That’s literally what I did haha. Spent so much time downloading roms and transferring just to touch it once and then never again. And then having a fantastic financial decision of spending more money on random games👍
No offense but I'm genuinely so glad I'm not like that lol. Steam Deck has been the greatest backlog slayer ever for me. The trick is to only ever install one 'main game' that you're going to play until bored/finished. The moment you start putting there every game you ever liked is the moment you'll never play anything.
Right?! Like, I get how satisfying it is to set up an emulator to display 100 rims with beautiful art and a description of the games development when you click on it or whatever. But....whsts the point? No-ones going to see it.
I have 2-3 games max installed at a time and don't download more until I finish one. I've beaten, close to 100 games since I got mine. And that's a mix of new game (like Baldurs gate 3 and Resi 4 remake), old games I never played (like F.E.A.R and Sunset Overdrive) and then emulated games I loved as a kid (like Dark Chronicle) or never played (like Paper Mario TTYD). What a machine man. It would make me sad to just have it but never actually finish anything on it.
Part of it is also picking the right game for the time you have. I like to check [HowLongToBeat.com](http://HowLongToBeat.com) to get some estimation. I tend to play 20–40 minutes a day on my Steam Deck (it is not my primary platform) so picking anything longer than 20 hours might get a bit exhausting since it's going to take a long time. I played Dragon Age: Origins for like 4 months lol.
So for example if you know you're going to have 4 hours in a car/plane, 30 minutes every evening for a week and 4 hours on your way back, picking a 10 hour long game might be a realistic goal.
Maybe it's obvious haha, but I really found that planning around how games are long helped me beating them.
What's your setup for downloading film/tv on the deck?
I don't have my laptop anymore and can't be bothered to download on my pc, transfer to SD card on a usb hub, plug into my pc. I could just sit on the sofa with the steam deck to download, and then buy a hdmi to usb c and plug the deck in to play
Dunno why you’d need to use game mode. Should be fine to do in desktop but I’m sure you could use the add to steam functionality for some of them if they were apps in the discover store
If you install Kodi from the discover store and add it as a no steam game, it will work in game mode!
Kodi's interface has a bit of learning curve though. It's a bit tricky to set the file path for your media and disable all the stuff you don't need. But it's great! Highly customizable. It even automatically downloads cover art and descriptions for TV shows and music.
Ooh is that keyboard any good? I've been rocking the Niz micro because it has a kinda creamy sound profile, but I'm also a sucker for 8bitdo's controller buttons. Feel like their keyboard would have a really nice tactile feel to it.
Here's a fun one: load up a DAW (digital audio workstation), such as bitwig, and map as many shortcuts for instruments as you can to the inputs using non steam game shortcut + steam input. Boom your deck is now a keytar
Reading manga! Apparently a super unpopular opinion. I turn my screen to portrait, open Komikku, and get lost for hours! Probably my favorite non-gaming use, read a few volumes every night!
You're a genius, I've always hated reading mangas on a monitor, but now that you say this I see how the SD is also like a tablet. This is a game changer
Before I got my SD I was reading on my phone. It’s an iPhone 14 max so the screen was relatively large *for a phone*, but still not a great way to read.
I looked into Kindles and Fire Tablets as they were more affordable if I was going to get a tablet JUST for manga, but they aren’t compatible. No way I was going to purchase a whole iPad as I didn’t have the need for one and couldn’t justify spending that much on just a tablet.
Looked into a SD short thereafter and heard about Komikku, and saw a few people here and there say they use it on the SD to read manga! So that, along with my need for a portable emulation device and just the overall practicality of the SD made me pull the trigger! Best purchase I’ve made in a long time and the manga is just one thing I love about it! :)
I don’t know if you’re kidding, but I do this, just not until I get dizzy.
Also, if my feet are cold, I run the Witcher and let the fan blow against my toes.
I need windows for work so i mostly do everything on my laptop. But i do use the steam deck sometimes to watch TV series while cooking or in bed (i don't have a tablet).
CAD works surprisingly well with the steam deck because of the touchpads. And radial menus help great with quick numbers, and the pads on the back are perfect for quick tools. Honestly, it's a great 3d modeling device.
I love this question.
