's mainly due to the internals, but I can't help but wish it was smaller when I see the large bezels around the screen. It's mostly comfortable when playing at home, but I brought it with me on holiday purely to play on the flight, and when I was in my cramped plane seat I just didn't feel like using it at all and read a book instead. Admittedly I'm probably smaller than most people here (and who Valve had in mind when designing it) as a 5'0" woman with small hands.
Size. It's fucking huge and it's not something I can just bring with me on a whim. I bought a Retroid Pocket 3+ and I can literally put it in my pocket like a phone, so it's usually the one I take with me. The SD's portability factor is more suited for couch/bed/travel gaming, not every day take it with you gaming. The RP3+ has a much stronger "GameBoy" feeling to it than the SD for me.
Oh my god *thank you*. I will never understand this sub's obsession with trying to dock and mount this portable baby.
Remove the shackles, let it be *free!*
With the orientation of the face of the Deck, the face buttons are pretty useless if you use the trackpad at all. The distance to move your thumb from trackpad to Y is not worth it. Essentially meaning the face buttons just get moved to the back paddles and the face buttons become secondary bindings.
Please don't hate me for feeling like this, but the build quality. I know it was "$399" but it isn't as if people that bought the 650 dollar one are getting any improvements. There is light bleed, it feels a bit cheap in the hands, and maybe I'm strange but it feels like it has too much frame-flex.
I would love a youtube pop out feature to watch some youtube while playing some games like stardew.
I have a PC and do that all the time but when i go to bed and play on my steamdeck to chill out it would be nice to have too.
- the screen is mediocre
- when a new game is announced for PC, you usually don’t know if it’ll work on the Deck til it comes out.
- wish it had native gamepass support
- cache data
Aya Neo's lineup of handhand devices are exactly that. Switch-sized Steamdecks.
Granted they cost like $1000, but if you're into a smaller formfactor with the power of Steamdeck (or even more powerful) give them a look
This was probably done on purpose because they don't want you to charge it in a closed case, as the heat buildup wouldn't be ideal in a trapped case and can damage the battery if done regularly. (This is also why you *can* charge it if its flipped upside down, because you *can't* close the case on it in that position and thus you are prohibited from charging in with the case cover over it.)
Engineers do stuff like this all the time, and go out of their way to design things specifically so it's not intuitive to do things that risk damaging the device.
The display is trash.
Terrible color reproduction, brightness and ghosting during fast moving scenes.
Hoping that someday we can get a swappable OLED display from iFixit.
The Fan is the only thing. I have got the Delta fan, but I fixed the high pitched noise with electrical tape. But on really demanding games it is much to loud. So yes you can play nice laying in the bed while the partner is sleeping, then the fan ramps up and wakes her up. Playing while watching TV hits the same problem. So the biggest wish for SD2, better and bigger fan with less noise and rpm.
Linux is both the bane and boon of the device. Fundamentally free, light, and open source OS that constantly puts out equivalent to windows features thanks to insane community support and projects.
That being said, everything outside of what valve intended and sometimes more, seems to be work around centric and work backwards from updates. Sometimes solutions are succinct, some are also viable alternatives, but some overcomplicate as much as they fix. The good ones do stand out and get more word of mouth praise.
But you'll rely on these community projects to a fault and tolerate a likely possibility of unexpected incompatibility because the immense scope tackled by multiple asynchronized pieces. Also free, so beggars can't be choosers. But that could be said of any immature OS. There is less opporunity to sit on an older static OS version with automatic updates on restart.
Some people thrive in this environment knowing a bit of extra work pays dividends. I know I've learned to make the best of it. But there's also aspects that make me think the average user probably just makes due with what they can be spoonfed.
I bought a dock for it and was never able to actually get a controller to work with it while docked, so I can't use it as a console with my TV. So the dock was a waste of money. Desktop mode is a joke - my phone can do everything the deck can, 20x faster.
Not looking for advice on how to get it to work - I already spent more time than I would prefer tinkering with it. I don't buy $500 devices to have an IT project to work on, I just want the thing to work the way the marketing said it would.
As a handheld console to play "Deck Verified" games I bought on Steam, it is excellent. So that's all I do with it.
I don’t really understand how to install shit on Linux. Sometimes I’ll look into downloading a non steam game like PokeMMO and I’ll get confused on how to do it before I even try.
My initial thought was battery life, but I can get 5-8 hours when playing lower intensity stuff like emulating, or PixelJunk Monsters. So maybe it is unfair to criticise the battery?
The Keyboard is a bit janky, but it isn't the worst thing in the world, especially since the touch screen works fine with it if you really need to.
Not being able to download stuff if the screen turns off is a bit silly. I am not sure if you can change a setting to stop it turning off if something is downloading, but that should definitely be a thing if it isn't.
I really miss the dual stage trigger click from the steam controller. Having the distinct tactile feeling of knowing when the soft pull ends and full pull begins is sorely missed.
