Steam Deck review 2024: mobile gaming powerhouse

You’ve probably heard of Steam Deck by Valve, unless you’ve been hiding out under a rock for the past few years. PC games can be played on this portable gaming device, giving it a considerable advantage over any other typical handheld gaming device on the market today. Valve has taken the form factor of the Nintendo Switch, attached rockets to it, and flown further than Nintendo has ever flown before. Forget about the Nintendo Switch.

The Steam Deck, which we purchased on the same day that it became available to the general public, and we have been using it for a few weeks now. Since we began using it, it has monopolized a significant portion of my leisure time, making it one of the most worthwhile acquisitions I’ve made in recent memory. we have been able to play some pretty amazing games while we are on the go, like Portal, Grand Theft Auto: V, and Half-Life, and we are still in awe at how beautifully it all works.

Steam Deck Specifications

Exactly one year ago today, Valve released Steam Deck. Major updates to this small gaming computer have been released on a monthly basis, improving the user interface and adding new functions.

Steam Deck: Design

The Steam Deck is one of the largest handhelds that has ever been produced. Its dimensions are 11.73 by 4.60 by 1.93 inches. It’s without a doubt the largest venue I’ve ever played in. The Steam Deck reminds me more of the Sega Game Gear, despite the fact that many purchasers compare it to the Nintendo Switch. However, the Steam Deck is obviously much larger. In addition, although weighing close to 1.5 pounds, the system has an unexpectedly light feel about it. With its thick flat centre and curved hand grips, the Steam Deck gives the impression of being a high-end product due to the excellent build quality. You can visi its official website

Steam Deck: Game library

The video game titles that are included in the Steam Deck catalogue are all available to purchase and play on Steam. There are already almost 2,000 titles that may be called “Verified” on Steam Deck. There are other video games in this category, such as Elden Ring and Marvel’s Spider-Man Remastered. Compatibility can be broken down into one of these four categories.

“Playable” games such as Team Fortress 2 could require you to select a community controller configuration or make use of touch controls in order to navigate through a launcher. “Unsupported” games, such as Half-Life Alyx for VR, are now incompatible with Steam Deck and cannot be played. Not to mention the fact that games such as Day of Defeat are referred to as “Unknown.” You can find out more about the compatibility of Steam Deck with other games in this section.

Steam Deck: Software

Arch Linux, which utilizes the Plasma KDE desktop environment, is the operating system that is utilized by the Steam Deck’s software. If you don’t want to use desktop mode at any point during the lifetime of your Steam Deck, you don’t have to, but let’s be honest: you won’t be getting the whole experience. You have access to a level of control that is unrivalled by any other gaming console, which significantly broadens the scope of activities that are possible while using it.

However, even if you limit yourself to using only Steam OS, there is still a vast amount of territory to cover. You get several settings, some of which are rather advanced, along with a very clean user interface. This is what you would expect from a standard library browser.

Steam Deck: Performance

The Steam Deck is a handheld game with some really outstanding specifications. Each of the three variants is equipped with a bespoke AMD Zen 2 “Van Gogh” APU and a memory capacity of 16 gigabytes. It is evident that this cannot compete with the greatest gaming laptops or the best gaming PCs, but it is sufficient to play many games at good frame rates, particularly if the games have been tuned for SteamOS.

When testing the Steam Deck using our standard methodology, we were restricted to using just games that had been validated for use with the Steam Deck. This presented an intriguing challenge. We could have attempted games that hadn’t been confirmed , but the results we would have gotten from them would probably not have been reliable.

Steam Deck: Battery life and heat

When using Windows on the Steam Deck, there is also a significant issue with the amount of time the battery lasts. When playing games, the battery life will decrease even if the device is plugged into a power source. Even after switching out the Steam Deck’s default USB-C power brick with the 80w brick that comes with the MacBook Pro, we still observed a decrease in the amount of battery life while the Steam Deck was plugged in. Playing Halo Infinite for five minutes (I timed it) drained the battery charge from 55% down to 49% when the system was only running on battery power. During the first five minutes of the game.

Pricing and availability

The only way to get the Steam Deck is through the Steam app or website. There are three types, and the only way to tell them apart is by how much storage space they have and what extra accessories they come with. First, there’s a $399 model with 64GB of eMMC storage that only comes with a carrying case. Then, for $529, you can get a faster 256GB NVMe SSD that comes with a carrying case and a Steam Community profile package.

Final Words

There are some things about the Steam Deck that could be better in the next version, like the screen and the fact that it only lasts 2.5 hours when playing games at the best quality. But the fact that this hardware is fairly future-proof, even though it just came out a year ago, is a good sign for how long it will last. Even though its APU has been around for a while.

We are surprised by how well it runs demanding 3D games that just came out last week. With these next-generation games running at medium to high levels at well over 30 FPS, I’m hopeful that this first batch of Steam Decks will last through the next few years of AAA releases. And its tech will last much longer if you play indie games that aren’t as hard.

Steam Deck review: The good and The bad

It’s not easy to find a happy medium between gratifying and responsive, but the controller for the Steam Deck is comfortable to use and doesn’t need much effort at all.

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