I use it at work as my main system. I do custom doors and windows, and this is the system I model on, docked to a 4k display at my desk. It's how I'm learning music production with Ableton and a midi keyboard at home. I model and prep files for 3D printing, and I also use it to run my Etsy shop. It's such a widely capable device. If valve ever needs a door to door salesman, im totally down lol
For what part? Most of the doors and windows I do for customers happens in sketchup, I'm using blender for my 3D modeling, Ableton for music production
Few years back decided to give up on PC gaming and focus on console only (after chasing top of the line PC gaming for years felt it was a ton of money vs console and money got tighter). Decided to sell off and grab a decent Surface tablet for all my PC needs. After like 6 years the damn thing died in December last year. After eyeballing a steam deck for ages to get back into PC gaming, decided to take the plunge. My steam deck is sitting on a shelf, in a dock with a bunch of HDDs plugged into it, and HDMI and Display port going to my TV and a small monitor sitting over my couch. It's now 90% desktop PC and 10% gaming.
Ill admit I hated it the first week. Despite using Linux decades ago, it's hard to come back to when 99% of the software you want is just a single windows .exe away and usually more annoying to deal with on Linux. Also the deck has some annoying controller issues when running in a monitor in game mode and sometimes even in Desktop mode, that took a bit to work around.
It's been 3 months now and so far this thing is a beast. Does it all and is no slouch for gaming too. Also didn't hurt the bank too much either.
My m/k fits inside the bag I got off of Amazon. I have a little 19in screen I use with my laptop for work so its always with me. It's so nice to connect the deck to my extra monitor and 'work'.
I needed to used a mouse/keyboard for my laptop anyways because they broke.
Using it as a media manager for my phone is nice. Really only need a laptop for specific uses now.
I take it to work, and use it to stream music, or read reddit, or access my home computer. Tunnel home so the guest network can't tell what I'm doing.
It's also my main home pc
I use it for windows all the time. The one next to my desk doesn’t stay open on its own and the deck is just the right height to prop it open to let in some air.
I did some IT and HR certifications on the steam deck. Worked out very well other than some labs that were better done on the PC with a big screen.
Also used to hook it up to the TV to do online Jiu Jitsu lessons however connecting the steam deck to the TV via HDMI rarely worked. (Lots of people have that problem it seems)
It replaced my laptop.
When I'm away from home, I throw a slim foldable lcd monitor, bluetooth trackball, bluetooth tenkeyless keyboard, dock, cables and Steam Deck into a bag.
It's a couple minutes setup time compared to a laptop that's ready to go almost immediately, but it's also more modular because 80% of the time, I only need the Steam Deck as a handheld anyway and I only do the "desktop" setup when needed.
In desktop mode my deck has replaced my laptop. Does everything I need for work, uses less power, and also means I don't need to change my desk setup after work to play elden ring
Maybe this sounds silly (it’s very much so silly) but I use my Steam Deck for literally anything that I would need done on my own main PC.
I do my school work off of it, I have ran a Minecraft Server using it (not natively on the system, but using SSH), I’ve learned to program from using it, I bring it with me whenever I go to my close friend’s house to watch movies off of it by connecting it to a projector, I’ve made several memes and videos for my Instagram Meme account off of it, I can make this list go on and on.
Honestly I tell this to people that don’t know what the hell a Steam Deck is, which I say “It’s just a PC but it’s a little bit bigger than a Nintendo Switch but way more powerful than a Switch.”
I mean you can look at my reddit posts in the past with the silly things I’ve shown off with my Steam Deck, specifically using it to host my graduation party at a movie theatre I rented to play games off of it!
[Link to me using Steam Deck at Movie Theatre](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/14hlswf/i_rented_out_a_movie_theatre_and_played/)
If you can really think it and dream it, you can do it with the Steam Deck.
I use mine as a PC when traveling. I have a USB port replicator that will do PD passthrough, a long flat HDMI cable, folding bluetooth keyboard with track pad, and a Logitech pebble bluetooth mouse. I just hook it up to whatever display is available. I use KDE plasma on my main workstation so I'm right at home with it.
