Have you had any issues with windows updates breaking your dual boot?
To be verified the game has to have controller support.
That said, thanks to steam input and community control profiles it's not hard to have a good experience on titles just rated "playable" even if they lack controller support.
Yep, said 55% use the tracks trackpad in games and everyone uses it in desktop mode.
There's a related bug where the deck is trying to connect to the Internet to verify Steam. A way to fix it is with a directly connected Ethernet adapter (or using your phone as a tethered hot spot)
If that doesn't work, you can reinstall steamOS without wiping your user data or games.
The interface for launching games and the steam menu will be the same. You won't get any of the performance controls like fps cap/refresh rate/TDP. Suspend/sleep won't work with many games and many will crash or not run right after sleep unless you restart the game.
I'm glad they're making the 400 MHz fix available to more people, but the fact that they felt a need to move that fix individually makes me wonder how far 3.5 is from Stable.
Dread is great, the smoothness of movement is so good that it kinda makes it hard to go back to the GBA Metroids. You mentioned getting lost, but one of my complaints with Dread is that it plays a bit too linearly compared with older Metroids. Basically everytime you get a new ability, there will be a path in your immediate vicinity afterwards that requires the new ability. That path will probably go through some areas you've already been in, but there will be a sequence of new rooms only accessible with your new ability that will take you directly to where you're supposed to go next.
I'd really like to see the deck more internationally available, Valve's limited experience as a hardware vendor really shows when it comes to the limited availability of the deck.
Better wifi is basically confirmed, the certification is for a better wifi chip. The APU is the same, so same power, but maybe it could be smaller and lighter.
That said, I think how hard you grip the deck has a bigger impact on your hand circulation. I used to have issues with my hands getting numb, but I was holding the deck too tightly. After adjusting my grip I don't have issues anymore and find it very comfy.
Metroid games are great, one of the first things I did when I first got my deck was set up Prime Trilogy. Prime 1 is the best of the trilogy, but when I replayed two recently I enjoyed it more than I remembered the first time. Some of the boss fights are truly amazing, a big step up from Prime 1. Prime 3 is more immediately enjoyable than 2, but the world feels a lot smaller and less interconnected.
I haven't played much of the 2D Metroids on the Deck yet, but plan to play Samus Returns and AM2R since they're the only two mainline games I haven't played. Also feel strangely tempted to set up Prime Pinball.
Ayaneo was able to locate 5.5" 1920x1080 OLED screens for their Air model, so some 16:9 screens are out there.
It's bizarre and kinda funny that they made offline mode only available for Steam Deck users.