Optionally, what would you have wanted to know before you bought one?

Thanks!

Edit: Hey, thank you all very very much for your comments and suggestions, I really appreciate. I will most likely save up more and get the 1TB OLED model rather than the LCD model I was initially planning on. A couple of reasons for that, one, I am not good with electronics and I’d probably screw something up putting a new storage drive in. And two this thing will most likely be a permanent replacement for my old gaming laptop, which at this point is more than 10 years old, and seems to be on its last legs (I installed Linux on it, which was a struggle, but that is probably on me rather than Linux or the computer being at fault).

Anyway, I appreciate everyone’s responses and thanks for helping a gal out!

  • paultimate14@lemmy.world
    14·
    4 months ago

    Eh, I’d say it’s a mixed bag.

    The Triggers? Yes, I’d say they are tied for the best option right now.

    The sticks? Also yes. They are positioned great, feel great, work great. As someone who likes both the Dualsense and Xbox sticks a lot, the Steam Deck is even better. It’s worth mentioning that even after 2 years I still haven’t found a use for the capacitive touch pads. They’re a neat idea I suppose, but it seems like you need a VERY specific scenario to make it work. Even the one I see most often- gyro - I’d rather just use a button to toggle it than use the capacitive sensor on the right stick.

    The face buttons? They’re okay. Not the worst I’ve used, but too rounded for me. They can really wear on your thumbs in games where you mash. I’d prefer the Dualsense, but this is better than the Xbox.

    The Shoulder Buttons? Pretty garage actually. They work, but feel really mush and awkward to use. Give me a Dualsense, or most other controllers instead.

    Start/Select? Fine, but placed in places that are difficult to reach without actively stretching. Like they often are on controllers anyways, so not a big deal.

    D-Pad? Serviceable. It feels similar to the PS Vita of all things. It’s nowhere near the crisp, precise, harsh microswitches of JoyCons. It’s also nowhere near the fluid, smooth motion of the Sony style D-Pad. It’s somewhere in-between. It’s also more precise than traditional Nintendo d-pads. I’d say it’s fine, but I prefer Sony’s. My thumb gets tired easily from D-Pad heavy games on the Deck.

    Back buttons are a nice bonus, but they don’t feel super great. They all feel more like toggles than buttons you are expected to constantly be actuating.

    The track pass are great at first, but my right track pad wore out VERY quickly and it feels terrible. Clicking on it now is very unpleasant, to the point where in some games I map R2 or R4 to click just so I don’t have to use the track pad for it anymore. Hopefully Valve improves that. I’d absolutely love to see those track pads on standalone controllers.

    • mercano@lemmy.world
      12·
      4 months ago

      I’ve used the right trackpad as a mouse. I haven’t tried it for an FPS, but it works well for menus, inventory management, or for lower stress mouse games like city builders.

      In Valhiem, at least, I’ve configured the left track pad as an 8 position radial menu to quickly activate to any hotbar slot.

    • Noxy@pawb.socialEnglish
      9·
      4 months ago

      Your touchpad issue may be a fluke, both the steam decks in my house (one original, one OLED) still work great with both trackpada

      I use the touchpads constantly, mostly for Rimworld, but also desktop usage and other games, and I find them to be outstanding

      • paultimate14@lemmy.world
        5·
        4 months ago

        My right one worked great to start, and my left knee still does. Over the past year I could feel it slowly get worse. It feels like normal wear and tear to me, just that I used it hard with a few mouse-centric games.

        I did look on iFixit but they don’t have replacements. I’m not too surprised, and I’m not really upset with Valve, because it’s a pretty new thing and they are still way better than their competition. I just hope that eventually they release an improved version.