The Steam Deck is an amazing piece of equipment, I hope you all know that after reading my review, and a big part of that is that it's not "just" a handheld, it's a handheld.
So not only can you play a huge library of Steam games, including many of the best PC games on the planet, but the Linux Steam OS thirty operating system on which it runs can be used in desktop mode, making it fundamentally in a super laptop.
So this got me thinking: could I ditch my work laptop and use a Steam Deck instead? Would it be comfortable to work on it, or would it still be viable? Well, in the interest of science, that's precisely what I did last week, and this is what I found.
live with limits
The first part of my super science experiment was planning how I was going to use the Steam Deck and work around its restrictions. After all, it is a device that is primarily used for gaming.
So you can use the Steam Deck trackpads as mouse control and an on-screen keyboard can be used. But just because it can be used doesn't mean it should be.
I've used the Steam Deck's touchpad and onscreen keyboard in desktop perfect mode long enough to know there's no way I'm using them to compose emails or write articles. While the touchpad works fine, the on-screen keyboard in desktop perfect mode is buggy and distracting (using it in the default perfect mode on Steam Deck is fine, though). Using it to type difficult commands in the Linux terminal is one thing I never want to try again.
Since most of my work involves pressing keys to create words that are read with the eyes (the technical term is "compose"), this simply isn't going to work.
The good news is that you can connect virtually any USB hub to the Steam Deck through its USB-C port, allowing you to connect multiple peripherals.
It turns out that every single desk in the office has a USB hub. Generally, this is for connecting work laptops, but as a scientist, I connected my Steam Deck to the one on my desktop.
Immediately, my Asus ROG gaming keyboard and Razer mouse came to life and I was able to use them to monitor Steam Deck. However, there was a problem: the connected monitor was not picking up a signal.
blank screen blues
After unplugging and re-inserting multiple cables, the monitor held up resolutely flawless. While it's possible to use keyboard and mouse and stick to the Steam Deck's seven-inch screen, that wouldn't be an amazing experience.
A search on the internet didn't give me any clues as to what might be wrong, but then I had one of my well-known great ideas. The docking station connected to the monitor via DisplayPort. Would moving to HDMI work?
After finally finding an HDMI cable (everything in the office seemed to use DisplayPort), I plugged everything in and...it worked!
Then I broke it again.
When you connect a monitor, Steam OS displays a dialog asking if you want to mirror the Steam Deck's main screen to the monitor or if you want to extend the screen. I went into awe and chose to mirror the screen. Do not do this.
What it ended up doing was making the monitor look terrible at ultra-low resolution and somehow changing the rotation and aspect ratio of the Steam Deck screen. It looked terrible and was practically impossible to use.
'Don't worry,' I thought, 'I'll just unplug the monitor and plug it back in later.' Steam Deck laughed at me on Linux.
Disconnecting the monitor...did nothing. Well, he turned off the monitor. But the Steam Deck screen continued to be screwed up.
'Don't worry' I thought. 'I'll plug the monitor back in, the dialog box will reappear, and I'll choose the appropriate option.
Steam Deck laughed at me on Linux. No dialog box appeared.
Reboot didn't help either. In the end, I plugged the monitor back in, clicked blindly until I managed to open the Settings app, then manually changed the resolution, aspect ratio, and rotation of the screens, same thing.
After some fiddling, I managed to stretch the screen, the monitor was displaying at 1080p, Steam Deck returned to its 1280 x XNUMX resolution. Everything was fine.
Go to work
Once I cleaned up the mess I had made, I was able to get to work. I'm lucky as I primarily use Google Docs for word processing and our CMS, both of which are reachable via a web browser.
Steam Deck comes with Mozilla Firefox installed, but the editor I work for uses Google's G Suite, so for a (subtly) simpler life, I installed Google Chrome, which is a simple process with Steam Deck, as I just used the Discover app store, used by Stream OS, and makes installing apps fast and simple.
Once I installed Google Chrome and logged in, my bookmarks and access keys were synced up and I was good to go.
The performances were great. Google Chrome is a known memory hog, but even with many tabs open, Steam Deck worked fine. Luckily, the Steam Deck's sixteen GB of RAM is given here.
Using a monitor, as well as the full-size keyboard and mouse I'm used to, let me work comfortably right away, and it wasn't a huge difference from when I was using my work laptop connected to the exact same thing. base, keyboard and mouse.
For the rest of the week, I happily wrote using my Steam Deck. This article is one of many I have written and posted on the Steam Deck. I even made some video calls using Steam Deck. There are microphones built into the Deck, which can be used, although there is no webcam. Connecting a webcam to the USB cradle might work, though I haven't tried it yet.
But from my time with the Steam Deck, I really think I could leave my work laptop at home when I go to the office. I know I have a dock, monitor, keyboard and mouse waiting for me there, which means working on the Steam Deck is quite workable, and having the Steam Deck connected to the dock means the battery is fine as well. and loaded for my journey. living place.
Since I take my Steam Deck to work, I meant I could truly leave my laptop at home. One less thing to bring was indeed welcome.
Of course, I am fortunate to have an office where there is a USB hub on each and every desk. In offices where this is not the case, the Steam Deck is not going to be as useful. I am also fortunate to use web tools primarily for work.
Since you can run Linux applications on the Steam Deck, and many programs have a version of Linux or an alternative open source option, quite a few people should be able to work comfortably on the Steam Deck, although if you rely on a custom version or heavy-duty software, this could be a drawback.
For me, though? I'm clearly leaving my work laptop at home and using my Steam Deck instead. I could even see to it that my boss buys the rest of the Steam Decks team as well. Wish me good luck.