Steam Deck: How I Feel About It A Year Later

I've had my steam deck for about 14 months now so I finally feel safe talking about it without having to fear of it breaking all over again although technically it's been 17 months since I got my first version the one that unfortunately broke just six days after receiving it my initial video about the deck ended up being lengthy documentation of my rication attempts rather than how I felt about it but since then the deck has followed me around on commutes local train rides and even overseas flights during that time I've sometimes had good but sometimes also frustrating experiences with the deck and in this video I'm going to talk about both of [Music] those before we get into Integrity I know some of you might be interested in what actually happened to my original steam deck so here's a brief recap if you're interested in the other part feel free to skip ahead using the markers down below okay so just to to summarize I originally pre-ordered my deck on July 16th 2021 damn time does fly anyhow the actual purchase date was just about a year later on the 11th of April 2022 before it finally shipped on the 13th H maybe that was a no I should have noticed as some of you might know I live in Switzerland where the steam deck at it high was not officially available and therefore I used the US forwarding address to get the deck onto my doorsteps this usually doesn't take all that long and on the 26 of the same month exactly 13 days later oh dear I really should have seen this coming anyhow on April the 26th it finally arrived to my joyful excitement and as I was just heading to London for a trip it was the perfect opportunity to test it out once I got back though I plucked it in overnight where it quietly decided to remain dark or to be more precise the screen stopped functioning while still giving audible feedback that it was at least partially alive I won't bore you with the extensive or rather desperate attempts at Revival if you want to know more about that feel free to watch my other video which you can conveniently access by this little bubble thing on the top right here anyhow not accepting that it was the main board which it ended up being I optimistically ordered a replacement screen and even went for the anti-reflective one I had the 64 GB version so I thought it would not only fix the issue but be a neat little upgrade as well unfortunately the issues persisted and after some hesitation I decided to finally give the whole RMA process a shot but as I was afraid of getting caught by a valve for having purchased this from the land of cheese and chocolate I tried to hide my true whereabouts by using a proxy by which I mean a person on us soil so I first sent it to a friend of mine who then shipped it to valve using the return label in the end it did cost me a little extra but just about 20 days later after valve received it which is a much better number I got the information that my deck was making its triumphant return I'm still surprised at how smoothly everything went although maybe I just thought it might cause a problem and in reality valve probably doesn't care all that much where the de comes from but just in case anyone else is in a similar situation here's proof that it can work all you need is little patience and a friend in the US which I'm very well aware of is easier said than done anyhow I hope this little Excursion gave you closure on the story of my original steam deck now let's see what happen since from the getco I absolutely loved this thing as I alluded to in my previous video there's something magically weird about the ability to carry your entire Steam library with you even if not everything is playable if you're like me and have been on Steam for what seems like multiple lifetimes it's an oddly comforting feeling seeing the familiar UI and games wherever you end up going but more than that it allows you to play games that would normally never make it out of the living room or home for example on my trip to the land of maple leaves earlier this year I spent an extensive amount of time playing Tales of arise an absolutely fantastic jrpg was originally released on the PC PlayStation 45 and Xbox One series X this game was never meant to be played on the go but fits so perfectly into a travel scenario the automated battle system if chosen was a great match for short casual sessions while still containing a full-blown experience if I wanted to that felt so much more fulfilling than comparable mobile games ultimately this is the area where the steam deck for me in terms of gameplay times hits one of the biggest home runs you get to play games on the go that you otherwise wouldn't the second Advantage is prize not only for the deck itself which is very competitive in its power segment but also for the games I had numerous scenarios where I had to make a choice between switch or deck sometimes it just couldn't justify the extra cost of the switch which can be 10 to 30% more and if you're a little patient you might get your title of choice in one of steam's numerous sales events which is really nice then there's a sheer amount of Indie titles I think most of us should be familiar with steam more or less and I'm sure you've encountered your fair share of them those can be infinitely fun from small b-size distractions to incredibly extensive RPGs that can f an entire season's worth of enjoyment I'm not saying the switch doesn't get them it does but I feel that the steam just has a lot more of them good and well bad or weird ones as well having access to this Library while being on the go is something I've grown to really appreciate I don't play a lot of fast-paced shooters or action titles I don't like the hectic movement and feel that during a trip or in a public space I'd rather wind down and play something more relaxing that doesn't attract too much attention but even if I don't twist and turn in public there are still some drawbacks related to twisting and turning and those are in regards to the steam deck size after the novelty wore off a little bit the question of whether or not to bring the deck Along on every trip started to pop up more and more it's biger right and there's no secret about it but I feel if you've never had to carry it around multiple times it's a bit hard to grasp just how big it really is is I'm not a person who always carries a backpack in fact I'm