Before buying the steam deck I researched a number of YouTubers who had received review copies of the console. Due to the severe lack of availability of anyone in general forums who had a deck and also who had posted or were able to post review information, youtube was my only option. Linustechtips and mrwhosehteboss are two I looked into, as well as gameranx and several smaller channels with only a few thousand subs.
In total, I reviewed about 20-some people who had gotten the deck, and attempted to contact Reddit subs to find anyone else who may have had information they could share. Few had the deck and fewer had truly run it through its paces, like using desktop mode fully, testing compatibility, and especially the fact that nobody said whether it had a manual or whether the current SteamOS was able to have dual boot or total boot for windows.
I already had a gpdwin maxpro handheld gaming pc (as well as about 9 other handheld gaming devices), but this thing is far too heavy and cumbersome, and lacks any glass screen protectors or cases, and has absolutely ZERO storage to be able to run steams MASSIVELY sized games. As such I was looking into the steam deck in hopes it would be an end-all in terms of gaming for me. Reviews claimed it was fast, powerful, worked great and easily, and could run emulation and steam. What people left out was that emulation requires desktop mode, and desktop mode literally is too slow to even run WITHOUT using the internet, and the built-in keyboard literally does not work in desktop mode.
With all this out of the way, let me get to the chicken and potato fries of this whole thing, the list. If you are considering buying a steam deck, consider these 5 things and be sure to do your own research. Always do your own research first, just as I did. Unfortunately, when one is researching something that is so uncommon and that has had little to no market release, you have to either buy yourself first, or hope you get lucky. And I am sorely disappointed. To ship the deck out with descktop mode literally not working, and with many many technical issues, is frankly disaapointing.
Anyways, heres we go:
1. There is no cake, and there is no manual.
-If you wanted to know how the deck works and how to use it, good luck. No manual is included, and there are no instructions on how to use the mouse OR pull up the keyboard. Nor are there any means to know HOW TO pull up a help menu in steam/steamOS to find these instructions. If you want to know how to use the steam deck, you need to use a second device and google the deck manual. There is a small booklet included, but this is not a manual, it is literally the limited warranty and the required documentation that states that the deck is up to radio transmission compliance [I read the entire thing).
That, or know that you need to use "steam(button)+X(button)" to pull up the built-in keyboard, go to desktop mode, spend about 2-3min typing into firefox "steam deck manual", and hit enter, then download. Yes, it is actually 3min, because the keyboard in desktop mode is literally so bad that if you do not type like you are using a capacitive touch screen, one letter at a time, pausing a second between each letter, the keyboard will not register your inputs.
And yes there is a small list of button info when you start the deck< but this is just the deck literally telling you where the buttons are located and that's it. Unless you are blind or 3 years old, these starting instructions do not tell anyone anything. It is the gas station equal of them locking the pumps with a code and you asking for the code and instead of getting the code, they show you the layout of the panel on the pump; you can see that you're not blind.
2. If you do not have a Bluetooth keyboard or USB-c adapter to plug in a USB keyboard, good luck using the device outside steam.
-In desktop mode you have to use the built-in digital keyboard, which (as explained above) is so slow, unresponsive, and prone to literally deleting entirely everything you have typed at random, that you may find yourself spending over a minute typing just 4-7 words. It is that bad. You will NEED an external keyboard to use desktop mode, or prepare to just be in so much frustration. Bluetooth keyboards also may result in different controls when pressing buttons.
Also, even if you do connect a Bluetooth keyboard, because the deck puts all connections (wifi and Bluetooth) to sleep when you press power and sleep the console, it literally removes and disconnects the keyboard. Meaning you will have to reinstall and reconnect the thing every time you click that power button. Some keyboards do still remain connected, however, but there is a significant chance you will need to reconnect yours, and then retype the activation code the deck give you to type (it gives a passcode to activate the Bluetooth keyboard, and you type it ON the keyboard.
If you have a normal usb keyboard and a usb-c to usb adapter, then there is no issue. Normal usb keybaords work pretty much without issue.
3. steamOS steam is not normal steam, and as such is incompatible with a very large number of steam games.
