Dont forget the $3k PC vs the $400 console.  And the PC players are running high refresh gaming monitors with built-in crosshairs for maximum 360-no-scope headshots with the sniper rifle.  
And the cheats and hacks.  PC master race gamers running all sort of mods to get the edge over the console-using plebs.

Anyone can put tape on their TV with some Sharpie on it.

Kharn

Got shipping notice yesterday. Just a little over a week from pre-order to shipping.

Got my shipping notice. It arrives Saturday. I fly out of town on Friday .

You called it lol

After having my Steam Deck for a while I like it.  It's impressive on how solid it feels.   The funniest part for me is the thing it's run the most is a Windows 10 VM.    Haven't been doing much gaming, but it's been handy to have on my desk as a second computer.

I forgot to mention that I did receive a Dbrand Project Killswitch case. I got the email about the magnet issue the day before mine was delivered lol. I haven't had a chance to test the fan speeds with the kickstand attached yet, but the case is very nice.

If you got your Deck relatively recently, you should have the new fan that doesn't have the issue with the kickstand.  While I don't have the case or the kickstand, the issue only happens to the original, loud fan because of the construction material and the magnet.

The new fan doesn't have magnetic parts in the fan, thus no issue.  

disclaimer: This is from all reports thus far, do your own research lol

How do you know which fan you have?

I've read a few posts and watched a few youtube videos and it seems to me the consensus is the new fan is supposed to be audibly quieter, but the fan I have seems kind of loud. Since determining noise levels from an internet video is difficult, I can't tell if my fan is a new one and the old ones are just that much louder, but I was given the impression the new fan should be almost silent unless under high load... and my fan isn't. I can hear it run when the deck is under what I'd call medium load, and under what I think of as a heavy load it is very very obviously running. The one and only time I tried to play it in bed a week ago or more I was told to "turn it off its too loud" by my wife, who was watching TV next to me. And sure enough without my earphones in the fan in the deck was loud to the point of annoying.

I also find myself just not using my Steam Deck that much, partly due to the fan noise and partly due to well... just not using it. I finally got all my roms transferred over, and got EmuDeck set up and working perfectly, but again they are all old games I've played a million times before. I like that it has the power to run newer systems like PS2 / WiiU etc. but the implementation is kind of clunky on the deck. I'm also not sure if I'm not using that much because I just don't have a lot of PC games that I want to play with a controller, or if my expectations of "gaming on the go" simply aren't panning out because I haven't travelled at all since getting it.

Don't get me wrong the deck has an excellent build quality and if you don't stray too far from the default Steam interface it is very intuitive and easy to use... but it isn't really the wunderdeck that I think I had built up in my mind. If I was travelling more perhaps my opinion of it would change, but as it is now I can't really use it in bed due to the fan noise and if I want to play a PC game my gaming PC is literally right here and my old roms are all on one of my TWO arcade emulation machines downstairs. I think I just have a technology fetish that I want new tech then try to convince myself of a reason to own it AFTER buying it.

The batch of Decks released in the last 2 months or so should have the new fan.  That doesn't mean you won't have the old one though.  The noise difference is very noticeable, old one is pretty loud, new one not so much.

I think I have the new fan, I don't notice the noise at all.

As far as Emulation goes, don't find it clunky at all.  Everything simply works great for me.  Twilight Princess works flawlessly, same for Wind Waker. I even emulate Xenoblade 3 and it works great.

Are you emulating TP and WW as gamecube games or as the HD remastered WiiU games?

My claims of "clunkiness" are due to the way the non-retroarch emulators aren't as button function stable. Having to either Steam button + left for ESC to close the game (which seems to work about half the time for me, sending me to a blank screen that goes nowhere the other half requiring a hard restart) or Steam button and hard close on screen option which kills Emulation Station entirely, tossing me back into Steam.

Both TP and WW are WiiU HD remasters.

Also, shouldn't need to use steam+left.  If you set emudeck up correctly, you can use steam OS to launch the games like you would any other game, and use the steam button to open the regular menu to close it out.  Has to do with the Rom Manager.  You have to click a couple buttons, then save it, and they'll show up in the non-steam library.  https://wagnerstechtalk.com/sd-emudeck/#Steam_ROM_Manager

I deliberately did not use EmuDeck's steam integration that way because I have tens of thousands of roms, and Emulation Station does a much better job of organizing and sorting them than EmuDeck does using their Steam integration. Plus it gives me one single entry (ES) on the Steam side of things, so when I want to play emulated games they are all right there in ES. I'm treating ES like I do my other PC side emulation manager (Launch Box), in that it is supposed to be a one stop shop with much better scraped info, management, and presentation. The problem is that the non-retroarch emulators are all kind of loose on ES on the deck, and the EmuDeck way of doing things (direct launch instead of ES) was most likely used because of that.