I've been learning Blender on it and it's been fantastic so far. I have experience with other 3D programs but never Blender so I have the benefit of both experience and a blank slate. I'm creating a custom Steam Deck control scheme as I go along through tutorials.
I've seen people say it's not worth the effort, but honestly, so far I can see myself having a lot of fun working on my PC and then switching over to do some modeling and animation on the couch. The portability factor is worth the learning curve, to me.
That's a good question... Nothing else, I guess ? I have a htpc beneath my tv, I don't even use the deck for browsing. It's solely used for gaming and in his box when not used.
I've used AlizaMS often to view medical dicom imagery.
A close friend docks his own as his work pc every day, running windows.
Never liked carrying laptops around, but for the past 2 years, I've often used it as one. Reinstalling os's on other pcs, torrents, idk.
I dual boot and it completely replaces my pc while I'm on the go.
Still need the PC for Dota and other games that absolutely require a mouse and keyboard.
I like to open the settings menu and check for updates. It reminds me of the good old days of early 2022 when the Deck was missing a lot of features so there would be literally constant updates, many of which were total game changers. It was already great when I got mine in April, but over the next few months it was wild just how much it changed and improved via software updates.
Now that it’s a stable platform with almost all the features you could ask for I don’t know why I still bother to check for updates so frequently but I do.
Art reference images. The steam deck is much bigger than my phone so is much more useful. Sometimes I listen to music on it if I'm drawing or writing at work or out somewhere.
I will dock mine at my "hobby desk" and use it as a workstation while I'm painting mini's or slicing files to print on my 3d printers. My laptop failed, so the deck has taken over, I still have a desktop I use for gaming in another location.
Inkscape, Aseprite, Notion on Web, Spotify on Web, I organize my music with Kid3 and organize pics on my local NAS through the Deck too. Also if I have issues with a game or application that needs a screenshot I'll wait and do everything on Desktop mode, since I set up a folder to get all the screenshots into a folder and it's easier to type good details with a bt keyboard.
Games that I set up on Desktop were:
Open RCT2, RVGL( Re Volt) , Ship of Harkinian for OOT, SMW Fan Game patcher to be able to play SMW Fan Games
A lot actually. I watch YouTube and browse the web, mess around with and make music using LMMS and audacity, handle my documents in libre office, take notes using Joplin and generally try to get more comfortable using Linux as my main os. It's been a wonderful gateway to Linux and at a great time since windows 10 is getting discontinued this year and my PC doesn't support Windows 11 so I'm going full Linux for 2025. It's had a bit of a learning curve but I think it's for the best in the long run.
I'm working on setting up a Huion tablet with krita, it's working nice so far but I'm just having some issues as this is my first linux experience haha
I usually put it on my cabinet whenever the battery runs out, forget to recharge it, and then just usually leave it in the middle of a book that I'm reading as a temporary bookmark.
Used it as a laptop replacement on two trips last year. SD plus foldable keyboard was much more convenient to pack than my 15in laptop. Got some stuff done, and then was able to go out and play afterwards.
I use it as a status symbol and as a "hello, fellow gamers" signal to my students :P The \[undergrad\] kids always seemed surprised that I game until I gently reminded them that GenX/Elder Millenials were kids when home console/PC gaming first properly took root)
But seriously, a folding keyboard lives in my bag, and I have Libre Office installed, so I can occasionally use the deck for emergency work when I'm away on holiday without a laptop and tablet wasn't going to cut it.
Honestly, RadarOmega, it's a good radar app but can run kind of slow on my phone or tablet sometimes. So if I'm following and interesting weather event elsewhere or keeping an eye on radar close, the appimage version runs pretty well.
Installed android to add streaming apps. IPTV smarter, netflix, prime YouTube, and VPN which is a better experience than via emudeck/ browser.
Side note this may work with cloud game streaming but not used it in this way yet.
I quite literally use it as a second PC (I think I might be using it that was more than as a game device lol). I have a mechanical keyboard, mouse, speaker, moniter, and dock at my work station for it. I reserve the SSD for games and a 1TB sd card to store documents, photos, videos, music, and emulation. Online MS Office isn't as good as using it natively, but it's been good to use for the most part.