trying to avoid that most of the time and it's probably obvious that the deck isn't meant to follow you in those scenarios get a play dat or an analog pocket if you need something more portable I'm also aware that with the power the deck possesses considering battery life and thermals the size is somewhat warranted but what I want to address here is less about the size to Performance ratio and more about the pure portability of the device it will fit most backpacks for sure but depending on on what else you bring along or what kind of setup you're rocking you're going to have to start playing the game of well it fit for example in my camera back which is the 30 L Shota action I have the main compartments separated for my camera lenses and other Tech accessories the deck with its rather voluminous case doesn't want to fit in anywhere yes I am very well aware of the fact that I could just rearrange all the sections but that would destroy the perfect Arrangement that took me 6 million years to create I often ended up just squeezing it at the top which kind of works I understand that this is a very personal issue I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who will see no problem at all with this and are more than happy to build their carry-on around the deck rather than trying to retrofit it but I think it's something to keep in mind because there is the chance that the one time you don't bring it along might compound over time and then you don't bring it along again and again until it never joins you on a trip anymore and stays home forever but might say the deck isn't just a mobile PC it can replace everything just because you don't use it when being out and about doesn't mean you can't use it at home yes that is 100% correct but even though the deck is a very capable gaming device and even has the ability to be used as your main Computing device itself to me it is still primarily a mobile gaming PC I never hooked it up to a bigger screen and it's because I'm fortunate enough to have a much more powerful PC at home but also because steam handles the transition between them so effortlessly just like on Nintendo's original you can come home from your gamified commute turn on your main rig and continue where you left off while getting the deck recharge for the next trip to the outer rim that is after steamcloud that its thing of course the good news is that you get a better experience if your Rick is more powerful you have better controls arguably and sometimes even more features the bad news is while it's not as seamless as with the switch where you don't need to do anything other than dock it here you have to wait a little for your saves to syn across all devices if it is supported otherwise no fun share times here so it's not all fun in games but when it works this almost seamless transition gave me early switch Vibes which is a really cool thing but this is essentially why I almost never used the deck at home to meet the travel companion which brings me back to the size problem one that I tried to Remedy by discarding its original enclosure and replacing it with this this is D Brand's kill switch case as safety rubbery if you will it'll ensure You Can Have fun wherever you go it's it's a very popular choice but even so I was a bit hesitant at first because it technically does bulk up the deck even more but compared to the included carrying case which also lacks a charging hole and purely acts as an enclosure this one is smaller overall and has all the necessary cutouts to charge or get going immediately it does come with a very lackluster stand though it works but only has two levels either fully folded in or out and there's no tension in between which is a bit disappointing luckily you can easily remove it and replace it with a we Universal mounted might come in handy if you need to fix your deck onto a stiff and pole shaped object there are also some built-in micro SD card holders but I ended up never using them as I got a 1 TB Drive the second I got the deck and never looked back which by the way is another a highly recommended thing to get at the current SD card prices something like this will or at least made me completely forget about storage Warriors if you're wondering about performance it's surprisingly competent and in the few comparisons I made it actually ended up making no difference at all ironically the only drawback of the kill switch cases concerning the ST card slot because it's a bit hard for me to reach the tiny slot might just be my Butterfinger store I also got the travel cover which works really well and is also much easier to store in airplate seat than the bulky original case that takes way more precious leg room but there are two issues with it first when taking it off it can sometimes launch itself into space secondly it looks like a claymore I never had an issue at airport security but I feel that they don't like seeing this thing maybe it's just jealousy of how cool it looks though who knows lastly we come to one of the most exciting parts of the steam deck and one that is 100% optional but you're really missing out if you skip on this and it's really one of the best parts that's customization there are so so many things you can do with the deck from Hardware changes like translucent cases storage upgrades or the recently announced screen replacement that bumps up the resolution from 800 to 1200p and also improves the vibrancy although I wish they would have increased the size as well sometimes I just really wonder what would look like without any bessels and oh well wouldn't that be nice you can also change the joysticks to hall effect ones to get that improved precision and permanently remove drift anxiety and these knobs if you like I don't I prefer the stock feel but what really got me all giggly was the software mods you can Undertake and in recent times it's gotten a lot more accessible for example at the beginning you could load up a second SD card with Windows to go as a version of Windows that can boot off an SD card in order to install all those pesky third party launchers like Xbox game pass or Battlenet but in order to get controls working there was a whole thing with an overlay and well never mind it was annoying to set up and annoying to use nowadays well just get this launcher combo thing here install it in the deskop mode and boom you have all the launchers you would ever want in