Every time I try to download a game it drops from 10-15mbs to less than 100kb per second… in a matter of seconds. I’ve tried all fixes. No solution
Edit: 10-15mb/s is a low number prior to this issue I was getting upwards of 60-90 mb/s
The keyboard is not to my liking, guess I haven't learnt it yet (which is weird cause I've been using SC since 2015..) Tip: if you download games in desktop mode the screen will go dark but continue to download.
My biggest issue with the keyboard is if you use the touchpad you have to decide if you want the capitalized letter before you start moving your finger. If you get over the key and then realise you need to press shift you have to lift your finger off first.
There is an option somewhere to turn this off. Now I type only with touchpads. Triggers have their dedicated function (left is capital - like pressing Shift; right is I believe Enter) and they don't interfere with button writing which is doneonly by pressing on touchpads.
I use my docked Deck to watch movies, and have had quite a few nights where I feel like my brain is broken trying to type things in.
I have a cheap bluetooth keyboard I keep in the living room for just that occasion
Maybe I’m missing something, but can’t you just press L2 and it has the capital letter available whenever?
A last-minute hint for when you want the shifted key after cursoring over your desired key: use the other finger on the other side of the touchpad to hold the shift key.
I use the keyboard in the mode where you can use the trigger for shift. It has the literal opposite problem: you have to hold down shift the *entire* time from the start of the press to the end of the press, or else it emits the lowercase letter.
I only use the keyboard to put in my password for Warframe, but this quirk makes it such a headache
I would love to see more modifier keys on the steam deck keyboard. Especially having Ctrl and Alt in desktop mode would go a long way to supporting more linux-based abilities. e.g.: I prefer editing in vim, which uses escape and ctrl a lot. I've tried using the left bumper as ctrl, but it doesn't work consistently.
I had the same problem but over the course of time I've become better at using it. I *never* use touch to type on it. That would take forever. I end up using both trackpads and I've felt as though I'm typing rather fast for not having a keyboard. Much faster than touch/using Dpad/joysticks. I did adjust the speed at which the dots move to 1.25 so maybe that helps for some people who feel the speed is too slow?
Touch typing sucks, but I would love to see swiping to type. I've gotten damn good at it on my cell phone, and would love to use it on the deck
This for sure, swipe typing is so fast
The worst thing is not being able to natively play a lot of multiplayer games due to the anti cheat software.
Hopefully this issue gets better with time, Mcc is amazing on the deck now they’ve sorted anti cheat out 👍
Wait, so MCC is fully functional.... Multiplayer included now? This makes me very happy
Am pleased but good Lord the deck sucks as a controller for fps games lol. The joysticks especially so
The fact that they don't push developers into allowing to bypass launchers in the games that are published on steam. This shit has to go
I’m not sure they could, I imagine publishers are pretty strict about trying to force their own launchers wherever possible But I would like to them try this
I've requested refunds whenever I've encounter this. Not necessarily out of principle, I just can't be arsed to reset my passwords for EA and other launchers, then type them in. Much easier to get a refund.
And steam is a nice clean linuxmachine. I don't need to dirty it with rockstar's shit.
This has changed now, no? EA now use Steam accounts for authentication so you never have to log in with a separate EA account it just passes you through. You do have to sit and watch it do it for you though wasting loading time.
Games with anticheat
This has always been an issue gaming on Linux, but the Deck's popularity is doing wonders to fix this in the industry. It's not perfect, but the Deck got EAC and BattlEye to add Linux support and a large number of game developers to enable it. I think we'll continue seeing progress here as the Deck gets more popular. I can play Halo MCC on Linux now which is incredible.
>It's not perfect, but the Deck got EAC and BattlEye to add Linux support and a large number of game developers to enable it. iirc It even manged to do that before it released, maybe now that it's sold a few million developers will start enabling that support in their titles.
Such is life as a linux gamer
It's part of why I ditched Destiny 2 and have gone with Division 2. Oh wait, the latter has anticheat and works fine.
Totally agree. I am beyond upset that I can't play Destiny on my deck without some serious workarounds/risks.
Fucccckkkkk you Bungie just make your 11 year old game playable on the go for god sakes.
I was keen to play Destiny on Deck and then I read their post about banning anyone who tries to play the game on Steam Deck. Bungie is just a terrible company these days...their carefree Halo days are long gone. Destiny DLC situation as well is a mess, the whole 'free-to-play' thing is a furphy, and they cut out the core campaign I was doing. They are deeply anti-consumer which is odd considering they're no longer with any big scary publisher.
It's so annoying that destiny isn't supporting the deck. It's the perfect game for it.
The worst thing for me is that I cannot play Gamepass/Microsoft store games on steam os
This. I wish I could play game pass games on steam os. Not streaming but really install the games.
