Ten New Things You Need To Know About The Steam Deck (Two Week Edition)

After playing with my Steam Deck pretty much non-stop for the last two weeks, I've gathered what I feel are the ten things you need to know about this neat little device.

I'll tell you about emulation, compatibility, controls, issues that users have reported and a lot more!

Links/Videos Mentioned

Chapter Jumps
00:00 - Intro
00:09 - Bumper
00:12 - You'll Be Amazed at What Works Right Out Of The Box
01:16 - Crazy Comfortable, But Tiny Hands Need Not Apply
02:40 - Controls Are King and Deck is Royalty
05:05 - The Bigger Screen Certainly Matters
07:00 - There Really Is A Full Computer In There
08:46 - Forget About Windows For Now
10:55 - Despite the Polish, Expect A Few Bumps
12:50 - Battery Life; A Problem YOU Can Control
15:12 - Issues Others Have Seen; But I Have Not
18:04 - The Best Overall Value for Emulation
20:08 - Closing Comments

[WeberMathPlus]

Thanks for the overview! Your summaries at the beginning of each section were helpful.

[thomasmarinak]

great review Shane!!! I am always shocked that your videos dont have thousands of views.

[PixelShade]

awesome video mate.

For those who are concerned about battery life. A great way to deal with it is just force the maximum TDP and then choose a game settings which offer good enough performance. I have found that most demanding AAA games work just fine at 8W while locking them to 30fps resulting in over 3 hours of playtime. Cyberpunk is probably the most demanding game out there and it works great at 8W at 30fps. I chose the "low preset", then increase "ambient occlusion" to medium and "screen-space reflections" from off to low and with that you have a very attractive portable version of Cyberpunk. choose FSR 'Ultra Quality' (or even 'Quality') upscaling to get rid of frame drops below 30fps and save even more battery life. If you don't limit the TDP the battery will drain quickly. So really, if you want to play the most demanding games. 3 hours is achievable on the Steam Deck. Or just play low-end titles during longer travels. Indie games and emulation I have been able to have anything from 5 hours to 9 hours of battery life. :) So really, you can have a great deal of fun even on a long flight. GBA games last about 8.5 hours.

[laggy_luke]

I appreciate the amount of work you've put into that video.
Well done!

[ThrashWolf]

Tiny hands here, applied and loving it. Your mileage may vary, and it did feel weird the first 15 mins, but it feels like a joy to hold!

[chadaustin]

Another terrific video. THANK YOU for saving me hours of time trying to get Windows to work. You are a man of the people! Nice Kirk reference too.

[schMggi]

Nice video!

About the screen magnifier:
Funny, seconds ago you are talking about the big possibilities of Steam Input, yet you're criticizing the mapping for it.
Just configure one button, comfortable for you, to toggle the zoom magnifier on / off and you are fine. It's on the category "system".
You're welcome. :D

[trickster]

As someone with small hands I can assure everyone here that it feels amazing to hold and all buttons are reachable with no issues.

[_like_a_zombie_]

great video, still waiting for my deck🙁

[aldershot]

I have small hands and its fine for me. My niece is 5 and she plays with it. Kind of a bad take. Everything else is pretty good though

[shadoww]

0:36 Points for having Pico-8 in your game list there.
Nice range of topics and good to see someone without any issues.
Wish everyone could get their reserved deck already but atleast it's moving at a fair pace.
I hope to try some old DOS and Windows 3.1/95 games via Wine/Proton on the go.

[uba]

I find the battery issue really depends on what you play.

Personally, I play more simple games and emulators and the battery lasts a long time for me. If you run something like Elden Ring or another AAA then yeah the battery will drain quick.

[PocketPixelPortablePower]

The back paddles remind me of the ps vita touchpad.

[zonavelhalpma]

The deck is going to retain its value for long time .