Never had a Steam Deck...but...

[Caldwin]

So, can someone give me an overview of what a Steam Deck truly is? My view has basically been that it's a PC gaming thing...but now I'm thinking I was gravely mistaken.

The reason I ask is because from what I now understand a Steam deck to be (a console that's digital only and no exclusives), I'm beginning to think that Sony and Microsoft are desperately trying to become Steam Decks only with exclusives.

And when it comes to exclusives...there's nothing of X-Box and little of Sony I care about. I thought Stellar Blade was an exclusive, but it turns out that's coming to Switch 2.

I'll always like Nintendo exclusives and will probably always have their consoles in my home.

But bottom line, it looks like Sony and C-Box are slowly going digital only, effectively making them Steam decks with exclusives. If I don't care about their exclusives...and if I can find a Steam Deck for cheaper...

1. Can I find a Steam Deck for cheaper.

2. Can they be connected to a television or am I stuck on a computer screen?

3. Do they come with a controller or are already compatible with a PS5 controller I already have?

4. What are other Pro's/Cons of a Steam Deck...especially in comparison with a dedicated console?

 

[Pocket]

0. Are we actually talking about the Steam Deck or the Steam Machine? The Deck is the handheld one, but your description of Microsoft and Sony's consoles makes it sound like you're getting them mixed up. Neither of them is planning to replace their consoles with handhelds yet, to my knowledge. Going off the assumption that you do mean the Deck...

1. Not a brand new one. If you're willing to settle for a used first-generation model, you might find someone who's not trying to utterly gouge you. Thanks to the RAM shortages, though, they're still objectively worth more now than they cost brand new, and that's before getting into the possibility that people will be treating it as a valuable collector's item now that they're permanently sold out.

2. It's DisplayPort video over USB, which I'm pretty sure someone makes conversion dongles for pretty cheaply. Alternatively you can buy a dock, which has native full-sized HDMI out, but Valve will absolutely gouge you on that considering the Switch comes with one for free.

3. They're compatible with everything. Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo—yes, you can literally get individual joycons to work with this... heck, if my experience with desktop Linux is any indication, it'll even support a PS3 controller, and there aren't even working Windows drivers for that.

4.a. Pros: Steam has thousands and thousands of games on it. Even if you don't count the ones that won't work perfectly on the Deck, that's still a bigger library than almost any console ever. And if you buy a game and it doesn't work, you have two weeks of real time and two hours of total (attempted) playtime to get a full refund no questions asked. (After that, they'll start asking questions, but I've heard stories of people who have managed to get refunds well outside of one or both windows because Linux support sucked or was removed later in a patch.)

4.b. Cons: Outside of the "SteamDeck Verified" badge, which I think publishers have to explicitly apply for and then commit to not breaking anything, there's no way to be 100% sure any game will run perfectly on the thing. There really isn't a single AAA publisher (even Valve) who's truly committed to making their games available for SteamOS and LInux, and several who are actively working against it, because they believe (correctly) that it's easier for Linux users to get around anti-cheat tools. And, as I hinted at above, just because a game works on it now doesn't mean it always will. But I suppose the same could be said of Windows games, if you update your hardware or OS. And as for that overpriced dock, the device only comes with a single USB-C port, so you can't run it off wall power and connect to an external display at the same time without a dock.

 

[Caldwin]

It deck is portable and machine is more analogous to an actual console, then yes, I meant machine. That alone probably shows how much I have to learn.

Thank you.

 

[Pocket]

OK, to answer the same questions about the Machine:

0. You were right that it's "a PC gaming thing." It's literally a compact PC. A PC you won't be able to upgrade unless Valve voluntarily starts offering standalone replacement parts, and even then only if and when a second-gen version that contains those parts becomes available. I think the SSD is an off-the-shelf, standalone model but so are the ones in the PS5 and Xbox so that barely matters.

1. It just came out, so no of course not. In fact, you probably can't get one at all, any time soon, because they're restricting sales to people with a long-term history as Steam users to try to combat scalping. What you can do is try to buy or build a comparably spec'd PC for a lower price, which is theoretically possible, especially if you wait for sales on parts like I did. (Though return period limits means buying one part when it's on sale, then waiting for a sale on another, and so on, means you'll be out of luck if any of them turn out to be DOA by the time you have enough parts to put it all together. That's why I just bought everything on Black Friday weekend.)