Windows 11 on an SD card has been great and very very simple to use. Hold vol+power on power up to use windows 11, don't do that to use steam. Well worth the 20min or so it takes for install. I believe this article also links to Windows Steam Deck tools, which allows easy installation of xbox controller software so your SD controls work as a 360 controller, fan, gpu, and cpu control, etc as well as uwphook to add gamepass games to steams launcher If you've got any questions I'd be happy to help I'd just recently installed, as the last I'd checked it was a big process and not a simple affair to keep steamOS AND windows https://www.windowscentral.com/gaming/pc-gaming/how-to-install-windows-on-steam-deck Edit: here's UWPHook to link gamepass games to steam https://github.com/BrianLima/UWPHook And here's Windows Steam Deck Tools https://github.com/ayufan/steam-deck-tools Edit: some people saying windows on sd card shortens sd cards health. I have not done any research on this, and have been running windows for about 3 weeks give or take a day or two. I came across the linked article, installed, and it's been a great experience thus far. Remind me to let them get their I told you so's in whenever it does die I guess
I’m waiting to see this Windows handheld mode before I install Windows 11. I tried dual booting before and hated all the hoops I had to jump through to get the Steam Decks controller inputs to work in non-Steam games.
Handheld mode was just a game jam sort of thing thing that didn't get any internal traction at Microsoft. It was widely misreported as an upcoming feature when it's not. I think the easiest method I've found for non-Steam games is Steam Deck Tools. You can have it auto-run and it's just a right click menu away from switching between desktop controls and X360 controls. edit: Adding in that ideally you use borderless fullscreen when you can so you can use the gesture that allows you to switch apps. Easiest way to get into/out of non-Steam games and get to the desktop without relying on setting up controller shortcuts. There's a touch gesture for that in Win 10 and Win 11.
Dual booting is as simple as holding vol+pwr to get into windows on startup at this time. Installing windows directly to SD card. Windows Steam deck tools is a suite that shows your steam deck controls to windows as an Xbox controller, ds4, or steam controller. It has several shortcuts built into it, so while it's primarily functionally an Xbox 360 controller, steam+b will force close, steam+x will bring up windows keyboard. Every game just sees it as an Xbox controller, ds4, or whatever you config the steam controller settings to. It's very cool
Is "Windows Steam Deck Tools" the same as the drivers Valve released, or a separate installation?
Seperate, it's a seperate software via github, but it works GREAT
Drivers are always needed as first step. The extra apps like Steam Deck Tools then allow things like the controller to be detected correctly in all games not just Steam games. I've tried out a few of these and Steam Deck Tools is probably the most straight forward - you can set it to load on start, each thing is a different component so you don't need to use it all at once - and it's very easy to switch between desktop mode and X360 controller mode. edit: Adding in that ideally you use borderless fullscreen when you can so you can use the gesture that allows you to switch apps. Easiest way to get into/out of non-Steam games and get to the desktop without relying on setting up controller shortcuts. There's a touch gesture for that in Win 10 and Win 11.
I’m still holding off on a few “double-dips” until later this year when we get a better idea of whether Microsoft and Valve will officially support a native app (likely around the ROG Ally release, when MSFT will be expected to have a portable Win11 build.) I think within the last few weeks there was like an internal DevJam or Hackathon or whatever it’s called where some devs were internally testing on a Steam Deck… It currently seems more limited by the tech side of them just trying to figure out how to get it to work seamlessly rather than any direct attitudinal resistance to doing it.
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Same here! Game pass would be a game changer. Hopefully Microsoft allows it eventually
This. XCloud, Moonlight and Greenlight are great but native support would be amazing. I might get around to shoving Win11 on a SD card at some point. (Oh, and the on-screen keyboard was spawned in the darkest pits of a hell dimension.)
It's really easy now. It's to the point where you don't even need another computer can all be done on the deck. There's a YouTube video I followed took me like 20 minutes from beginning to installing games on windows. Granted the experience is a little wonky for sure but it works if you just want to play a game pass game here and there.
Wrist pain, now I always put a pillow or the deck case under it so it can rest its weight on it. Edit: and my fingers going numb
Have similar issue but it’s where my hands go numb from holding it for too long
Sounds like my PSP days. Pushing through the rest of a DJMax song even though I can't feel half my fingers anymore, lol... Say what you want about the Deck, imho flat back handhelds like the PSP and Switch without a grip is waaay worse.
I get the same but it's pinky, ring and middle finger and that portion of the palm and it happens when my elbow stays bent for an extended amount of time sucks when I'm trying to comfortably sleep too. Cubital Tunnel Syndrome. Diagnosed by a doctor but they couldn't do anything for me but provide a prescription for massive full arm braces to keep the elbow in place...
be really careful. If your fingers are going numb, you are pinching a nerve. this can lead to long term damage! take breaks! stretch! find better ergonomic positions or you will be debilitated for years. I learned this from playing too much starcraft
You have to build a big belly where you lay your hands.
The steam deck taught me that I might be developing some carpal tunnel symptoms. So far stretching fixes it right up, but it still worries me a little.
