Steam Deck, Valve's Answer to the Nintendo Switch; Now Set For February Release After Suffering a Delay

[Terronium-12]

Me, jealous? Not at all, with my "October 2022 or later" availability date

Let us know how it is!

It's definitely rough having to wait for something you're really looking forward to. Look at it this way: you'll be better off as by the time you'll be able to pay the rest of the pre-order off, more bugs will have been ironed out.

I'm better off than those in the first callups, and you'll be better off than me.

 

[gregc]

It's definitely rough having to wait for something you're really looking forward to. Look at it this way: you'll be better off as by the time you'll be able to pay the rest of the pre-order off, more bugs will have been ironed out.

I'm better off than those in the first callups, and you'll be better off than me.

Yeah, I know - and I'm counting on most of the bugs (and all of the major ones) being squahed by the time I get mine. Waiting sucks though

Out of curiosity (and forgive me if it's already there back in the thread) - which model are you getting?

 

[Terronium-12]

Yeah, I know - and I'm counting on most of the bugs (and all of the major ones) being squahed by the time I get mine. Waiting sucks though

Out of curiosity (and forgive me if it's already there back in the thread) - which model are you getting?

It is. I said it somewhere on the first page I believe, but the base 64GB model. Gonna tear it open and throw in an SSD myself.

I can't wait.

 

[Terronium-12]

So, the Steam Deck.

I've been messing about with the Deck since 9-something this morning and I've been having an absolute blast with it. The ergonomics are amazing; it feels comfortable in your hands and the weight distribution makes it feel a lot lighter than it is. While it's a touch under 2lbs (1.65, to be exact) there's no worry of fatigue when holding it, whether you're standing up, slouched over, or lying down.

The paddle buttons are, in a word, stiff. Not bad stiff, no, not at all. Stiff as in you will never accidentally rollover one of the buttons and have it register anything. The only way these buttons are being pressed is when you intentionally press them. You know what? I take that back as "stiff" may give the wrong impression. Instead, let's use a better word: rigid. Mostly means the same thing but gives off a much better impression.

The screen is bright, text is crisp, and Proton is incredibly easy to use. I've already installed DuckStation and pulled the ISO of Gran Turismo 2 from my folder and transferred it to the Deck using Warpinator/Winpinator. I'd strongly advise getting a screen protector because you'll not want your fingerprint oils smeared across the screen until you've done so. I know I don't.

I've already torn it open which is as simple and to the point as it gets, and the eMMC flash memory does come equipped with the same heatshield as the SSDs. I haven't swapped it out for an SSD as of yet nor have I purchased one at the moment. For the time being I'll rely on the two 256GB SD cards coming in the mail on Sunday. Give me a week or two and I'll probably pick one up though.

The audio is surprisingly good. Crisp, clear, and it has more low end boom than you'd expect from something this small. I can talk about the audio in a much shorter, separate post but suffice to say, it's really, really good. And it can get loud. Do not throw a pair of cans or IEMs on with the volume any higher than 26% because you will go deaf. Hello, tinnitus. You suck. I don't have tinnitus, but you will if you don't heed this warning.

I cannot emphasize enough how comfortable it is to hold. You don't even have to do anything specific, just hold it. It feels so much lighter than it really is; like a giant controller. Which for all intents and purposes, it is a giant controller. With a screen. And embedded hardware.

The haptics are nice. The feedback when rolling over the right touchpad is surreal, almost as if you're moving a trackball mouse. It's a fantastic sensation and the rumble motor is so precise that if you keep rolling your finger across it, it genuinely feels like you're spinning the wheel on a mouse. The feedback when left-clicking has bounce to it and that's not due to the button itself moving up and down ever so slightly. Everything about the Deck thus far feels like even the most minute details were paid the utmost attention to.

I cannot wait until the conversation of a Steam Deck 2 begins. If this is what their first effort feels like, I can't wait to see the second act. I'll have some pictures up in a bit.

 

[Silver Arrows]

I cannot wait until the conversation of a Steam Deck 2 begins. If this is what their first effort feels like, I can't wait to see the second act. I'll have some pictures up in a bit.

This is what excites me more then anything - it's clear that Steam considers this a project for the long haul, and is going to put the time and effort into making it the portable computer, and a worthy challenger to wake up Nintendo. There's certainly a lot of promise within the first iteration if you're willing to look past the foibles and problems and see what Steam is looking to go towards, and they have been up-front and honest in the process so far.

