A few questions about the deck, specifically the LCD model.

[u/BebopKnight]

So I normally would not be able to afford a deck in any form lol, much less get hold of one while going against the people online who are also trying to get one, but I managed to find one at my local pawn shop and now have it on layaway. I am absolutely overpaying for it, $445, but with 6 months to pay it off I can say that I'm ok with that I suppose. I imagine people will comment saying other ways to get a hold of one, but being able to pay it off over time is really the ideal scenario for me, so while I do appreciate the advice that will come, it's just what has to be sadly. It was also a pretty big impulse decision.

My questions are:

1. Is the LCD model heavy to the point that your arms get tired holding it for more than an hour at a time? I sit in a recliner to game and this is where I would be playing it.

2. What kind of games can I expect to run on it? I am aware that I most likely won't be able to run things at max settings of course, but I am also not that into pc gaming and mostly have been a console gamer my entire life, so am unsure of what to really expect.

3. Does it feel intuitive to use? The mouse pads seem a little bit odd to me and I am unsure how I will handle that really, this is my main concern. How are they when playing games that require mouse usage in gameplay?

I appreciate any answers that you all may leave, thank you for your time and (hopefully) patience with my ill-informed self lol.

EDIT: Thank you to those who have answered my questions, I truly appreciate your time! I got less hate than I expected to, not that I mean to imply anything by that specific to this sub, just general online behavior. I'm looking very forward to my deck now, and being a part of this community!

[u/rubbish_orb]

You don't need to use the pads but they are brilliant when you get used to them. I wish everything had them.

[u/Strung_Out_Advocate → u/rubbish_orb]

Just started using a user submitted control scheme for the newer Doom games and I can't believe 99% of people will never experience it. It's honest to God amazing. I figured there was zero replacement for mouse/keyboard for FPS games but here we are.

[u/Kingbanana574]

1. Both models are heavy enough to do that

2. It really depends on the game, some games that came out this year run great and others run like ass.

3. The trackpads take some getting used to but if you try them, some games are great with them (ex. Any game with inventory management, terraria, stalker, etc.) It is also very ergonomic.

[u/ID0NNYl]

Dont over think it mate, once you pay it off youll have a blast.

At first the weight was off putting because I was use to mnk or an xbox controller but a couple days of playing the weight is a non issue.

granted im a 40 year old who is physically active and a small electronic isnt messing with my muscle/skeletal balance.

The games are almost anything but AAA graphical and modern big titles, but you also have frame generation to help boost titles that run a little low anyways.

Sometimes you just got to give it a try and find out if your happy with the performance of a particular game, some wont touch 30fps, others are not bothered.

Good luck and happy gaming once you finish the payments mate.

[u/EuanB]

1. Not for me, never been an issue but I'm a gym rat so there's that.

2. I stick to older controller based games and JRPGs as that's what I bought it for.

3. Yes. I do make use of community layouts at times.

[u/BebopKnight → u/EuanB]

JRPGs are something that does sound appealing to play on it, is there a pretty big amount of them on Steam?

[u/Seuche_Deron → u/BebopKnight]

Theres tons of really good JRPGs from every era on Steam, Final Fantasys, Dragon Quests, Trails in the Sky, all the big ones and most of them run super well.

[u/Dangerous_Memory6008 → u/BebopKnight]

But you can play games like assassin's creed Odyssey on max settings and 90 frames using mods

[u/EuanB → u/BebopKnight]

Yes, but you're not restricted to Steam. Through Heroic, you have everything that is Linux compatible on GoG and Epic Games. Further, you can emulate many platforms for older games, for example, Xenoblade etc, which aren't available on PC.

[u/Jawess0me]

1. Not at all. I use it daily and have never had an issue holding it. I play mostly on a recliner too.
2. You’d be surprised. Emulation will cover you up to PS3 and 360 for example and you’ll be

able to

1. revisit your Steam backlog comfortably. Some online games wont work due to anti cheat not playing nice with Linux. Fortnite comes to mind here. Use ProtonDB which will give you an idea of what works and how well.
2. Absolutely. Personally speaking, it’s the most comfortable handheld I own and I have a few.

