I love mine. I used it as a remote PC for 2 1.5 years on my skoolie bus conversion. If your work is compatible with linux and don’t need a lot of intense specs (or can cloud all the heavy labor), then you’ll be just fine. edit: sometimes time flies, sometimes it doesn’t lol. Corrected the time I’ve owned this awesome little device.

Yes it’s worth it, exactly for the reason you state. You can play it while also being in the same room with other people. Sure, not always being the best companion but when your spouse is watching a series you are still around.

@Johnpwrinkle Well worth it. It can handle quite a bit locally, and can stream from steam on your main pc (or be set up to several cloud services).

It’s been really great for me with that exact use case. I want to play some more intensive games but would still like to hang around in the living room. My wife and I both have one, we can play games alone or together and also hang out on the couch and watch something.

I can speak to exactly the issue you’re having, you’ve got a family hanging out, you don’t want to be all cooped in the office.

Get a steam deck dude. Do it. I work from home, my wife does too. We have an 8 year old. Not only do I get more gaming time in with my deck than I ever could previously, they’re both happier about it. I can suspend power and do whatever, etc, it isn’t an anchor at a desk.

And it can play the games. Keep in mind that steam themselves is very picky about their “this is great on the deck” blessing. There’s a ton of games they only say will run, and even more they say won’t run at all, that operate perfectly fine. More every month too, as Proton continues development.

You can also load all your GoG and Epic games easily, heroic launcher.

Seriously, get one. The mid or basic version is fine, sd cards are fine.