Steam Deck discussion

[JUSA]

Bump, the Jsaux Dock is scheduled to arrive today. Please, nobody make the mistake I made on this one. Ordering directly from them saved me no money, the product will be no different, it's only brought the dark ambiguity of not knowing when it would arrive and taking weeks rather than days, if I'd gotten it from Amazon.

Loving my Deck, though -- I don't really play games all day or anything but I'm enjoying tinkering around with it and playing games here and there.

I need to find a PC game and just play it and come back here and talk about it, in case anyone is actually reading this thread and might be curious. I'll try one of those Steam Demo day games that hit this week or something.

[WWE-TicK]

My Deck is still enroute. FedEx still says "pending" for expected delivery date. But it has been moving since I got the notification it was shipped.

As I feared, the FedEx app is not letting me have it delivered to a FedEx holding site rather than the house. Keeps on saying "try again". Might be related to the fact that it also still says "pending" for expected delivery date. But I'm back from vacation, so I'll be home to receive it if it has to be delivered to the house.

[WWE-TicK]

My deck arrived in one piece yesterday. I'll give it a full shakedown either tomorrow or over the weekend. The TPU case and screen protector I ordered for it hasn't arrived yet (should come today), so I don't wanna handle it too much until I get those things on.

I did however go through the initial setup and installed a game from my library. I installed GTA: Vice City, because I'm having the post-Miami vacation doldrums. To my dismay, it actually did *not* work straight away. That was surprising to me, because Vice City being old AF now, I assumed older games would not give me any problems. After some quick Googling, it turns out you have to use a non-default version of Proton to get it to work. After I made the necessary adjustments in the settings, it started playing just fine.

Me being a PC gamer, this tweaking of things to get things to work is basically par for the course. Console gamers, on the other hand, usually expect things to just work. To be fair, though, the Steam Deck did inform me that Vice City is unsupported. I suspect any games that have the green check mark next to it will give you the console-like gaming experience that console gamers come to expect.

[JUSA]

For the 512, it comes w/ anti-glare glass. I was concerned that adding a screen protector would nullify it, so I did find an anti-glare protector.

"Magglass Tempered Glass Designed for Steam Deck Matte Screen Protector (7" inch) Anti-Glare Full Coverage Guard"

I put it on yesterday. Very easy to do, I've *always* ****ed up putting on screen protectors on Vitas, Switches, Phones and such, always a bubble in the corner or some annoying chit. I got this one perfectly though, partly b/c they come with sticky plastic you use to help align it perfectly.

Anyway, the anti-glare works with it - it's actually even stronger. The drawback is that the very slight blurring of the screen you get w/ the anti-glare 512 is also slightly amplified. I have zero issue with it, screen still looks great and I'm fine, but if you're very concerned about that specific thing, maybe check it out first.

An added bonus -- the original screen was a magnet for finger prints and they were hard to get off. You can't just wipe them with the cloth that comes with it, you need alcohol rub or something and the screen re-smudges instantly. It's usually fine unless you tilt the screen at a certain angle, then you see smears all over it.

The magglass doesn't smear w/ fingerprints from what I have seen, so it's helping that issue as well.

[JUSA]

Steam Decks appear to be just ready for sale, no more reservations (at least right now). Looks like with all three models. The dock is also apparently coming soon, although I'm more than happy with the Jsaux dock I'd picked up for cheaper than the official one.

[JUSA]

Review, the Jsaux Dock: Don't like it.

Works fine, hooks up, you can put it easily to a monitor, keyboard, all that. I got the one w/ 2 USB ports, HDMI, and ethernet (plus type c for power). Why I do not like it: Because the c-hook out on it, the one you connect your deck to the dock, that cable is not on the back of the unit. It extends from the right side of it. Always getting in the way. Meaning, it's okay and perfectly fine when everything is hooked, although the cable being on the side does make that slightly more weird, but if and when the cable is loose, it's in the way.

