Speaker 1: If you’ve got yourself esteemed deck, at some point you’re gonna want to hook it up to a tv, kind of like a game console. You can do this directly through a u s BBC to H D M I connection. But you can also use a docking station, of which there are many different kinds for the steam deck.
Speaker 1: The most popular one, the one you’ve probably heard of, is the official one from valve, the official valve steam deck Dock. And I like this one because frankly it’s pretty small compact, uh, [00:00:30] plugs into your tv. It’s got h dmmi and display port on the back, along with, uh, ethernet jack, a couple USB ports, but it’s a little bit expensive. It’s like 90 bucks, which is frankly a lot for something that’s basically, uh, u s BBC to H D M I pass through. You can spend less. You can actually also spend more. For example, the other one I’ve been testing lately is this J S O model, which is $130 because it has a big extra feature in it that you probably don’t need. So you can’t actually get a model from this company [00:01:00] that’s a lot less. Now the one that I’m looking at right here has a very similar set of connections.
Speaker 1: It’s got the ethernet, it’s got U S B A, it’s got u s BBC for Power. It’s got H D M I out. This particular one does not have display port, but they make one that does. Uh, the big extra thing in here is that there is a M 0.2 drive slot inside. So if I take off the top, you can see there’s an M two drive right there, and you can use that to, uh, get extra game storage. However, it’s not as easy as slipping an extra micro SD card into your steam deck. You [00:01:30] actually have to set this up through the Linux desktop in the steam deck. And it’s frankly a tremendous hassle. I would not recommend it. Uh, this version here is $130. I would say get the version without the MDOT two drive in it. And that’s about 40, 50, $60 depending on exactly which version you get.
Speaker 1: So when you hook up your steam deck to a dock like this and plug it into your tv, uh, what you’re gonna do is take your power supply a u s BBC cable out of that, plug it into the back of the dock. Then you’re gonna take your H D M I cable from your tv, plug [00:02:00] it into the back of the dock as well. Take your steam deck, slip it right into the dock, and take the little attached us bbc, plug it into the top there. So then you get power into the steam deck and you get the video out through the dock into your tv. Now keep in mind, even though the steam bag is for $500 or more, depending on what configuration you get, it’s not gonna look the same as hooking up, uh, an Xbox Series X PlayStation five to your tv.
Speaker 1: Those are dedicated devices meant for high resolution 4K gaming output. The Steam [00:02:30] deck is a little handheld computer and it plays on its own little screen at a fairly low resolution. So you’re basically gonna be playing at that lower resolution on your TV screen. It’s not gonna look fantastic. Uh, but if you want to use your steam deck and not have it on the little tiny screen in front of you, you know, that’s one way to go. I do like that you can take, uh, a third party controller like an Xbox controller and Bluetooth it to the steam deck and then use that to the tv. Obviously every step you’re adding a little bit of lag and delay there, but again, you’re not dealing with the highest fidelity image anyway. [00:03:00] So I tried some faster paced action games, uh, like Uncharted. I tried some slower games like Sleigh of the Spire. Uh, I tried some first person shooters. Uh, they all work fairly well. You can tell in every case that you’re not playing on something like an Xbox or a PlayStation. Uh, but the magic of the steam deck is it’s really meant for that closeup, handheld use on the tiny low-risk green and really excels there. But I like having the flexibility to be able to take a dock and hook it up to your TV as well.
Speaker 1: Trying out a couple of different steam deck dots. If you functionally they’re [00:03:30] pretty much the same. You’re gonna buy it based on what kind of ports you want on it, uh, what kind of extra features you want on it, uh, how big and bulky and heavy you wanted. If you want something very small and easy to transport, then you might spend more on the official vow version. If you don’t mind something a little chunkier, then you could spend less $50 and get one of these, uh, third party versions of it.
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