DO NOT BUY Steam Deck - VERY disappointing

Hello and welcome back to a new video. So

recently I've been playing around with the

brand new Steam Deck and decided that I

wanted to do a review of the Steam Deck.

And as an avid gamer, PC gamer, and a fan

of traveling, when I first heard about the

Steam Deck, I just knew I had to get one.

I thought to myself, wow, I can do PC

gaming on a handheld device and not have

to carry my really heavy gaming laptop in

my backpack and hurt my back.

Unfortunately, as a portable gaming

device, it has just really let me down and

disappointed me, and it's not quite up to

my standards. I just it to be extremely

lackluster and not as good as it's been

hyped up to be. Now usually when I go

traveling, I bring my Switch because it's

light and portable and it's quite good.

It's got some good games on it, but it

doesn't have all the games that I want to

play. It doesn't have PC games. So I

thought to myself, wow, Steam Deck is

going to solve all of my problems in life.

There's just a few things that completely

ruins the concept of the Steam Deck, and

the biggest problem I have with it would

have to be the absolutely abysmal battery

life. Now Valve claims that the battery

life lasts between 2 and 8 hours, and

that's a pretty broad range. And in

between that range, it really depends on

what you're doing with the Steam Deck. If

you're playing very simple 2D games, then

yeah, you'll probably get a couple hours,

maybe even 5 or 6 hours out of the Steam

Deck. But if you're playing a AAA PC game

with high graphical fidelity, then you're

really not going to be able to play for

much longer than 1 hour. But if you're

only going to play very simple 2D games,

then what was the point of buying the

Steam Deck in the first place? You might

as well just stuck with your Switch. I did

not buy the Steam Deck so I could play

very simple 2D games like Hollow Knight,

Dead Cells, or Shovel Knight, or games in

that kind of category. I bought the Steam

Deck so I could play AAA games like GTA,

Red Dead Redemption, Elden Ring. But when

you try and play those games, the battery

only lasts about an hour. 1 hour is just

not long enough. I take toilet breaks

longer than 1 hour. I need at least 6 or

10 hours for 1 gaming session, and only

being able to play 1 hour on the battery

of the Steam Deck is just not really good

enough. The whole point of the Steam Deck

is that it's portable. I want to be able

to take the Steam Deck go out into my

garden and have a nice long gaming session

and enjoy the sunshine and the birds

chirping away. But that's just not really

possible because I have to go back inside

after around an hour to charge the device

back up. What's the point of it being

portable if I need it to be constantly

plugged in to the mains? If I'm going to

be constantly plugged into the mains, I

might as well just use my desktop

computer. There's just no reason to use

the Steam Deck over your desktop computer

in any kind of situation. The desktop

computer is just going to be way better.

In comparison, the Switch lasts at least 5

or 6 hours even when playing AAA games

like Mario Mario Kart or Zelda: Breath of

the Wild, I can have a nice long gaming

session in my garden. The only solution to

this problem I've come up with is I bring

a load of these battery banks out into my

garden, and this manages to boost the

battery for a few hours. But really, I

shouldn't have to carry around a load of

battery banks just to extend my playtime

by a few hours, and it also kind of ruins

the portableness of the Steam Deck if I

have to carry around all these power

bricks. My next problem with the Steam

Deck has to be the ergonomics of it and

the way that it's designed. I just really

don't like how there's buttons all over

the place. The entire is just covered in

buttons and trackpads and thumbsticks. I

really dislike the paddle buttons on the

back side of the Steam Deck because when I

get excited, I like to give it a good

squeeze and I keep accidentally pressing

the paddle buttons, which is very

frustrating. Now I understand that Valve

wanted to give the players all kinds of

different control layouts and control

options they can choose from, but there's

just too many. I feel like the little

trackpad things are also extremely

unnecessary. I almost never use the little

trackpad things because they're just

completely useless. It's like, imagine you

have a laptop trackpad but it's just for

your thumbs. They're just very annoying to

use and they get in the way. I keep

accidentally pressing it. I also find the

position of the thumbsticks and the

buttons to be extremely weird on the Steam

Deck because they're right at the top

corners horizontal, and using those

thumbsticks horizontally like that is just

very strange when you're used to playing

with Xbox controllers with the diagonal

thumbstick layout. I also don't like the

way the buttons are shaped because I don't

have very tough hands. My fingers are very

soft because I don't do manual labor, and

embarrassingly my fingers do start to gets

a bit painful after several hours of

gaming on the Steam Deck. I am starting to

get a very noticeable blister on my thumb

just from pressing down the thumbstick.

