Crikey mate! It’s getting steamy down under. Steamy thanks to Valve because the Steam Deck will officially be available in Australia on November 19th at 10 am AEDT. These following models will be available at the following prices:
• 256GB LCD: $649.00 AUD
• 512GB OLED: $899.00 AUD
• 1TB OLED: $1049.00 AUD
Thanks to Valve, I’ve spent some time with the Deck OLED 1 TB edition for the past week and a half, and oh boy…it’s a glorious console. It should also be noted that this has a fancy anti-glare screen and storage expandability options. But how does a console gamer like myself actually find the Deck? Let’s discuss! I’ve broken this review into sections that I thought were important to look at when buying a Steam Deck.
This is a big unit… I thought I knew that it was a big console before getting my hands on one, and I was totally wrong. Comparing it to my regular Switch and Switch Lite, this thing is like Godzilla looking down on them. Thankfully, though, it’s comfortable and easy to use. Over the past week and a half, I’ve never had any hand cramps while using the deck, nor have I felt the need to stretch my fingers and hands to reach for the triggers or trackpads. I did, however, take some time getting used to the A, B, X and Y button layouts, which was a me problem because I’ve played so much Switch!
Being big, you’d think it may be a little heavy. That’s a valid concern, considering this will be in your hands 99% of the time. It weighs 640 grams, which is actually lighter than the original Deck at 669 grams due to the LCD screen. Thankfully, it’s not too bad. It’s obviously got some distinguishable weight to it which you’ll notice, especially if you’re like me coming from the Switch. Workmanship here is also fantastic, with the plastics and buttons feeling nice and clicky, as well as responsive and a beautiful OLED screen that is vibrant and pops with colour.
My first impression was that this is a gateway device to PC gaming. I have always been a console gamer. I find it easier and more enjoyable to have a console, put the game in and connect the controllers. Plug and play to put it simply. I tend to think of PC gaming as tinkering a lot with drivers and settings. Don’t get me wrong; I have a gaming laptop… but I hardly use it. I’d say I use it more to edit videos than play games. This is where the Deck comes into play… get it? Play? Haha. The Deck feels so easy to navigate and user-friendly that I sometimes forget it’s a handheld PC. It feels so streamlined; you wanna play Deck-compatible games? Just buy them if you haven’t already, install them and get playing! It’s literally that easy.
Now, this is an operating system that runs on Linux, meaning you can most definitely have the freedom to customise settings, frames, and the amount of energy it all uses – however, instead of feeling overwhelmed with this, I found it fun? This surprised me because if it was on my laptop, I’d have checked out and given up but the Deck’s ease of use made it so digestible to take in and understand. There’s even an option to switch to Desktop mode and use it as a regular computer for things that you’d like to download outside of Steam – people who want to emulate or download other programs know what I mean. This is a versatile unit and I adore it.
The Deck’s performance is nothing to scoff at – this thing is a mighty beast for handheld gaming! Inside the beast we have a 50Wh battery, an AMD APU CPU with Processor CPU Speed: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32) and 16BG of LPDDR5 RAM. The Deck provides smooth picture quality and gameplay with a 90Hz refresh rate, a resolution of 1280 x 800 x RGB, a screen size of 7.4″, and an HDR OLED display!
Now, bear with me – that is a lot of nerdy numbers stuff, I know. But all that means is that it can provide the gaming experiences we’ve wanted for years! Performance-wise when playing games, it’s been an amazing experience – I’ve had Rocket League running at 90 frames, with occasional dips to 75 frames. I’ve had Phasmophobia playing at 60 frames in some parts, with dips to 45 frames and I’ve had Half-Life 2 playing at 90 frames, steadily. There is lots of tweaking of settings you can play with here for different performance in frame rates, like limiting the frame rate to 40fps in some games, making it feel smoother as a whole.
I really wanted to test out Spider-Man Miles Morales (goated game btw) and oh my it was an amazing experience. At first, it was running from 30-45 frames. I tweaked the settings of the v-synch, frame limiter, and graphics and got a fluctuating 70+ frames. I then decided to tweak some more and ended up with a consistent 60 fps with some dips here and there. But to have what felt like an at-home console experience in bed or in the car was mind-blowing! .
Graphics-wise, this has some beautiful games – however, just don’t go expecting PS5 levels of quality – it is a handheld after all. When compared to my Switch, because that’s the only other recent handheld I own, it is clear that the Deck provides sharper, more vibrant images and smoother frames. Just a note: Dan Morris, who’s another creator here on CouchSoup actually did a side-by-side comparison between the Deck and the ROG Ally – so if you want a better look at performance comparison, I would heavily suggest reading his article.
As I get older, I find myself having less time to play games in front of the TV. Life commitments build up and when I do have time, I find myself in bed. The Portability of this console is an absolute God send!!!! I have used this as my main console for almost 2 weeks now and haven’t missed playing my Switch, my PS5 or my Series X. Why is that? You may be asking, considering the Switch is also portable. Well, because the Deck provides a more balanced experience – ease of use, quality, more affordable games, great battery life, and smoother performance, especially for on the go.
This comes with a carry case and a smaller protective case inside… it took me way too long to figure out the smaller case inside actually detaches… anyway, this is perfect for carrying in your bag and playing during bus rides, plane trips, and visits to the park for some sunlight (yes, we gamers like vitamin D too!) My only downside to this is it’s friggin huge, I found myself really only playing it in bed or around the house and I didn’t really take it out with me.
I can definitely imagine taking it with me on my next holiday because I’ve previously taken my Switch, so it’s logical to assume this will take its place. It’s not all portable fyi, it’s a little like the Switch; it can dock to a TV or monitor, and you can use it as a little pc. It should be noted that I haven’t tried this as of yet. But just so you’re all aware.
Honestly, in my time so far, there aren’t many cons – my biggest one is that it feels limited at some points with games not being Deck-compatible – in some cases, this is due to the anti-cheat alias on Linux not working with other games, other times its because the games weren’t developed for the deck, the latter being incredibly small. A huge pro is that this could be a great and more affordable way to enter PC gaming.
The Deck provides a glorious experience, cheap games that go on sale so often, ease of use if you’re new to PC gaming, it’s comfortable even though it’s big (giggity), the screen is gorgeous, and the battery life has been wonderful on the OLED model despite what I’ve heard people say. The fan never gets too loud when running games and temps seem to stay at normal levels. I don’t think I can fault it, other than maybe making the next iteration more powerful.
Sure, it may not be the most powerful handheld compared to others on the market, but I feel like it is one of the most well-rounded and user-friendly.
