Steamdeck or....
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Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.
I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.
So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?
Thanks all!
**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck
Just to preface, I have bias as a person who got a steam deck day 1 and love it with no plans of getting a switch 2 .
That being said it’s definitely on a per-person basis. The big differences are how comfortable you are with small “tinkering” because things work on the steam deck but small adjustments aren’t uncommon and how okay you are with not having Nintendo games like Mario Kart.
If you’re cool with both of those then I’d say Steam Deck! Otherwise waiting for the switch 2 is probably the move!
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If you don't care about Nintendo games. Go for the deck 100%
Future Nintendo games*
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Future Nintendo games*
Shshshshshsh. We don't say that part out loud
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Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.
I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.
So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?
Thanks all!
**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck
wrote last edited by [email protected]Steamdeck is better than the Switch or Switch 2, from pretty much every objective measure.
You can even get a switch emulator in your steam deck.
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Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.
I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.
So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?
Thanks all!
**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck
SD is a bit underpowered. Write down a list of games you want to play first and then check if there are SD compatible.
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Steam Deck will offer you the full steam library of games
*some exclusions apply.
Of my nearly 300 games in my library, 36 are fully steam deck certified. While another ~70 have some layer of compatibility. Leaving almost 1/3rd of my library not usable on the Steam Deck.
Some games that say not supported actually work fine. I was disappointed to not be able to play some older games like Jedi Academy, but I installed it, set a community made controller mapping, and it works with zero issues.
Sure there are some games that don't work, but a lot more do than just the ones that are steam deck certified / playable.
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ALL the gaming console companies are, INCLUDING steam once gaben dies. Even currently you dont actually own your games on steam like you would a physical copy, you have to download a crack to play your steam games without steam.
True, but Steam deck lets you boot into the Linux desktop environment of the os and you can do whatever you want with it. I have installed games and emulators outside of steam on mine pretty easily.
You could probably even put a different Linux OS on it entirely if you wanted to.
That control over the platform was the biggest selling point for me. More control even than the windows based handhelds.
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even replace your laptop
If you never bring your laptop with you and already have a second monitor, sure. Using the trackpads as a mouse kinda sucks though.
You could get one of those Bluetooth keyboard/ trackpad combos and a case with a kickstand for desktop use. Small screen but usable. I personally wouldn't replace a laptop with it, but if you didn't have a laptop it could be useful to buy one device that does handheld gaming and other stuff too instead of buying two devices
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Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.
I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.
So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?
Thanks all!
**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck
I love the steam deck. I haven't used my switch for anything other than family Mario kart since I got it. I really like having access to PC games, especially at steam sale prices, which makes the deck a lot cheaper in the long run vs Nintendo games that never go on sale. Even Pokémon games that are years old are still full price when they're 2 or 3 releases behind in the series.
The only thing I prefer about the switch is physical cartridges. The deck wins in every other category for me.
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I'm going to go against the general consensus here and say you would probably be better served buying a Switch 2. The Steam Deck is awesome but it is bulkier, has less battery life, and is overall less suited for a "pick up, play 10mins and toss is back" usage.
However if you are up for some occasional tinkering, the SD is far more versatile than the Switch and could even replace your laptop depending on your use-cases.
wrote last edited by [email protected]Battery life definitely depends on what you are playing. In BG3 I get around 2 ish hours. But I can play older games like Morrowind, or newer retro style games like Skald against the black priory (10/10, do recommend) for 6-8 hours, maybe more.
You also have a lot of control to improve battery life like clock speed, frame rate limiting, etc.
But yeah it has a huge screen and if you play newer games with good 3d graphics it drains fast. Switch doesn't really have those kinds of games so it's not a 1:1 comparison.
EDIT: I also agree with your points on it being very bulky and not well suited to a 10 minute session. Launching games is slower on the deck and most PC games have more loading screens before gameplay.
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Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.
I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.
So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?
Thanks all!
**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck
Don't give Nintendo any more money
Steam Deck
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ALL the gaming console companies are, INCLUDING steam once gaben dies. Even currently you dont actually own your games on steam like you would a physical copy, you have to download a crack to play your steam games without steam.
I don't see Sony shutting down ShadPS4 despite the fact that PS4 games are still released
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Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.
I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.
So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?
Thanks all!
**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck
Nintendo is going to lose alot of gamers this generation, they have gotten too greedy.
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I love the steam deck. I haven't used my switch for anything other than family Mario kart since I got it. I really like having access to PC games, especially at steam sale prices, which makes the deck a lot cheaper in the long run vs Nintendo games that never go on sale. Even Pokémon games that are years old are still full price when they're 2 or 3 releases behind in the series.
The only thing I prefer about the switch is physical cartridges. The deck wins in every other category for me.
As someone with a primarily physical Switch library and more than 100 Switch games, the Switch cartridges aren't even satisfying to put in and harder to store or display than consoles of old.
Even the 3DS just feels easier and more substantial. So, despite the Deck's lack of a cartridge slot, I don't even think the Deck really loses.
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Looking for some advice. My Switch Lite is approaching the end of its life and given that a Switch 2 is basically the same price as an OLED Steamdeck I was thinking it might be a good time to jump back to PC gaming.
I'm not much of a gamer. I got the Switch Lite because of portability and the ability to wake it up, play for ten minutes and then toss it back in my bag. My only beefs with the Switch ecosystem is that you can't download DLC - for Cities Skylines I have the bare game on Switch but a pile of DLC on my laptop for example.
So - would going with a Steamdeck make sense? Any gotchas I should know about? Is there a better option?
Thanks all!
**edit: y'all rock. I'm ordering an OLED Steamdeck
The deck is actually a little more expensive overall:
You cannot detatch the controllers. Need to buy a 3rd party if you don’t want to always play handheld (most 3rd party will work though)
Doesn’t come with a deck (any usb-c to HDMI dongle should work)Besides that, if you have a big steam library already , it’s pretty amazing. Cities Skyline isn’t very steam deck friendly though.
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As someone with a primarily physical Switch library and more than 100 Switch games, the Switch cartridges aren't even satisfying to put in and harder to store or display than consoles of old.
Even the 3DS just feels easier and more substantial. So, despite the Deck's lack of a cartridge slot, I don't even think the Deck really loses.
That's a good point. Also with it being a PC, you can keep a library of DRM free games on an sd card or something and kind of get the same thing. Limited on what games you can do this with officially though. DRM is the worst
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You could get one of those Bluetooth keyboard/ trackpad combos and a case with a kickstand for desktop use. Small screen but usable. I personally wouldn't replace a laptop with it, but if you didn't have a laptop it could be useful to buy one device that does handheld gaming and other stuff too instead of buying two devices
I'd still buy two, unless I don't need a laptop (i.e. phone is sufficient). The ergonomics of a decent laptop are just too good, and I really don't want to haul around a decent keyboard just to get that on a handheld PC. That said, if I'll bring both always, then I'd get a portable monitor and make the Steam Deck work, but that's a really niche case.
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Just to preface, I have bias as a person who got a steam deck day 1 and love it with no plans of getting a switch 2 .
That being said it’s definitely on a per-person basis. The big differences are how comfortable you are with small “tinkering” because things work on the steam deck but small adjustments aren’t uncommon and how okay you are with not having Nintendo games like Mario Kart.
If you’re cool with both of those then I’d say Steam Deck! Otherwise waiting for the switch 2 is probably the move!
You can just emulate Nintendo games...
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Nintendo is going to lose alot of gamers this generation, they have gotten too greedy.
One can hope. Subscription just to backup saves is what fucked me up.
