After 2 months of intensive use, I suggest you come back to Valve's Steam Deck, this PC in portable console format continues to surprise me day after day and I would like to give you a feedback on the real uses in order to answer your questions as much as possible.
I will first talk about the portable aspect since the holidays are ending and this was the opportunity to test the beast on its performance, its compatibility, and above all the most anticipated point, its autonomy. We will then talk about desktop mode, namely can the Steam Deck replace a PC on a daily basis? The answer should please you.
On vacation: mobility, the playground of the Steam Deck
Holidays are made for decompressing and we are often recommended to let go of the PC… For my part, impossible, I needed at least the laptop and the 4G box on hand to ensure a minimum of work in the middle of the campsite. My MSI gaming laptop allows me to play, and potentially do without the Steam Deck since it is much more efficient with its RTX 2070 super and its 7th generation Intel Core i12. Yes, but... You know, Gaming laptops, if you don't have a power outlet a few meters away... you won't last half an hour. knees, no thanks. So I expected the Steam Deck to set the bar at least as high as a Switch, because even if the kids each have their own, Nintendo's toy library interests me very little, and I prefer to have my heavy Steam library at hand.
And we have to admit that the components of Valve's portable console have been carefully chosen. The screen and its resolution of 1280×800 do not let the pixels appear when you have the console in hand, which allows you to play recent games in low resolutions. In fact, the size of the screen has another advantage. Indeed, if I take the example of Farming Simulator or Death Stranding, two titles which I (probably a little too much) played during my holidays, it is not necessary to push the graphic quality settings to the maximum and a configuration on “Medium” is more than enough to enjoy games in excellent conditions.
Once said (or written), it is interesting to look at the autonomy settings offered by the “Deck”. The beast features 2 special keys, the first is the “Steam” key which displays the menu of Valve's flagship software. The second is the “…” key (also called the “three dots” key). It allows you to enter the console settings: Wifi, Bluetooth, brightness,… and above all a tab directly linked to performance, which gives the possibility of defining settings for each game independently.
We can clearly say that Valve hits very hard in the software environment. In addition to the OS (we will come back to this later) optimized with small onions, the manufacturer has total control of the hardware. If the basic autonomy, after unboxing, is around two hours of play, it is quite possible and simple to double this value to arrive, in the case of a Death Stranding, at 3h30 of play, and even at 4h30 on Farming Simulator 22. A feat if we compare this result to the Nintendo Switch, which, to reach 5 hours of play, must make heavy graphic concessions. Just compare games common to both platforms, like Snowrunner, which runs smoothly in FullHD / 60 fps / max quality, on the Valve platform.
To achieve this result, the AMD APU has a meaningful setting: consumption, expressed directly in Watts. Basically, the heart (or rather the brain) of the Steam Deck has a TDP (thermal envelope) of 15 W, and a GPU running at 1600 MHz maximum. The performance setting menu allows, via a slider, to lower the maximum TDP to 5W and the GPU frequency to…. 200MHz!
Needless to say that at these minimum frequencies, recent games are unplayable. But… Titles like Farming Simulator 15/17, 2D games, or emulators, are content with this meager consumption. Autonomy then flies away at 8am! More reasonably, I was able to play more than 4h at FS 22 with a TDP of 8W and a GPU frequency of 800 MHz, all at 40 fps. And the framerate also matters. The Steam Deck screen can also be clamped, going from 60 frames per second to 40 minimum. Which remains quite correct in terms of frame rate and sufficiently comfortable for the eyes.
Finally, to conclude with vacation use, I was also able to take advantage of NetFlix and Disney+ (so as not to miss the release of the turnip “Prey”) through the desktop mode web browser. Here we clearly benefit 8 hours of autonomy announced by Valve. This other use is a perfect transition to talk about the "PC" capabilities of the Steam Deck.
In Desktop mode, on its dock, the Steam Deck replaces the PC
I had to wait until the end of the holidays to receive, finally, the JSAUX dock ordered at the end of July. I couldn't wait for the release of the official model planned for the end of the year by Valve. The Chinese manufacturer has pulled the rug out from under the American by offering the “Upgraded Docking Station for Steam Deck HB0603".
