the steam deck is great for gaming, and gets really good battery life with many 2d games, but I would not consider it all that useful for any sort of productivity tasks. I would go with an actual laptop for that sort of stuff.

Steam Deck will not work as a portable workstation. Slimbook laptop will.

Steam Deck’s “secret sauce” is:

1. Efficiency/battery life. The efficiency is still unmatched.
2. Inputs (dual trackpads and excellent configurable rear buttons)
3. Ergonomics: Everyone else has a more compact setup with the right joystick beneath the buttons on the right side. This does make them more compact but also makes them much less comfortable in my experience.
4. First-class Linux support. Other brands are not even thinking about Linux, although they do seem to work without issue.
5. Customer support: Valve is great. Everyone else sucks badly.
6. Repairability: Valve partnered with iFixit to make all their parts readily available. The repairability is also obvious in the design.
7. OLED display. As far as I know, only a few smaller brands offer this.
8. Price. As far as I’m aware you won’t find another x86 handheld for $400. $550 for the OLED is also an exceptional value, given the above advantages over much more expensive devices.

Hey, I know this is totally not the question, but if you’re planning to actually use this device for school work, make sure you have a way to boot into Windows. Some science classes use software that doesn’t work well outside of windows. Yes you can probably get it up and running with a little work, but it’s a pita when the software was originally written for Windows XP.

1. Look at your 10-20 most recent games. See how many of them are verified or playable.
   Some ‘playable’ games aren’t workable without a mouse / keyboard - e.g., Dyson sphere program has too many buttons to comfortably map out.
   Fps games are workable for me on deck - but definitely not as good as mouse keyboard.
2. why can’t you take your desktop with you? That would let you save several hundred. The dorms should still be set up for that.

I thought I might use my steamdeck as a laptop as while I move my laptop around it tends to be between sorta set areas and I could just have an external monitor. Thing is its so handy as a game machine that I just don’t want to use disk space or such for my general stuff. I really enjoy having the games not on my laptop to. That being said its great for casual gamers like me but I doubt a hardcare tripple A max stats type gamer will be satisfied just using it for gaming.

I‘d say go with a laptop + controller for gaming. It just works better for “work” linux. I don‘t have a Steam Deck (waiting for 2.0) but I tested one extensively and I personally wouldn‘t want to work with it vs. simply [flips open laptop] Ta-Da!

Framework is cool, but overpriced for something you probably will never upgrade. + global tensions make part supply uncertain.

Honestly, I wouldn’t plan on using the steam deck for anything other than gaming. That said, I’ve been madly impressed by moonlight. Allied you to stream to any device from your gaming PC, even if 8 network. I was in a parking lot playing bg3 on a very low spec laptop with very few hiccups or studdering. Check it out!

Few questions here:

First, “I want a Framework”. Framework is REALLY overpriced for what it is. I haven’t run the math since Liberation Day but generally the following shows that Framework actually doesn’t make sense for a consumer:

Let N be the price of a brand new Framework laptop, M the price of just the motherboard of the same quality tier, and P be the price of a similarly specced laptop at Best Buy or whatever.

For upgrading a Framework to be cheaper than just buying another laptop in however many years, N+M < 2*P. And the math usually comes out as it being a few bucks cheaper, at best. Which ALSO assumes that your keyboard, monitor, etc all remain in good condition and that Framework don’t change their form factors or anything.

Frameworks only make sense if you are in an environment where you burn through laptops quite quickly. So… a corporate environment (where they still have fairly shite support) where you will just give Fred a new laptop and then repair the one he ran over with his car later. And from when I actually ran the numbers for a company… the existing solutions were MUCH cheaper and the better ones actually have strong policies towards how they recycle e-waste. I could imagine a very small business threading the needle and making it work but… yeah.

Second is “Can I use a Steam Deck as a conventional laptop?”. Conceptually, yes. Desktop mode is just KDE Plasma (best desktop!). That said, the Steam Deck is built, first and foremost, as a gaming device so your lock screen is basically a shitty version of a phone lock screen with a touch screen that you probably only use when entering your passcode. It is also a high profile distro to attack. So… do yourself a favor and do not put any secrets (other than your Steam and GoG and whatever credentials) into that. I am not sure if the other Handheld Form Factor Gaming PCs have better security but I doubt it.

I definitely use my Steam Deck for a LOT of around the house debugging and even when I visit family or less tech savvy folk. When I don’t need to enter data and just need to be able to test a network connection or see a log? It is actually really nice. But I wouldn’t write any code or check my accounts on one.

So lastly we have “What should I do?” or, more accurately, “What would you do?”.

Personally? Get a cheap beater laptop (which it sounds like you already have) as your daily driver. Unless you are doing heavy local workloads (video editing or, I guess, compiling LLVM constantly) you don’t actually need all that much oomph in a laptop. And most of those workloads are best done on remote systems (of which you should have lots of access to as a college student).

As for gaming? The Steam Deck is an excellent choice and is what I would recommend since you’ll probably actually come out ahead on buying a Deck+Laptop versus a Gaming Laptop AND you won’t have to schlep that monstrocity around just to toast your crotch while you use it.

But… depending on how much gaming you do and how ideological you are… nVidia Geforce Now is actually REALLY REALLY REALLY good if you have even a decent internet connection (and you are at uni so you will have a good one). 10 bucks a month isn’t cheap, but considering a Deck starts at 400 USD for the LCD… 40 months or so to break even.

I love my steam deck and regularly run all sorts of non-gaming software on it like Blender, QGIS, emacs, logseq, Kdenlive, Inkscape, Gimp etc…

You just gotta find a keyboard you like, for me it is the Logitech K780 because it is a large keyboard with superb feeling keys and an awesome built in stand for a phone so you can switch between using the keyboard for different devices quickly.