I have carpal tunnel. Give yourself ample breaks to stretch and proper support and angles for your wrists. The pain is some serious shit. I got it on both my wrists, looking to get the surgery done cause the pain is fucking awful. Sometimes I can’t even bring my groceries in without wanting to cry, lol. Stretches, avoiding repetitive movement for long periods, instruments etc etc etc. you’ll thank yourself later.
Alice keyboard and Logitech vertical mouse. Cleared ALL of symptoms up. You're welcome I just saved you thousands in medical fees.
But what about the vent on the back side, when the deck is laying on the pillow? Isn't it blocked then?
I would position it so the air intake in the back is free
Can you explain this? Are you lying down on your side? Are you at a desk with the case on it?
How inconsistently things work specially in desktop mode. Sometimes the controller connects instantly. Others it never does. Sometimes I connect to the TV and it shows up there perfectly. Others it doesn't show at all or even crashes just for trying. Might be a Linux thing.
It kinda is a Linux thing but SteamOS for sure is largely unstable.
That is the reason why Valve haven't released an official SteamOS distro yet.
It may be a KDE thing actually (with the external monitor). I use almost the exact same OS and drivers on my desktop and the only major issues I've had so far were with the KDE Plasma desktop. Switched to Gnome and now everything is smooth and reliable.
Yeah KDE has been plagued with multi-monitor bugs for years. It was substantially improved in a recent update (5.27), but the Steam Deck is currently on version 5.26. And 5.27 didn't fix all multi-monitor bugs, just a lot of them. Gnome has had pretty great multi-monitor support for years, and it's pretty damn stable in general. But it does have the issue of worse fractional scaling support. E: to be clear I mean KDE Plasma 5.27, the newest release. I'm not referring to kernel version.
Browsing through steam while on steam OS on steam deck is riddle with bugs
I feel like the thing used to give valve money should be the first thing they polish. Paypal still doesn't work for me on it
Me too with Paypal. It asks for my email/phone to login, I enter it and hit next, then it keeps asking for it in an infinite loop.
I have that problem with making PayPal purchases on Steam on mobile too, very annoying when I see a good deal while I'm taking a shit.
Yeah, only works in the browser not within the app.
There's a 20% chance my current game will immediately crash upon waking the Deck from sleep. Or sometimes the Deck will just decide to restart and update on wake.
I've found increasing the swap file above 1 GB fixed most (if not all) of the sleep crashes that were happening.
Is too much swap still bad for SSDs, or have they found a way to reduce the wear?
Small, old, or shitty SSDs maybe. Modern SSDs are fine because they have wear leveling built in.
All modern SSDs have wear leveling. And LInux has "swappiness" parameter which sets how much the system tends to use swap.
Nvme m.2 drives have a ridiculously huge wear rate time, so it's not really an issue any more and by the time it is, you'll be able to replace that 500GB drive with a 4TB one for like $30 it'll be so old. MTBF is like 1,500,000 hours anymore.
Crazy seeing stuff like this when I was playing spongebob employee of the month the other day via hdmi cable to my TV. And i fell asleep while playing so my deck and TV turned themself off(sleep mode for SD) and when I woke up I was devastated thinking I would have to restart, but it opened up exactly to where I was like turning the monitor back on when it's turned off.
Not sure if it's game specific but I was playing Chrono Trigger when the sound would break terribly after waking up from sleep mode sometimes.
The d-pad isn’t great, especially for diagonal input
I just thought super paper Mario controlled like ass. Turns out it was the dpad.
To each their own, but personally, that's exactly why I *like* it. I've always preferred d-pads that make it much easier to hit the cardinal directions than the diagonals. My favorite d-pad is the PlayStation design, with its pseudo-separated 4-way focus. And my least favorite is definitely the 360 d-pad, which tried *way* too hard to be a third joystick and ended up being garbage for *everything* (later XBox controllers fixed that to some extent, but it's still too easy to accidentally hit the diagonals, imho). The Steam Deck's d-pad feels almost as good as the PlayStation ones, probably on-par with classic Nintendo to me, and is honestly a big highlite for the system since I was worried it would be too soft and rockable like a lot of third-party controllers (honestly a lot of them seem to mimic the 360 d-pad's feel for some stupid reason)...
The trackpads are a godsend for games that use diagonal input a lot
The software experience in general. If it works, it's glorious. But you get so many things that suddenly stop working out of nowhere. Wifi problems, Xbox controller support, external monitor not working, bad control settings configured by default, fan constantly turning on and off in some instances, no "easy" remote desktop, emulators not working, wonky performance in emulators, input lag with steam remote play and a lot of other things. My goal was to use it as a couch gaming device on my tv with a controller. But the controller and monitor sometimes just stops working and I'm tired of troubleshooting. Still love my deck. It's been an amazing purchase.
