Steam Deck Review

Steam Deck is the first experience of VALVE in making handheld consoles. Has this console been able to become a successful product? Stay with MegaGital by checking Steam Deck.

In the world of 9th generation consoles and the competition between PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles, everyone thought that if one day VALVE, one of the biggest game studios in the world, wanted to produce a console, this console would be a direct competitor to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X.

But Gabe Newell, the CEO of Volvo, tried to change his path by introducing and releasing the Steam Deck and instead of focusing on home consoles, he realized one of the long-standing dreams of PC gamers: playing PC games on a portable console! Also, this new console has SteamOS software, through which you can easily access the entire library of Steam games (although not all games will run on this handheld console, which we will talk about in detail later in the review).

You can also watch a video review of this console on our YouTube channel.

From the moment Steam Deck was unveiled, it attracted the attention of many PC gamers due to its portable appearance and VALVE’s promise to play the games of the day. On the other hand, the competitive price of this console (the basic version of the Steam Deck is available at a price of $400) made everyone wait for the release of this portable console.

Can Steam Deck become one of the main players in the gaming console industry, especially portable consoles? Does the Steam Deck have something to say, despite a competitor like the Nintendo Switch, which is both cheaper than the Steam Deck and experiencing great sales? Be with us by reviewing this console.

VALVE has also been creative in presenting the Steam Deck. The box that the Steam Deck comes in is a regular cardboard box with logos similar to what we saw in the Portal game. Opening this carton, we are faced with a steam deck that is in a portable bag. All the inner parts of the box also have phrases in different languages about where to play with the Steam Deck. In addition to the bag and the Steam Deck itself, a 45-watt Type C charger is also placed inside the box of this console.

After opening the bag and holding the Steam Deck, the first word that comes to mind is wide. Especially if, like me, your handheld console was the Nintendo Switch before, you will be surprised by the size of the Steam Deck. The Steam Deck measures 298 x 117 x 49 mm, which is about 6 cm wider than the Switch. On the other hand, the Steam Deck, weighing 669 grams, is by no means considered a light console. For comparison, it is not bad to know that the Switch with its joysticks weighs 398 grams.

All these numbers give the impression that the Steam Deck is not a comfortable console and cannot be played with for a long time. But as soon as you first experience with Steam Deck, you realize that this whole feeling was wrong. The Steam Deck is an incredibly comfortable console and the way all the components of the console are placed shows how much thought VALVE put into its design. The weight distribution of the console is also so good that it does not tire the hand at all during long-term use. On both sides of the console, there are ridges on which the palm rests, giving the user the feeling of a controller such as DualSense or an Xbox controller.

In addition to the two left and right analogs (aligned with each other), the four ABXY buttons, an excellent four-way D-Pad, left and right bumpers and triggers are the other buttons found on the Steam Deck. Two 32.5 mm square trackpads are also located on the left and right sides of the seven-inch Steam Deck display. These trackpads have 55% less delay than the same trackpad in the Steam controller.

But one of the problems of the steam deck is the not so suitable placement of the left and right bumpers. Due to the fact that these bumpers are slightly higher than the left and right triggers, it is a bit annoying to use them. However, this problem is not so acute that these buttons cannot be used.

Two steam and options buttons, which are specific to the steam deck, are also installed at the bottom of the trackpads. Speaker compartments are also located in the front of the console. In addition to all these things, we see a seven-inch IPS LCD display of the Steam Deck. Display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 and a brightness of 400 nits. Although the Steam Deck screen is not capable of displaying colors as clearly as the console screen such as the Old Switch, but overall, this 60Hz screen performed quite acceptable in our tests.

In the upper part of the steam deck, we see the on/off button, USB Type-C port, volume control buttons and 3.5 mm headphone jack port along with ventilation vents. On the back of the console, in addition to the VALVE logo, we see more vents to cool the console and 4 additional buttons. These buttons, known as R4, R5, L4 and L5, are located just below your index and middle fingers. These programmable buttons, while physically well-placed, are a bit stiff and take some getting used to.

