In terms of power,
Are Steam Decks about equal to Xbox Series S?
I got one as a gift ages ago, but never really touch it anymore.
I basically only ever used it for BG3. I assume it comes down to how well games are optimized, but if we’re looking at 1080p 30 FPS…
I think the Deck is slightly worse, but not too much worse.
Should I keep the Xbox around for more intensive games, like Final Fantasy 16 or Expedtion 33? I’ve been tempted to sell it to try and fund a Steam Machine as well.
Funny enough I got Series S from my brother too, years ago. I also have a Steam Deck and a PC too. Series S is probably more powerful than a Deck, overall speaking, but the use case is different anyway. I just connected my Series S back to play games on it that do not run on my Linux PC or Deck. For those cases alone I would keep the XBOX around. In example I highly doubt GTA 6 will be playable on the Deck, or in a good state, but it will certainly be playable on Series S.
As for the power, the Deck is a handheld designed to run in low power, while the console can use more than 100W and should be better cooled, speak less throttling. Also on the Deck you typically play at 720p or 800p, so comparing the FPS alone against a Series S at 1080p or 1440p doesn’t make sense. It’s been a few years since this article, but I find it still useful: https://www.digitalfoundry.net/articles/digitalfoundry-2022-steam-deck-vs-xbox-series-s-how-future-proof-is-the-valve-handheld … also looks like the internet is a terrible place now and I can’t find good benchmarks comparing them both with same games.