This aluminum docking station has a Gigabit Ethernet port, 3 USB 3.0 ports, an HDMI port and a USB-C socket for power supply. Once placed on it, the Deck automatically switches to Desktop mode. Again, the ergonomic effort proposed by Valve is remarkable. No configuration is necessary. You benefit directly from the new connected screen, for my part, a 27” in QHD, and even the USB dongle for my Sennheiser microphone/headset is recognized and functional immediately.
SteamOS: One Linux to Rule Them All
Once reserved for geeks, Linux has come a long way. Distros like Ubuntu have largely contributed to demystifying the use of this OS, with a simplicity of use close to a Windows or a MacOS. SteamOS offers a similar experience. Here, everything is turnkey, optimized, ready to use. Whether for a sharp geek or for your grandparents. There is a “start button” which displays the list of installed software and a utility allowing you to install new ones for free (long live free software), named Discover. So what, can we actually replace the home PC? The answer is a big YES (with a little “but”…)
For office/web use, everything is there. You will find the traditional LibreOffice, Firefox, Chrome, and everything you need to listen to music, play videos (VLC for example), chat via Discord... Even better, taking a step into the world of Linux is discover a multitude of exceptional utilities, Discover offering a long list of software classified by headings (development tools, education, games, graphics, internet, multimedia, office automation, science, etc.).
The small downside, if there is one, is the youth of the OS. The platform is recent, and still needs to mature. French translations are not available. The graphic interface, managed by KDE Plasma, is well Frenchified, but not the very heart of the Debian distribution which propels everything. Result, an interface that sometimes has its ass between 2 chairs, displaying French terms among English. There is also a language problem in terms of keyboard management, QWERTY by default, you must add the AZERTY configuration via the keyboard settings. Easy, but the setting jumps regularly, switching your keyboard to US mode without warning.
For 100% gaming use, the Steam Deck finds its first limits. Because, if playing on its small screen with its 1280×800 resolution works well, Valve's portable console is immediately less comfortable with FullHD or more; probably the fault of a unified memory that is too slow to meet the graphics needs of games. There remains the solution of playing in “windowed” mode to adjust the resolution, knowing that beyond 1600×900 on very recent games, performance begins to suffer seriously. In any case, if your wish is to play mainly on a 4K screen, and secondarily on the move, then go your way, the Steam Deck will leave you hungry.
The Custom CPU provided by AMD is however full of goodwill. For example, I was able to stream/record, with OBS Studio, a game session when the latter was satisfied with the standard resolution of 1280×800. For use by a streamer, this could be enough. In my case, for example, I play in FullHD “windowed” mode for a broadcast in 1280×720 at 30FPS. Concretely, I could do my morning Twitch streams on the Steam Deck, limiting my window to 720p.
EDF will love you
Let's finish this dissecting of the Steam Deck by talking about a point that is right in the news: Energy. We have already mentioned the low consumption in mobility of the console / PC. But know that in office use, the Steam Deck explodes any PC in terms of energy saving. Yes, even small laptops. Power meter socket in support, a set consisting of a 27” screen from the Steam Deck with keyboard / mouse and Xbox pad, does not draw more than 70 W in load and 40 W in office use.
Modern PCs are capable, in office automation, of going down to relatively low levels of energy expenditure. For example, my configuration based on Intel Core i9 and RTX 3070, its 2 screens and 40.000 USB devices, consumes “only” 130-150 W in web browsing. On the other hand, in game, it is not uncommon to easily exceed 400 W. Verdict, in game, and reduced to the year, using a Steam Deck to play in a desktop configuration can make you save about 80€. You can even count the hundred euros in mobile mode. And I'm not talking about the heat and noise in the office. In this regard, Valve's portable PC heats up little, and emits no noise, the fan only triggering in game. We quickly appreciate “the sound of silence”.
A very positive assessment
Writing on the Steam Deck could prove endless. There would still be so much to say about the software environment, offers, accessories, compatibility with games. I prefer not to mention these points which are constantly evolving. The "Steam Deck Ready" game list is growing day by day, and a title announced as non-compatible on Monday, may become so via an update on Tuesday. And on this subject, Valve is very (really) very reactive, and follows its baby closely. The updates follow one another at a good pace and always promise more performance. In short, the table is illuminated with green lights and looking into this concept of “PC Switch” is not a bad investment.