The great debate: Switch VS Steam Deck

[Deleted member 681657]

Which is better and why?

In my personal opinion, the Steam Deck is overall better, but an overclocked Switch can run Switch games better than the Steam Deck can.

I haven't actually played a Steam Deck before but that's the impression I get. I choose not to buy one because I don't care much about handheld gaming and a gaming PC will do a better job. I play the Switch because Nintendo releases good quality exclusive games. In a few years an updated Steam deck will probably run Switch games better than the Switch.

 

[M7L7NK7]

Price is a big factor

 

[mituzora]

I like the Steam Deck better, but I also have a much larger Steam collection than I do switch games, and primarily play on PC.

The Steam Deck is also MUCH more versatile than the Switch, and it lets you do whatever you want to it without threatening a ban to your hardware/account, so it's got an incredibly robust and easy way to run "homebrew" and emulators.

I have a switch for the exclusives I want to play, but I rarely ever touch it at this point. It's been essentially demoted to a Smash console at this point for my use case.

There's also the very underrated steam input stuff. It makes it trivial to remap buttons and basically play every title under the sun, and like you said. As the Switch emulators mature, the Steam Deck will be much more viable for emulating switch games. It has enough horsepower to emulate the PS3 and 360, albeit not the best, and with ARM being much more understood and easier to emulate than PowerPC/CELL then I'd imagine it won't be long until it's performance-parity with an actual switch.

Ultimately, the only three things the SD has against the switch is the exclusives, the battery life, and the portability. two of which are very subjective, and the third can vary wildly depending on what you're playing on it. a AAA high-graphics title might last a couple of hours on battery, but 2d titles can reach 6-8 on battery.

the SD also has docking capabilities, so if couch gaming is something you prefer, 720p coupled with AMD FSR upscaling is a great way to play the SD on a TV, and on older titles, they could easily reach 1080p, if not 4k.

 

[HellGhast]

Which is better and why?

In my personal opinion, the Steam Deck is overall better, but an overclocked Switch can run Switch games better than the Steam Deck can.

I haven't actually played a Steam Deck before but that's the impression I get. I choose not to buy one because I don't care much about handheld gaming and a gaming PC will do a better job. I play the Switch because Nintendo releases good quality exclusive games. In a few years an updated Steam deck will probably run Switch games better than the Switch.

Another consideration should be battery time. I think Switch may have better on battery time for V2, Lite and Oled models.

Unfortunately my Erista's battery time is pathetic, am torn between upgrading to a Lite, Oled Switch or Oled SteamDeck.

 

[DJPlace]

i only buy system's for the online play and the good first party games i care about. the switch has crappy online sadly... (hell the 3DS and Wii U era was better) i never owned a Wii U so i can't say anything about online games for them but super smash bro's online for 3DS was way better then the switch to a couple of reasons. if you want to know those reason's i guess i can talk about them.

 

[Deleted member 681657]

i only buy system's for the online play and the good first party games i care about. the switch has crappy online sadly... (hell the 3DS and Wii U era was better) i never owned a Wii U so i can't say anything about online games for them but super smash bro's online for 3DS was way better then the switch to a couple of reasons. if you want to know those reason's i guess i can talk about them.

I don't think Nintendo has ever released a system with good online play but I'm curious to hear why you think Smash for 3DS has better online play than Smash Ultimate.

Getting back to the topic at hand, the Steam Deck probably has better online play than the Switch. This is an assumption I'm making based on the low quality online play on the Switch.

 

[Taleweaver]

I've held a switch once: the buttons are too small for my large hands. Deck is perfect.

Ive accumulated more games on Steam than exist on the Switch, and the amount of stuff you can play on it is dazzling. However, i can't deny that Nintendo makes better first party software than valve. So... Most points to valve, though not a flawless run (until you emulate switch on deck).

Openness: Nintendo puts you in a closed environment that let's you pay again for same games your bought dozens of times. Deck let's you play games your bought ten years ago, and lets you pirate, emulate or flat out user whatever pc program you want. The fact that they push the Linux environment puts them in a league on their own.

Ease of use... Though the deck is easier to use than most Linux distros, I've got to give this one to Nintendo. It's not really a fair comparison (steam had so incredibly much and diverse games that it's an achievement what Does work), but ice got to give this one to Nintendo.

Price... Though more expensive, you get back exponentially more with the deck. Valve wins.

Versatility: the deck easily does what Nintendo does, and unless you use two screens: you can use it as a pc as well.

What else? Erm... I guess switch wins in portability, but i don't keep my deck in my pocket. Played it dozens of times on the go, never felt too bulky. So for me, i can't say it wins any points for me.

All in all : steam deck is by far the better choice for me. Ice not extensively played the Switch, but i don't really see the need.

 

[ChanseyIsTheBest]

Overclocked OLED at 1963/998/2400 plus you got android and Linux wins out IMO. But at same times its apples to oranges. Steam Deck is better if you really want fhe endless PC game mods.

Saying this I don't have a Steam Deck lol. Maybe one day when they slim it down a bit and Valve actually releases it in my country I might consider it.

 

[DJPlace]

3DS/Wii U smash bro's had a better dodge system. also it let's you pick your Fighter after ever match in ranked. also i use to troll with duck hunt in 2vs2 with the dodge system and spam the barrel's and other attacks like a mo fo.