Hello!
I often see people with different setups to dock their steam deck and play, steam deck docked to portable monitor, custom stands, TVs, or whatever.
But I’ve only seen people using it as their main PC while actively searching for it, and I get the feeling that that’s not a very common use, and that surprises me, as I believe its a hell of an offer to buy the cheapest model (like now 330€ LCD), and run that docked as your PC. When you want to play or bring it to the couch, you can do so because you got a cheap steam deck not a cheap pc. (I know laptops exist, but c’mon)
Anyway, my uses for the steam deck are:
- Gaming (Town to City is my new favourite)
- Programming
- Studying
- Consuming media
- Breaking and fixing my home server
Normal stuff for a PC with the added bonus of
- I get tired and go to bed
- I get tired, undock it and dock it back on the living room to play on the couch
- Get out of classes to rest and play it on the car for half an hour
Anyway, I’m getting further and further away from the title, but again, this thing fascinates me. I used to have;
Main pc + 2 screens
then it was
Main pc +1 screen + 1GF with 1 Steamdeck with 1 screen
And now
1 me with 1 steamdeck and sometimes both screens (which really impressed me when I first saw it), and my gf with my used to be main PC.
And so, for you, what are your favourite or niche use cases for it? Do you daily drive it as a PC? Do you feel like the steam deck lacks anything for a good desktop experience?
pd. Yes, I really made the post image for this one post, and it absolutely took me too much time for what it is.
I wanted a gaming device to play anywhere; at home, car, etc. Laptop was too big and I would have to bring a controller with me to play the way I like.
The steam deck was the better option in that case, and I just feel in “love” with it. I like that I can be gaming, want to watch a movie, I have another dock on the living room, so I just bring it over and in 30 seconds I’m on the couch watching whatever, or I can go back to gaming on the go. Also I enjoy being in the bed as I can’t stand being on a chair for more than 3hours or so.
Steam deck is less bulky, the ecosystem is better, the community is better, and has linux by default, good repairability and compatibility with extra pieces in the market. It fitted my interests.
I agree, a laptop can do what I described, but you would also have to consider the ergonomics of playing daily with a keyboard, mouse and dedicated monitor vs the laptop keyboard and monitor + extra mouse, are way different. So if I want this desktop experience, for both laptop and steam deck I would need all peripherals, and for all other user cases steam deck seems like the better option.
As a all in one device, laptop is the best option always (besides gaming on the go like car or similar), but I was mainly talking about gaming on the go + home setup with it, I think the steam deck is the best all rounder at a good price, but sure, laptops are great too, if you’re lucky with all specs, durability, battery life, seller support, etc, at this price point, anyway, different things, both great :)
Cool, so you really really wanted a handheld.
Which is fine. Go nuts. Love me a handheld.
But “the best all rounder” it definitely is not. There is a big difference between needing a dock, a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse versus just a mouse for fundamentally the same experience. If you’re into the ergonomics of a separate monitor then you’re looking for something else than “an all rounder”, you’re looking for a desktop replacement specifically. That’s not the same thing. And then I’d say the Deck still wouldn’t be how I fix that problem, honestly.
Also, FWIW, I don’t think the Deck is particularly good at anything that is not gaming. The 800p screen is not good enough for media consumption, especially given that the thing has no easy way to handle it other than gripping it with both hands. No stand, no easy way to one-hand it, tiny screen… Yeah, not how you want to watch a movie. Especially not on the LCD model, which is the only one under 500.
I agree that it’s a good cheap PC handheld. I don’t think it’s anything but that, though. If it’s the only device you can afford I genuinely don’t think it makes much sense, and in almost every other circumstance either spending more on a better desktop/laptop or splitting your budget between a cheaper work PC and a Deck is a better solution.
I think if you’re considering a Deck or a console it’s a different conversation, but as your main computing device? Yeah, no, not a recommendation from me at all.
As someone who replaced a dying laptop with a Deck, I can tell you that it’s simply this: it functions great as BOTH a handheld and a regular portable PC, both docked and not docked.
Granted, I was lucky in that I already had one of the more expensive needed extra components (a really good 1440 gaming monitor that my sister gave me after she upgraded to 4k for her rig), but I literally only had to grab a dock, a couple of cables, and a bluetooth keyboard / mouse / headphone combo, and I was good to go. Far cheaper than a new (even-low tier) laptop, and it still would have been even if I would have had to buy a monitor… and honestly, I don’t miss getting crouch-heat blasted in the least.
Honestly, that feels like an opinion from someone who hasn’t used it in that way. It works great for non-gaming stuff, even while mobile. 800p is totally okay on a sub-8 inch screen, which isn’t too small at the distance you view it from when not docked. I also don’t have issues with needing to one-hand the Deck often, but when that happens, laps and chests exist, depending on where I’m using it, so it’s never really been a problem.
As far as desktop navigation goes, it’s great. It has a touch screen, but if you’re someone like me who doesn’t like to touch the screen and print it up, you can just make up whatever control scheme is most comfortable to you. I use the joystick instead of the touch pad, I just find it easiest.
All in all, the Deck a great experience while mobile, and isn’t anywhere near as bulky as a gaming laptop to carry around.
Literally the only thing I ever miss is the ability to easily text chat in games while docked, but most stuff I play now, I can just use the mic if I have to talk to other players.
I mean… I own both a LCD and an OLED Deck.
I would absolutely not use it as a computer without a dock and I certainly wouldn’t use it as a media player.
Other handhelds maaaaybe. The Legion Go has a stand and detachable controllers, so it could be a thing if it didn’t have the worst speakers ever devised by a human being. The GPD Win 4, the GPD Win Mini, the Ayaneo Slide and the Aya Flip all have some semblance of a keyboard, so you can get away with some stuff you can’t on the Deck or the Ally. I don’t think they make sense as a main computing device for the money, though, as they don’t have even the Deck’s low entry point as an excuse.
FWIW, the optical nub on the Win 4 is the best pointer device in any of these, and even with that and the physical keyboard I still wouldn’t use it to replace a laptop for media consumption if given the option. If I had a single device I could pick up I would sooner look into the ASUS Flow line of convertibles than into any current handheld, although you can certainly get a much cheaper all-rounder laptop than that.