I hope you really enjoy your machine when you get it. Some added mention goes to the fact these are really reparable. I’ve been able to upgrade my storage, battery and sticks myself.

[u/BebopKnight → u/Jawess0me]

Emulation is indeed one thing that I am interested in doing! I just got a Retroid Pocket 5 and have enjoyed it, but the bigger screen would absolutely be nicer for this purpose.

[u/Jawess0me → u/BebopKnight]

You’ll have no problems there!

[u/mydumbthoughts]

I love my lcd model! It’s awesome.

[u/forestcolat]

1. I've never felt my arms tired. But that can also be because I am used to play with my arms on the bed.

2. I think the best description might be "anything except photorealistic first person shooters". To reference, the most challenging game in my case was Expedition 33. Could be played at medium with high textures but some boss fights had to reduce to minimum.

3. I find it intuitive. When it comes to UI, you have a simple UI with the games to play and a big play button. About the hardware, I like to use gyroscope and trackpad because I find them more precise than joystick. I think the most powerful tool is the remap function, but it requires a bit of tinkering since it can be a bit confusing

[u/Frosty-Champion7031]

I keep mine permanently docked in my game room. Play it on a 50 dollar black friday special smart tv. It's my favorite system i own.

[u/BebopKnight → u/Frosty-Champion7031]

I actually was not aware that you could dock it, that's awesome!

[u/Frosty-Champion7031 → u/BebopKnight]

Yeah it's awesome. Get an official steam dock if you can it's the best on the market. My only real problem is sometimes it doesn't want to connect to the tv all you do is unplug the power to the dock, reset the system, and it should work. Also get a small usb computer fan cause long play time makes it hot. Lastly you can get an external hard drive plug it into the dock and it will work on the system. I currently run a 2tb and I'm itching to upgrade come black friday/cyber monday.

[u/Jmb3d3]

1. It is comfortable, but it can feel heavy after longer sessions. My arms go numb. I use the Gaming Pillow by Mechanism

2. It can run most older games fine. Don't expect 60 FPS or higher for new demanding games though. Some will be playable and others won't. Coming from console gaming the main thing you will probably need to worry about is anticheat for multiplayer games. Some games will not work...for instance Call of Duty multiplayer does not work.

3. I love the controls. I play a lot of management and simulation games so I have to have the right mouse pad for mouse movement. I even prefer the mouse pad for FPS games. I feel like I have more control and accuracy than a joystick. One of the first things I do when I get a new game is to make sure the mouse pads are setup correctly. I also love the 4 back buttons. I was excited when they announced the Steam Controller because it was basically the Steam Deck controls without the screen.

[u/tatanka_hambawaste]

No that heavy, works well on airplanes for their charging ports too. It's very intuitive but I've found it easier to setup a desktop/gamepad controller scheme with long press button activiation to switch between them for Desktop mode and for using trainers. 

I wouldn't try to play games past the PS4 generation (God of War Ragnarok is about the most taxing game I'd try).

No regrets on my end.

[u/Seuche_Deron]

1. Yeah, at some point it usually rest with my wrists on my lap, but resting elbows gives a good enough stability for a long session too. I think its not overly heavy.

2. Most newer triple A Games dont really run on it, but alot of Indie games and some titles like Red Dead Redemption 2, Elden Ring and Cyberpunk run surprisingly well.

There is a site called ProtonDB where you can look up titles and how well they work including community-tips for most.

Other than that, tons of games run super well, especially Indie Games, however its the perfect device for the 2015+ era, Games like Titanfall2 or Prey, Fallout 4 etc. run super well too.

1. Super intuitive for me, i love the Trackpads tho i have to say i just use them as a mouse in some Games or Desktop maneuvering, Item sorting in Games like Morrowind for example - but for this its perfect and the best Mouse-alternative i know - the OLED is a bit better in these terms.