-This is well known already by those who have and have not gotten their decks. SteamOS is incompatible with a fairly significant number of game titles in the steam library. It will still let you purchase them and download them, but you will want to check valves steam deck compatibility pages before buying, because you may end up spending half a grand on a console you cannot even play on.
4. You cannot use any financing apps, websites, services, or means other than PayPal credit or a debit card to pay.
-This one especially irks. If you want to buy the steam deck, you may want to make sure you have actual income of some kind, a decent credit score, and can apply for PayPal credit. Steam does not take financing apps like Klarna and will not let you use credit to pay other than Paypal credit. And PayPal credits application process requires you to enter your income, does a credit score check, and a credit background check. So, for many people, they have waited a year, gotten the order e-mail, then found out they have to shell out $600+ at a random point in the middle of a random month, and get rejected from the only means to pay, and lose their deck.
5. installing windows to dual boot or overwrite steamOS is basically non-functional.
-The process to install windows in order to play games that steamOS cannot, or run windows software and apps, or get android running on the steam deck, is actually very difficult and near impossible for the current run of the deck (OS3.3+). The process to dual boot requires a usb-c plug adapter that has 4 usb3.0 ports, as well as a USB keyboard and 4 USB drives with a minimum of 16gb of storage.
One USB will be bricked permanently soon as you flash it with the steamOS recovery image software, as this makes the drive that you use only 600MB. Regardless of the size of the external device you use when flashing SteamOS to that device (whether by Rufus or another means), the process will permanently make that storage device roughly 400-600mb, and it will never be its original storage size ever again.
Then you need a second drive to flash windows onto, a third to flash GParted (a partition software iso image), and a fourth USB to place the windows drivers for wifi and Bluetooth (etc.). And you require a USB keyboard plugged in at all times, and as such will need the USB-c adapter to have either 5 usb3.0 ports, OR swap the USB drives and have them all labeled. And even then, the process to install windows (regardless of dual boot or perma-boot wiping steamOS) is likely to fail. there is a high chance you waste money on these resources for no gain.
As for the one thing they DO tell you:
1. You have three days to make your payment after getting your notification email (but have 4 months to wait).
-This especially irks me in particular, as they release the deck orders to people who have pre-orders in things referred to as "Q's". This is a business practice term and is shorthand for "Quarter", referring to a 3-month period that occurs 4 times per year (which is why it is referred to as "Q"). Q1 is Jan1-March31, Q2 Apr1-Jun30, Q3 Jul1-Sep30, and Q4 Oct1-Dec31. Not that anyone cares... When you place a pre-order, you are given a quarter when your order will possibly go out to you. This is listed on the order page for the version of the deck you ordered.
The issue is that at any point in the 3-month period in which your release is listed, you could get that e-mail notifying you that your shipment is ready and you need to pay (for which you have 3 days). Imagine checking your e-mail every three days for 3 months, then seeing that valve pushed your order back to the next quarter, thus making you have to keep checking. The best advice I can give for how to check for that notification without turning on e-mail notifications and being woken up 24/7 by boner pill spam OR without missing the e-mail, is to check your e-mail every 4-5 days instead (counting the last day of the previous month as "day 1").
If, in fact, you do get that e-mail on day 1 of the month, and you check your e-mail in four days, counting the last day of the prior month as your "first day", then you will see the confirmation e-mail on the third day and be able to get your payment in. If the e-mail comes on day 3, then you will end up checking your e-mail right on that day. Checking every 4 days starting the end of the prior month as "day 1", is honestly the best option to not drive yourself insane. Many commented on this, but truly if you want to be sure you do not lose your chance at your deck, you either have to check every 3 days, every 4 days, or turn on e-mail notifications and go insane from those Nigerian princesses trying to send you booty call cancer spam e-mails.
***Ending Notes***
The whole thing is just a frustrating nightmare. The fact you need a keyboard and a second internet-enabled device to know how this thing works is just the epitome of idiocy. It is not as dumb as busnisses giving QRcodes on your phone, which then must be scanned, to find out about the business (just, why?).
Imagine if a nuclear power plant hired 200 new employees, and on their first day of work they were like:
"Welcome to the hazmat power plant. If you have any questions about what the fuck you are supposed to be doing here, here's a link for google, look it up."
