I just plugged the steam deck in to a monitor and while I was transferring some roms and started to wonder if it would be feasible to use as a day to day computer while docked.
I just plugged the steam deck in to a monitor and while I was transferring some roms and started to wonder if it would be feasible to use as a day to day computer while docked.
I’ve been using my Steam Deck as my primary PC both at work and at home. Very few issues. I have two monitors, power, ethernet, keyboard, and mouse all connected via a USB-C dock. I love that when I’m done with work I can unplug one USB-C cable and take my work with me. I also have an electric car, and I love being able to play my PC games while waiting for my car to charge.
As a web developer one of the biggest hurdles I had to jump through was getting MySQL Workbench running, as there’s no flatpak or working AppImage available. The lack of CUPS for printing support is another nuisance, but I believe that can be overcome without unlocking the root partition by installing it as a systemd extension. I haven’t taken the time to fully prove this theory though. You can also print using netcat.
I installed a 2TB SSD in mine. I have a small 256gb Windows partition that I rarely use for the few things I need Windows for. I also DJ as a side hobby, and I’ve used my Steam Deck for that too.
What dock do you use?
I ordered this Anker USB-C dock as soon as I got my Deck: https://a.co/d/alhyc1U
I had the old plastic stand that came with the Wii U Gamepad, it fits the Steam Deck pretty perfectly. If you go this route, and want to stand your Steam Deck up, make sure to get a short 6-inch to 1-foot USB-C extension cable. The cord on the dock is a bit too short to reach the top of the Steam Deck. Aside from that, this dock is perfect. It’s one of few I’ve found with two HDMI ports.
I also ordered the official Steam Deck Dock when it was released. I tried to use it at work, but my two monitors are HDMI, and the official dock has one HDMI port and one DisplayPort. I tried using an HDMI-to-DisplayPort adapter. It worked fine in Windows, but I could never get it to work properly in SteamOS. So now I use the Anker dock at work, and the official one at home, where I only have one monitor, or sometimes I’ll use it to plug in to the living room television.
I love how hackable and repairable the steam deck is.
You already probably found a solution, but I’ve found docker + the software a good solution.