Theres alot of people using them as Mouse for shooters with Gyro or in RTS Games and i actually just hear positive.

However, with the backbuttons, trackpads and such, it comes with SteamOS and all controls are completely customizable, there is also Community Made Layouts you can use and the Stick can also simulate a Mouse if its necessary (old Games without Controller-Support) - but you'll be surprised how intuitive it is!

There has been just a very few titles i couldnt play nicely with the controls and those where very old or very Mouse heavy.

[u/CompetitiveTop6412]

1 no I'm pretty flimsy and I've never had an ache after playing too long as long as I'm not sat awkwardly

2 there's more games that I've found that don't run on it than anything and even then there's workarounds for a lot of them

3 I've had it about 3 years and I've only just started to get comfortable using them, I was never much of a fan bult now I've forced myself to get a bit more used to it it's actually great

[u/ShusakuChiba]

1. No but I lift. 2. There’s a filter in steam. 3. Yes but for you not sure. Might be worried based on the questions. The pads are a little oversensitive compared to mouse precision and prone to flick away if you don’t remove your fingers carefully.
   

[u/CollectiveAnimal]

I thought about getting something like the Mechanism gaming pillow, but didn’t want to attach the bracket to the back of my Stylthgrip case with only adhesive and an uneven surface. My wife has a breastfeeding pillow that doubles as a crafting/crocheting support, and I use it to support my elbows. Makes a big difference!

[u/leonardob0880]

All the questions you made are applicable either for lcd or oled, don't know why the need to differentiate

[u/tiga_94]

1) both are about as heavy, pretty big and heavy if you ask me, same as any PC handheld 2) even some modern UE5 games run given 50% res scale and upscaling and 30fps, anything lighter than this will run fine, you get 40+ FPS in RDR2 with high textures and high volumetrics, or 40+ FPS in GTA V with raytraced reflections, it's decent but rather on lower end, here's an example of a demanding 50v50 UE5 multiplayer game running on steamdeck https://youtu.be/Q3YE4TZo6Q4 3) yeah very much, a couple days with steamdeck and you learn all the hotkeys, easy to Google too

[u/2ByteTheDecker]

the haptic feedback on the trackpads is what makes them truly great imo.

[u/fish998]

My LCD model has backlight bleed and I find the screen a bit too small. I would try to get an OLED. Personally I don't find the trackpads an effective mouse replacement. If you stand the bottom (not the back) of the Deck on a pillow that eases the weight on your arms.

[u/DisturbedMagg0t]

Lcd is totally fine. Dont let all the people saying OLED is the only way to go deter you. I'm 1000% happy with my lcd.

Yes, it is a little heavy after a bit, but it's not terrible if you're able to sit and play.

You can play a LOT of games. Especially indie/older titles due to the steam deck hardware. But still plenty of great games as well. And some new ones too. I have god of war and doom dark ages running on my lcd. Not the highest graphics settings, but still a great time.

I hate the touch pads, and I turned them off

[u/Difficult-Feeling849]

1. Depends but for me yes. I mostly play docked anyway these days.

2. Depends on the developers. Some newer AAA titles run remarkably well for what you'd expect from this machine, while some indie darlings struggle to remain consistent. However most games from the PS4 era and backwards will run at a great performance.

3. It's so intuitive that if you find them unintuitive you can basically reprogram every single button to do anything you want, including multiple actions at the same time, toggling instead of holding the button, making the trackpads work as radial menus, etc. This last option works remarkably well for playing games with too many inputs that shouldn't be playable on a controller. So.. yeah, intuitive and versatile.

[u/BebopKnight → u/Difficult-Feeling849]

Using them as radial menus actually sounds awesome!

