Probably because they don’t move around that much and enjoy the much better performance they can get from a desktop. At least that would be my reasons.
I move around a lot but the truth is when I’m not home I am usually doing something else than gaming. I’ve stopped packing my steam deck when traveling. The truth is if I need to keep myself entertained for a couple hours when I am not home, my phone has all kinds of games and apps on it.
Still love my deck though. I occasionally flop on my couch to play Hades, TUNIC, etc. on it.
I do far too many other things with my desktop that I don’t care to even try to do with my steam deck. I know the deck can dock and stuff but it’s just a 15w chip… I am not going to be doing much on that. I often multitask on my pc, watch yt, write, be in Discord call, work in Photoshop, I play ttrpgs online, I could go on. Steam deck just cannot do all that I need it to do if I absolutely had to pick one.
Fair enough! In my instance the PC would be almost entirely dedicated to gaming. My day-to-day computer stuff is either done on my phone or my laptop. I don’t really do anything that can’t be handled by either of these
Even if it was 100% purely for gaming, I’d still pick the desktop. I have a fairly powerful desktop now and that didn’t all happen at once. You can upgrade a desktop, every single aspect of it. You can barely upgrade a steam deck at all, and it already feels dated in some games, and other games cannot run on the deck at all.
Steam deck is definitely a viable alternative, but I’d still go with building a desktop if that is an option to you and if you do not need the portability of steam deck. $600-$700 will get you a pretty decent system (especially if you already have a monitor, mouse, and keyboard) that you can continue to upgrade in the future.
Yeah the 600-700 figure is just for the PC, I made a little room for a monitor, keyboard and headset/speakers as I would wind up needing those whichever way I went
Given that you also need to build a library of PC games, this could swing the needle towards the steam deck depending on what games you want and how patient you are to buy them. But because you can build that library over time, and PC games tend to be cheaper than console games and have much better sales, I still lean toward suggesting you build a desktop.
I’m not in a rush by any means. Between working full time and being in college, I don’t have a lot of time to play games. I have a handful of AAA titles I’m interested in, but indie gaming has been a pretty large draw for me towards PC gaming in general. There’s so many interesting and innovative titles out there that I simply haven’t had an opportunity to play on my Xbox
I think a desktop will pay off in the future when it’s time to upgrade again because you can at least reuse the peripherals, case, PSU, fans, hard drives, typically the CPU cooler, maybe GPU unless that is being upgraded, and maybe even the mobo+RAM depending on the upgrade path. I think the AMD AM4 platform is currently the best bang for the buck, but will almost certainly require replacing mobo+RAM on your next future upgrade.
I play more than I ever had time to with a PC on my deck. Also, I can play in the yard, on the couch, or if I’m feeling fancy, with a monitor, mouse and keyboard. Its great on a plane,
Also, it was a serviceable backup for the week where my work laptop died. I’ve felt priced out of a “fun machine” since the 30 series.
Its graphics are so so. I am in no rush to buy triple A’s, although I did play through BG3 a couple times on it. Witcher3 was great.
It depends on how seriously you are with yourself about always being docked. A $700 PC, if you can get a used Vcard, a PC is going to be an improvement. But have you ever been exposed to the mobility a deck offers? You can play in bed. At the breakfast table. In the back of a car. What the steam deck offers is bigger than just graphics. You may not think “I’ll do those things” because right now, its not even an option. But once it is… suddenly gaming on the porch with a beer becomes a mighty fine way do do things.
Fair point! Another user mentioned gaming around the house and the option never occured to me haha. I’ve been so locked in on the dock and having a dedicated space that I didn’t think about using the steam deck anywhere but there or outside the house. Graphics aren’t a huge deal for me but I do like the idea of longevity and upgradeability that a PC offers. I’m not sure how the steam deck is planning to address these issues. If I went with the steam deck I would essentially be trading out one console for another. A more adaptable one, but a console nonetheless
Heres the thing. If you get a deck, you know that at least steam won’t be gaslighting you to buy another one for a hot minute.
I liked my deck enough that I bought the OLED when it came out to give my old one to my partner. Now we play in bed together side by side. She hadn’t played in years because well, life and being busy.
A deck can (somewhat) replace a PC. A PC could not replace a deck. Its a fundamentally different thing. I am going to buy a banger gaming PC. My deck allows me to play and have fun until I can buy the rig I want instead of the one I can afford.
Definitely hits home, I’m in school and working toward a better career at the moment. I have a decent laptop that fufills my “computer” needs, and the PC/deck was purely oriented towards gaming. I think a deck might be the better option for the moment. My current budget and ideas for a build had some compromises, with the knowledge that I’d need to replace/upgrade a lot of stuff down the line. I’m not 100% sold on the steam deck, but it does seem like a more viable and pragmatic choice now
You haven’t talked about how much you care about portability and ease of assembly.
The only reasons to buy a Steam Deck is because you can use it on the go, and maybe because it already comes pre-built and pre-configured with an OS. So it would be interesting to know how important those two things are to you.
If they are not/not very important, then a Steam Deck makes no sense, as you can get the same power of hardware for much cheaper in a desktop.