The Steam Deck definitely isn’t insanely powerful, if you are going to lean on it as your main gaming device you have to understand that but if you aren’t someone that needs the latest and greatest graphics on all the most processing heavy new AAA games, the Steam Deck’s advantages far outweigh the disadvantages.

The simple fact is that because the Steam Deck is handheld you end up using it far more than you would a non-handheld device (or even laptop) simply because it is comfortable to do so in more situations, and this fundamentally is the reason I think the Steam Deck is such a good buy. You will use the shit out of it in a ton of different contexts you don’t even expect going into getting the device.

A slight annoying thing is that people are still getting used to what a Steam Deck is, most people really have a hard time understanding they are looking at a general computing device not a disposable recreational toy like a Nintendo Switch. People act oddly about it because they weren’t told this was the future by massive corporations and that makes people confused and almost…uncomfortable? If you use your Steam Deck for a presentation or to demonstate something to someone else they will barely listen because they will just still be staring at it going “wait… so that is a… computer…? Like a laptop computer not a Nintendo Switch? Why though?”.

You do you - anything is technically possible, and from a purely engineering perspective a Steam Deck is an impressive little piece of hardware.

That said. I would advise against getting it for any sort of productivity. Having to haul out it, a separate keyboard, and mouse, just to take a quick note in class is cumbersome and distracting, even if we assume everything works on the first go every time (it won’t.).

As others have pointed out, Linux is nice until it isn’t - maybe you can partner up with a friend when your chemistry lab needs you to reference their archaic software to find some material property, but its a risk you’re choosing to take on. Will it pair with the campus printers? What if you need to run Solid Works? Ansys? The drivers for a digital microscope? Collaborating on group projects in Microsoft Office (the web apps aren’t the same.)? The list goes on.

Additionally, something like the Steam Deck is built for gaming. Meaning every time you pick it up, it reminds you it’s time to game. As someone with ADHD who struggled to stay on task in college, having a constant reminder of distractions at my fingertips would have been overwhelming.

That’s before we factor in the ‘cool’ factor of being that person in the class.

Get a laptop.

After looking at all your replies, I think the answer would be a hybrid approach - use the current laptop for class notes, typing, light simulation work, and buying a steam deck for gaming in the dorm room/at hangouts (Since the room photos I’ve looked at don’t have space for my full desktop setup, and it seems like the most rational bang for buck choice).

Thanks for all your feedback, and some illumination on Framework laptop’s price/value suggestion and the Steam Deck’s capabilities.

Software dev here. You can definitely use the Steam Deck as a work device if you also use distrobox. I would 100% use my steam deck if it had a bigger HD. My older NUC still works well for now, so personally I see no reason to upgrade the SD’s SSD and switch over. But I have used my SD for work just to see how it is and everything works great; just dock + mouse + keyboard. As it is now, do I want games on my SD or do I want work on there. Obviously I want games on my SD.

But I would also suggest, you go with an inconspicuous laptop. No reason to scare off the ladies with Nerd toys. Everyone says it doesn’t matter, but it does. Better to just fit in on this one.

As someone who was in a similar position, i recommend getting the steamdeck and a refurbished thinkpad. This will be better and more versatile for gaming AND productivity, and probably still cost less/ take up less backpack space than a larger more powerful laptop would, especially when you factor in needing a controller. I already had a steamdeck but i picked up a cheap thinkpad for like 300$ canadian and i couldnt be happier with both. My laptop is for schoolwork and my steamdeck is for games and i often bring both to school. But when youre writing a test or late to a lecture you want to be able to just pull out a slim laptop and open it straight away, not have to boot the steamdeck into desktop mode and attach a mouse and keyboard first.

Framework has a few options now so you’ll need to be specific on the particular one you’re eyeing from them. And whatever choice that would be, you can do some benchmarks between their core hardware like AGPU, etc. to see how well it would stack up based on paper statistics.

But as much as I love my Steam Deck (LCD), it is starting to show its age for newer titles out there. I want to say this started with the Liberty DLC for Cyberpunk 2077 where I began noticing it. The base Cyberpunk game plays very well on the Steam Deck but any interactions in the newer parts of the map shows a decrease in frame rates and increased fan speed.

If you’re mainly playing older titles, emulating older games (can go up to Xbox 360 and PS3 with most issues in that era), or for streaming from a more capable computer, then the Steam Deck should be a good choice.

Though, I agree with someone else here that productivity can be a bit difficult on the Steam Deck unless you go for a keyboard that folds up and is made for it and feels comfortable. It’ll be more clunky to haul around like from class to class, for example, than a standard laptop would be. Though be aware that you’ll probably be using a Bluetooth keyboard, so that’s one more device to ensure is charged up. And speaking of batteries, the Steam Deck’s battery life is something you’ll want to consider and compare to another laptop like the Framework if you plan to take it with you on mobile like class to class or for studying in the library, a coffee shop, etc. My Steam Deck’s battery life has significantly decreased since using it, but I can’t exactly say what the life is like for productivity since I’m usually gaming on it and that takes a lot.

And on that note, USB devices like a keyboard do work with the Steam Deck with no issues, but you’ll want a dongle and that is going to add to bulkiness and more to carry since it only has 1 USB type C port which it also shares for charging.

Also, the choice of SteamOS could be a problem depending on what you want to do since it’s an immutable OS. If you’re just gaming and word processing, then it should be fine. But if you hope to do some tinkering in the system, you’re going to have problems there than if you went with a non-immutable distro. Of course you can install any other distro on it, including going to Windows, if you wished, but you lose out on the superior, made-for SteamOS gaming features and modes built for the Steam Deck.