Hi all,
I currently have a Nintendo Switch, which I’ve had for a few years, and it’s crap. It lags like no tomorrow, I suffer from latency issues with the controller, e.g. skill checks have been and gone and so I can’t hit them, and the controller itself is hard to use, even for someone with small hands. The render quality is also awful. It’s likely dying.
I’d like a new console to play from my bed when I can’t be bothered going on my PC, and the Steam Deck seems perfect. It means I don’t have to buy all the games again, I can play from my save/progress point. I also like being able to have my games portable and my partner can play his games whilst at my house or vice versa. I play boring basic games like Dead by Daylight. I also may want to emulate at some point.
I’d like to use it from it’s dock, but I’d like to know how effective it is as a docked console.
How is the latency when playing games?
Can I use an xbox/PS4 wireless controller?
Can I plug my headphones into my controller?
What are it’s speed/processing like? Does it struggle or is it quite happy? E.g. Dbd on Switch takes 1 minute to load in each game and it tries to crash.
Is there anything I’m missing that’s important?
idk why people are shitting on you and saying the deck isnt for you. sure there might be some alternatives you can use just for at-home stuff but the deck is plenty capable. for me, i have a switch and a deck - i mostly play docked at home but when i want to take it with me the portability is great. so if youre like me and occasionally want to take it out with you on your travels, the deck and a dock is a great investment. it can struggle with running AAA games, often this is helped later with patches or strategically turning the graphics down so it still looks good but runs smoother, so as long as you have tempered expectations for that then thats cool. there are tons of games on steam that arent AAA games though that run beautifully.
i love playing my deck docked, but be warned not every game works docked - some dont run on the deck at all (proton.db is great for checking this) and some do run on the deck but external controllers dont work, or they run but with some tweaking done first. its not like the switch where it just works and no tinkering is needed for the game to work. for games that cant use external controllers, a keyboard & mouse are a great addition (even in bed, just put the mouse on a book or something) and a dock has usb ports for dongles or wires or whatever, or bluetooth is an option too. a kb+m is also great if you want to go into desktop mode and set up emulators and stuff, just makes it easier to do it all, especially if its docked. you can get a more basic kb+m and theres even fold-up ones for if you want to travel with them.
i havent noticed any issues with latency.
yep!
depends, some models have faster hard drives than others and it also depends if you use a microsd or not - beefy games can struggle with loading times when installed onto microsd, so i install those directly onto the internal storage and put indie games/lighter games on the microsd.
i had my switch first and got my deck a few years later and the only thing i miss is the ability to easily take/share screenshots and clips like the switch can. but it does have the versatility of being docked and portable like the switch, and even though some games can need a bit of messing around to make work and some games dont work at all, the general experience ive had is that ive been able to get all my games to work. again, protondb helps. i have about 150 games installed and i have about 10 that can only be played handheld because it doesnt work docked for some reason (usually that it doesnt recognise the external controller). desktop mode can also be really good for a lightweight pc, i play minecraft on mine very easily, watch youtube/netflix etc when i want to watch docked on the big tv screen rather than my small laptop screen.
idk why people here are getting weird about “people wanting to use the deck for things it wasnt made for”, it has an official dock available for a reason and if people wanna play it docked they can, its literally a function deliberately made for it. its not like anyones any less valid because they want to play docked 95-100% of the time instead of only handheld. the beauty of devices like this is that you have the ability to use it however works best for you. for some people, its handheld. for others, docked. for others, both.
another plus is that the games go on sale more often than nintendo, the discounts are bigger, and the sales are more frequent. base price for games is also consistently several $ cheaper on steam vs the same game on switch. and since steam is pc based, if you want to play on your pc you can, and any future valve devices will also be able to play the same games since its all compatible.
one minor drawback is that browsing the shop on steam deck kinda sucks, i mostly use my phone (though this sucks too) and my pc to browse and buy games, then install them via my deck.
just my experience and thoughts with it, hope it helps 👍