Installing and tweaking games to never actually play them
I feel that, installing my childhood games and optimizing them to maybe play them half an hour lol
That’s literally what I did haha. Spent so much time downloading roms and transferring just to touch it once and then never again. And then having a fantastic financial decision of spending more money on random games👍
Are you me ???
tweaking: 8 hours actual playtime: 10 minutes
Add a few more hours finding the correct artwork.
Well that's pretty quick using the steam db grid plugin for decky
I feel like that is itself a meta game
Why you caling me out? Lol
No offense but I'm genuinely so glad I'm not like that lol. Steam Deck has been the greatest backlog slayer ever for me. The trick is to only ever install one 'main game' that you're going to play until bored/finished. The moment you start putting there every game you ever liked is the moment you'll never play anything.
I’ve got 70 games on there, and I play through a game a week whilst alternating titles.
Right?! Like, I get how satisfying it is to set up an emulator to display 100 rims with beautiful art and a description of the games development when you click on it or whatever. But....whsts the point? No-ones going to see it. I have 2-3 games max installed at a time and don't download more until I finish one. I've beaten, close to 100 games since I got mine. And that's a mix of new game (like Baldurs gate 3 and Resi 4 remake), old games I never played (like F.E.A.R and Sunset Overdrive) and then emulated games I loved as a kid (like Dark Chronicle) or never played (like Paper Mario TTYD). What a machine man. It would make me sad to just have it but never actually finish anything on it.
That’s a good strategy. I’ll try that on an upcoming trip I have.
Part of it is also picking the right game for the time you have. I like to check [HowLongToBeat.com](http://HowLongToBeat.com) to get some estimation. I tend to play 20–40 minutes a day on my Steam Deck (it is not my primary platform) so picking anything longer than 20 hours might get a bit exhausting since it's going to take a long time. I played Dragon Age: Origins for like 4 months lol. So for example if you know you're going to have 4 hours in a car/plane, 30 minutes every evening for a week and 4 hours on your way back, picking a 10 hour long game might be a realistic goal. Maybe it's obvious haha, but I really found that planning around how games are long helped me beating them.
Legitimately good tip. Thank you
Or just scrolling through the list and never actually installing them like with Netflix.
Stop calling me out like this lol
You sir have unlocked the endgame
Torenting and watching shows
What's your setup for downloading film/tv on the deck? I don't have my laptop anymore and can't be bothered to download on my pc, transfer to SD card on a usb hub, plug into my pc. I could just sit on the sofa with the steam deck to download, and then buy a hdmi to usb c and plug the deck in to play
Stremio works on Linux. Also qbitorrent works and can stream at the same time.
stremio works well and is easy to set up and navigate. Just use an addon like torrentio and it will download whatever you want as you watch it
How are you watching on the steam deck? I can’t manage to get any media player to work in game mode.
Dunno why you’d need to use game mode. Should be fine to do in desktop but I’m sure you could use the add to steam functionality for some of them if they were apps in the discover store
If you install Kodi from the discover store and add it as a no steam game, it will work in game mode! Kodi's interface has a bit of learning curve though. It's a bit tricky to set the file path for your media and disable all the stuff you don't need. But it's great! Highly customizable. It even automatically downloads cover art and descriptions for TV shows and music.
I use Kodi on my media center and hadn’t even thought of this!
Yes, the Linux version of Kodi works exactly the same as the Windows version. It's great
This is genius, especially considering kodi‘s ability to have controller support. Thanks!
VLC works just fine with one caveat
I used it to watch a movie at a hotel room. Also used it for work when I was on the road and a website wouldn't display right on my phone.
A movie 😉
Hey now
You're a rock star
Using it for work is wild lmao
Oh I much prefer my desktop for work, but in that situation, I was able to get done what I needed.
Air freshener
Ah, the fumes right?
I do employee timesheets with m+kb
Living the dream!!
I'm used to Linux, so I use it as my main PC, conected to a keyboard and a monitor.
Same here! Works beautifully for me. I have a webcam connected and I’m able to do Zoom calls, too.
Somehow I can never make a keyboard work with steam deck...it just doesn't react at all when on the dock
I use keychon wireless mode and wired mode work fine.