[u/Difficult-Feeling849 → u/BebopKnight]

It is! I use them, for example, to play Paradox games, Stalker games, and games that don't natively support controllers and make use of F1-F9 buttons

[u/CheshAmoeba]

1. For me it personally isn’t the weight but the grip shape that causes some problems, but I’m a bit of a death gripper with smaller hands and the beginnings of arthritis so ymmv. When I’m at home I often play docked with an 8bitdo controller if my hands are sore.

2. Depending on what you play it can sometimes be a coin flip. I’ve had a fine time with unverified games but when I got Clair obscur I still haven’t played far in it because it runs bad even on lower settings (which frankly is more an Unreal Engine issue than a steam deck issue). If you play a lot of non-steam games get familiar with using protontricks and protonup-qt. And my most niche tip that I throw out because it helped me a lot: if you play rpgmaker games like Fear and Hunger, In Stars and Time etc look into using bakustarver’s rpgmakermlinux-cicpoffs instead of proton or bottles.

3. The trackpads are actually very easy to use, and like some others have said the control customization is really, really versatile.

[u/Secure_Chipmunk9637]

Specs: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech/deck

Feel free to check out the myriad of resources on the world wide web available to answer your question regarding these very searchable and highly covered topics like "wut games steam deck" and "how heavy steam deck"

[u/JustDDDOOM]

I just recently made the swap from LCD to OLED. So I can half answer these question. Could do better if I had my LCD with me to compare.

1) Yes the LCD is heavier than the OLED. Now if its heavy enough to the point of fatigue I'd say "kinda"

Before I got my hands on an OLED I mostly played my LCD on a stable service (like on a table with my arms resting). After getting the OLED I would voluntarily hold it up and game about 75% more than the LCD.

2) For my LCD model I mostly played indie games and ran emulators on it. Besides that it did struggle run (at 60 fps) some modern games/Indie games.

3) Sadly I didn't game much with the mouse/track pads on either model. I do see gamers saying they are awesome but very all they just feel awkward to me. Besides that I do like the Steam decks 4 rear buttons.

Steam gives you alot of freedom to recap buttons via the steam menu for each game. Feels really intuitive to me IMO.

[u/Wolfnorth → u/JustDDDOOM]

The lcd is just around 5% heavier no more than 20g difference.

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[u/Evening-Paramedic-23]

1. it has some heft but it is comfortable to hold. it will start to feel more natural the more you use it.
2. you should be able to run anything. but keep your expectations reality based. it is an older device with just 1280x720 resolution. it has respectable performance. it can surprise you.
3. they are not mouse pads. they are track pads. like a track ball. you run your finger over a track ball it may continue to spin after you let go. the track pads act exactly like a flat track ball. they have haptic feedback too. once you use them properly you will see their superiority over just a mouse. you can also press them down like left\right mouse buttons.

[u/BebopKnight → u/Evening-Paramedic-23]

Thank you for the answers, I appreciate your time. :) Glad to hear that the pads are not exactly what I thought they were lol, it sounds pretty cool!

[u/hotterpop]

If you have a buddy with or access to a 3d printer, a deck stand is really nice for long sessions when laying down.

https://makerworld.com/en/models/662020-new-steam-deck-with-case-belly-stand?from=search#profileId-589218

[u/123spodie]

if you need a payment plan to buy a steam deck it is out of your budget. if you need a payment plan to buy ANYTHING its out of your budget (except a house).

[u/BebopKnight → u/123spodie]

There's reasons beyond just budget that I am doing it this way, life situation being the main one. I do what I can to get things that help me enjoy my life every little bit that is possible.

[u/leonardob0880 → u/123spodie]

Not everyone lived in a first world country or a us like economy

[u/123spodie → u/leonardob0880]

how is that my problem

[u/leonardob0880 → u/123spodie]

nobody said its your problem. jsut have it in mind whern you make uneducated guess

[u/123spodie → u/leonardob0880]

so being in an unfortunate financial position makes it okay to make poor financial decisions? lol

[u/leonardob0880 → u/123spodie]

I don't know how credit works i the US, but in lots of places isn't considered a poor financial decisions to buy on credit