I should ask, how hard was it to set up Duckstation and general emulation? I imagine by this point there's a pretty decent tutorial scene on Youtube for emulation on Steam Deck?

 

[Terronium-12]

I should ask, how hard was it to set up Duckstation and general emulation? I imagine by this point there's a pretty decent tutorial scene on Youtube for emulation on Steam Deck?

There's really no tutorial needed because it's as simple as anything.

Go to the Discovery Store (icon is a blue shopping bag; it's pinned to the Taskbar so you can't miss it), go to Applications > Games > Emulators. I'm doing this from Desktop Mode which you'll need to get to through Big Picture, and you do that by hitting the Steam button, going to Power and selecting that.

 

[sesselpupser]

I should ask, how hard was it to set up Duckstation and general emulation? I imagine by this point there's a pretty decent tutorial scene on Youtube for emulation on Steam Deck?

Retro Game Corps has got it very well covered, he's done videos covering some options that can automatically configure various emulators for the Deck's controls as well as automatically pull your games into Steam with proper cover art and everything. Well worth checking out, he's also covered RetroArch setup guides in the past which might help if you're unfamiliar.

@Terronium-12 congrats! Can't wait to get mine but as it turns out the UK queue is moving really slowly, I placed my reservation 36 minutes after the books opened and last I heard they're only something like 7 minutes in. Even though I was Q1 before the delay I'm not expecting to be able to place my actual order until June at this rate...

 

[Terronium-12]

Very interesting, I'll give that a watch. As I told @Silver Arrows, there's really no difficulty whatsoever — you go to the store, download the things, transfer your files over and you're good to go.

If there's another dimension to this, I'm all for it.

I should have the pictures up today. They'd be here already if every hosting website didn't insist on throwing up error messages when trying to upload the JPG files.

 

[Terronium-12]

And, the pictures. I need a new phone that can take actual pictures and not the potato I'm using now.

The packaging with the various places one can use their Deck, in an assortment of languages.

The insert that sits atop everything.

The back

A peek inside. Keep in mind, I took all of these after having already played with the Deck for several hours.

Carrying case. There's a strap on the back for throwing it onto a luggage handle.

Charging adapter.

And the reason you're looking at all of this junk, the Steam Deck.

Of course this was one of the first things I did. Went into Desktop Mode, installed DuckStation and threw GT2 on.

Of course I also threw on PCSX2 and grabbed Gran Turismo 3 from my folder on the PC.

The backside. See those buttons? Don't worry about ever accidentally pressing them because that's not going to happen. Also, this is where it gives the big ol' succ to clean air to keep it cool. Also, worth mentioning that the eMMC or SSD are directly underneath the aluminum heatshield covered in black masking tape that you can see through the vent.

The top. Shoulder buttons on the far left and right of the handheld; Power button to the left of the R1 and R2 buttons; USB-C port to the left of that; the exhaust port for the fan (there's nothing like the smell of brand new electronics in the morning); 3.5mm headphone jack to the left of that, and finally the volume buttons.

And the Micro SD card slot. Do not leave your SD card in when removing the rear shell. That reminder is as much for you as it is me.

 

[Terronium-12]

More stuff. This is the second time I've cracked the rear shell off.

The repairability on the Deck is insane, and Valve have already announced replacement parts will be made available through iFixit. I wonder if they'll sell replacement/better fans?

The heatshield removed, revealing the single (thicc) heatpipe cooler and the eMMC flash memory card where an SSD will eventually live.

Closer look at the cooler and heatpipe.

Underside of the heatshield revealing the various sized thermal pads.

eMMC flash card removed, showing off the EMI shielding on top of the WiFi module

A closeup of the eMMC card and foil shield. I Foresee myself replacing this. No?

Single-sided cards only!

 

[David]

More stuff. This is the second time I've cracked the rear shell off.

The repairability on the Deck is insane, and Valve have already announced replacement parts will be made available through iFixit. I wonder if they'll sell replacement/better fans?

The heatshield removed, revealing the single (thicc) heatpipe cooler and the eMMC flash memory card where an SSD will eventually live.

Closer look at the cooler and heatpipe.

Underside of the heatshield revealing the various sized thermal pads.

eMMC flash card removed, showing off the EMI shielding on top of the WiFi module

A closeup of the eMMC card and foil shield. I Foresee myself replacing this. No?

Single-sided cards only!