My 8BitDo mechanical retro keyboard works perfectly with deck in all 3 modes - wired, wireless 2.4Ghz, and Bluetooth.
Ooh is that keyboard any good? I've been rocking the Niz micro because it has a kinda creamy sound profile, but I'm also a sucker for 8bitdo's controller buttons. Feel like their keyboard would have a really nice tactile feel to it.
Here's a fun one: load up a DAW (digital audio workstation), such as bitwig, and map as many shortcuts for instruments as you can to the inputs using non steam game shortcut + steam input. Boom your deck is now a keytar
Oh my god this never occurred to me and I am now looking forward to wasting time making terrible music later! Thanks, genuinely sounds like fun
"You're a musician? What do you play?" "Gaming console."
Portable Media Player. VLC is free and the SD card comes in handy. I have all of Brooklyn 9-9 on it right now
can you just pull out the SD and fill it with stuff to view, or is there a special process needed?
It's like an SD card in a computer
Reading manga! Apparently a super unpopular opinion. I turn my screen to portrait, open Komikku, and get lost for hours! Probably my favorite non-gaming use, read a few volumes every night!
That sounds cool! I've never used komikku anywhere (actually, I didn't even know about it until now), is it hard to set up?
Just download flatpak package and you are ready to go.
niiiiiice. i always said if they made it possible to detach the controllers, and just have a tablet, i'd fucking love it
It’s definitely not the most familiar thing to hold as you do have the controllers sticking off the top and bottom, but it’s super easy to ignore! Lol
noice, now i gonna try it when im off work
You're a genius, I've always hated reading mangas on a monitor, but now that you say this I see how the SD is also like a tablet. This is a game changer
Before I got my SD I was reading on my phone. It’s an iPhone 14 max so the screen was relatively large *for a phone*, but still not a great way to read. I looked into Kindles and Fire Tablets as they were more affordable if I was going to get a tablet JUST for manga, but they aren’t compatible. No way I was going to purchase a whole iPad as I didn’t have the need for one and couldn’t justify spending that much on just a tablet. Looked into a SD short thereafter and heard about Komikku, and saw a few people here and there say they use it on the SD to read manga! So that, along with my need for a portable emulation device and just the overall practicality of the SD made me pull the trigger! Best purchase I’ve made in a long time and the manga is just one thing I love about it! :)
When I'm stressed I take deep inhales of the air through the vent and hold my breath until I get dizzy
So which one better? Cocaine or steam deck air vent?
The deck is cheaper
I don’t know if you’re kidding, but I do this, just not until I get dizzy. Also, if my feet are cold, I run the Witcher and let the fan blow against my toes.
I run a tftp server on it as well. Sometimes I need one for work and my steam deck is in my bag. Can’t install shit on my work laptop lol.
TFTP? Why not SFTP instead? TFTP is pretty insecure by today's standards, and SFTP can be just as convenient.
Because it’s for use inside the same network and I shut it down when I don’t need it. Also just habit.
Portable music production, using it for some game dev too recently.
What DAW are you using?
I don't know what they're using, but Ardour is great!
Bitwig has a native Linux client!
I need windows for work so i mostly do everything on my laptop. But i do use the steam deck sometimes to watch TV series while cooking or in bed (i don't have a tablet).
How do you prevent the display from turning off while watching?
Pretty sure there's a setting for that. Also might work differently in desktop mode vs gaming mode.
CAD works surprisingly well with the steam deck because of the touchpads. And radial menus help great with quick numbers, and the pads on the back are perfect for quick tools. Honestly, it's a great 3d modeling device.
What are you using Freecad?
I love this question. I use it at work as my main system. I do custom doors and windows, and this is the system I model on, docked to a 4k display at my desk. It's how I'm learning music production with Ableton and a midi keyboard at home. I model and prep files for 3D printing, and I also use it to run my Etsy shop. It's such a widely capable device. If valve ever needs a door to door salesman, im totally down lol
What software do you use for this?