My rationale for the steam deck was mostly the convenience and broad support. Prior to this thread, portability was more of a bonus than a main draw for me. However, a few people have mentioned how much they like the steam deck for use around the house over their PC and I hadn’t really considered that before. I will say that this prospect does shift me a little more towards the steam deck than before.
I was mostly drawn to building a PC for upgradability and longevity. As I understand it 600-700 for a PC (buying secondhand) is on the line of acceptable and decent. The last time I gamed on a PC was in the days of halo CE on a hand-me-down windows XP machine so my personal experience on the matter is extremely out of date, but I’m willing (and interested).to learn
Another vote for a PC. I own both, but the deck is a fun extra thing, not my main gaming system. A built PC can be upgraded as the years go by very economically, whereas someday the steam deck will just be outdated. If you’re tired of the console ecosystem then switching to the deck is just a console made by a better company, but it’s still a bunch of hardware hardwired together. A gaming PC can be upgraded whenever your need and budget want.
I’m going to give you a slightly different take than what I’ve seen so far. I have a Deck and a PC. I game mostly on the PC, but I love the Deck.
The 256gb LCD model is $400. You can buy that, save whatever is leftover, and save up for a nicer PC build down the line. The Deck will be great for you while you save.
Like people said, you might not be playing the newest AAA games, but those are expensive anyway. There are thousands of indie and older games that will run amazingly and will be cheap that you wouldn’t have had access to on the Xbox.
Yes, a Steam Deck is a viable alternative to a budget gaming PC. But if you would want to buy a dock and peripherals and keep it docked most of the time I’d say go with the PC.
For me personally, the biggest plus of a Steam Deck was that I didn’t have to get peripherals (because my living situation is a bit complicated at the moment). And they’re dirt cheap, got a used LCD512 GB one for 320€.
edit: I own a laptop too. If I didn’t, I would’ve gotten a new one
Interesting, I was just discussing this for my teenage cousin - we ultimately went with Deck but only because he needs to travel back to Germany.
I think your use case is different. Yes, the deck can play docked but much it is magic happens because the resolution is so tiny. Not saying you’ll be able to manage a great GPU, but you’ll likely get a little more out of a budget card at a standard 1080p. Also, with a budget PC, you can always upgrade parts if you’re strategic on parts like PSU.
As for building a library, you can always sail the high seas-- although there are so many budget friendly entertainment in the PC realm. Just refer to IsThereAnyDeal to ensure you’re getting the most bang for your buck.
Even when trying to limit myself a Ryzen 5 7600, RX 7600 build with 1tb m.2 storage and 16gb ram, a non modular bronze 750w psu and a cheap case ends up outside your budget. (about $950 to buy over here). You could lower that by going for older AM4 components but then you lose most of the upgradability benefits.
Personally I would save more before buying and increase the budget. You mention having a decent laptop, so use that one for some indie gaming while saving up.
A steam deck is my recommendation. I have a £2000+ gaming PC that is now practically collecting dust because of my steam deck. Being able to just game anywhere in my house, from my bed, from my couch, from a chair in a sunny spot in my garden, has been a game changer in a way I didn’t expect. I’ve owned handheld consoles before but none of them have hooked me in the same way.
The fact that I have my entire backlog of PC games available to me and don’t have to buy into a new ecosystem (like the switch or previous handhelds) is a huge bonus, but the absolute winner here is the variety of input options and the degree of customizability, as well as the fact that its a PC, so I can fuck with the refresh rate and the clock speeds and all that - extending the battery life!
The portability also has me being a bit more social with the other occupants in my home. I can play some low-focus game on the couch while they watch TV, for example, and we can chat and so on, as opposed to being isolated to the room where my PC is.
If you think there’s any chance you’ll get a kick out of being able to just grab your deck and go loaf somewhere comfortable to game, its a no-brainer to me.
Lighter weight, better autonomy, better ergonomy, better form factory, cheaper, WiFi 6E, Bluetooth 5.2, and the heat control is better. Win11 is a plus for desktop usage and Xbox market.
What do you mean by “better autonomy?” And how is Windows 11 a plus for what is going to be a gaming handheld? Linux in general is more convenient than Win11, plus you don’t have Microsoft spying on you the entire time.
The Steam Deck OLED has better battery life from what I’ve seen, a better screen, works out of the box, and has better controls due to trackpads for more games.
OLED screens consume more power than an IPS screen, unless you display only black pixels on the screen. Explain to me by what miracle the autonomy would be greater?
I find the desktop useful, more software means more possibilities and more drivers for external devices. In any case, it covers my needs better.
Privacy is not a strong argument. And I am very concerned about this issue. You can disable the telemetry with a little bit of tuning in Windows and you can block the traffic with an FW. Privacy is systemic and not just Windows. Look at your phone, bank, connected objects, TV, insurance companies, … Do you think steam is not spying you ? Have you read their subscriber agreement ?
I avoid to use steam as much as I can. I prefer GOG or to buy my games instead to rent it. But as steam got 80% of the market share sometimes there is no choice. People should understand that a monopole is not good.
The Steam deck is cool and I love mine but it can’t be upgraded other than the storage. There already are new games that run poorly, and sometimes because of linux, rather than hardware. So maybe getting one while saving up for a pc might be your best bet, specially if you are still looking at building a steam library.
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