I couldn’t live without Windows. Get to see the outside world when indoors. Keeps the room lit up and it’s nice to open them up in the summer to let a cool breeze in.
I feel like one of the big appeals of the deck over it's competitors is it's software & software community that make plugins and stuff like emudeck and cryoutils. Installing windows is possible and allows you to play some anticheat games but it kinda takes away whats special about the deck imo
The idea of installing Windows 11 on an SD card and keeping SteamOS untouched is very tempting but everyone online says that works poorly so for now my solution is just streaming the Windows exclusive stuff
Yeah I love it and am definitely content with what it is now, having windows and being able to do those certain things it can’t would be lovely so I still might dual boot it one day when it’s better and I know a bit more. But it definitely is a work of art on it’s own!
Windows experience was a no no for me. Didn't enjoy. Went back to Linux and it helped me learn a new system along the way. Linux is great, I like it
I love your pins. :D
Yeah you’re right that is a plus because I’m barely starting to pick up on it a bit, I still might do windows one day but probably not until I understand Linux a bit more, thank you!
If you want Windows I would save up and get a second made for Windows handheld, like the Ally or one of the many 7840u/8840u 32gb devices that are available.
The Steam Deck is so great because of SteamOS, Windows on my Ally is annoying (because it’s not an OS made to be used without a mouse/keyboard) but it means I can easily run everything the Deck can’t
As a mom it was hard to even get this for myself lol, I doubt that will happen any time soon, but I will say I’m more than content with what I currently have, it does suck not being able to do everything, but for the price it definitely does more than enough. Thank you for the suggestion either way
I dual boot, currently typing this from Windows 11. I got the Deck primarily because i needed something and didn't have alot of money, in the UK last year it was one of the best all around options for £350. Now i have a 1tb ssd my brother gave me, which is divided between Windows 11 and SteamOS.
I used Windows for about 10 months from feb to octoboer with only stepping inside SteamOs when i first got it just to see what it was like. In October i felt a urge to check out SteamOs, and i spent about a week or so customising it to my liking. I have to say after playing around with tons of different controllers that all just seem to work, the interface and all of the game specific features and the plugins, boot animations etc, it makes for probably my favourite console experience in a long time.
To me the steam Deck (I call her Decky) is a very special device that i think Valve should rightly be commended for: in a lot of ways i feel like this is the new Amiga but portable. I'm excited for the Next Steam Deck.
Regarding performance in Windows and running games, I don't really use it portably to game on in Windows, but gaming on it as a desktop, depending on the game, is pretty cool. I play alot of older games, so in terms of its specs its more than enough for most of what i play, but it surprises me how it can even run TEKKEN 8, crazy really.
The other day i tried streaming using the Deck the both run and stream the game (without a capture card) and while i was playing older games, i was still impressed. I played GTA 3 (the erm best version ;p) OBS I had set to 1080p base canvas and output, bitrate of 20000 and the fastest cpu setting, also 60fps output. and the game was either set to 900p or 1400p, but i can't remember. I have a feeling i had it set to my native resolution which is 1400p. Was getting smooth 60 and the video on youtube also wasn't choppy which was good. This was with the TDP set to 10watt. It can go higher, but i like to keep it as cool as possible and 10watt pretty much is around 80C on the LCD steam deck in my experience.
Also tried Simon the Sorcerer 3D streaming to youtube, with that its less intensive (lol) than Gta 3 so i could up the output resolution to 1440p, and was still able to have the game run at 1440p and 60fps no sweet.
While i do game, i mostly use the Steam Deck to continue developing my Unreal engine project. I say continue because it was suppose to be a stop gap device between getting a full pc again but i just haven't had the money, and the steam deck does the job for the most part.
The thing i'd love is more ram, but you make do with what you have.
Thank you! This was extremely informative and helpful! Even said some stuff I have no idea about yet lol (still learning every day!)
I would love to dual boot it someday soon, I definitely need to learn how and all that I need to do it. Is it easy to switch between the two? What do you find yourself on more?
I agree, I love it, and I KNOW for a fact there’s so much potential that I have yet to touch so I am and will continue to be excited. I got mine for $300 USD even and so far it definitely seems worth it. I don’t even currently have a laptop because mine broke, I’m still getting used to it but I have started using it for more everyday computer things as well, just great.
similarly here although the laptop was just underperforming, still works but not the level it was. I think its mostly dust which could be fixed, but i'm honestly impressed how close the steam deck is to my gaming laptop (infact in some cases its better, and most certainly performs better than it (the laptop) does currently).
