I should warn you, the Steam Deck is incredibly bulky and heavy compared to the tiny 3DS - and even in my large hands, it never feels particularly comfortable, despite the good shape of the grips and with a thin rubber case I added to it. Definitely not the right system for you if you have weak wrists, simply due to its substantial mass. Using it for longer periods of time without resting it my your lap is not very pleasant, but resting it in your lap means I have to look down, which can result in neck strain. Lying down meanwhile, it’s a bit too heavy for the weight to rest on the elbows as well. Placing it on a pillow or bag (while making sure that none of the vents are obstructed) helps though, to the point that you can get fully immersed in playing, not thinking about the device at all, even on a busy train.
For an hour to an hour and a half, none of this is problematic, of course. There are also workarounds: Connecting it to an external display that has the right height can circumvent the issue, including those USB C display glasses that create a large virtual screen in front of you (haven’t tried those, but heard good things in combination with this device).
There are also much smaller, thinner and lighter alternatives to the Deck, but none of them have the advantage of being a fully integrated design like the Deck, where every aspect of the hard- and software was developed together and tuned to compliment each other and none of them have the complete backing of the largest game distribution network behind it. Most of them are running Windows, which, while having superior games compatibility, is not suited for a portable gaming device at all, lacking for example the ability to reliably suspend and resume games. With the Lenovo Legion Go S as the first, expect there to be more and more devices running Steam OS, but those are unlikely to have the same level of compatibility as the device this version of the OS was created for.
If emulation is what you’re looking for, the Deck is a powerhouse (up to and including Nintendo Switch is no problem), but not the only game in town. Older console games in particular run well even on very basic devices. Maybe all you need is a controller cradle for your phone, if you don’t already have one, or a cheap and cheerful emulation console like one those tiny things Anbernic is having a great deal of success with lately.
NaibofTabr@infosec.pub 3 days ago
Don’t get a Steam Deck. It’s far too convenient. Everything just works the way it’s supposed to. You tell it to install a game, it does that. You tell it to run a game, it does that. You need a break, you just tap the power button and it goes to sleep. You want to play again, you just tap the power button and it resumes the game you left running like nothing happened. You want to install a bigger hard drive so you can have more games, you can do that. You want to replace the sticks because you’ve worn them out, you can do that. You want to plug it into a TV and use it to watch Netflix, you can do that. You want to plug it into a monitor, mouse and keyboard and use it as desktop, you can do that.
You’ll sit on the couch and play games, you’ll sit on the shitter and play games, you’ll sit in bed and play games. You’ll take it on the bus, the train, the airplane, no problem.
Don’t buy a Steam Deck, you won’t get anything else done.
Oh, but you might finally play some of those untouched games in your library, so there’s that.
Malix@sopuli.xyz 3 days ago
(X) to doubt.
orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts 3 days ago
For me it did the opposite. I had 78 new games played last year alone, and a good amount of them were ones I’ve had in my library for a while.
jherazob@beehaw.org 3 days ago
No, no, it does work, but it depends on the size of your library
DieserTypMatthias@lemmy.ml 3 days ago
Desktop mode exists.
psx_crab@lemmy.zip 3 days ago
Don’t worry, my time and mental load is too limited for me to game everywhere lol. I just wanna lie down and game maybe for an hour or so.