{"id":491,"date":"2022-06-30T20:42:49","date_gmt":"2022-06-30T20:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/?p=491"},"modified":"2022-09-13T09:23:44","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T09:23:44","slug":"short-review-steam-deck","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/2022\/06\/30\/short-review-steam-deck\/","title":{"rendered":"Short Review: Steam Deck"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Short Review: Steam Deck<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Source: Valve<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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For today, I’d like to talk about my experience with the steam deck so far. I’ve owned a steam deck for several months; however, it feels more like just under two weeks. There’s a good reason for that, as most of my time over the last three months was spent waiting for a replacement. My first Steam Deck’s bumper buttons stopped working after four days, and my second Steam Deck had malfunctioning trackpads, followed by a third RMA that had the same issues. It’s clear Valve has some apparent manufacturing issues. The fact that I got the same trackpad issue twice in a row proves that.<\/p>

However, I’d like to focus on the infinite possibilities of the Steam Deck when it’s fully functional. The most significant advantage is access to a whole Linux desktop experience. Being able to download and play games outside of my 100+ library of Steam games is insane and unmatched by any home\/mobile console. For example, let’s say I wanted to play a PS2 game; I’m a few clicks away from having a nearly perfect emulation of Ace Combat 5. By contrast, it is almost impossible to play PS2 games on the PS5 outside their limited library of retro games. Also, the controls are fantastic, the joysticks feel precise, the trackpads have excellent haptics, and most buttons have a satisfying press. Almost every game outside Destiny 2 has run great on the deck, especially CloudPunk. For any PC gamer, this is a must-have device as buying a game on PC now means being able to play it almost anywhere. The hi-fi audio is also great, although I wish it had more depth.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Source: Valve<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Before you buy one, there are a few problems with the Stream Deck. For starters, the fan is loud, almost too loud. Some software and hardware updates have improved the noise, but packing so much power into such a small device is a significant thermal challenge. Another cost of the impressive hardware is the short battery life. While playing CloudPunk, a graphically demanding game, I only get around 2 hours of battery life at 30 FPS, which is incredibly disappointing as I wish to play it for hours upon hours in bed, far away from any charger. Also, as I mentioned before, there is a reliability concern. Based on the fact that I’ve had 3 Steam decks, and all of them have broken, it isn’t easy to be optimistic about the hardware’s reliability. To quell these concerns, Valve has partnered with iFixit to sell replacement parts, so for users out of warranty; there are options for fixing the device. Although doing a battery replacement on the deck seems almost impossible<\/a>.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Source: iFixit<\/figcaption>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/figure>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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So, the steam deck is an excellent piece of hardware with fantastic open software that makes you want to jump ship from Windows to Linux, but like anything in life, it has its downsides. A short battery life, loud fan, and the fact that I’ve had to return 3 of them significantly suppress my enthusiasm for the device. Also, Valve is known for not supporting hardware long-term. For example, look at the steam controller, steam link, steam machine, and even to some extent, the Valve Index. Despite all the red flags, I still hope my 4th Steam deck will finally be the perfect device I expected to receive back when I pre-ordered in October.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Short Review: Steam Deck Source: Valve For today, I’d like to talk about my experience with the steam deck so far. I’ve owned a steam deck for several months; however,Continue readingShort Review: Steam Deck<\/span><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_header_footer","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-backend","category-blog"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=491"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688,"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/491\/revisions\/688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theratlabs.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}