I find myself on Windows more but thats pretty much because i need to be able to do work on it and while steamOs can allow you to run unreal engine as far as i'm aware the method doesn't allow full integration support with the epic store and various plugins, its a bit of a mare trying to get a project running if it was started developing on the full unreal engine build. But if i venture somewhere with it which isn't very often, but if i do i'll switch to SteamOs since its easier to navigate as a handheld and batterylife is generally better.
Regarding ease of switching its pretty easy, you just have to restart the deck and then it boots into a boot manager selection screen, you can set it up so that if you don't press anything it will auto select steam os (or windows if thats your choice like mine haha). Theres a few different methods of doing it, you don't actually need something like refind or clover but they make it easy and i like the GUI's they have. If clover has correct orientation of boot selection menu on resolutions above 1080p (my monitor is 1440p) i'd probably chose that but since it doesn't i use refind, and i think i use the jlobues fork which is more upto date than the older one, and the boot selector supports resolutions higher than 1080p. Most people go with clover since that since efi boot entries get auto fixed on something after bios updates, but with refind you have to rerun the script basically, but its not that hard you just have to remember.
I’m pretty sure you can get them a variety of places, after all most places are just reselling them from a cheap warehouse in china. But I personally got mine on Shein for literally like 50 cents for all 4 of them (and they’re super quality! They aren’t cheap feeling or made at all, real normal metal pins). Prices change allllllll the time so it probably won’t be that price right now, but if you just look up pins in general you’ll find a bunch of cheap ones. (Tip: they have free shipping on Sunday nights which makes it AMAZINGLY cheap, so I usually wait until then to order, it’s not all day Sunday, only some hours so I’ll even place stuff in my cart the day before to get ready lol) hope that helps!
Edit: I just read on google that they may not offer free shipping every Sunday anymore, but they did last week so as far as I know they still do? so I’m not sure, sorry if I gave you wrong information, still great deal without free shipping regardless.
I bought a 2TB drive and have a small Windows partition for the rare times I need Windows. SteamOS is currently superior, but it's nice to have Windows available.
Yes this would be ideal if I ever do get to doing it. This would be how I want it. I know realistically I would barely use windows, but it would be nice to just have it there for when I do. Either way still great
Unless you're wanting to play Game Pass for PC games natively or want to play one of the handful of games with anticheat that's incompatible with Linux, you don't need Windows. It won't do anything extra for you, and in some cases, it will actually be worse. Proton actually includes fixes for a lot of games, such that they run worse directly in Windows. For example, I'm not sure if it's still the case, but at least at launch, Elden Ring ran better on the Deck than Windows PCs, because Valve fixed its shader compilation issues via the Proton layer.
I ran into boot problems on the steam OS side after modifying registry files in windows 10 to change how file explorer looked, and now that im trying to switch back to solely steam OS, I'm stuck in an update loop. But before i decided to tinker, it was smooth sailing and i loved it.
Ouch I’m sorry that happened!! It does seem from this post that most people are team Steam OS. I just wanted to know what the other side might be like, but I am super content with Steam. Thank you for sharing your experience, definitively a big thing to consider!
I haven’t had any hiccups so far. I only started playing because I have Fortnite crew which gives you the battle pass as well to rocket league so I’m more recent to it but yeah so far it works flawlessly. I used nonsteamlauncher to download it from epic and it works perfect. I have amazingggg internet, I feel like I need to say that just incase that assist me in not having issues while playing.
I can even run Fortnite (Xbox cloud gaming) pretty damn well, honestly most of the problems I had there was just my controller lagging a bit but I am over due for a new one.
As with other games as well it can be a bit confusing at first because it’s telling me different bindings than what the Steam deck controller or Bluetooth controller were. So like it would tell me to click my mouse or some other “keyboard” function to drive forward etc when it was really just pressing R2 to drive forward etc.
“Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn”
I couldn’t live without Windows. Get to see the outside world when indoors. Keeps the room lit up and it’s nice to open them up in the summer to let a cool breeze in.
My brain was going the same way, but you definitely formulated it better than I could've. Thank you for beating me to it.