Hood up but no can of beans in any of the shots. This guy probably doesn't even really have a Deck.

 

[sesselpupser]

I wonder if they'll sell replacement/better fans?

I take it you saw their tweet and/or are aware that there are two different fans being used? There's a good one and a bad one, the bad one having a high pitched component to its whine, but both are quite loud. iFixit tweeted about looking into providing replacement fans that are the same model as the good one, but they hinted that they may be constrained. Lots of people on r/steamdeck are joking and "joking" about breaking some fan blades off because apparently the noise is made worse by the symmetrical shape of the fan and Apple (maybe others) have patented asymmetrical fan designs that reduce noise, or something.

 

[Terronium-12]

I take it you saw their tweet and/or are aware that there are two different fans being used? There's a good one and a bad one, the bad one having a high pitched component to its whine, but both are quite loud. iFixit tweeted about looking into providing replacement fans that are the same model as the good one, but they hinted that they may be constrained. Lots of people on r/steamdeck are joking and "joking" about breaking some fan blades off because apparently the noise is made worse by the symmetrical shape of the fan and Apple (maybe others) have patented asymmetrical fan designs that reduce noise, or something.

I did, moments after I asked that question.

 

[sesselpupser]

Thanks to the efforts of someone on Reddit there's a bot that'll approximate when your reservation will be called (if you're interested, go to r/SteamDeck and read the pinned orders megathread) and it looks like I might get mine next week:


The last two batches have moved the queue forward by about 5 minutes so hopefully that pace will be kept up.

Edit: didn't get an email yesterday but the queue moved about 4 minutes and we're now within the same minute as when I ordered... Thursday's gonna be my day, as long as nothing disasterous happens anyway!

 

[lancia delta hf]

This looks great but I just dont need one. Stuff like this males me wish I was still in my teens where I'd get good use out it.

 

[sesselpupser]

I got my email! Been playing my Vita during the train bit of my commute, it has got me keen on broadening the selection of games I can play... There's only so much Wipeout 2048, Neon Chrome and Nuclear Throne I can take.

 

[lancia delta hf]

I got my email! Been playing my Vita during the train bit of my commute, it has got me keen on broadening the selection of games I can play... There's only so much Wipeout 2048, Neon Chrome and Nuclear Throne I can take.

Try circuit superstars. Or leisure suit Larry.

 

[sesselpupser]

Got my 256GB model, it shipped on Monday and arrived this (Wednesday) morning. After a few false starts - a system update that froze with "1 second remaining" for half an hour I restarted it and got it to install the update, then I started downloading New Vegas and that too froze after about 2.5GB. Restarted again, was initially greeted by a black screen which resolved itself, then it downloaded the (unverified) game super fast and now I'm playing it at 60fps with no problems apart from the ones inherent to the game, the suspend feature is amazing! I'm now torn between wanting to tinker with it to install more storage, get some emulators going, set up PS4 and PC streaming and so on and just, like, playing some games.

 

[Terronium-12]

So I did another thing...

Picked up a 1TB SK Hynix SSD from eBay. I missed out on the Samsung PM991A when they were cheaper...or even available, but I immediately pulled the trigger on this one, and bonus points: it's faster than the Sammy.

With the rest of the PCB blank above the actual die, let's get carving! This was a pain in the ass, even with my hobby knife. Maybe an even sharper knife would have made things better.

A comparison of the two, to see how much I need to cut away. I Foresee this going well, once all said and done. No, again?

Chopped. With some electrical tape to pretty things up a bit and not have the naked bits short against the screw mount.

Installed and ready to go.

Success!

I went back to my old Sony DSC camera, thinking it'd take better pictures and that doesn't appear to be the case.

 

[sesselpupser]

Loving the Deck life so far, part of its appeal to me is the almost complete removal of barriers between "me doing nothing" and "me playing a game", as in I don't have to sit in a specific place, don't have to wait for my PC to boot (which is quick) and for Steam to load (which isn't), don't have to sit through a game's splash screens and don't have to leave it running if I need to go and do a quick chore or attend to my son - just hit the power button and drop it, it'll be ready to go when I come back.

Admittedly I haven't tried any especially new games, because I have hundreds of old ones I'd like to play (and the aforementioned streamlining cuts way down on the opportunity cost), nor have I filled the default 256GB with loads of big games, but apart from installing Chiaki so I can continue with Miles Morales soon I'm not feeling much need to tinker. Yes, I've found a couple of games that don't work well or at all (like Resident Evil 5, because of GFWL), but my desire to fix those problems isn't as great as my willingness to just play something else that does work. I've also tried some games with bad default controller configs like Receiver 2 and Ghost Recon (the first one) but it doesn't take too long to come up with a new workable config.

