I think the term Mura is being misused as I’m not seeing splotchy panels reported, the Samsung panel just seems a bit grainy on solid colour backgrounds but I can’t say I’ve seen it in games yet tbh. Even in menus you kind of have to look for it IME.
I wonder what screens review units had as I’ve not seen it mentioned at all in official channels? You’d assume Samsung since they were all non-LE but if they were pre-production units then who knows?
I’m waiting for a future where some sort of egpu support is possible before I can treat the Deck as a primary console as I like my eye candy but that is where I hope things will go.
A ROG Ally with an XG Mobile is a very expensive and somewhat compromised sneak peak at this concept but I hope it catches on and continues to be improved!
It’s very very easy, basically like any other console at this point. You may have to tweak settings in some games to get them to run as you like but many have default Steam Deck settings for plug and play. If you’re interested in getting into PC gaming but find it daunting it’s a great stepping stone and may give you the confidence to get into Windows/desktop gaming further down the line.
All that being said I’m still not sure I’d personally recommend it as a completely stand alone console if you have zero interest in PC gaming outside of the Deck, for me it’s a companion device to a PC. This may change if Steam OS evolves to desktop machines and we start seeing Steam like consoles, or alternatively eGPU like docks for future Steam Deck models etc. That’s where I’d like to see Valve eventually take this.
Unless he wants to start investing in the PC gaming eco system I’d advise against it, a Steam Deck is a great companion to a PC gamer with a decent Steam library but I’d find it difficult to really recommend to a console gamer, especially as a surprise gift. He’d need to know what he’s getting into before purchasing IMO.
I’d been using mine without noticing this before reading it, now it’s been mentioned I can hear a very low level hum/static when no audio is playing but it’s so quiet it hadn’t even really registered without consciously listening for it.
I’d wager this affects all OLED Decks and the severity varies depending on your headphones.
I have a dock connected to my TV via HDMI, when I plug the Deck into it the screen goes off as if it’s re-routing to the TV even if the TV is off or on a different input so this is how I do long downloads.
Leave game open when sleeping 80% of the time maybe, always make sure there’s a recent save though to be safe.
It depends what kind of games you play. Old games and emulation sure, newer games not so much.