I'll donate this one to my kid once I pony up and get her a 64GB version. Now that the official ones are ready and I see the cable to connect the Deck to the dock is on the back, that'll be the one I use.

[JUSA]

Anyone else get one of these yet?

[JUSA]

Bump,

Still emulating, but emulating a slightly more modern game, the PSP remake of Tactics:Ogre, in preparation to a second modern remake hitting next month which I am eagerly awaiting. Originally it was a PSP game, I have played and legally own it like 10 times already but I had been playing it on a little vita screen. Playing it on the Steam Deck is rather great, I hope it does well when it hits for PC and Switch here soon.

So, I still haven't done much with AAA or Steam Library, but the Deck has been my constant gaming companion since I got it.

The cheapest is $400. I strongly recommend it.

[Deathstroke]

Is the $399 version worth it as an entry level? I Can Update the GB from 64 later.
Will get one I’m just not a hardcore pc guy but I don’t game at a desk so yunno. Be the only way I would.

[JUSA]

Is the $399 version worth it as an entry level? I Can Update the GB from 64 later.
Will get one I’m just not a hardcore pc guy but I don’t game at a desk so yunno. Be the only way I would.

No difference in the 64 vs 512 other than a couple minor things:

- More memory (...)
- Anti-glare screen (which I'll go into)
- Exclusive case (which I'll go into)

The case is nice. However mine sits in my closet next to dusty survival gear and stored cat food as I upgraded to a Jsaux carry case. The cat food is for cats, as I own one, not part of any survival plan on my part (as I reread what I wrote, it came off oddly). I strongly prefer the Jsaux case - b/c it lets me dock/stand the deck on it and I'm shocked at how I just play it that way, sitting inside the case standing up. The Jsaux case also has a nice internal spot for chargers/earbuds that I use and a pocket for memory cards or sticks. The official case can carry the charger, but it's weird and on the outside strapped on the back of it.

The anti-glare screen is nice and not so nice. It's not so nice because it's VERY prone to getting fingerprints slobbered all over it. The 64GB screen does this too. The anti-glare also very slightly washes the screen, I hardly notice but a purist might. The anti-glare screen also means if you get a screen protector, you lose out on it's effect anyway unless you get an anti-glare screen protector. Which I did and I love it. It does not accumulate fingerprints all over it and actually increases the anti-glare effect. It does probably wash it even more but I still barely or do not notice.

In terms of processor, memory or everything else -- it's the same device. Get it. For $400 it's a steal, I know Valve is losing money on every sale, the price to performance on this is unmatched by anything.

If you want to crack it open and add a better memory stick, that is an option. You also get internal SD memory, I think at least up to 1tb if not more AND there is a great JSaux dock that lets you put I think up to 1 or 2 TB memory sticks in it. I own a cheaper Jsaux dock, hardly use it, but it did come in handy setting up emulation (to get a keyboard hooked up).

[WWE-TicK]

I've been using my Deck for at least 15 mins almost every day since I got it. I finally finished a game that's been sitting in my Steam library for like 14 years. I never even played it once until I got the Deck. It was kind of an impulse buy that I forgot about.

Now I'm working on another game that I also bought years ago but never played. The nice thing about catching up on my backlog of unplayed/unfinished games with the Deck is that they are all old AF now so they barely make the machine sweat.

I haven't gotten around to installing EmuDeck yet, which I thought would've been my primary use case for the Deck. I've been enjoying playing all of those old games that are in my library too much.

[WWE-TicK]

Is the $399 version worth it as an entry level? I Can Update the GB from 64 later.
Will get one I’m just not a hardcore pc guy but I don’t game at a desk so yunno. Be the only way I would.

I got the $399 version and just got a 1TB SD card. Even though it should be slower to load games off the SD card than off an internal SSD, it hasn't impacted the experience for me at all.

It's also supposed to be fairly straightforward to upgrade the internal SSD to a bigger SSD yourself. I'll probably eventually do that at some point.