You have purchased Steam Deck. I was given a vacuum cleaner

I’ve waited eight months on Steam Deck. I managed to order it just over an hour after pre-sale began in July 2021 – and in the context of a global shortage of ingredients, every minute, like in a movie Interstellar, translated into consecutive days of delivery delays. The first official presentation of the equipment took place on February 25, about two months ago, and almost no one received it (if you order it now, get ready for delivery in the fall). However, being lucky, I will more quickly share with you the flaws of the new device. And certainly the top.

First impressions of use are quite clear – this is not a console, but a gaming laptop. If you’re looking for hardware, like Sony or Microsoft hardware, that runs games in the best possible version, and the frame count is consistent (even if it’s low), you’ve come to the wrong place. In Steam Deck, you often have to deal with graphics settings so that the fps number somehow retains its shape. We have a lot of diagnostic tools for this, for example, we can immediately enable the preview of the load level of individual processors. It is a game for those who love these PC configurations.

Speaking of computers, the Steam Deck, just like the “cans” under desks, has a fan that cools its components. A casual relationship, but not for mobile devices. Know the cells – basically they do not have active cooling. On the other hand, the switch has cooling, but it is difficult to pay attention to it, because it is very quiet (you will hear it when you put your ear to the air outlet).

Unfortunately, the Steam Deck, in proportion to a real PC, cools down properly and loudly. Seriously, even when I “scroll” the list or search the store, I can hear a fan. And when we start a game, even if it’s not particularly demanding, the noise becomes a bit annoying. As a result, if you don’t turn the volume up (because someone, for example, is reading a book on the sofa) or you play a silent stealth, the Deck will drown out the game a bit… It’s not a deafening noise, a lot of people probably ignore it, But it annoys me.

Of course, someone will say that with headphones the problem disappears. And that’s true, but it shouldn’t be – not everyone wants or likes to play this way. I don’t know if the cooling could be designed differently – maybe not. After all, it is mobile equipment that can release new games of acceptable quality. This switch does not fire to Steam Deck power. Moreover, the heat dissipation is well thought out – where it is supposed to be cold, the surface is cold. It is a pity for this noise.

Not only is that not ideal on Valve’s new machine. So far, the operating system has failed – slow and “late”. And in some places it is counter-intuitive. I don’t like the fact that I don’t know which game will run smoothly yet. Oh, this subway displacement It has a noticeable drop in frame rate and tampering with the settings did not solve this problem. However, the fan noise is what bothers me the most, because while Valve will eliminate the rest of the problems over time, I’ll have to get used to the noise, unfortunately. It seems that in another life the Steam Deck will be a vacuum cleaner …