Ordered at 18:09 and arrived today. UK. The screen is fantastic but not sure on the new thumb sticks yet. Might just be that they are different but I’m having to adjust my grip slightly since the edges are more raised.

I’ve also noticed a few issues. The haptics on the touch pads were active when the screen was off when it initially restarted for updates. When I inserted the SD card, at first it wasn’t detected and after my first restart the same issue occurred. Lastly, the trackpads were active in sleep mode and when I tried to wake the device, it needed a restart.

Hoping this settles and are just teething issues for a new device. If not, I will try a factory reset in the hopes of avoiding RMA if there is an issue.

Anyone else had problems?

On Saturday night I was baking some cakes for my kids to eat in the morning. Everything ended up taking longer than expected and I kept having to wait whilst prepping ingredients, leaving things to set etc.

I had my Deck with me and sat in my armchair in the kitchen playing Witcher 3 whilst waiting on things to cook. I ended up baking for 3 hours, mostly waiting time, and was gaming until about 2am.

Between opportunities to game I would just hit the power button and charge the device. Before getting my Deck late night solo gaming sessions were few and far between. Now I almost always have a single player game on the go that I can pick up and put down without the guilt of feeling like I can’t pause the game and play with the kids when the opportunity arises.

The original Steam Deck is fantastic. 1TB Micro SD cards are easy to come by and fitting a new SSD is also very easy if you decide to go that route. I’d say don’t sweat it and just enjoy it when it arrives!

I feel that this is actually Steam Deck 2 in all but name. The device has been reworked from the ground up and Steam OS will have updates in future with this in mind (not to say that they won’t continue to target original Steam Deck, but e.g. the 90Hz refresh rate and HDR support opens the door for some flagship features in future Steam OS updates).

I’m fortunate to have the disposable income for it not to be a big deal for me. My wife plays on my Deck fairly regularly (lol) and my son won’t be too far off the age where I want to start playing with him.

The increased battery life and improved screen make the upgrade a no brainer for me, especially given the fact that my current 512GB model will get continued use for the next few years.