So here's the sitch:
I principally vidya on my desktop PC
When practical, I use an xboner controller so I can game from any room (my pc screen is mirrored to all TVs in the house)
I only play single player games, mostly normie stuff like Fallout, BioShock, Elder Scrolls, etc
I have a laptop with okay specs, AMD 8700P or similar. It could run BioShock Infinite all the way through the story, but it wasn't happy about it. It's been getting laggy about even watching fullscreen YouTube, possibly due to thermals. Fresh reinstall of Windows didn't fix it.
I'm on the road for work for a couple months. I don't like to travel, but sometimes it's either this or be on layoff
I also take one or two vacations annually, usually flying.
I'm home every weekend for the duration of this project, so it's not really practical to bring my desktop PC to the hotels.
My laptop can't handle my current fixation, shapez 2, unless I really throttle down the visuals to bare minimum. I'm kinda reaching my endpoint in that game anyway.
I can't decide if I get a used gaming laptop (2-3 years old) or a Steam Deck. I don't play the latest and greatests -- the newest AAA I have is red dead 2.
My laptop feels a bit dated but I like the big 17" screen, and it still gets a bit clunky trying to use it in a hotel room -- especially with this week-to-week where I'm not going to bother hooking up to the TV.
I see there's a 512GB OLED model for $450 near me, brand new.
But, I don't REALLY know if it's worth it to me. I can afford it, no doubt, but I need to JUSTIFY it. Even though I could always sell it if I end up not liking it.
I also looked at the Asus thing, everyone says the Windows is better for modding, battery life is DOGSHIT.
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!commenters !friendsofxirabolt
Fughit, purchased. She bought it for her bf, then they broke up.
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Lmao !commenters turns out it's the 1TB version
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What if a game is 1025 gb?
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It's not happening.
But if it is, it's a good thing actually.
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Oh heck yeah dude
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Some people open the up and replace the SSD
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She bought it for her bf's birthday, then they broke up before she could give it to him. There's no evidence of it being opened up, either. All the screws look unmolested and everything is immaculate
Edit: also it has the antiglare and removable insert in the case, neither of which I knew about the 512 lacking 🤷♂️
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I couldn't find an OLED one near me so I bought new
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I'm getting one for a long butt plane trip. It seems worth it to me.
Krayon sexually assaulted his sister.
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Yeah that's kinda what I was thinking. Layovers and longer flights. Most of my "vacation" flights are rather short (2 hours or less) but I have a Washington license so there's the occasional "fly to Washington, do something stupid, sit in my hotel until the flight back" and my 17" laptop is a bit bulky considering I also have to bring my work laptop that can't do any games
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Steam Deck is perfect for you. The main weaknesses of it don't apply to you (can't run super demanding AAA games, anticheat games don't work). Cap your FPS at 45 and you'll get pretty good battery life and a good user experience. A lot of people shit on Linux but nowadays it really is a "it just works
" OS. Keep in mind Bethesda games aren't amazing on the deck, but that's because the Creation Engine loves high ram speed, not because it's Linux. Laptops will also have the same issue, because just like the Steam Deck they use slower ram to improve battery life.
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I also travel for work and I bring my steam deck with me. It was worth it for me, but I mostly play casual stuff that doesnt need mouse + kb
I wouldn't get the Asus thing though. Steam deck is like the one use case where Linux is actually good.
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Yeah my laptop definitely hates being right on the bed, but I'm also not ok with blasting vidyagames in my room from the TV to the bed.
I don't want to hear anyone else, I don't want anyone else to hear me.
Plus it's a splurge. Last week was my first week on this travel project. Got paid for it today. Subtract my hotel, food, bunch of cowtools I impulsively bought last week, and a dutch oven my wife asked for... I could buy this steam deck and still come out financially ahead compared to my standard 40-hour workweek. It really helps that we're getting per diem 7 days a week even if we only work 5.
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Take a look on Steam and check charts of most popular games played on Steamdeck and make your decision based on those games, as those are what apparently play well on the steamdeck.
https://store.steampowered.com/charts/steamdecktopplayed
Ngl I would just get a decent gaming laptop knowing everything is playable out of the box.
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most of those games are people using just the steamdeck controller and get scared off by the "playable" warnings. But IRL a ton of games work fine especially if you use a keyboard/mouse
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If you want 1080p (docked to external display) on AAA games don't get the deck. Performance is hot butt even for old shit like Fallout 4. 720p runs fine though.
The hardware of the deck is good, trackpads feel smooth and responsive, not the chinesium shit they put in the steam controller. Proton (windows compatibility layer) works fine for 95% of titles, the rest of SteamOS is ehh usable but not great, basically a gimped version of the desktop client. If the game you're playing has native gamepad support it should 'just work' without having to mess with anything. It includes a KDE desktop and the full steam client as an alternate option but game performance will take a large hit.
Nexusmods works but it's a pain in the butt to setup because of the way steam uses wine prefixes. Not sure about other modding clients.
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AAA games are gay dont play them
SteamDeck has a million other games that work at 1080p.
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I feel like if I'm in a hotel, I can settle for 720p.
Like I said, played all the way through BioShock Infinite on my laptop averaging like, 20fps the whole time. I'm pretty easy to please.
When performance matters I'm on my desktop
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yes, that'll be 20% commission and a 25% tip
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buy the most expensive one for sure
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I'm looking at a 512GB OLED -- I really don't need the extra storage, I only play one game at a time
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What if a game is a gig
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That's fine, it has 512 of them
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What if a game is 513 gigs
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I actually checked. The single biggest Steam game is Ark, at 400GB
2nd biggest is 240
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clearly if it costs more, it's worth it
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Buy it kitty.
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Tough one. Personally, I'd stick too the laptop, but @Its_Bixxy_B-word play a lot of indieshit games that could probably run on a toaster on mine, and play games @Its_Bixxy_B-word care about more on @Its_Bixxy_B-word's desktop. Staying in hotels does get boring though
No trans lives matter
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