In the lower part of the console, there is also a micro SD port, through which you can increase the storage memory of the console. By default, the Steam Deck console comes in three capacities of 64, 256 and 512 GB. These versions are priced at $399, $529, and $649, respectively. Although all three of these consoles are similar in terms of hardware (processor, GPU and RAM), the speed of the memory used in them is different and the versions with a higher capacity have a higher memory speed. In addition, the 512 GB version has an anti-reflective coating on the display.

We can say with certainty that 64 GB is really low for this console. Due to the large volume of Steam games, 64 GB seems like a small amount of space to install games, and to enjoy the console, at least 256 GB version is recommended. However, you can solve this problem by getting a high capacity memory card. But note that the memory speed of this version is lower than the 256 GB version.

However, most of the size of modern games today is due to their high-resolution textures, and considering the resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels of the Steam Deck, we hope that in the future Steam will add a feature to this console so that by removing the Full HD and 4K textures, the size of the games can be increased. The console dramatically reduced the Steam deck.

With all these interpretations, it must be said that the Steam Deck is a very handy console. Due to such powerful hardware, Steam Deck does not become an annoying console in long-term use. But you have to take into account that the Steam Deck is not easy to transport. The space occupied by the console with its bag is far more and unlike the Nintendo Switch, it cannot be placed in a coat pocket, jacket or even a back pocket.

Steam Deck is not a console for use in subway, taxi or BRT. This console is mostly for relatively long trips, waiting rooms, and places where you have time to play for at least half an hour.

The default operating system of the Steam Deck is the third version of SteamOS. In this version of the operating system, games are displayed as large tiles, and if you have experience using Steam before, you will quickly get used to the entire environment of the operating system.

Your games in Steam Deck are divided into several different sections. One such section is the Great on Steam Deck section. These games are games that run on Steam without any problems. Among these games, names such as Control and even Elden Ring are also seen. In general, Steam has four categories for games. Games with a green tick are games that run completely and without any problems on the console.

Games with a yellow mark are games that run on Steam Deck despite having issues. Sometimes these problems are related to the controller and with a little manipulation, you can have an acceptable experience of them on the console. Games with a question mark are games for which there is not enough information available to support Steam Deck, and games with a banned mark are games that are not supported on Steam Deck.

By pressing the Steam button, you can access various sections such as the store, game library, downloads, settings section and your user profile. Clicking on the corresponding Steam button on the other side of the screen will open a menu for quick settings. These settings include adjusting brightness, enabling airplane mode, and such settings. The third version of the Steam Deck OS is exactly what it should be.

A straightforward operating system whose priority is playing and provides all the settings a user needs to play easily. But this is not all the features of Steam Deck. A Linux distribution called Plasma is another Steam Deck operating system that can be brought up in what is known as desktop mode by pressing the Steam button.

This operating system is a complete distribution of Linux and many packages can be installed on it. Installing software like Office and everything else available for this distribution makes the Steam Deck more than just a handheld console. In addition to all these features, you can easily experience old and retro games on this console by installing the wonderful Dolphin or Retro Ark emulators.

By plugging in a USB Type-C hub (or getting Steam Deck’s official $90 dock), which has an HDMI output, you can connect the Steam Deck to a display and connect a mouse and keyboard wirelessly from the Steam Deck as He used a Linux computer. Just by connecting a controller to the Steam Deck, experience the games on a bigger screen.

Of course, considering the power of Steam, you should consider that the Steam Deck cannot easily run games at high resolutions even when connected to a screen with a resolution of 1080p or higher. Although the USB Type C port of the Steam Deck has the ability to output 4K at 120 Hz or 8K at 60 Hz.

Due to the high capacity of connecting peripherals, the Steam Deck is more than a gaming device, either manually or when connected to a screen, and can be used as a portable computer in addition to the gaming experience.

But the most important feature about a portable game console is the ability to play games. First of all, I have to say that for a generation that grew up with Atari handhelds and consoles like the Gameboy, seeing games like Elden Ring run and controlled on a portable 7-inch screen is something of a dream come true. Now when the experience of these games is like the experience on Steam Deck, this dream becomes much more exciting.

