*** The Official Steam Deck Thread ***

[TNA]

I'm thinking of going mac os as its a more fleshed out polished Unix/Linux os

Can't stand mac personally. I want to stay Windows, but if MS push me I will go SteamOS.

 

[jrwagh333]

I'm thinking of going mac os as its a more fleshed out polished Unix/Linux os

And a walled garden

 

[jonneymendoza]

And a walled garden

A thinkpad equivalent costs the same ish aka the X/p1 extreme

 

[jrwagh333]

A thinkpad equivalent costs the same ish aka the X/p1 extreme

Why are we talking Macs and Thinkpads in the Steam deck thread

 

[jonneymendoza]

Why are we talking Macs and Thinkpads in the Steam deck thread

Read the last few posts on why....

 

[CGrieves]

But since there's zero chance of reliably running stable MacOS on a steam deck, not to mention modern MacOS being Arm based, I also wonder... why is it even being discussed?

Edit: And why am I continuing that discussion?

 

[Guest2]

RPCS3 on Steam Deck is quite impressive. Aliens Colonial marines runs flawlessly and looks really nice on the deck.

I was hoping for PS2 gaming but wasnt expecting it to run some of the PS3 library perfectly

 

[Josh]

Can I have some recommends for:

Carry case
Micro SD (512/256)
Screen protector

Thanks all

 

[Guest2]

Can I have some recommends for:

Carry case
Micro SD (512/256)
Screen protector

Thanks all

I've got this case and SD card, cant say for the screen protector

tomtoc Carrying Case Compatible with Steam Deck, Protective case, Hard Portable Travel Carrying bag for Steam Deck Console & Accessories, Shockproof, Travel friendly

Samsung Evo Plus microSD SDXC U3 Class 10 A2 Memory Card 130MB/s with SD Adapter 2021 (512GB)

 

[Josh]

I've got this case and SD card, cant say for the screen protector

tomtoc Carrying Case Compatible with Steam Deck, Protective case, Hard Portable Travel Carrying bag for Steam Deck Console & Accessories, Shockproof, Travel friendly

Samsung Evo Plus microSD SDXC U3 Class 10 A2 Memory Card 130MB/s with SD Adapter 2021 (512GB)

Thanks bud, how do you find using the MicroSD for running games?

 

[Guest2]

Thanks bud, how do you find using the MicroSD for running games?

This is KdiskMark

Internal 256GB SSD

512GB Samsung Evo Plus

 

[Guest2]

Storage wise, i've been doing some digging.

256GB Steam Deck version
Games 2.4GB, Other 42.26GB, Free 182.15GB

What is this 'other' folder?
It's not Shader Cache & Compatdata, there is some but not 42GB.

Turns out its just the OS, system data and swapfile.
I have installed proton with some DX9 and C++ compatibility tools so there a few GB of that.
-------
Devices > Home > Deck. Deck = 18.9GB

Devices > Home - 41.2GB

Inside Home
SteamOS - 6.4GB
Deck - 18.9GB (15.9GB in Disk Usage Analyzer)
Doorstep - Symbolic link
Lost & Found - minimal
Swapfile - 16GB

Total 41.3GB

Update
I've done a factory reset, down to 3.17GB 'other' - much better! Clearly not 40GB of OS and Pagefile.
Adding proton tools, emudeck, cryo utilities its back to 25GB. A big chunk is the 16GB pagefile.

 

[CGrieves]

Can I have some recommends for:

Carry case
Micro SD (512/256)
Screen protector

Thanks all

For a case, I'd reccommend not a case- check post 3396 in this thread (page 170 for me). More of a skin with a removable screen cover which is much more convenient for use on the move, and it still fits in the official case.

Called ProCase on a popular retail site, and currently a tenner off at £20.

 

[Cromulent]

I'm in the market for a gaming PC and a Linux system. I was going to get a gaming laptop with dual SSDs (one for Windows and one for Linux), and Windows would just be used for gaming but thinking about it, the Steam Deck with the Steam Dock might be the perfect option. I could play my steam games on it and I could use Linux as a desktop OS with a monitor plugged in.

Are there any downsides to this idea? It would cost £650 which seems reasonable.

 

[manic111]

I'm in the market for a gaming PC and a Linux system. I was going to get a gaming laptop with dual SSDs (one for Windows and one for Linux), and Windows would just be used for gaming but thinking about it, the Steam Deck with the Steam Dock might be the perfect option. I could play my steam games on it and I could use Linux as a desktop OS with a monitor plugged in.

Are there any downsides to this idea? It would cost £650 which seems reasonable.

I've researched this and it looked really tempting to me. I've only not gone ahead as I'm currently playing through TOTK on my Switch so the Deck would sit gathering dust for the next few months, but once I'm through that I'll be picking one up with the same intention. The desktop OS looks really decent.

 

[Cromulent]

I've researched this and it looked really tempting to me. I've only not gone ahead as I'm currently playing through TOTK on my Switch so the Deck would sit gathering dust for the next few months, but once I'm through that I'll be picking one up with the same intention. The desktop OS looks really decent.

Thank you. I think I'm going to go through some YouTube videos and see what other people do.

 

[mountaincow]

I'm in the market for a gaming PC and a Linux system. I was going to get a gaming laptop with dual SSDs (one for Windows and one for Linux), and Windows would just be used for gaming but thinking about it, the Steam Deck with the Steam Dock might be the perfect option. I could play my steam games on it and I could use Linux as a desktop OS with a monitor plugged in.

Are there any downsides to this idea? It would cost £650 which seems reasonable.

You could certainly do this and I imagine it would be a fraction of the price of a gaming laptop.
You should temper your expectations though, as when running at higher resolutions you're going to struggle with some games. It's still very serviceable. I have mine ready to dock next to the desktop so we can co-op game sometimes.

Using as a workstation would be totally doable too. If you are inclined to work a bit harder than windows. I switched to Linux back when the deck was announced and wanted to mirror the experience, so went with arch and KDE plasma. I had planned to dual boot, but never booted back into windows once after, and while some things are painful at first, that pain soon goes away.
I think the most annoying thing for me was finding a decent replacement for my fan control setup, but that's sorted.

 

[arty]

I’ve done a bit of this, but the main thing I’ve struggled with is sorting out proper root access in the desktop (for installing packages etc) - seems very faffy for some reason. Need to have another look at that.

 

[Cromulent]

I’ve done a bit of this, but the main thing I’ve struggled with is sorting out proper root access in the desktop (for installing packages etc) - seems very faffy for some reason. Need to have another look at that.

My plan was to install OpenSUSE Tumbleweed on it which I know already works well with games on Steam. I'm not sure of the process of installing it onto a device like the Steam Deck though.

 

[Guest2]

If its any help I paid £350 for a 256GB version boxed with 512GB SD card, carry case, rubber case from these forums.

Then have bought;

Stand dock for £8.99 'Stand Dock for Steam Deck, Adjustable Stand Base Compatible with Steam Deck, Anti-Slip Foldable Deck Dock Stand Accessories Compatible with Switch OLED/Switch/Lite/Tablet/Mobile Phone'
Anker USB C Hub for £22.99 'Anker USB C Hub, 332 USB-C Hub (5-in-1) with 4K HDMI Display, 5Gbps USB-C Data Port and 2 5Gbps USB-A Data Ports and for MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, Dell XPS, Lenovo Thinkpad, HP Laptops and More'

The hub slots into the base of the case nicely (covers HDMI and USB C slightly but still) This way its not bulky and the USB C hub can be carried around as is much smaller and lighter than a full docking station

Photos

Spoiler