For the past year I’ve been playing with a Steamdeck.

I adored the Sony Playstation Vita, and when I saw the Steamdeck, I saw it as a worthy successor and I think I’m right.

The Steamdeck is fantastic! Now, there are definitely more powerful handhelds out there such as the Asus ROG Ally, but the Steamdeck was really the game changer handheld gamers were looking for.

What do I like about it?

• It runs Linux – Nothing like seeing the power of Linux shine at a gaming level. Steam did a great job of creating SteamOS off Arch Linux
• I can use it both as a gaming machine and as a Linux desktop, especially when in a dock hooked up to a keyboard, monitor and mouse
• It runs Windows – Not that I run Windows often on the Steamdeck, but it’s definitely an option and I’m running it off an SD card
• It runs Emulation Station – This was a huge factor in me buying the Steamdeck, I wanted to be able to carry a subset of my retro gaming archive on the Steamdeck.
• How it feels in my hands and how visible the screen is
• The controls are good
• For how powerful the machine is, the battery life is not bad

What do I dislike about it?

• The size of the Steamdeck is big and the case just adds more to it. That said, it’s kind of to be expected, people need a good size screen, good controls and a comfortable unit, so there are definitely tradeoffs.
• It can run warm – Although I throttle using some plugins which saves battery life
• The virtual keyboard takes up too much of the screen, and sometimes blocks fields you’re entering, say, a username or password in

There’s not much I don’t like, honestly and I can very much live with the things I dislike.

I’ve played some AAA titles such as Stray, and I didn’t see much lag, and the Steamdeck kept up with the game.

I do tend to play more modern retro-like games and games that don’t tax the system, however I would like to play more immersive modern games on it.

Now, how do I balance Steam versus my game consoles? Well, there are certain games that I’m going to want to play on multiple platforms – Tetris is one game that I want with me. I think this is also why I play more retro-like and independent games on the Steamdeck, because they don’t necessarily exist on the consoles, or if they do, I’m more likely to play games while travelling, or casually outside versus inside.

Some games are mean to be played on a big TV, some, I’d say handheld, and others work for both.

Steamdeck, Asus ROG Ally or other? Hmmm – The Steamdeck, when I ordered it, was definitely one of a kind and it definitely spurred a whole new industry.

I admit, I love the look of the Asus ROG Ally, but I’m a bit meh on it running Windows out of the box. I know there are sites that document how to setup Linux and get close to a Steamdeck experience on the Ally and that will improve over time. The Ally is definitely more powerful than the Steamdeck.

I think, ultimately, weigh the pros and cons of Windows versus Linux. SteamOS is pretty fantastic and I’ve not had any issues with it.