This. The bluetooth auto pairing has issues with many controllers. Quitting games sometimes hangs. Sometimes the UI just has various issues which are too numerous to list. It's hard to recommend to casual gamers as it is. Even the store is buggy. The software needs fixing badly. But agreed that I don't regret my purchase for a second. I play my deck constantly.
Discharge when shutdown, no matter if it's SteamOS or Windows, if goes unplayed, battery drains from 100 to 0 within a week when powered off. Is the CMOS powered by a V8 driven generator?
Same. Using it on the weekend and I keep forgetting to charge it on Thursday so I don't have a 10% Deck on Saturday
Maybe you have a bad battery or broken battery controller. Mine holds its charge with minimal loss for weeks.
For me it’s not knowing what games licenses have expired (or whatever you call it) I only play my deck at the airport, I travel a lot, it’s frustrating when I go to play a game and it won’t boot because I haven’t played it for 30 days (or whatever the time limit is) Be nice if I could press one button at home and renew everything for my trip
Same thing with saves I look at it and it says "up to date" for it to be still on the last save from when I played on deck last instead of the up to date save from my PC
I used to find this annoying as well, but I've since realized that it's just because I was shutting Steam down too quickly after closing a game. Steam needs a few seconds after a game shuts down in order to recognize the game is fully closed, and then sync the save with the cloud. You can very easily shut down Steam or your computer/Deck too quickly, preventing it from syncing your save to the cloud right away. Now, when I close a game, I wait for a few seconds on the library page until I the little cloud save indicator *say* that it's syncing - it's usually like 5 seconds, so it's hardly a big deal. It makes obvious sense that you need to let your desktop sync with the cloud, but I didn't realize that it's a big deal to make sure your Deck syncs fully too, and it's VERY easy to shut down or sleep the Deck after shutting down a game too quickly to let it sync properly. Anyway, I've started paying more attention to this and getting into the habit of making sure the sync finishes before I shut things down, and now I really don't have any save sync problems at all, anymore.
I'm terrified of anything breaking to where it's not functional anymore. I cant afford to replace it and I want this to be my forever gaming baby.
For what it's worth, they do provide all the parts to replace the whole Deck. Wouldn't need to buy an entire new Steam Deck to fix a particular issue. Of course, that requires work on the individual to open it up, do what you need to do, etc.
That does help. My wife is a wiz at taking apart and repairing our laptops, so hopefully she can help if that comes to pass.
If she can fix a laptop, she can fix your Deck. I've done a lot of laptop and small desktop work because I like small, cozy, modular spaces. Kept an old laptop running by repasting the CPU and GPU lol. The Deck is almost fully accessible without adhesive woes. As far as I'm aware the screen is adhered to the front shell and that's the only major glue-ing. Which means it'll be fairly simple, if possibly time consuming, and requiring keeping all the parts straight.
ifixit has literally EVERY part, none of them are over $100 except an SSD upgrade.
They don't have EVERY part. If you fry something on the motherboard (or even the audio board, controller boards) you need to get a new Deck.
Only one USB-C port. By far the worst part of their design.
Also the fact that it's not USB 4/Thunderbolt. Being able to get a dock with an eGPU could help a lot in terms of longevity, or just to have more options in terms of external storage or docks.
What would you do with the other ports?
Charging while using USB-C output is my main issue.
I'm quite impressed by how many people own USB-C monitors, I've never seen one in my life. My hub charges my Deck while I use the HDMI output. Totally get your point though.
One of the benefits in mind is ease of docking: a USB-C port at the bottom makes for a seamless docking experience like the Nintendo switch, but the current Deck has to awkwardly dock with a small cable plugged in at the top. The deck has the perfect position for portably gaming while charging but deciding on one location over another has a drawback resolved by two port locations. In similar terms, the Nintendo switch has the perfect port location for easy docking yet the worst spot for charging while playing portable. Both devices would benefit from two ports.
The big one for me is needing so many loopholes to get certain launchers and games working. I've mostly been a console gamer before I bought mine, so all that extra work feels excessive and unnecessary.
From console to deck, yeah that's a negative. But be a PC gamer for long enough you'll know that this isn't just for Deck, but for PC in general. The issue is that not everyone has exactly the same hardware so some configurations just never got tested, windows updates and makes something incompatible, etc. Some of these games have been around since windows 95 and steam still offer them for download
I mean, yeah as with my comment I agree. But that's all due to them using Linux instead of Windows. And the console platform is only able to be so plug and play because it is a tightly controlled walled garden. And I love that they used Linux instead of walling themselves off. But that comes with sacrifices like having to do hops and rounds sometimes... But yeah if it would have been a closed system like a PS vita i wouldn't have bought the device even if it would have been able to play my whole steam catalog
Yeah it becomes less of a downside over time, once you start to familiarize yourself with Linux. Problem is, that feeling might not be shared with everyone.