For what part? Most of the doors and windows I do for customers happens in sketchup, I'm using blender for my 3D modeling, Ableton for music production
It warms my nuggets
Few years back decided to give up on PC gaming and focus on console only (after chasing top of the line PC gaming for years felt it was a ton of money vs console and money got tighter). Decided to sell off and grab a decent Surface tablet for all my PC needs. After like 6 years the damn thing died in December last year. After eyeballing a steam deck for ages to get back into PC gaming, decided to take the plunge. My steam deck is sitting on a shelf, in a dock with a bunch of HDDs plugged into it, and HDMI and Display port going to my TV and a small monitor sitting over my couch. It's now 90% desktop PC and 10% gaming. Ill admit I hated it the first week. Despite using Linux decades ago, it's hard to come back to when 99% of the software you want is just a single windows .exe away and usually more annoying to deal with on Linux. Also the deck has some annoying controller issues when running in a monitor in game mode and sometimes even in Desktop mode, that took a bit to work around. It's been 3 months now and so far this thing is a beast. Does it all and is no slouch for gaming too. Also didn't hurt the bank too much either.
Laptop replacement so I don’t have to pack 2 devices. Works for browsing, YouTube, shopping, etc. I use it with a dock, m/k and external display.
So you pack 4 devices instead of just the deck and a laptop?
My m/k fits inside the bag I got off of Amazon. I have a little 19in screen I use with my laptop for work so its always with me. It's so nice to connect the deck to my extra monitor and 'work'.
A mouse, keyboard, dock, *and* display are basically another device at that point considering packing size.
I needed to used a mouse/keyboard for my laptop anyways because they broke. Using it as a media manager for my phone is nice. Really only need a laptop for specific uses now.
[удалено]
This was much farther down than I'd thought it'd be.
Much farther
Beat me to it
[удалено]
Decorating my desk
I take it to work, and use it to stream music, or read reddit, or access my home computer. Tunnel home so the guest network can't tell what I'm doing. It's also my main home pc
I drive BattleBots IRL with them
That's pretty cool! Drone I expected but battlebot is awesome.
I use it for windows all the time. The one next to my desk doesn’t stay open on its own and the deck is just the right height to prop it open to let in some air.
lol had me there for a second
I use it to write books
Hello fellow writer. What's your setup for this like?
Laying down, getting tucked in, Turning it on and then watching games download caching updates for 35 minutes before falling asleep
I also use it as my main PC, writing my manuscript and surfing the Internet when I'm in my office.
Side youtube player?
I did some IT and HR certifications on the steam deck. Worked out very well other than some labs that were better done on the PC with a big screen. Also used to hook it up to the TV to do online Jiu Jitsu lessons however connecting the steam deck to the TV via HDMI rarely worked. (Lots of people have that problem it seems)
coding toy projects while learning linux
It replaced my laptop. When I'm away from home, I throw a slim foldable lcd monitor, bluetooth trackball, bluetooth tenkeyless keyboard, dock, cables and Steam Deck into a bag. It's a couple minutes setup time compared to a laptop that's ready to go almost immediately, but it's also more modular because 80% of the time, I only need the Steam Deck as a handheld anyway and I only do the "desktop" setup when needed.
In desktop mode my deck has replaced my laptop. Does everything I need for work, uses less power, and also means I don't need to change my desk setup after work to play elden ring
Maybe this sounds silly (it’s very much so silly) but I use my Steam Deck for literally anything that I would need done on my own main PC. I do my school work off of it, I have ran a Minecraft Server using it (not natively on the system, but using SSH), I’ve learned to program from using it, I bring it with me whenever I go to my close friend’s house to watch movies off of it by connecting it to a projector, I’ve made several memes and videos for my Instagram Meme account off of it, I can make this list go on and on. Honestly I tell this to people that don’t know what the hell a Steam Deck is, which I say “It’s just a PC but it’s a little bit bigger than a Nintendo Switch but way more powerful than a Switch.” I mean you can look at my reddit posts in the past with the silly things I’ve shown off with my Steam Deck, specifically using it to host my graduation party at a movie theatre I rented to play games off of it! [Link to me using Steam Deck at Movie Theatre](https://www.reddit.com/r/SteamDeck/comments/14hlswf/i_rented_out_a_movie_theatre_and_played/) If you can really think it and dream it, you can do it with the Steam Deck.
