I Finally Got a Steam Deck After 7 Months - It’s Amazing!

After 7 months of trying, I finally have a Steam Deck. In this first-look video on the Steam Deck, I cover some of the challenges I faced to get a Deck, along with my initial impressions of the controls, performance, and software of the device after two weeks of testing.

Disclaimer: This video includes affiliate links. Anything you purchase from those links helps support the channel.

[FireDragonD]

The steam deck has changed my gaming habits. I haven’t touched a traditional console in months!! Great job Valve. I like the idea of owning your game and it stays with you regardless of the hardware. Thats how it should be. Buy a game once.

[chickenpasta]

I’m glad to finally see a review from you on this. I got mine a month ago and I love it. It’s such an awesome machine for both PC games and emulation. With that said, I honestly do feel bad that you had to get one from a scalper and Valve should’ve been more communicative since they started the initial conversation on the review unit.

[davidmcmanus]

Your hardware issues are odd and point to someone opening it or dropping it. The shells being off centre, the gaps between front and back are not normal

[artofwar]

The Steam Deck planted a big flag and set the standard for handheld PCs. Although we had other options, they were quite expensive and the performance often left a lot to be desired. The Steam Deck is that porridge that is not too hot or cold. The race has begun and we're already seeing competitors try and out-do Valve. This competition will yield the best handhelds we've ever seen. I can't wait to see what the future holds. I won't be surprised if Sony or Microsoft toys with the idea of having their games officially supported in handhelds be it by either making PC ports like Sony has been doing, or releasing a platform-locked device like the PSVita but that seems much less likely as exclusivity in games is not as important as selling the games themselves.

[FlergerBergitydersh]

A couple of points:

-You may have gotten an earlier model. Those would tend to have quieter fans but worse build quality. This also affects the stiffness and tactility of virtually every button on the device, which have been universally improved over time.
-Dual trackpad typing works way better than touch screen typing (It may seem awkward at first but you can get decent speeds with practice).
-SD card use is amazing on this device. All you need is a decent one (over 100mb/s won't matter) and to set it as the default install location, and you can basically forget it. No issues with high loading times or anything, and it leaves plenty of space open for flatpaks and other software to be installed on the internal SSD, which is important for the 256gb and lower models.

I look forward to your future videos. You are pretty much my favorite content creator for this type of stuff.

[Sevent]

I've reserved mine a bit over a year ago and it's finally in shipment from the Netherlands to Poland, now every day of waiting is torture but I also dread the delivery hoping it will come un damaged.

[fivestarboy]

Im glad people still are making videos even after so many reviews are out leaving positive feedback ! Hyped for future generations of the deck which got confirmed in the new deck book

[songoku]

Steam deck is an emulation dream. Being able to play the Tekken games, GameCube, PS2 on this thing with 4+ hours battery life is the dream.

[liothesilverwing]

Some of the build quality issues you're mentioning, like the uneven sides, the difference in trackpad rumble strength, and the screen rattling are not things I've seen with any other Deck, including my own. I have a sinking feeling the scalper might have banged up the unit you have there a bit before selling it.

[arijeanz]

the steam deck will mark a clear before and after in the handheld market and the gaming industry as a whole. it is just very very competitive and no other handheld can touch it

[mrburns]

Taki has so many handhelds that it never occurred to me that he didn't have a Steam Deck already. lol

[CrystallineLore]

Wow, I didn't realize you didn't have one yet. I've fallen in love with mine and it's just so hard to be excited by anything other than news of Steam Deck 2 already, haha. It's not perfect, but the bang for buck, overal build quality, and the raw potential backed by Valve themselves, is just impossible to beat, even by Aya Neo.

On top of that, for those of us already used to chinese emulation handhelds, the quirks of Steam OS are basically nothing lmao.

[SirMo]

I bought a Steam Deck only because I have a large Steam library. Didn't really think I was going to like it, since I'm not really a console gamer, for instance I only finished one game on my ps4 pro. Wow. This thing is a game changer. I am gaming every day on this thing. I bring it with me in my car when I go places too. It really has plenty of performance to run all the games I play. I tweak settings too to make it less battery hungry and I get more battery life I used to get on my old 3ds. Well done Valve and AMD!

[waffle]

I get the impression that, for all of the screen's drawbacks, it was very carefully chosen for best mobile user experience on the basis of total system power consumption and usability in wide range of ambient lighting conditions.

[OneMindNoLimit]

Taki: "I might just buy a second one."
Internet: "You what???"

[lordhashimoto]

You're dedication to yours craft is something to be admired. Good stuff my man!

[Argonisgema]

Wow the nerve of some of those people.
Even the guy that sold it to you reversing it AFTER SELLING IT TO YOU just cause he later found someone wanting to buy it for more money.

Just no ethics.

[DanceswithCoreans]

I'm an American living in the Middle East and I had my brother send a Steam Deck to me and it was totally worth it! Glad you got yours

[Auchaser]

Valve really did a mic drop moment on handheld PCs and emulation market.

[ElainaLycan]

The fact that these people kept selling the device AFTER you paid really upsets me as this situation has happened to me numerous other times in the past as well, I'm so sorry to hear that happened to you. Absolutely despicable.