Steam OS neat but that's not all how about emulation again previously this did cost a bit of setup time but nowadays get EMC a One-Stop shop that installs everything you need of course as always you need to have the ROMs ready but if you do geez playing dream cost games on this thing is a blissful Joy where the analog pocket recreates 8 to 16bit Perfection the steam deck well picks up right from there and well I have a really soft spot for dream cost not everything works perfectly though there are occasional glitches but sometimes the emulation feels even better than the official port on Steam itself overall this turns the steam deck into an unbelievable Powerhouse but I'm not done yet there are even more customizations you can do there's a plug-in manager called Dei which is a plethora of customizations you can change the look of Steam OS you can add proton badges that give you an indication of how well a game is going to run outside of valve's own verification badges which aren't always a true indicator valve patches will show games that they tested but it doesn't cover everything if you've ever played steam or other games on a Linux system that's where proton DB comes in this is a fantastic resource that tells you just how good a game actually runs on proton which is the compatibil layer that allows these windows games to be on Linux in the first place and therefore on the steam deck but let's continue remember those additional launchers that we installed well maybe you want to make them look a little sexier had a plugin called steam grid DB that does Just DE and Bam you get yourself some neat looking icons don't like the animation when your steam deck turns on well just change this using animation changer truly just make the deck yours not everything is for visual enjoyment though there are some really helpful plugins too if you have the 64 GB version of the deck like me and installed a truckload of games onto your 1 TB SD card the shade of Cache can fill up quite a bit until you get those storage warning signs before you had to boot up the deck in a specific way to clear it now you guessed it there is a plugin for that called storage cleaner honestly customizing the deck might be an entire zop Sher of deck entertainment alog together and it's only possible because there's such a great Community behind it and because valve really Embraces this which is another one of the deck's biggest strength if you ask me and something that could lead to a much longer lifespan than its competition since the release of the steam deck the handheld PC or mobile gaming Market has been stirred up quite a bit there have been devices before but after the steam deck it changed everyone seems to be throwing their head into the ring and I'm convinced that most of the competition isn't sure if what they have is actually what people want I don't even know if the steam deck is what people want to be honest I'm still bothered by its size despite all the other benefits for example the switch along with a battery pack airpods and a couple of other accessories including a wireless controller all fit into my travel bag the deck would never fit in there and sometimes even with the kill switch case it's still too big speaking of batteries one last must if you take the thing along for a flight or along a trip is a chunky battery bank or a power plug Al to make sure that your bank or plug can supply enough power to keep the deck alive otherwise steo will annoy you about it it's also cool if you see it on a display like on this shark gek Storm 2 slim thingy here which full disclosure was sent to me but it's still a cool Gadget and actually works really well I don't know where the whole mobile PC handheld Market is going but I believe that we're in a nice experimental phase we are seeing more quirky and weird attempts at winning over customers again and companies have so little clue that they're actually experimenting which is to the benefit of everyone but what I love most about valve's approach is their hands of attitude regarding what you do with their experiment just take this last plugin I'm showing you today called vibrant deck from the get-go I was a bit disappointed that the steam deck screen could not live up to the one on the switch OLED and I'm still waiting for somebody to to come up with an oler replacement but until then this allows you to tweak the screen saturation to get a little closer to it without costing anything at all at first I didn't want to use it thinking this would ruin the original game's intent but after comparing the same game on both systems I'm a Believer in the past or in the world of console gaming everyone always said that the console lives and dies by the games content is King the steam deck does not live by these rules because whether or not exists p games have been there before and they will continue to be there long after the deck's lifespan has ended what will keep it relevant is continued support from both Val which has been great so far but even more so of an active Community which I think sets the deck apart from every other PC handheld outer if this remains who knows how long the deck will stay alive might outlive us all hey thank you so much for watching my probably too long video about a steam deck do you have one too how was your experience with it totally agree or do you think I'm all over the place let me know down in the comments below and especially if you have any tips for the deck I'm very happy to hear it I feel that even after all this time I still know so little about this little Wonder box I left all the links to the plugins and some great tutorials on how to set up emo deck Dey and other things I've shown in the description down below anyway enjoy pumpkin season be safe and sound and see you in the next one bye

Channel: Cheese Turbulence

Views: 299,213

Keywords: valve steam deck, steam deck software review, steamos review, steamdeck review, steam deck, steam deck review, steam deck vs nintendo switch, is the steam deck worth it, steam deck gameplay, best steam deck games, best steam deck model, steam deck nintendo, steam deck switch, steam deck framerate, nintendo switch vs steam deck, steam deck emulation, steam deck games, steam deck accessories, steam deck in 2023, steam deck 2023, steam deck a year later, steam deck today

Id: ZVmU2td3vEo

Length: 17min 27sec (1047 seconds)

Published: Sat Oct 07 2023