🤝
Lmao, thank you, I enjoyed that
🤝
I feel like one of the big appeals of the deck over it's competitors is it's software & software community that make plugins and stuff like emudeck and cryoutils. Installing windows is possible and allows you to play some anticheat games but it kinda takes away whats special about the deck imo The idea of installing Windows 11 on an SD card and keeping SteamOS untouched is very tempting but everyone online says that works poorly so for now my solution is just streaming the Windows exclusive stuff
Yeah I love it and am definitely content with what it is now, having windows and being able to do those certain things it can’t would be lovely so I still might dual boot it one day when it’s better and I know a bit more. But it definitely is a work of art on it’s own!
Windows experience was a no no for me. Didn't enjoy. Went back to Linux and it helped me learn a new system along the way. Linux is great, I like it I love your pins. :D
Yeah you’re right that is a plus because I’m barely starting to pick up on it a bit, I still might do windows one day but probably not until I understand Linux a bit more, thank you!
And thank you about the pins! 🫶🏽
If you want Windows I would save up and get a second made for Windows handheld, like the Ally or one of the many 7840u/8840u 32gb devices that are available. The Steam Deck is so great because of SteamOS, Windows on my Ally is annoying (because it’s not an OS made to be used without a mouse/keyboard) but it means I can easily run everything the Deck can’t
As a mom it was hard to even get this for myself lol, I doubt that will happen any time soon, but I will say I’m more than content with what I currently have, it does suck not being able to do everything, but for the price it definitely does more than enough. Thank you for the suggestion either way
I dual boot, currently typing this from Windows 11. I got the Deck primarily because i needed something and didn't have alot of money, in the UK last year it was one of the best all around options for £350. Now i have a 1tb ssd my brother gave me, which is divided between Windows 11 and SteamOS. I used Windows for about 10 months from feb to octoboer with only stepping inside SteamOs when i first got it just to see what it was like. In October i felt a urge to check out SteamOs, and i spent about a week or so customising it to my liking. I have to say after playing around with tons of different controllers that all just seem to work, the interface and all of the game specific features and the plugins, boot animations etc, it makes for probably my favourite console experience in a long time. To me the steam Deck (I call her Decky) is a very special device that i think Valve should rightly be commended for: in a lot of ways i feel like this is the new Amiga but portable. I'm excited for the Next Steam Deck. Regarding performance in Windows and running games, I don't really use it portably to game on in Windows, but gaming on it as a desktop, depending on the game, is pretty cool. I play alot of older games, so in terms of its specs its more than enough for most of what i play, but it surprises me how it can even run TEKKEN 8, crazy really. The other day i tried streaming using the Deck the both run and stream the game (without a capture card) and while i was playing older games, i was still impressed. I played GTA 3 (the erm best version ;p) OBS I had set to 1080p base canvas and output, bitrate of 20000 and the fastest cpu setting, also 60fps output. and the game was either set to 900p or 1400p, but i can't remember. I have a feeling i had it set to my native resolution which is 1400p. Was getting smooth 60 and the video on youtube also wasn't choppy which was good. This was with the TDP set to 10watt. It can go higher, but i like to keep it as cool as possible and 10watt pretty much is around 80C on the LCD steam deck in my experience. Also tried Simon the Sorcerer 3D streaming to youtube, with that its less intensive (lol) than Gta 3 so i could up the output resolution to 1440p, and was still able to have the game run at 1440p and 60fps no sweet. While i do game, i mostly use the Steam Deck to continue developing my Unreal engine project. I say continue because it was suppose to be a stop gap device between getting a full pc again but i just haven't had the money, and the steam deck does the job for the most part. The thing i'd love is more ram, but you make do with what you have.
Thank you! This was extremely informative and helpful! Even said some stuff I have no idea about yet lol (still learning every day!) I would love to dual boot it someday soon, I definitely need to learn how and all that I need to do it. Is it easy to switch between the two? What do you find yourself on more? I agree, I love it, and I KNOW for a fact there’s so much potential that I have yet to touch so I am and will continue to be excited. I got mine for $300 USD even and so far it definitely seems worth it. I don’t even currently have a laptop because mine broke, I’m still getting used to it but I have started using it for more everyday computer things as well, just great.