2. It has both HDMI and DisplayPort, so hook up any display you want. One of each, if you like.

3. Official controller is $80 extra, only a $20 discount over standalone. All I can say in its defense is that it's still probably the most advanced controller ever made. But also, yes, it's compatible with everything, everywhere, all at once. (That last part is something I hadn't considered before as a plus: If you have people over for local multiplayer, you have as many PC controllers as you have USB controllers, period, no matter the platforms.)

4. The pros and cons are basically the same as before, aside from those gripes about the dock. However, since it is technically a PC, you can potentially install Windows on it and have access to all the games, provided you're willing to fork over an extra $100 for the license and put up with Windows being Windows all over the place. The bundled SteamOS is meant to provide a more seamlessly console-like experience, but aside from being able to wake it up with the controller, I don't know what that means exactly. You'll have to hunt down some video reviews of the thing.

 

[Caldwin]

This is honestly making it sound like an even more expensive and more of a pain in the neck alternative to consoles. The pros (to me) don't seem to outweigh the cons.

Thanks for the input, everyone. Luckily, it seems like PS5 and Switch 2 still have a few years left in this generation. I'm just hoping that come next gen, either the big companies don't price the common person out of the hobby or that there's at least some less expensive alternative.

 

[Steevy Maximus]

I mean, it really IS a case of “whose bull are you willing to tolerate”.

Steam Devices run on SteamOS, a streamlined Linux build, meaning you COULD use it as a standard computer (though, Valve has clearly optimized it for gaming). It’s largely set up to get you into Steam, and in big picture mode (the console like interface optimized for controller use). The big “hook” to SteamOS is the Proton Compatibility Layer, which allows for the emulation/translation of Windows software to run on Linux operating systems. It has progressed to the point of being an incredibly effective piece of software, though, not without issues. Particularly with how anti-cheat systems work. A number of anticheat software remain incompatible, making some games unplayable.

Valve has also released SteamOS as a standalone thing, for free, so if you have any pc with an AMD GPU/APU, you could install SteamOS on it. Potentially, you could build your own Steam Machine and do so at a lower price or with more capable specs (so long as the GPU is AMD based, Nvidia hasn’t been playing nice with providing driver support for Linux). Steam is very much making an “open system”, with the ability to play your Steam library from the past decade(s) without any fuss or many hardware restrictions. And not having to pay for any online features, besides the internet you already pay for.

While there’s less “fuss” in getting consoles going, you’re also into more locked down, controlled, environments with their own caveats. Also, you have to pay for online benefits with all the major consoles, which eats into the “lower entry price” of the consoles themselves. Steam has proven themselves more reliable in sustaining a long term eco-system, while ALL the console Makers have had issues with backwards compatibility, hardware incompatibilities, or simply “cutting off” legacy support. Nintendo is particularly iffy in those issues. Switch 2 is backwards compatible (enough not to be a major concern), but will whatever follows in 8 years still support the Switch platform back to those initial 2017 releases?

In terms of the next gen…it’s not looking too good,IMO. Thanks to the likely years long disruption caused by the AI Fever, new stuff is going to keep getting expensive, and companies are NOT going to absorb massive losses for market share. Speculation from people “in the know” have been pointing to a 2028 releases period with prices for a PlayStation 6 likely reaching $1,000. Hell, the PS5 Pro now runs $900 with a 2TB drive and no disc drive. My Xbox Series S might actually be worth more NOW than it did when I bought it at launch!

@Pocket Just to clarify your comment on Xbox Series storage: Xbox Series internal storage are NOT accessible or user replaceable, to my knowledge. Microsoft went with a proprietary “Memory Expansion Card” as a means to ensure storage expansions were up to spec on data/memory management. Sony simply opted for higher speed SSD which was more expensive at the time (Kind of how Nintendo has gone with MicroSD Express for the Switch 2, eliminating compatibility with the original UFS-1 spec’d microSD cards.)