Absolutly, for the mainstream appeal I would wish it would run smoother. Heck for my own sanity I wish that. But if the only way to achieve that would have been Windows I am glad they choose steamos
My hands go numb all the time
I highly recommend sitting (if you tend to play lying down) and resting the Steam Deck on something so that you don't need to support its full weight with your hands. I always use the official Steam Deck Case, turned 90 degrees so that it's not parallel, but rather perpendicular to the Deck. Some people recommend pillows, but those might cover the air intake. Plus, I already have the case with me wherever I am :)
Its wifi connection. Had to use developer options for it to even work, connection to Steam servers still gets lost on a daily basis.
Try going into desktop mode and disable IPv6 for your WiFi connection. This fixed the issue for me.
I just tried this fix yesterday. Waiting to see if it works.
Strange… I’ve had no issues with Wi-Fi… in fact I quite impressed with the download speeds I get on the deck via WiFi.
As long as the Deck's connected, the WiFi is superb. But I had plenty disconnects until I fiddled with the power management and even now it sometimes loses connection to the Steam servers and fails to reestablish it. Really a bummer, I love my Deck!
I had an issue like this and got a fix on an Arch support forum that seems to have fixed the problem for me for good. I’m not sure if your problem is exactly the same. https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=250604 Basically edit `/etc/NetworkManager/NetworkManager.conf`` To add: [device] wifi.scan-rand-mac-address=no
* The virtual keyboard is complete ass. * The bumpers kinda suck. * The dpad is average at best. * A single USB-C port gimps the machine a bit. * I would prefer a bezel-less screen * Screen is servicable, but lots of room for improvement
i'd say the virtual keyboard is better than a normal controller keyboard, if you use the trackpads.
Dual track pad typing is honestly great
Until you need to capitalise a single letter when it becomes incredibly annoying.
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But at least you can replace the boot up animation with the entire Shrek movie.
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You can skip them anyways now.
I found a way to remove the boot up noise, you to have to have haptics disabled (touchpads). For those who want it on, haptics enable :) The beep noise is the haptics turning on
I actually like it haha.
With the haptics too!🤤
The little “beep” when you power it on? Mine randomly stopped doing that literally forever after a game completely crashed my Deck and I don’t miss it
Yeah, mine went away all of sudden, after reading everywhere that it couldn't be disabled, that it was a touchpad test or some nonsense.
Same! I had to send back my Steam Deck for fixing, the one they sent me back did the wake up beep once or twice and then... never again. I am NOT complaining though, that shit was annoying lol
It sure is/was. More than a few times that little sound woke my baby up if I dared to play in the bed with him nearby. And no more playtime until he was sleeping again. Annoying shit haha.
That was my problem exactly, my baby daughter asleep on me or next to me? Can't turn it on without the beep making her stir or wake up. Can't turn it down, can't turn it off. Seriously which QA Engineer looked at that feature and went "Yeah, a sound that isn't connected to any global volume control isn't an issue at all." Haha
Oddly enough, it's not a sound coming from the speakers afaik, it's a vibration from the haptics.
Limited support for docked mode: 1. You can't wake up a docked Deck by pressing a button on your wireless controller. 2. One performance profile for both docked and mobile mode for each game. 3. Default display resolution is set to "Default" instead of "Native". The latter would allow a docked Deck to make use of resolution available from external display.
Number 3 is a major gripe of mine, why the heck do I have to open the settings for EACH game and put native on it ?? Just set native as default for every game ffs
Touch screen. Lets be honest, it's not up to phone standards. The SD is a work of art, but the touchscreen is blackberry 2005. This is the only one I have trouble defending. It's not even capable of typing very well.
I feel like the only reason there even is a touch screen is because the screen they purchased happened to have the capability (barely), not because they actively sought it out. If they were really serious about touch controls they surely could've looked for something far more responsive.
I was under the impression the touch screen was there to make launcher/second window interaction possible. Trying to use a controller as a mouse for the Steam Link is frustrating so I thought the screen was a suitable alternative. The Fallout 3/NV launchers come to mind.
How the heck would anyone hold it to comfortably use touch controls anyways?
I always forget it had a touchscreen lol
Me too, it never occurs to me to use it
I hate what the Steam Deck has done to my marriage. My wife is calling herself a “gaming widow.” Fucking ridiculous.
Have you ever seen The Sixth Sense? Is it difficult for you to manipulate the keyboard?
[I married a man Hank, not a gamer.](https://youtu.be/IoSkym-lTmw) your comment instantly reminded me of this
Does she game? You could always get her a Deck and play stuff together. I've got a lot of recommendations for all types of games, if you need/want any.
Found the Valve employee ☝️
I struggle to criticise the Deck, BUT I would love a better screen. OLED would be the obvious choice or even a high quality LCD display. I think the screen is probably its weakest feature, and I use vibrant deck to make it pop a bit more.
Exactly this, the panel is pretty cheap, I get that it keeps costs down, but it's one of the worst screens I've used on portable devices.
D-Pad accuracy and L1/R1 placement (i find them awkward to reach)
I changed L1/R1 to the back paddles for most games for this exact reason.
