Introduction

Well, it has been a long wait but finally my Steam Deck is here!

For those who live on the other side of the moon (or just aren't that interested into gaming), the Steam Deck is a portable all-in-one gaming PC. It really is a PC, you can plug it into a monitor and start working with the Linux environment just like on any other PC. Or you can just enjoy the preinstalled software that really gives you the feeling like you're playing on a proper gaming console. (Because it is one.)

Valve has really invested a lot into Linux gaming, years before anyone knew about the Steam Deck. By sponsoring projects like DXVK and developing their own wine distribution called Proton, they substantially helped to advance the Linux gaming sector.

Now it's all finally paying off. And how it does!

Setup

The initial setup was a bit finicky, since the Steam Deck still had some older version of SteamOS installed. Therefore, the first thing I did was upgrade to the newest version, which even included a firmware update:

After this update, the main menu was noticeably smoother and there were no more obvious visual glitches when searching for new games in the store or looking at the existing games.

The Pros

(in my opinion)

Well, it really is a dream come true: a portable Linux PC that is great for gaming. And yet, I don't plan on using its Linux features too soon, since I already have several Linux computers to experiment on.

But here's the thing: You can do it! You can install third-party software, you are not shut into Valve's wallet garden like with so many other console vendors. Of course, it's much more pleasant to stay in Valve's environment, it's called Steam Deck for a reason. But you can - and people do - install emulators, for example, and nothing will stop you.

A word about the hardware: the AMD APU has enough power for almost any game you throw at it. At least I haven't had any problems so far.

Concerning the battery life, I can't really comment yet as I haven't played that long in one sitting. But so far it's been enough for all my gaming sessions and afterwards I charge it anyways.

The Cons

So far I haven't seen any ;)

Well, of course there are issues, like with any other piece of hardware or software. But the overall impression is a really solid one.

The Software is now in a state where you can really sit back and play games without having any issues.

Enough games are already well supported in my Steam library and even those marked as "playable" often work just great.

Let me close with a nice picture:

See you soon!