For me, it’s been useful to get in some gaming time while still being around my family/kids. I have a gaming PC too, but it’s in my office which is kind of cut off from the main living areas of our house. The SD allows me to play and still easily pause to do whatever for my kids or talk to my wife, etc. The sleep/wake is *chef’s kiss.

My other use case is emulation. It’s really good at it, and even passable at emulating the Switch. Though the sleep/wake doesn’t work with those, it’s a trade off.

Playing PS2, PS3, Dreamcast, and GameCube games that the Retroids can’t handle. It’s amazing how almost everything runs well. other things I’ve bought things would be hit or miss, but this is the most consistent device I’ve seen so far.

I also have a great gaming PC so I do most of my major AAA gaming on that. People will talk about how great games like Elden Ring, RE4, or even Cyberpunk run on the deck but the experience is so degraded on the mobile platform that I’d rather play other games on Deck.

Things like Emulation, JRPGS, Platformers, Indie games fucking excel on the deck. The experience playing them there is so much better when being able to take it and go places.

If you are only interested in playing major AAA games or shooters, probably not worth it

I’ve got a big library, and most of it works great on Deck. I can also stream via my desktop (also running Linux) and play without a second install. In fact, I recently discovered this works with my PS4 Pro as well, via RemotePlay.

EmuDeck is the best integrated emulation experience I’ve tried. It’s mostly RetroArch, but with very easy setup.

Trackpads. I can play strategy games with no controller support very comfortably in bed.

The list goes on. It’s a great device.

Thanks for all the inputs! That was very very helpful! Few things I’ve learned so far: 1 - It’s great for times that you don’t wanna stay in the office all day and spend more time with your loved ones. 2 - You can use Moonlight and Steam Link to local-wifi connect to your PC and play games on it without spending as much battery with a good wifi connection. 3 - It’s AMAZING for commuting and times you are not at your gaming rig 4 - You can basically install anything on it, and it could potentially replace your PC if it’s not as-capable.

I guess I won’t be purchasing it at the time as I have figured I could remote-play on my iPad 12.9 inch, and atm I’m not commuting so much so I guess it’s just a shiny gadget that I’d love to have sometime but don’t really need to spend money on it right now.

I’ll probably wait a few years for SteamDeck V2 to come out (rumors are saying it’ll be here at 2026+ so we’ve got a lot of time!) and it’ll replace my current laptop then.

Thanks everyone! That was very helpful and I learnt a lot from it! Saved a few bucks thanks to you guys and found a new cool way to enjoy my iPad :)

EDIT: Fuck it I’m getting one.

I can play while sitting with my wife on the couch.

I can play while supervising my kids playing outside.

I can play while visiting my in-laws. This is the big one, as we probably spend at least a month there, every year.

I’ve been wanting one mostly to play NSFW games without my wife or kids knowing…

Of course there’ll be other games played too hehe

Honestly there’s no game it can’t play. Like besides super specific games that can’t be emulated yet (Xbox 360 & original Xbox don’t work, RIP), I’m yet to encounter something that it can’t run. Like even shit that you’d expect to be totally unplayable without a keyboard or just kinda… No problem on deck 🤷‍♂️ the controller bindings or so customizable even Factorio or Apex are as close to PC as a handheld can get. It’s wild.

Modded skyrim! So far, I’m 15h in with about 2h of game play. Having a blast so far :)