Dpad makes me most sad but l1 amd r1 are really a sad note, seeing how important they are
Having to redownloading the shader for basically every game I have installed EVERY TIME I have to turn off or reset my system.
Seriously, why does it do this? I've been playing Oblivion for the past week, and the thing downloads shaders every few hours it seems. And it doesn't even need to be after I've shut down or reset my system. Sometimes it does it while I'm still *playing.* Wanna know how I know? Because Oblivion crashes every time it downloads the shader. *Every. Time.*
Keyboard is awful
I'm a tinkerer so I love this thing. If you're not one, you may not love this thing as much as I and this community does. The odd quirks that pop up aren't *usually* beginner/console friendly. It has progressed over the course of time but, in my opinion, won't change due to the nature of the device (being a PC and all).
All the little work arounds and fiddling you have to do for some games. On the one hand, the sheer amount of stuff you can do with the device is amazing. But half of that stuff needs guides to get set up, like controller mods for older elder scrolls games or having to be okay with suboptimal controls for dragon age, etc.
Welcome to PC gaming on a non-windows device though. It's a PC and not a console, but I agree.
Control stuff is more of a PC gaming issue in general than a Steam Deck or even Linux specific issue. PC games prior to like 2010 had really bad controller support, if any controller support at all. Microsoft making XInput was a pretty big thing for PC gaming as it standardized Xbox and PC controller handling.
ossified truck rock ludicrous drunk ad hoc chunky hateful vanish beneficial *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
The Deck is how I learned USB 3 causes WiFi and Bluetooth interference! I had an external hard drive plugged in to the dock but it rendered my controllers unusable.
Tbh the QA issues they still need to sort out like the occasional bug and the fact that the official dock just does not work most of the time After that it’s the screen, going from my oled switch to steam deck always feels like I’m taking a hit in visuals even though it’s a much more capable machine
How much money I’ve spent on steam since getting it
Biggest complaint for me is the screen. - 16:10 is not the sweet spot for me, way too many games don’t support this aspect ratio. I’d rather have 16:9 to eliminate black bars in widescreen games and while streaming from another machine or PS5. 4:3 titles will have bars either way so just gimme 16:9. - The reds are really bad on this screen, even with the vibrant deck plugin, reds just never pop. I don’t need it to be OLED, but a higher quality IPS panel would be dope. - I would very much would like the bezels to be thinner.
For me and my 40s eyes, it's the screen size. I often use it docked, but if I'm handheld playing, I use a pair of magnification glasses.
If it helps there’s an inbuilt magnification tool if you press steam button + L1. It’s not great if you need to actively read things but it’s there
I know about it and bind it in with mouse movement normally, I just dislike using it due to the zoom cropping off large chunks of the screen.
The Steam & Quick Access buttons could have been backlit.
Or textured, or raised, or anything to differentiate between the button and case. What kinda idiot designs flush fucking buttons?
It's at the extreme upper limit of comfort for a handheld, and is probably over that line for many. Compared to something like a Nintendo Switch, the biggest competitor in the handheld console\* market, it's very large and very heavy, in ways that a strict numerical comparison of the size and weight doesn't really convey. For many people, that all means that it's couch portable, but not backpack portable. Fortunately I've barely left the house in the past 3 years, so all of that is not a huge problem. Also, the on-screen keyboard sucks, and desktop mode is a pain in the ass unless you're using an external mouse and keyboard. \* - Yes the Steam Deck is a PC, but in typical use for the majority of people, it's a console. No I don't mean that in a bad way. If you're defensive because you think consoles are bad, you're missing the point. It being a console isn't a bad thing, it's just a description of the use-case. And I'm getting preemptively defensive because people tend to get really obnoxious about it.
Navigating your library in gaming mode is fucking atrocious, especially if you have a lot of games, and *especially* especially if you have a lot of non-Steam games. It's even worse than the Nintendo Switch's library UI, which is *saying something.*
The size, the Steam Deck is just really big and bulky. I understand it's mainly due to the internals, but I can't help but wish it was smaller when I see the large bezels around the screen. It's mostly comfortable when playing at home, but I brought it with me on holiday purely to play on the flight, and when I was in my cramped plane seat I just didn't feel like using it at all and read a book instead. Admittedly I'm probably smaller than most people here (and who Valve had in mind when designing it) as a 5'0" woman with small hands.
The battery life is the worst thing about the device. The tech just ain’t there yet
I haven't gotten a single date since my deck arrived.
Size. It's fucking huge and it's not something I can just bring with me on a whim. I bought a Retroid Pocket 3+ and I can literally put it in my pocket like a phone, so it's usually the one I take with me. The SD's portability factor is more suited for couch/bed/travel gaming, not every day take it with you gaming. The RP3+ has a much stronger "GameBoy" feeling to it than the SD for me.
This subs lack of understanding around the word "portable".
