Hiya Lemmy, I'm stuck on a dilemma.
I have a nice PC but I don't like being stuck at a desk all day and would like to game from my couch without having to lug the tower back and forth. It's a whole thing and that bitch is heavy.
So I have some options.
A) getting a looong HDMI cable to somehow run from my PC to the TV.
- this is the cheapest option, for sure. But my controller doesn't pair well with my PC for whatever reason, so that doesn't really help a whole lot. I do have a looong usbC cable, but it's not my favorite option. Especially with cats.
B) build or buy a micro ATX. Something with tiny(relatively) form factor that doesn't need to be anywhere near top of the line to play what I usually play. So I could probably build something decent for 1200 USD? Maybe 1500. Or buy a pre built and save some heartache.
- it's the most expensive option, but it will last me forever and it'll be a portable PC basically. Just not as portable as a steam deck.
C) buy a steam deck. I don't need the OLED or anything. I don't usually travel with gaming things, so I'm not worried about all that.
- middle price option. While portability isn't a huge concern, it could really come in handy. I really liked steam OS and the ability to just boot as a PC. I could see myself using an emulator to play some older games. But my biggest concern with the steam deck is that the other one I borrowed from a friend couldn't really play rocket league. It just didn't have the juice to run the game? And I'm pretty sure I turned down all the graphics and everything.
Anyhow. This is a long post of thoughts. Anyone been in this situation? What did you choose? How are you feeling about your choice?
If it helps, there's also option D: RaspberryPi with Steam Link. Cheap, functional, and flexible.
That's what I set up at home and it's working great. If you play with a controller, note that some games work better than others or have weird requirements to get the controller to work (e.g. for Space Marine 2 I have to keep a wired controller plugged into my main tower for the Steam link wireless controller to work).
RaspPi also gives you the opportunity to set up and play old-school emulated games if that's interesting to you.
I've heard good things about https://moonlight-stream.org/ too.
Not sure it's really relevant to OP, but I'll vouch for Moonlight. I use it to stream from my beefy desktop to my laptop/Linux tablet that both have weak little integrated GPUs. It's not perfect, need a strong internet connection, but it's 100x better than Steam's integrated version and for remote desktop access too.
A handy tip is that you can fake second monitors without any extra hardware so you don't have to give up a connected screen either.
That fake second monitor is a fantastic idea, didn't even know that was a thing!