VALVE has used AMD integrated processor for Steam Deck. The Steam Deck CPU uses the Zen 2 architecture and has a power equal to 448 gigaflops. On the other hand, the Steam Deck GPU has a power equivalent to 1.6 teraflops. Although this number seems very low compared to the 10 and 12 teraflops of the 9th generation consoles, you should consider that the Steam Deck is only designed to play games on its 1280 x 800 pixel screen.

16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM is built into the Steam Deck, which seems quite enough to run games. In our experience with Steam Deck, all games, both heavy games and indie games, ran as well as possible.

The Controll game ran without any problems, aside from the occasional lag that occurred when pausing the game. The experience of this game on Steam Deck was very enjoyable. The Steam Deck triggers seemed very smooth and comfortable while shooting, and the game ran without any frame drops.

It was the same with Elden Ring. The atmospheric atmosphere of the game was as beautiful as possible on the 7-inch screen of the Steam Deck, and the sounds of the environment played through the powerful speakers of the Steam Deck immersed us even more in the game space. The game control was very enjoyable as well.

Other games we experienced on Steam Deck were mostly independent or semi-independent games such as Tetris Effect, Cuphead, Hotline Miami, and Riot in the City 4, all of which ran perfectly on Steam without any problems. We played all these games while connected to the monitor and the result was still acceptable.

Although the Steam Deck does not have the ability to run games with higher resolutions easily, it performs well at its native resolution, even when connected to an external display. However, it is enough to play heavy games with the Steam Deck for a while, and its fans will start working at full speed. In a way that their voices can be heard completely. However, this sound is not in any way to disturb your experience during the game.

The next major question regarding a handheld console is how long it takes to charge it. VALVE has placed a 40 watt-hour battery inside the Steam Deck, and on its official website, it has rated this battery for 2 to 8 hours. At first glance, this range seems to be a very wide range, but in our tests, VALVE’s statement came true to some extent.

For graphics-heavy games like Controller and Elden Ring, in our tests, the Steam Deck lasted about an hour and 50 minutes to 2 hours. But this number went up to 7 hours in independent games or games that are lighter in terms of graphics. If you plan to play heavy games with the Steam Deck, you should not expect much charging from it. Steam Deck uses dual-band Wi-Fi. Also, the built-in Bluetooth 5 in this device has made it possible to easily connect your Bluetooth headphones and play with it.

One of the most interesting points regarding Steam Deck is the level of VALVE’s support for it. During the time we had the device available for review, at least 2 software updates were released for the Steam Deck that introduced improvements to the console’s overall performance. It is interesting to know that this process has been on VALVE’s agenda since the beginning of the console’s release, and it shows that VALVE considers itself committed to Steam Deck and its owners and intends to improve the console’s performance day by day.

One of the most interesting points regarding Steam Deck is the level of VALVE’s support for it. During the time we had the device available for review, at least 2 software updates were released for the Steam Deck that introduced improvements to the console’s overall performance. It is interesting to know that this process has been on VALVE’s agenda since the beginning of the console’s release, and it shows that VALVE considers itself committed to Steam Deck and its owners and intends to improve the console’s performance day by day.

Steam Deck is a very attractive console. A few years ago, no one would have thought that they would be able to experience the games of the day on an affordable portable console. VALVE showed with the Steam Deck that this is possible. The wonderful performance of games, a multi-purpose and very powerful console, high build quality and wonderful SteamOS software, and most importantly, full support for the Steam game library, are considered to be very attractive points of Steam Deck.

Relatively low charging, software bugs (especially when switching between SteamOS and the desktop version) and the relatively large size of the console can be counted as negative points. Steam Deck is a first generation console and expectations should be kept at that level. But Steam Deck is by no means for everyone. If you are among those who have been collecting and buying games on Steam for years, Steam Deck is a great option for you.

But on the other hand, if you don’t have many Steam games and the portability of the console is more important to you, we undoubtedly recommend a console like the Nintendo Switch.