Big tip: get the LCD and a DeckHD. The mod takes a long time, but it's not technically difficult.

Yeah, I know most people will say the Deck is already too slow for 800p, so why would it pull 1080p well?

I have two decks, one's got Deck HD, the other doesn't. I render the Deck HD one at 540 native and upscale 2x with FSR. It looks way better than the stock display one and runs better as well. Similar with HZD and other highly demanding games.

That said, 99% of my time on the Deck is spent playing retro games. Does that need 1080p? No. Can it use it? Yes, very much so.

I never pick up the original deck anymore - the Deck HD modded one is just better.

The DeckHD website says it's sold out. Can I get the same display component without the installation kit from somewhere else? Is there a model or part identifier or something?

sadly no.

i guess that's that then!

Just checking DeckHD, sadly it's still 60hz.

I mostly use SD to stream from my main rig, so i can always have >60fps on my SD.

Can you stream games at over 60fps?

Yes. I can stream 120fps with moonlight and sunshine

That's kind of misleading though given that the deck can't display 120 Hz

I dont understand what you mean ?

yeah, wish it was higher than 60 hz

I tell people to get an LCD and xreal or viture AR glasses with the saved money. AR glasses are a WAY better display than a small OLED screen.

So, you’ve got a portable deck wired to augmented reality glasses. Just need a chordic keyboard and you’ll be a full-on Neuromancer/Snow Crash gargoyle :)

Strange days !

Would the latency be good enough for gaming though?

they're wired, so probably.

And solves the wrists problem mentioned earlier

IMO, there are better ergonomics on competitors. Over a thousand + of hours using one, a steam deck is death for your wrists in comparison. When I was playing Elden Ring on the SD for a few hundred hours, I almost thought I needed to have surgery. There are strategies to help with this, rest it on a pillow on your lap, or whatever, but you won't experience that with some of these.

- https://www.lenovo.com/us/en/p/handheld/legion-go/len106g000...

- https://rog.asus.com/gaming-handhelds-group/

Honestly, I think a gaming laptop and a controller makes more sense for most things, if you don't need that little bit of increased portability.

My go to for gaming has been Steam Deck on the couch or bed though. The whole weight of it NOT on my wrists.

This has been so comfortable that this helped me ignore the pain in my arm after a fracture/surgery this year.

I have a g-cloud and it's about 30% lighter than a steam deck and pretty ergonomic to hold.

Yes it can't play Cyberpunk but it'll handle native Android games, classic emulation, and any cloud streaming very well. You can also install moonlight on it and stream full fat desktop games too.

Yeah the SD has pretty bad ergonomics. It's too wide and too heavy. I still like it as a portable system. It's like a console I can pack in my bag and plug in to a TV wherever I'm staying.

I'd love to see a steamdeck lite, with a similar size and weight to the switch. But still with the rounded hand grips of the steamdeck. The deck as it is feels like a HN designed product with way too much stuff jammed in it with no regard to size and weight. The trackpads are cool for desktop mode but the space taken up for something so rarely used isn't worth it.

Glad I'm not the only one with that issue. I ended up connecting a Bluetooth controller to my Steam Deck because holding it hurt my wrists so much. At that point, why bother with the thing?

I do the same with my Switch 1— just set the thing up with its kickstand on the tray table and use a normal pad. No amount of slide-on grips or whatever else really make the joycons usable for more than a few minutes with adult hands.

as the owner of a Legion Go, I think you're better off with the gaming laptop. This thing is just as inconvenient to carry (it's big and heavy) and way less powerful

I ended up 3D printing some larger grips to help when I have nerve pain flare-ups. Love using the deck with them

This type of setup is very popular at lan parties nowadays.

May as well get a Switch 2 at this point. Then at least it’s something new.

I got the switch 2 and day one and I've mostly been playing the deck since then. There isn't much on the switch (besides mario kart and donkey kong), and the stuff that is cross-platform doesn't run well (the new "it takes two" is really laggy).

A Switch and a Steam Deck are orthogonal purchases.

I have both and I would agree with GP on that, the switch is really exclusively for Nintendo games. Cross platform games don't run really well, I just get them on the deck instead.

> Cross platform games don't run really well

Wouldn't that depend heavily on the game and developer in question? The Switch 2 has more than sufficient hardware to compete, with a particularly beefy GPU for a handheld.

I'd be more ready to blame the game and developer in question than this console, unless there are a lot of examples from capable developers performing measurably worse.

So why does it matter?

On Switch, I had to expensively rebuy games at high prices, which then ran poorly and didn't support any kind of settings to try to fix the situation.

On the Deck I get all my desktop Steam library and I can change game settings until they run as I like (within reason).

I don't see how those two are comparable purchases - I either get a console which runs poorly and demands 40$ for games that are like 5$ on Steam... or a console that already supports my existing library AND on top of that allows me to stream games from main PC at full detail and framerate.

"Cross platform games don't really run well"

Leaves the question who is to blame completely out.

And as a consumer I couldn't care less why it doesn't work. I paid for it, it doesn't work: I am not recommending it.

Easy as that. I don't have to write thesis about such stuff.

You're probably right though, if it's any consolation.

It doesn't change the reality though, that currently many of the cross platform titles don't work well on the Switch 2.

I have no clue, but I've had enough experiences to know better now. I just got Split Fiction, you'd think as a starting title that's made for couch coop it would run pretty well. No, it's horrible. We stopped playing it and we'll just buy it on a different platform.

Cross platform games tend to run better on Switch 2 than the Deck, which is showing its teeth. E.g., Cyberpunk

The Deck is amazing but a hardware refresh would be helpful

wat

The Deck can play most of those Nintendo exclusives better than the Switch itself ;)

If you like indie games, the selection is generally better on Steam. And everything that is available on both runs better on the steamdeck. The Switch only makes sense if you particularly want to play Nintendo games.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with my Switch 2, but due to its size I find it far less ergonomic than the original.

I spent like 98% of my playtime on the original in handheld. That has switched completely. It’s not just the size but especially the weight I think.

May as well replace all of your apples with oranges while you're at it.

The Switch 2 and the Steam Deck are hugely different machines, despite sharing a form factor.

To some people, they are like xbox and playstation. Both are different machine with different game store, but still, they are console.

Obviously SD can be more than just "handheld console", but a lot of people won't need that.

Or Bazzite on a Legion Go if you would like to keep that portability.

Or Bazzite on a ROG Ally (X), which is what I run, very happy with it.

Though if I was buying it now, I'd want to see what the next generation offers.