Before you go down to type out your replies, I just want to mention something… I have a school computer. And this means that I could have the benefits of a gaming laptop by using the school computer for laptop things, and a steam deck for gaming. But there’s a few things that I worry about
- The advantage with the gaming laptop in my opinion, is that you have access to things like OneDrive, which would allow you to transfer files to your games easier than I think it would be with the regular laptop and the steam deck.
- On the holidays i’m not really able to access the laptop as it is given to the school, so what will I do then when I need to use something in place on my laptop, Will the steam deck be able to use things like notepad and OneDrive that well? Please help, this has been bothering me for months
I’ll start by asking a couple questions. Whats your budget? Can you afford a decent cheap monitor/mouse/keyboard/dock for steam deck. Are you planning on using either option at like a desk regularly and portable for gaming? My wife has a steam deck. We use it like a switch. For gaming it’s portable. At home we have a whole little desk she can plop it down on and use like a desktop.
You can install windows on the Steam Deck if you want to use Onedrive. You can also use it as a desktop if you connect a keyboard and mouse to it. But in your case, I think it would be better if you just got a gaming laptop so you don’t have to use the school laptop anymore, and so you can do school work and game on 1 device instead of using the school laptop for school work and the steam deck for gaming.
You can do much more with a laptop, but when you just want to grab and go, the Steam Deck is better. I think both if you can swing it. I leave my laptop in my office but grab the deck to play on the couch - that sort of thing.
For me, both have their advantages.
I like playing games on my steam deck when in a bed or on a train, where getting a keyboard and a mouse is either a pain or impossible.
When I’m at home or in the dorms (I’m a college student), I usually play on my laptop.
Though considering you can play on your steam deck in the same places as on your laptop + the other situations I mentioned, I guess SD is better? I dunno, I don’t really see it that way.
If you’re using it for more than gaming: a laptop.
Yes the Steam Deck can technically do everything a laptop can but you’re not going to get the same functionality without peripherals like a keyboard and mouse.
If the Steam Deck was Windows I’d have said give it a go but it’s Linnux & I know I won’t be earning myself any favours saying this, you just can’t do on Linnux what you can on Windows (using the apps & tools you mention for instance)
Yes there’s productivity apps out there but they are NOT what companies, businesses & your school are using.
So decide for yourself, a laptop would be faster (depending on spec obvs) for playing the same games & it will do whatever you want or your school wants you to do.