Just Bought a Steam Deck? Read These Tips

howtogeek.com:

I’ve been using a Steam Deck for more than a year, and in that time, I’ve discovered a plethora of cool tips and tricks that have improved my experience. Here are some pointers to get the most out of your Deck and SteamOS.

Calibrate the Display After You Turn on Your Deck for the First Time

The SteamOS 3.5.5 update introduced a built-in display calibration feature, which you should use as soon as you turn on your Deck for the first time.

To calibrate your screen, press the Steam button and go to the “Settings” tab. Next, go to the “Display” menu and select the “Adjust Display Colors” option. Once there, calibrate the display to your liking.

I recommend Steam Deck LCD owners boost the color vibrance almost to the max, since the LCD model has a dingy screen that doesn’t cover the whole sRGB color space. Boosting color vibrance won’t magically improve the screen quality but will make games look punchier and add a bit of contrast.

Another option worth mentioning is the blue light filter feature, located in the “Display” menu just under display calibration.

Here, you can adjust the filter's tint, manually activate it or auto-enable it for a certain period, and tweak some extra options by enabling the “Advanced View” setting.

Get the Full List of Shortcuts by Holding the Steam or Quick Access Button

SteamOS has a boatload of button shortcuts for taking screenshots, bringing up the virtual keyboard, force-closing games, and more. To see the entire list of shortcuts hold the Steam or the “Quick Access” button, which looks like an ellipsis "..." and is located on the right side under the trackpad.

In addition to Game Mode, SteamOS has many different shortcuts in Desktop Mode. To learn more about those, read our full guide to Steam Deck shortcuts.

Control In-Game Brightness With the Left Analog Stick and Quick Access Button

While there’s a Quick Access menu you can open in-game to tweak brightness, you don’t have to pause your game for even a second to adjust the