Steam Deck Review & Deep Dive - SD Cards, Desktop, Epic & Gog, Windows, vs. a Laptop and More

VIDEO INDEX:
00:00 - Intro
01:28 - Pricing & Models
02:33 - Processor
03:09 - Display
04:10 - RAM
04:29 - WiFi
04:51 - Battery Life
05:16 - Fan Noise
05:58 - Ports & Controls
08:10 - SD Card Support and Advice
09:40 - Weight & Build Quality
10:04 - SteamOS & Windows Games
13:16 - Gameplay: No Man's Sky & Ace Combat 7
15:01 - Gameplay: SD Card Boot
15:56 - Gameplay: Doom Eternal (SD Card)
16:38 - Gameplay: Red Dead Redemption 2
17:35 - Statistics Panel
18:20 - GOG & Epic Games
19:17 - Gameplay: Ghostbusters Remastered (Epic Games)
20:10 - Desktop Mode
22:05 - Running Windows & Game Pass
22:48 - Gameplay: Ori And The Blind Forest (Game Pass)
23:34 - Controller Compatibility Issues
23:51 - Get a laptop instead?
25:18 - 3DMark TimeSpy Benchmark
26:48 - Conclusion

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[MetalJesusRocks]

I’ve been LOVING my Steam Deck. Playing it almost every day now.

[zirbs]

Nice review! Couple things I'll mention based on my experience:
The 40hz screen mode is really nice for more demanding titles like rdr2, and gives you more smoothness than 30hz and better battery than 60hz.
Finding a laptop with compatable gaming performance for $400 specifically, might be tough. I'm guessing the other devices benchmarked were at different price points.
My wife and I each have decks, and there is no useable performance difference I've seen between her 64gb model and my 512. The SD card works great, and is a totally valid option.
And one of the biggest conveniences is the ability to suspend the whole system at any time just like the switch, something I always assumed was impossible for PC games. As a parent with little kids, it's really nice.
Hope you enjoy yours, and I'm curious to see how your impressions evolve over time!

[exodous]

Wow, just wow. Your video is so much better than any other video I've seen on the Steam Deck. Valve needs to send you a Steam Deck 2 before anyone else.

[Dondeath]

I like how I signed up with the preorder for like a year ago and I'm stuck watching videos of everyone else showing it off. Awesome video!

[ilannguaqjonathansen]

A technical detail about SteamOS: originally, it was a Debian based OS, but is now Arch based, presumably for better optimizaiton and customizability

[dp]

Really appreciate how thorough all of your reviews are. You are the best around.

[jmr]

Watched your Rog Ally video tonight. I think the Steam Deck would be a better fit for me. Thanks for the great reviews!

[ecmyersvids]

Even though I've had my Steam Deck for a few weeks and have been enjoying it, I was hoping you'd get one to review, and I definitely learned some new things about what I can do with it. Thanks especially for the tip about the A2 micro SD cards!

[TroutButter]

My 512GB Deck is on the way and will be here tomorrow (July 8). I already have my 1TB A2 SanDisk Extreme microSD card ready to go and one of the first things I'm doing is setting up Emulation Station and other emulation things and getting massive amount of ROMs copied over.

[EightPieceBox]

I just got the email that I could order my Steam Deck this morning. I pre-ordered maybe 4-5 hours after they started, so it was almost 1 month per hour. Hopefully they pick up the pace.

[epicnoble]

What’s really cool is that the device gets 215 ppi at 800p resolution. That’s more PPI than most 4K televisions around 91 ppi. So this screen is at a pixel density rate very sharp from a PPI perspective. It was a good move to hit this performance and pixel density!

[GameTimeWhy]

Thanks for covering GOG! I have been trying to get other channels to show how to do it for a while now and have been met with "I don't use gog" as a common response. It's especially weird when they also talk about being drm free supporters.

[michelletoni]

I struggle to find a reason not to have one of these, I love it, Graphics R insane, speakers are loud, Fit is comfortable, Emulate games of the past well, I got the 512 NVMe & its very fast, its just great, the hype is real. Its powerful.

[JeffBreyer]

Thanks for this. So many outlets reviewed the heck out of the steamdeck at the beginning and then dropped coverage altogether.

[jothain]

That's really cool. I have bunch of stuff from Gog and thought this would be absolutely incompatible with them without Windows install. Cool Steam. Might actually grab one 👍

[FilmComposr]

As someone who owned a Asus G14 gaming laptop I would say the quick resume function alone immediately sets it apart from a laptop.

[locodez]

Just FYI you don’t need Windows to run GamePass. Microsoft has instructions on how to run GamePass via Edge and Cloud Gaming in the SteamOS interface.

[jonneymendoza]

Does the heroic game launcher allow you to install ea origin games too?

[fredmaldonado]

I started off on a PC with Steam. I think I'll stay with a PC for my games. Thank you for the laptop recommendation. I really appreciate that.

[bland]

Didn't Microsoft give detailed instructions on how to get game pass working on the steam deck? something to do with installing the edge browser?