It advertises being the easiest way to get into PC gaming and I really hope that’s true and that’s been my biggest selling point along with it’s price tag. I’ve never rly been a pc gamer and find it’s a bit complicated. I barely got the tech skills to install some emulators on my laptop. Comparing the Steam Deck to competitors like the Legion Go and Rouge Alley which have better specs at only a little larger price tag but how user friendly are they? Is the Steam Deck really any easier to use then these competitors?
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As long as you use it like a console, it will behave just like a regular console. However, if you wish to tinker on it to express its full potential, you definitely can. You Can even start using it as it is out of the box and slowly explore the possibilities later on, taking your time to get familiar with it first
Well, while it competitors might have some better specs, the Steam Deck has some of the biggest and ACTIVE communities out there. So for example, if you want to change something or are having a problem, you can almost be sure that the answer you’re neeing is just a google search away.
Adding to this (which is totally correct!), Valve themselves have improved the user experience of the Deck immeasurably since launch. It is such a more polished and refined device now than it was at launch, the difference is really staggering. Combined with the community support, the Deck is a joy to use.
The steam deck offers a console like experience because of Steam OS. Basically you can buy things from steam and load them just like on a console, no PC knowledge required. The Legion Go and Rouge Alley are basically just handheld windows PCs, so are the same to operate as a computer.
It seems to me we can stop saying “Console like” and start saying “Console+” if you stay in gaming mode it’s just as user friendly as a console.
In addition you get plugins, and an entire desktop mode with a bit of exploration.
If you play the Green marked games you should never have to tinker around and manually install things. Yellow marked games should work but could have problems. The other mark usually lead to tinkering around with settings.
With the Legion Go and Rouge Alley you would technically just run windows like you would on a normal PC and if you want a simpler experience the steam deck is the best thing.
I feel like steam OS is the perfect balance. You can go from minimal tinkering to getting down and dirty with the settings. I wouldn’t be scared off by it being your first gaming pc. I’m primarily a windows user … and even going into the desktop mode (which you don’t need to) the steam deck is such a device with tons of community support you will always find answers to a problem. Either via Reddit or YouTube.
I would go for it . I’ve been loving mine as a first time steam deck user (although slightly more technically experienced with computers altogether)
Exactly this! Its hard to overstate how much Steam OS lowers the barrier to just getting into your games. It truly is a fully consolized experience for PC Games.
Simple and versatile.
Add on to that, the touchpads (often disregarded) you have access to the most PC of PC games that require a mouse (Civ, Pillars of Eternity, obviously much much more).
As a handheld focused on playing traditional PC games, nothing rivals it.
Very user friendly, in fact, its the best gateway into linux. Ive ways said, the real game with steam deck is getting things to run. If you have problems, most likely youll find a youtube video to help solve it.
I’m mostly a console gamer, but I have a pc that is almost entirely for vr. I don’t want something that I have to tinker with endlessly to get it to work. So on my steam deck I only use it in steam os mode and only play games from the steam store. I don’t do anything with mods. The only layer of complexity is the performance settings, but nothing I’ve played so far has required me to do anything weird, including Starfield.
Very
It depends. Are you just going to play steam games? Then yeah its increadibly easy, it works like a console in that regard. If you want to emulate stuff or play non-steam games it gets more complicated but nothing you can’t follow in a guide.
I’m feeling pretty dumb with mine. Trying to put Uplay on it and even following a guide I got lost. All I want to do is play AC Odyssey and Valhalla but without Uplay and Ubisoft Connect I cannot.
you never even have to leave gaming mode if you don’t want to, in which case it’s as user friendly as the steam itself, which has had decades of work put into it
Start up, install game, play game. That’s it. It’s a console experience in the best sense of the word.
It’s very very easy, basically like any other console at this point. You may have to tweak settings in some games to get them to run as you like but many have default Steam Deck settings for plug and play. If you’re interested in getting into PC gaming but find it daunting it’s a great stepping stone and may give you the confidence to get into Windows/desktop gaming further down the line.
All that being said I’m still not sure I’d personally recommend it as a completely stand alone console if you have zero interest in PC gaming outside of the Deck, for me it’s a companion device to a PC. This may change if Steam OS evolves to desktop machines and we start seeing Steam like consoles, or alternatively eGPU like docks for future Steam Deck models etc. That’s where I’d like to see Valve eventually take this.
Better than Windows for gaming, not as simple as Switch/PS.
you can make it as complicated as you want, but if you don’t want to mess with shit you can treat it like an advanced nintendo switch