Asklemmy

Ye. I still need an expensive PC for stuff like VR, 3d modeling and game dev, but it's replaced my main PC for most games. Hell, I don't even really need an expensive PC for the shooters I enjoy because most of them are either old or indie stuff that'd run on a $300 PoS from 10yrs ago. However, it's definitely made me question the necessity of a gaming rig in this day and age. The convenience outweighs the visual downgrade by a long shot.

I do have a few things I wish the deck had, such as:

• The ability to define and bind touch-screen gestures (like binding a two-finger pinch gesture to the scroll wheel to zoom in). The touch screen is a bit useless outside of using the keyboard. It'd be nice if it had more utility.

• The ability to pick a cloud-storage provider to use for automatic 3rd-party game sync. It sucks that I can't play a non-steam game on my deck and then resume on my desktop or vice versa.

• An AMD-compatible version of DLSS or a DLSS capable processor. FSR is great, but let's be honest, DLSS is higher quality.

• The ability to suspend games to disk. Linux supposedly has this ability via CRIU, but they'd have to implement it. The ability to save-state like a console emulator would be sick.

However, I've been in love with my deck since I got it.

There are so, so, so many good games that are still fun to play today. Why do people subject themselves into the whims of companies such as Bethseda, EA, etc?

I have a good gaming PC in my living room. Still I find myself on the couch with my steam deck very often.

I've found myself using my deck way more than my PC. I've barely touched my PC since I got my deck because it can run most of the games I want to play, either natively or via proton/wine. Granted, most of the games I've been playing recently are either slow-paced and can be played with the deck controller (like The Sims 2, or OpenRCT2), or are better on a controller than m/kb (like animal crossing or mario).

I definitely still have things I still need my PC for, either because they won't run on my deck (VR stuff), are difficult to play on a deck (mainly shooters), are more suited for a physical keyboard (filling out forms), or the deck can technically handle but doesn't have performance to do it well (like 3d modeling or game dev). However, my deck has become my main PC when it comes to games.

Absolutely. The Steam Deck is a gaming PC, but handheld. The iGPU in the Deck is approximately equivilent to an RX 580, for reference.

Yes. Barely touch my switch, use my steam deck all the time. For me it's the library that makes the difference. Switch is just the switch library, while the steam deck can play just about anything a PC can play + just about any emulatable consoles (including the switch). I've actually been slowly downloading ROM versions of my switch games so I can play them on my steam deck. It sucks not to have the online capability or being unable to sync my saves with my switch, but meh.

I barely got much usage out of my switch but the Steam Deck has been well worth it. I like the customizability, ability to emulate, bulkier build that feels more like holding an actual controller, and larger game library. I love playing rogue-likes on it like Hades, Slay the Spire, and Balatro. Really good combination for quick pick up and play sessions.

It's definitely worth it. Since you game on PC, you already have a library of games for it, and steam sales frequently let you get games for pennies on the dollar.