When the games run, they tend to run fine (WiiU patching aside). It is just the backend related stuff is clunky and I'm used to a much smoother unified control interface like Launch Box gives. But I'm used to being able to build my own control layouts with PC keyboard to joystick controller boards and whatnot, and implementing frontend shortcuts in Launch Box so every emulator uses the same management keys.

But to be fair emulation is not what this thing was built to do, it is simply a secondary bonus feature thanks to its architecture and hardware power. I imagine a while from now once EmuDeck further evolves or if the other big emulation frontends develop linux based releases things will clean up. This is still technically "early days".

The Steam Deck Dock just released. $89 and expected to ship in 1-2 weeks.

Steam Dock

Came in last night.

Congrats! Do you plan to change anything with it? I know a lot of people ordered the 64 and added larger SSD's. I've been tempted to order a 64 and put Windows on it.

I will be adding a larger ssd down the road. And setting it up to access my XBox GamePass account.

I got a 512.  I'm running a Windows 10 virtual machine on it via Boxes.  Not gaming on Windows though.

Just be careful on the SSDs if you change them out.  If they aren't perfectly the same size as the original, it causes heat issues due to the physical size, blocks some things up apparently.

I read that a while back.  There was a video on changing them, then a lot of warnings that you can cause major issues if you do.  I got the 512 so I wouldn't have to change it for a while hopefully.  I've got Gb fiber at home so deleting and reinstalling games is trivial.   I put a 512GB micro SD card in it and ordered the dock that will take a M.2 drive.  I'll find space somewhere.

Yeah, I got a 512 version and had a 400 SD card laying about not being used so threw that sucker in there.  Plenty of room, for the most part.  I've got many roms for the emulators, and then I think 12 or 13 games installed.  By far, the largest install I have is Mass Effect Legendary.  Damn thing eats up 110gb.

I am really liking it so far. I only have a couple games on it currently, need to get a larger micro SD. Metro is a blast on the deck. What is everyone using for car charging? My cell phone charger is too weak and the steam deck gives me a warning. I spend most of my day in a truck so fast 12v charging is pretty important.

Is there a way to configure the rear buttons in the Steam  UI? Such as making one of them lower the DPI of the thumb sticks and track pads when depressed?

Kharn

Is it USB-C?  If so, and if you have a 120v receptacle in your truck, any of the anker 100 watt (or larger) usb-c chargers should suffice.

If you want something a bit more elegant you can wire a 12v USB-C PD PowerPoint from coolgear.com into any handy 12v source. This is nice as most truck AC receptacles require key-on.

It uses a 45W USB-C charger.

Kharn

Well, now that I've looked into it a bit more and discovered that the Steamdeck has a dock and HDMI out, I've discovered that I CAN make use of this on deployment. I don't really use my laptop much while working so I could leave it hooked up in my room and carry the deck around if I have a couple of hours of downtime.

I might get one now. Unfortunately every game I play a lot is "partially compatible" like Wildlands and the Far Cry series, but I'm hoping that's just due to menu interaction and such.

Couple of questions...

Are things like USB mice, keyboards and headsets plug and play?

Do Bluetooth headphones work well?

How playable are strategy games with the touchpads?

You will be surprised how many games are "playable" or partially compatible and run perfectly on the Steam Deck. What games are you thinking? Maybe some of us might have them and can let you know.

USB keyboards and mice are plug and play. I've used them with a dock or just plugged into the USB-C port without issue.

I haven't tried bluetooth headphones yet. Also haven't played strategy games with touchpads yet.

Thanks!

Some of my high-hour games that I enjoy:

Far Cry 2-5
Wildlands
Borderlands series
RDR2
No Man's Sky
Bioshock series
Xcom series
Deus Ex series
Etc

Lots of open world, some strategy, some 8 bit style throwbacks, mostly stuff with lots of things to do and easy to jump into.

At home it's mostly sims and strategy games.

I use bluetooth ear buds with mine. They connect the same way and just as easily as your phone. It's an awesome feature. I wouldn't worry about the non verified games. All the ones I've played(GTA V, RDR2, Skyrim) have all played absolutely fine.

Kingdom Come Deliverance isn't verified, but it works just fine.

Battery lasts 80-90 minutes with wired headphones and wifi before I get the low battery notification, enough to get me through my kids' dance classes without needing to bring along my charger.

Kharn

I can only play RDR2 about an hour before it locks up and reboots.  I hasn't tried since the latest update though.

Been using the shit out of it. Letting my pc do the work and streaming over the home network gives it like 6 hours of couch battery. Been playing no man’s sky on the couch a ton. Love the deck.

Got mine ordered today. Sister is going to forward it to me out here