My opinion is likely outdated. I was really excited for the stream deck, but it struggled to work properly when I received it. And there were often issues with the clock and wifi that made it nearly impossible to use. Throw in some issues with audio not playing over tv speakers...

It ended up becoming an expensive paperweight over the last few months as it brought me memories of frustration and buyers regret rather than joy.

I'm not trying to make anyone angry or anything. Many people here seem to love it, so maybe I should give it another go. I hope some updates have maybe increased its performance. Just wanted to share my honest experience...

Favorite: I can stream games from my desktop flawlessly. Favorite: The Dock makes this a wonderful Kodi box too

Least favorite: The screen is merely OK Least favorite: Battery life could be better when playing new games

Likes: Portable, play games like on a console but have access computer exclusive things, like console commands, grate control customization, and nice button layout.

Dislikes: Not so great battery life, a bit too heavy for my taste, and doesn't come with a dock.

It's fantastic for emulation and 2D/3D retro gaming. I find I play more indie titles too, partly due to their charm and uniqueness but also because of their smaller file sizes.

I loveimy steam deck but for your purposes, if you have literally any other device you can run steam link on it, connect it to your TV, etc. And that would probably be better performance assuming that your computer has good specs

Overall, I've honestly had a really positive experience. Most games I've tried work out of the box, performance is impressive, the control they give users is awesome, the support they are giving the Linux community is awesome, and it's great to have a second "PC" to game with my fiance or take with me on trips.

So with all that said, my biggest con by far is the official dock. I still have tons of problems hooking it to different TVs, and even when it does work there are issues with audio crackling.

A big positive is that it is the reason I'm dipping into genres I don't normally touch. I'm playing Chained Echoes right now, which is a modern-day 16-bit RPG. I normally don't bother with those, because if I'm at my PC with a 3080TI in it, I'm not playing a 16-bit game, and my PS5 is already building a bit of a backlog with so many good games coming, so I don't play smaller games when I'm on my big plush couch, I want to play stuff that takes advantage of the hardware and tends to be more cinematic. On Deck, I'm playing these smaller games while laying in bed next to my wife while we have the TV on. It's also nice to take to hotels when I travel for work, which I used to take my PS5 for. The hotel TVs always suck and you can't adjust any settings so it's nice to not be lugging the PS5 around any more.
The only drawback is the weight; my wrists start to get tired after 45 minutes or so, so I need to sit up or adjust my position to keep playing comfortably.