It’s nearing Christmas and my wife and I are giving each other ideas on what we want. Before I commit to a steam deck I had some questions I was hoping this sub could help answer for me.

Firstly, (stupid question but I can’t seem to search the answer) steam deck will out right play my steam library, emulate older consoles, etc. right? It’s a standalone console that doesn’t need a pc to stream games from, right?

  1. If I’ve never had or used a steam deck before, but I’ve played a lot on an OLED switch, will I really have a different experience between the OLED deck or the LCD? And does the screen size difference (.4”) even make a noticeable difference to anyone?

  2. We definitely don’t have the budget to just cash out on a new OLED model unless I sell my switch to add to the budget, so I’m shopping for a used deck, primarily. Can anyone give me tips on that? Like is it safe to assume I will be satisfied with condition, reliability, etc. if I buy a used LCD 512gb from a high rated eBay seller for ~$400?

Any and all advice is greatly appreciated as this is a big deal to me. I don’t have a gaming pc, PlayStation or Xbox anymore as I want to stick to handheld at home, for the sake of my wife’s epilepsy, and I’m growing tired of having to go to my local gaming cafe (amazing place) just to get a few hours of mgs5 or gran turismo 7 in.

Thanks again for your help.

One last thing I forgot, if it’s imperative I buy from steam or another verified retailer, should I worry about shipping times?

  • Mission-Recording-93BEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    Answer to your questions:

    1. Yes. Steam Deck is a standalone console, not a streaming console, and you can even play many games offline.
    2. Oled version is really better than the Lcd one. You can search a lot of comparison videos between these two devices for more details. I had a lcd one before I get the oled one, so I can say the bigger screen indeed makes some difference, but it should not be the core reason to upgrade lcd from oled version.

    I don’t know about the second hand market so I can’t give you advice on your third question. But a Steam official verified second hand device could be a nice option I think.

  • wafflez2248BEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    1: Steam Deck plays a lot of steam games: check online to see which ones it can play. (Most of them) it’s native and does NOT need a pc.

    2: Would not recommend buying off eBay and third party, Ton of unreliability. Steam is selling 64gb models for $350 and 256gb models for $400 lcd versions however the oled is a great investment and i think you’ll find yourself playing it more considering the games you play

    3: lcd model and oled differences that you’ll want to know the most.

    LCD: battery- 1hr 30 mins to 8 hrs (extremely content dependent.) 64gb-512gb ssd stock storage 60 fps max 60hrz 1.5 meter cable (4.9 feet)

    OLED: Battery- 3hr to 12hr (extremely content dependent) 512gb ssd to 1tb ssd stock storage 90fps 90hrz 2.5 meter cable (8.2 ft)

    4:Emulation is insanely amazing on the system. Runs most things smoothly except ps3 and 360 emulation but that’s getting better.

    5: Steam deck runs the Linux OS. It’s a full computer. You can utilize the desktop mode to do all your computer things on it.

    • ayodstickOPBEnglish
      1·
      10 months ago

      I appreciate everyone’s response really thank you. Well we are looking at getting the 512gb OLED model. It looks like steam is the best place to buy it (Colorado) do you think there’s any chance it will be sold out if we buy it within a week or two of Christmas?