7/6/2024

Steam Deck impressions

1 Week with the Steam Deck OLED, with exciting accessories

Steam Deck, lit with purple light for maximum atmosphere.

I'm planning to do a lot of travelling this year, which is a really convenient excuse to buy a Steam Deck. I finally took the plunge and ordered a Steam Deck (OLED, 1TB) from Valve. Here's my first impressions, plus the items I've bought in order to travel with it.

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Impressions

I'm astounded by the Deck. The quality of the screen is unbelievable - that OLED really pops, and at 90hz. The Deck itself is surprisingly light, really useful when you're holding it for long periods.

The power is amazing - while it can't run AAA games at top spec, I am amazed at what it can run. It chews up older games for breakfast and they've never looked so good. You can play older, great games and it doesn't break a sweat.

Very few games have outright issues - it's worth checking on ProtonDB for any games you need to know about. I'm enjoying playing Just Cause 3 (the best Just Cause) in 60fps.

I did buy Fallen Aces expecting it to work seamlessly but it seems quite broken and hard crashes the Deck. However, as this is a new game in early access I am sure they will fix up the Deck compatibility.

I was weighing up other game consoles, such as the ROG Ally or the Legion Go, but none of them have the combination of inputs (touchpads, mostly) that Steam has. While they ship with Windows which is useful for compatibility, it is still Windows. Hopefully Microsoft have something in the works to improve Windows on handhelds - and maybe an Xbox handheld of their own.

Protecting the investment

The Deck isn't a cheap device. I really wanted a case to protect it, with a kickstand. The JSAUX case was the front runner, and it works really well. The triggers on the back are slightly exposed, but I don't think they'd get damaged.

There is also the Dbrand Killswitch, which is great, but much more pricey and ships from the US.

I also popped on a screen protector - all bubbles are my fault.

The JSAUX case with the front snapped onto the Steam Deck for protection.

Extra accessories

For travelling, I bought a 75w travel adaptor, which should cover me for EU/NA/Aus. It has plenty of USB-C out, so I can use it for my phone too. Hopefully this should be the only charger I need. I'm amazed to see a 75w charger in this form, modern technology is great.

I bought a UGreen 20,000 mAh 100w battery, which should help with keeping the Deck juiced up. I threw in some 100w cables for good measure.

I chose the TomToc carry bag to carry all this, as it looked like it had the right combo of space to convenience.

I did consider the new Mechanism/Deckmate Inventory Sling Bag, which looks gorgeous, but it was pricier and while they were very helpful on email, I wasn't prepared to wait for it to arrive from the US to find out it was too small. It does look lovely though. Use this link for a $10 discount on Mechanism.

All of this fits snugly in the tomtoc bag, even with the JSAUX modcase on the Deck. I'm going to try and squeeze my Kindle in there too...

The items from the bag laid out on the floor - Steam Deck, charger, battery and 2 cables.

Close up of the Steam Deck, showing the Steam UI focused on Just Cause 3

Minor annoyance

The Steam Deck comes with a really nice official case - on the 1TB model, the liner can even be removed for a mini-case! It also has a neat little back cubby for your charger. However, the UK charger is too large to fit into this little cubby.

Thankfully, the charger that comes with the Deck is now 2.5m, so this charger can happily sit in the house and be the Deck's home until I decide if I need to buy a dock.