I am currently interested in buying myself a steam deck. I mostly play AAA games, but I’ve read some posts here where people talk about the steam deck not being able to run current day AAA games very well. I’m kinda worried that the deck won’t be able to play AAA titles that release over the next 3-4 years and that I’ll be wasting hundreds of dollars if I bought one today. If I am ok with playing games at 30 fps, would it be a good decision to buy the deck now for AAA gaming?
Personally, I rely on more powerful hardware (laptop, in my case) to play anything the Steam Deck can’t at full speed. A lot of the more demanding AAAs not only run at an inconsistent 30fps, but require potato settings to get there. Now, I do have more powerful Windows handhelds, but if I have choose between the convenience of SteamOS with several hours of battery life vs Windows jank with 1 hr of gameplay max, I’m taking the Steam Deck every time. I’m playing through Last of Us Part 1 right now, and while it doesn’t run well on Steam Deck, running it better on the ROG Ally will mean I have to be tethered to the wall. At that point, I may as well just use a laptop which will run it much, much better.
Tl;dr No handheld plays all games well. Handheld Windows is atrocious. Use Steam Deck/SteamOS for anything it does well, do the rest on a laptop.