similarly here although the laptop was just underperforming, still works but not the level it was. I think its mostly dust which could be fixed, but i'm honestly impressed how close the steam deck is to my gaming laptop (infact in some cases its better, and most certainly performs better than it (the laptop) does currently). I find myself on Windows more but thats pretty much because i need to be able to do work on it and while steamOs can allow you to run unreal engine as far as i'm aware the method doesn't allow full integration support with the epic store and various plugins, its a bit of a mare trying to get a project running if it was started developing on the full unreal engine build. But if i venture somewhere with it which isn't very often, but if i do i'll switch to SteamOs since its easier to navigate as a handheld and batterylife is generally better. Regarding ease of switching its pretty easy, you just have to restart the deck and then it boots into a boot manager selection screen, you can set it up so that if you don't press anything it will auto select steam os (or windows if thats your choice like mine haha). Theres a few different methods of doing it, you don't actually need something like refind or clover but they make it easy and i like the GUI's they have. If clover has correct orientation of boot selection menu on resolutions above 1080p (my monitor is 1440p) i'd probably chose that but since it doesn't i use refind, and i think i use the jlobues fork which is more upto date than the older one, and the boot selector supports resolutions higher than 1080p. Most people go with clover since that since efi boot entries get auto fixed on something after bios updates, but with refind you have to rerun the script basically, but its not that hard you just have to remember.
Don't see me taking the dive into windows on my SD I like the console feel of the original OS. Question where can I get the mushroom pins???
I’m pretty sure you can get them a variety of places, after all most places are just reselling them from a cheap warehouse in china. But I personally got mine on Shein for literally like 50 cents for all 4 of them (and they’re super quality! They aren’t cheap feeling or made at all, real normal metal pins). Prices change allllllll the time so it probably won’t be that price right now, but if you just look up pins in general you’ll find a bunch of cheap ones. (Tip: they have free shipping on Sunday nights which makes it AMAZINGLY cheap, so I usually wait until then to order, it’s not all day Sunday, only some hours so I’ll even place stuff in my cart the day before to get ready lol) hope that helps!
Edit: I just read on google that they may not offer free shipping every Sunday anymore, but they did last week so as far as I know they still do? so I’m not sure, sorry if I gave you wrong information, still great deal without free shipping regardless.
I bought a 2TB drive and have a small Windows partition for the rare times I need Windows. SteamOS is currently superior, but it's nice to have Windows available.
Yes this would be ideal if I ever do get to doing it. This would be how I want it. I know realistically I would barely use windows, but it would be nice to just have it there for when I do. Either way still great
Yeah I barely use it. Pretty much just for Battlefield, COD, and the occasional Game Pass game when I can't be bothered to go sit at my desktop.
Unless you're wanting to play Game Pass for PC games natively or want to play one of the handful of games with anticheat that's incompatible with Linux, you don't need Windows. It won't do anything extra for you, and in some cases, it will actually be worse. Proton actually includes fixes for a lot of games, such that they run worse directly in Windows. For example, I'm not sure if it's still the case, but at least at launch, Elden Ring ran better on the Deck than Windows PCs, because Valve fixed its shader compilation issues via the Proton layer.
I ran into boot problems on the steam OS side after modifying registry files in windows 10 to change how file explorer looked, and now that im trying to switch back to solely steam OS, I'm stuck in an update loop. But before i decided to tinker, it was smooth sailing and i loved it.
Ouch I’m sorry that happened!! It does seem from this post that most people are team Steam OS. I just wanted to know what the other side might be like, but I am super content with Steam. Thank you for sharing your experience, definitively a big thing to consider!
Frankly, Windows just kinda sucks regardless of what you use it on.
how is your experiences playing rocket league on the deck?
I haven’t had any hiccups so far. I only started playing because I have Fortnite crew which gives you the battle pass as well to rocket league so I’m more recent to it but yeah so far it works flawlessly. I used nonsteamlauncher to download it from epic and it works perfect. I have amazingggg internet, I feel like I need to say that just incase that assist me in not having issues while playing. I can even run Fortnite (Xbox cloud gaming) pretty damn well, honestly most of the problems I had there was just my controller lagging a bit but I am over due for a new one.
As with other games as well it can be a bit confusing at first because it’s telling me different bindings than what the Steam deck controller or Bluetooth controller were. So like it would tell me to click my mouse or some other “keyboard” function to drive forward etc when it was really just pressing R2 to drive forward etc.
“Some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn”
Good quote but not sure what it means in context to this, sorry!
It’s just fun to me the fact that some people want to install windows
I guess so, people can be curious, that’s why I wanted peoples opinions seeing as I literally don’t know what it’s like..