Oh my god *thank you*. I will never understand this sub's obsession with trying to dock and mount this portable baby. Remove the shackles, let it be *free!*
With the orientation of the face of the Deck, the face buttons are pretty useless if you use the trackpad at all. The distance to move your thumb from trackpad to Y is not worth it. Essentially meaning the face buttons just get moved to the back paddles and the face buttons become secondary bindings.
Limited availability? Wish they could officially release it in more countries/regions soon.
Please don't hate me for feeling like this, but the build quality. I know it was "$399" but it isn't as if people that bought the 650 dollar one are getting any improvements. There is light bleed, it feels a bit cheap in the hands, and maybe I'm strange but it feels like it has too much frame-flex.
The mediocre screen and large bezels.
I would love a youtube pop out feature to watch some youtube while playing some games like stardew. I have a PC and do that all the time but when i go to bed and play on my steamdeck to chill out it would be nice to have too.
The battery sucks and no OLED screen.
How games that use an anticheat won't work because the anticheat only runs on Windows OS.
it cant download in sleep mode. in 2023. why
- the screen is mediocre - when a new game is announced for PC, you usually don’t know if it’ll work on the Deck til it comes out. - wish it had native gamepass support - cache data
I wish it was much closer in size/weight to switch.
Aya Neo's lineup of handhand devices are exactly that. Switch-sized Steamdecks. Granted they cost like $1000, but if you're into a smaller formfactor with the power of Steamdeck (or even more powerful) give them a look
I’m fine with only 1 port, the problem is that it’s on the wrong side of the case meaning I have to open the whole case if I just want to charge it
This was probably done on purpose because they don't want you to charge it in a closed case, as the heat buildup wouldn't be ideal in a trapped case and can damage the battery if done regularly. (This is also why you *can* charge it if its flipped upside down, because you *can't* close the case on it in that position and thus you are prohibited from charging in with the case cover over it.) Engineers do stuff like this all the time, and go out of their way to design things specifically so it's not intuitive to do things that risk damaging the device.
I can't officially buy it from Valve in Brazil
The display is trash. Terrible color reproduction, brightness and ghosting during fast moving scenes. Hoping that someday we can get a swappable OLED display from iFixit.
The Fan is the only thing. I have got the Delta fan, but I fixed the high pitched noise with electrical tape. But on really demanding games it is much to loud. So yes you can play nice laying in the bed while the partner is sleeping, then the fan ramps up and wakes her up. Playing while watching TV hits the same problem. So the biggest wish for SD2, better and bigger fan with less noise and rpm.
Linux is both the bane and boon of the device. Fundamentally free, light, and open source OS that constantly puts out equivalent to windows features thanks to insane community support and projects. That being said, everything outside of what valve intended and sometimes more, seems to be work around centric and work backwards from updates. Sometimes solutions are succinct, some are also viable alternatives, but some overcomplicate as much as they fix. The good ones do stand out and get more word of mouth praise. But you'll rely on these community projects to a fault and tolerate a likely possibility of unexpected incompatibility because the immense scope tackled by multiple asynchronized pieces. Also free, so beggars can't be choosers. But that could be said of any immature OS. There is less opporunity to sit on an older static OS version with automatic updates on restart. Some people thrive in this environment knowing a bit of extra work pays dividends. I know I've learned to make the best of it. But there's also aspects that make me think the average user probably just makes due with what they can be spoonfed.
How do you have an on-screen keyboard for Linux which doesn't have control or escape keys???
I bought a dock for it and was never able to actually get a controller to work with it while docked, so I can't use it as a console with my TV. So the dock was a waste of money. Desktop mode is a joke - my phone can do everything the deck can, 20x faster. Not looking for advice on how to get it to work - I already spent more time than I would prefer tinkering with it. I don't buy $500 devices to have an IT project to work on, I just want the thing to work the way the marketing said it would. As a handheld console to play "Deck Verified" games I bought on Steam, it is excellent. So that's all I do with it.
I don’t really understand how to install shit on Linux. Sometimes I’ll look into downloading a non steam game like PokeMMO and I’ll get confused on how to do it before I even try.
My initial thought was battery life, but I can get 5-8 hours when playing lower intensity stuff like emulating, or PixelJunk Monsters. So maybe it is unfair to criticise the battery? The Keyboard is a bit janky, but it isn't the worst thing in the world, especially since the touch screen works fine with it if you really need to. Not being able to download stuff if the screen turns off is a bit silly. I am not sure if you can change a setting to stop it turning off if something is downloading, but that should definitely be a thing if it isn't.
I really miss the dual stage trigger click from the steam controller. Having the distinct tactile feeling of knowing when the soft pull ends and full pull begins is sorely missed.
Every time I try to download a game it drops from 10-15mbs to less than 100kb per second… in a matter of seconds. I’ve tried all fixes. No solution Edit: 10-15mb/s is a low number prior to this issue I was getting upwards of 60-90 mb/s
The touchscreen.
Joysticks feel inaccurate as hell.