So far my favourite game to play on it is Superhot: Mind Control Delete. It's just such a good game and being graphically simple you can get a good bit of battery life even at 60fps.

 

[Northstar]

Figures I get the email at the worst possible time financially.

Had the Reddit prediction thing been right I would have been fine (it guessed June 13), but at the moment I need new tires more than another gadget so it's probably for the best.

 

[Northstar]

Figures I get the email at the worst possible time financially.

Had the Reddit prediction thing been right I would have been fine (it guessed June 13), but at the moment I need new tires more than another gadget so it's probably for the best.

The icing on the cake is today I got an email from Sony inviting me to buy a PS5, at this point I'm convinced I'm getting trolled.

I cancelled my reservation today and got back in line so hopefully I'll mange to get one around the holidays.

 

[David]

Received the email to order my Deck this morning (512GB model). Really thought I'd be towards the end of the Q3 window so that's cool.

 

[David]

Thought maybe I would have the Deck by today but instead there was no tracking until today. Supposed to have it by Thursday evening now, but I suspect coming from IL it will get here by Wednesday so we'll see how Fedex does .

 

[gregc]

With the news that their supply chain issues are resolved, I've been bumped from "After Q3" to Q3 (July - September) - yay

Now checking emails obsessively lest I miss it

 

[David]

With the news that their supply chain issues are resolved, I've been bumped from "After Q3" to Q3 (July - September) - yay

Now checking emails obsessively lest I miss it

I know it wont stop you from checking obsessively, but you are given a 3 day window to order so don't worry too much about not seeing the email right away.

 

[sesselpupser]

The Deck has been such a revelation for me, I love it and it has entirely replaced my PC and PS4 (although I do still want to set them both up so I can stream from them, I haven't felt the need to yet). I hope the concept is here to stay and that when I'm ready to replace it there's something at a similar price with similar relative performance.

Between the pandemic lockdowns and having a kid over the past couple of years I've become very aware that time pressure has a huge effect on how I choose what to play; if I have all the time in the world I'll play anything, if I don't then I don't want to waste time on stuff I'm not sure I'll like. That said, I have always believed that you have to take the rough with the smooth; bad stuff makes you appreciate good stuff and the same is true of games, I personally believe that playing bad games is a good thing, in moderation at least, but now that I'm back at work and I have a son, without the Deck I would be right back to where I was in 2019, even more squeezed actually and thus highly motivated to only play what I know is good.

With the Deck, though, I haven't felt the need to either carefully pick what I play (by searching for ages for "the perfect game") or do the complete opposite (choose to not choose by playing one of the handful of games I've already played to death), although this in itself has led to a little bit of choice paralysis because I own hundreds of games that are all on even ground now.

In fact my biggest criticism is that for people with a large library like me, it's kind of hard to know what you've got. On my desktop I can see my games either as a long list or a grid of box art, the Deck only supports the latter and the clunky interface means I just don't really want to deal with it, so - and maybe this is deliberate (it isn't) - I just want to buy new games all the time because it's easier than poring over the games I already have, although that's also partially motivated by the fact that so many of the games I liked the look of were games I knew I wouldn't want to play on my desktop, and now that barrier is gone.

All in all though, I don't think I've ever in my life played such a variety of games, bouncing from Gris to Frog Detective to Car Mech Sim to Killing Floor, etc., it's just great.

 

[MarcoM]

I am deciding what version to get. The 256 GB or the 512 GB version. The later has an advanced screen. But is that worth it? I am think I will get a protector anyway.
Is the loading of games from the memory card in the slot workable?

Looking forward to it!

 

[sesselpupser]

I am deciding what version to get. The 256 GB or the 512 GB version. The later has an advanced screen. But is that worth it? I am think I will get a protector anyway.
Is the loading of games from the memory card in the slot workable?

Looking forward to it!

From what I've read, adding a protector to the etched glass completely nullifies the anti-glare effect so it wouldn't be worth it for that alone, and yes, loading games off the SD card is fine but some games that stream assets (like, say, GTA V or Forza Horizon) can have performance issues if you do.

 

[MarcoM]

right, I put in the queue for the 512 version