Although it has been out for a long time, it was not until recently that Game4V had the opportunity to touch Valve’s Steam Deck, but unfortunately this is another disappointing hardware product of Valve besides the Steam Controller. and Steam Links.
I was disappointed with Steam Controller and Steam Link, but when I saw the company’s success with Valve Index, I thought that now Fat Chicken has a true hardware development team that can bring better experiences, not I also took my children to the market like before. So when I first saw the company planning to release a gaming model called the Switch Killer, I couldn’t help but feel excited, looking forward to the day I could touch the Steam Deck. But when the dream came true I was a bit disappointed, before going into the details of the assessment I need to clarify a little bit about myself. I’m just a game enthusiast who doesn’t dare to consider myself a true gamer or a fan of any one console because even though I own many different consoles (PS5, XBox, PC, Switch and recently especially Steam Deck) my standard when evaluating a hardware or software product is simply its convenience, the feeling it has when using or playing, so when evaluating Steam Deck I only stand at one. neutral users only.
When I received the device, I was very happy because I could own a powerful handheld gaming machine like the Steam Deck at a pretty good price when the 256gb version only cost me 14 million (including shipping) due to a relative. send to. But after a while of experience, I realized that this machine still has a lot of shortcomings, the thing that I or you guys can easily see later is that the touch screen of the machine is not too sensitive, at first I thought this was a problem. The problem came from the screen protector so after removing the sticker, things still didn’t improve much. The layout of the buttons of the machine is also quite unreasonable when the two Analog levers are quite high, although it is still very easy to follow, but doing so to make room for two multi-point touchpad pieces, I don’t think it’s worth it. When arranging the touchpad, Valve’s hardware engineers will probably change the user behavior from using Analog to the new touchpad, but honestly, for a gamer who likes traditional values like me, this only brings more. many troubles. Not to mention that the software and games compatible with this touchpad are extremely boring even when you use them to select characters quickly while typing on the keyboard, although you have dragged the selection very far, but when pressing the keyboard button keys still get on the G and H keys, and then there are a lot of games when they make you read the EULA, the two special buttons of the Steam Deck don’t even help you fast forward through those boring rules. Then even when you are only using the rod yourself, the slippery surface of the rod makes it very easy for your fingers to slip off them during fast handling. The function buttons, the navigation buttons, and the trigger buttons on the machine and on the back, in my opinion, are very well done, have moderate response, and are arranged scientifically to make all operations located. fit in your hand, the bezel at the bottom makes it more secure and comfortable to hold than the Switch, but this also can’t help you play games for long with this machine, because Valve has tried to cram it Too much stuff inside the Steam Deck makes the machine quite bulky, heavy holding for a long time is easy to get tired. And if you have strong enough hands or hold it for a long time without feeling tired, now another problem appears that the battery of the Steam Deck is quite weak with the maximum time only stopping at 2-3 hours of continuous play (cannot compared to Switch Oled). The game’s cooling system sometimes makes me question marks when the machine is not working hard sometimes, the fan is still very loud. Regarding the hardware outside the function button, the navigation key, I probably only appreciate the speaker when the sound quality is better than the portable speaker models in the price range from 1.5 million to 2.5 million.
If the review of the game console does not say anything about the software and the game library, then it is unfair to the Steam Deck, about the game library like Valve said we can access its massive game library. with a fairly soft price along with many continuous sales. Of course, not all games can be played, and there are many titles with quite a lot of appeal, comforting that Valve is working with game studios to be able to add more games to the supported list. In terms of handling, the machine has really impressed me when playing many games like The Witcher 3, Elden Ring, etc., making it a lot easier to enjoy these games. For the games you can’t play right now, you can still use the game stream feature directly from your Laptop or PC Gaming (you need a powerful PC and a gaming router with a wireless connection). good transmission). There is only one small obstacle when enjoying these games is that the Steam Deck sometimes recognizes the buttons (especially when connected to the controller) quite badly, causing you to take a bit of time to customize. Connecting the controller as well as peripherals to the machine is quite easy when Valve does not have any constraints, even to the image output dock, you do not need to buy genuine Steam products. you can buy from any other brand from Anker, Hyper Juice, etc. This is one of the great plus points that help gamers having difficulty in finding machine-related products. It can be said that currently the Steam Deck may not be perfect, but hopefully they can improve the design in the Steam Deck 2 product they just announced.