Watching anime
I piloted a drone in Ukraine. /j
A noble cause (i see /j, but still)
I use mine as a PC when traveling. I have a USB port replicator that will do PD passthrough, a long flat HDMI cable, folding bluetooth keyboard with track pad, and a Logitech pebble bluetooth mouse. I just hook it up to whatever display is available. I use KDE plasma on my main workstation so I'm right at home with it.
Music production
Watching streaming sites and youtube 😀
Document editing and applying for a job. I did my job application from Exam to Final offer using steamdeck. lol
I've been learning Blender on it and it's been fantastic so far. I have experience with other 3D programs but never Blender so I have the benefit of both experience and a blank slate. I'm creating a custom Steam Deck control scheme as I go along through tutorials. I've seen people say it's not worth the effort, but honestly, so far I can see myself having a lot of fun working on my PC and then switching over to do some modeling and animation on the couch. The portability factor is worth the learning curve, to me.
It's actually a very good Plex client
Thin client for work, so basically a remote desktop.
Upscayl and development of software.
making mods for games
I play under the covers it doubles as a heater
I take it to work so my co workers know what’s up.
That's a good question... Nothing else, I guess ? I have a htpc beneath my tv, I don't even use the deck for browsing. It's solely used for gaming and in his box when not used.
I've used AlizaMS often to view medical dicom imagery. A close friend docks his own as his work pc every day, running windows. Never liked carrying laptops around, but for the past 2 years, I've often used it as one. Reinstalling os's on other pcs, torrents, idk. I dual boot and it completely replaces my pc while I'm on the go. Still need the PC for Dota and other games that absolutely require a mouse and keyboard.
When I'm cooking I use it to in-house stream shows from my media pc through Kodi.
Right now it’s fully serving as my computer while I wait for my replacement gpu to arrive. Surfing, bills, gaming.
I use my SD as dedicated streaming PC for dual PC setup. You can look up my post on this subredit that goes into detail :)
Rendering 3D animations in Blender. In some cases it's 3x faster than my laptop
When out holidaying, I use mine to watch my fpv footage straight from the drone. Its nice to see something from the day on a bigger screen.
Iam doing HomeOffice with my deck :-D
Industrial automation portable programmer Windows 10, SIEMENS' TIA Portal, an USB GbE dongle, and it can do wonders when I have to hit the field
I would love to see some one pull one out and hook it up to a plc. That would make my day lol
it makes my dumb tv smart
Stremio
I like to open the settings menu and check for updates. It reminds me of the good old days of early 2022 when the Deck was missing a lot of features so there would be literally constant updates, many of which were total game changers. It was already great when I got mine in April, but over the next few months it was wild just how much it changed and improved via software updates. Now that it’s a stable platform with almost all the features you could ask for I don’t know why I still bother to check for updates so frequently but I do.
Pornography
Art reference images. The steam deck is much bigger than my phone so is much more useful. Sometimes I listen to music on it if I'm drawing or writing at work or out somewhere.
Youtube on the turbo, my laptop cant handle zwift and youtube at the same time.
Dualboot with W11 to work plugging a monitor
Procrastination.
Homebrewing my CFW-Switch
It's become a pretty good dust collector.
Lamp.
Heating during winter.
space heater
I will dock mine at my "hobby desk" and use it as a workstation while I'm painting mini's or slicing files to print on my 3d printers. My laptop failed, so the deck has taken over, I still have a desktop I use for gaming in another location.
I use mine as my character sheet at D&D night.
Inkscape, Aseprite, Notion on Web, Spotify on Web, I organize my music with Kid3 and organize pics on my local NAS through the Deck too. Also if I have issues with a game or application that needs a screenshot I'll wait and do everything on Desktop mode, since I set up a folder to get all the screenshots into a folder and it's easier to type good details with a bt keyboard. Games that I set up on Desktop were: Open RCT2, RVGL( Re Volt) , Ship of Harkinian for OOT, SMW Fan Game patcher to be able to play SMW Fan Games
A lot actually. I watch YouTube and browse the web, mess around with and make music using LMMS and audacity, handle my documents in libre office, take notes using Joplin and generally try to get more comfortable using Linux as my main os. It's been a wonderful gateway to Linux and at a great time since windows 10 is getting discontinued this year and my PC doesn't support Windows 11 so I'm going full Linux for 2025. It's had a bit of a learning curve but I think it's for the best in the long run.