And I guess you could say, well, it's a

Steam Deck, why don't you just plug in

your Xbox controller straight into it?

And yes, theoretically I could do that,

but why would I want to? Because then I

have to prop up the Steam Deck on a stand

and stare at this tiny little 7-inch

display with my Xbox controller like that

when I could be using my 36-inch curved

monitor. Why would I choose to play on the

Steam Deck's tiny little 7-inch display

when I've got this massive 36-inch monitor

right behind me, which is really nice to

play games on. The Steam Deck is also very

uncomfortable and kind of heavy to be

holding for hours and hours of prolonged

gameplay. And after a long period of time,

I just really start to feel like my hands

are aching. Basically, the thing is like a

massive brick. It looks quite

well-designed, and it is, don't get me

wrong. And it looks quite slender and

slim, but when you've been holding it for

6 hours straight, it really does start to

strain your arms. In comparison, the

Switch Lite is extremely light and I can

even hold the thing with only 2 fingers

and I don't feel any strain at all. It's,

it's almost as if it doesn't weigh

anything at all. Unfortunately, I'm just

really failing to see how the Steam Deck

can be classed as a good portable gaming

device because it just seems like you need

to be stuck in your room the whole time

with it connected to a charger. Maybe if

you just have like a train commute that's

only half an hour, then yeah, that's fine

for you. You're going to be able to play

AAA games for half an hour on the train

with your Steam Deck and the battery will

probably last you long enough. But for

gamers like me, if there's any of

situation where I have access to a mains

charger, then I'd rather just plug in some

kind of laptop or gaming laptop. And if I

don't have access to chargers, then I'd

rather just use my Switch Lite. It's kind

of like the Steam Deck is trying to fill

in both roles of the portable Switch and

the at-home computer, gaming computer.

It's kind of like it's trying to be a jack

of spades, master of none, and it really

does fail to be a master at anything. And

it's a real shame because I really like

the concept of this. If you didn't have

any kind of gaming systems right now and

you're trying to think, should I get a

laptop, Should I get a Switch? Should I

get a Game Boy? Well, you could just get a

Steam Deck and it covers everything. I

guess if my house burns down and I lost

everything in my room, then yeah, the

Steam Deck might be quite appealing. I

could just get that instead of replacing

all of my tech. But at this point in my

life, I've already got everything. I've

got the gaming laptop, I've got my Switch,

I've got my curved monitor. So I don't

really feel like a Steam Deck would be

able to add anything to my current tech

setup. Don't get me wrong, I think it's a

really good attempt by Valve to enter the

portable gaming area, and I think that

it's a good first attempt. I think I would

prefer to wait for the Steam Deck 2

because there's a few changes I hope they

make in the next iteration of Steam Decks.

Number one, I hope that they make the

thing a lot smaller, a lot slimmer, a lot

lighter, and also I hope they make the

battery last a lot longer. I also hope

they add more USB ports so I don't have to

get the dock thing, and they should remove

some of the stuff like the trackpads and

the paddle buttons and make it a bit more

simplified. But until then, I don't really

feel like I can wholeheartedly recommend

the Steam Deck. I think it's a nice try

and it's a very nice looking device, but

unfortunately it just kind of falls short

at a few things. If you're looking for a

portable handheld gaming device, I really

feel like the Switch or the Switch Lite or

the Switch OLED would be a better choice.

It's also much cheaper and the battery

lasts a lot longer, and it's much easier

and lighter to hold in the hand for long

periods of time. So that's all I had to

say about the Steam Deck. Thanks for

watching my review. I hope it was useful

in some way, and goodbye.