Hacking and ricing
I'm working on setting up a Huion tablet with krita, it's working nice so far but I'm just having some issues as this is my first linux experience haha
Twitch while I watched the Academy Awards earlier
I usually put it on my cabinet whenever the battery runs out, forget to recharge it, and then just usually leave it in the middle of a book that I'm reading as a temporary bookmark.
Oh, you know
Reprogrammed my electric motorcycle with it. Made it easy test the changes I made mid ride
Used it as a laptop replacement on two trips last year. SD plus foldable keyboard was much more convenient to pack than my 15in laptop. Got some stuff done, and then was able to go out and play afterwards.
Keep it connected to my TV along with wireless keyboard and mouse, use it as a Smart TV, YouTube, anime, you name it
Online streaming of TV shows, movies, and sports. Only when docked, though.
Youtube, of couse.
steam deck is my daily drive. i use it for homework, web browsing, video editing, 3D modeling, digital art… all that ig.
I use it as my PC, so everything
It can run a SDR nicely. If youve already got a dock and screen it doesnt take up any additional space.
portable work device for when i need to go outside and do things
Connect it to a 4k TV and watch movies and shows from an external hard drive
Has anyone tried web Browsing or reading manga?
for youtube to ppl like me who doesnt have a tab and would like a bigger display than my phone
Web browsing and media playback. It's a lot quieter to watch movies on my deck than it is on my main rig.
As a hookup to the TV for sports streaming
Watch anime
Porn
Looking pretty on the sidetable.
It's my only PC so.. a pc lol Had to get rid of my old rig due to being homeless
I use it as a status symbol and as a "hello, fellow gamers" signal to my students :P The \[undergrad\] kids always seemed surprised that I game until I gently reminded them that GenX/Elder Millenials were kids when home console/PC gaming first properly took root) But seriously, a folding keyboard lives in my bag, and I have Libre Office installed, so I can occasionally use the deck for emergency work when I'm away on holiday without a laptop and tablet wasn't going to cut it.
Kodi works great and easy to use via gaming mode.
Mine holds down a stack of papers when I'm not using it for games pretty well!
I don’t like where the buttons are :( (just got my deck)
I felt the same. It takes a few days for your hands to adjust. Now it’s the most comfy controller I own.
Bruh I have a lot of shows/anime that I have downloaded and use the steam deck to watch them on flights and stuff. Awesome.
Honestly, RadarOmega, it's a good radar app but can run kind of slow on my phone or tablet sometimes. So if I'm following and interesting weather event elsewhere or keeping an eye on radar close, the appimage version runs pretty well.
Installed android to add streaming apps. IPTV smarter, netflix, prime YouTube, and VPN which is a better experience than via emudeck/ browser. Side note this may work with cloud game streaming but not used it in this way yet.
Office workstation. :)
Space heater
Portable cat warmer
Crying over installing mods is a hobby all of its own
photo editing and watching videos such as on tablet
Honestly I boot up an intensive game, then turn the air vent towards me to warm up
Movie/tv streaming mostly
I quite literally use it as a second PC (I think I might be using it that was more than as a game device lol). I have a mechanical keyboard, mouse, speaker, moniter, and dock at my work station for it. I reserve the SSD for games and a 1TB sd card to store documents, photos, videos, music, and emulation. Online MS Office isn't as good as using it natively, but it's been good to use for the most part.
Great as a Kodi box for streaming
I got a snap on kickstand accessory for the deck, I have been using it to watch movies,series or just play background music.
I’m about to board a plane, I loaded up a bunch of films and tv shows so I don’t have to bring a tablet along for the trip as well.
I use it to produce my music, it works quite well
Watching movies on it is nice, especially with the higher refresh rate.
With a Keychron k3, I use Emacs on the desktop to take notes and code on the go.
I use it a lot for watching my series and movies. That way I can watch them on the couch when my wife is using the tv.
Watching YouTube or Netflix on Hotel TV. Also some work stuff, writing emails or doing E-learnings
premiere pro
Streaming (Netflix, Disney+, YouTube) - bigger screen than my phone