Steamdeck or....

Deck is much larger and heavier.
- This was a huge surprise for me going from the OG Switch to my OLED deck. Also the short battery life while in sleep.
  Edit: add switch
  
  The OLED is the same size as the OG but lighter.
- Definitely, but as a counterpoint it's also much more sensible ergonomically. The Switch makes my hands hurt, the Steam Deck doesn't.

Biased because I'm pro steam deck, but yes, Steam Deck will offer you the full steam library of games, on top of games from other platforms / consoles through emulation
This was the main selling point for me
- Steam Deck will offer you the full steam library of games
  *some exclusions apply.
  Of my nearly 300 games in my library, 36 are fully steam deck certified. While another ~70 have some layer of compatibility. Leaving almost 1/3rd of my library not usable on the Steam Deck.
  
  1/3 sounds high. Just because it isn't verified doesn't mean it won't work, and most of the non-anti-cheat-related compatibility problems are solved by installing Proton GE.
  
  I usually check protondb for more detailed data on games compatibility https://www.protondb.com/
  
  That's very surprising. Is your library chiefly old DOS games or something?
  
  "Deck verified" is an absolutely useless metric and very often wrong. I pay no attention to them and neither should you.
  
  Some games that say not supported actually work fine. I was disappointed to not be able to play some older games like Jedi Academy, but I installed it, set a community made controller mapping, and it works with zero issues.
  Sure there are some games that don't work, but a lot more do than just the ones that are steam deck certified / playable.

Steam Deck is great but keep in mind it's way bigger and heavier than the Switch Lite. If you move around a lot, it's not something you can just toss into a backpack.
- I feel like the fragility is more of a concern than the weight. either console is sooo entertaining and nice to have on, like, a trainride or whatever that it more than pays for its weight burden in your pack; The risk of it getting its screen broken and needing to be fully replaced is a lot more daunting to me than the need to carry an additional 5 lb around. My steam deck came with a carrying case that I always really appreciate for just that reason.

If you don't care about Nintendo games. Go for the deck 100%
- Future Nintendo games*
  
  Shshshshshsh. We don't say that part out loud 👀

I'm going to go against the general consensus here and say you would probably be better served buying a Switch 2. The Steam Deck is awesome but it is bulkier, has less battery life, and is overall less suited for a "pick up, play 10mins and toss is back" usage.
However if you are up for some occasional tinkering, the SD is far more versatile than the Switch and could even replace your laptop depending on your use-cases.
- Battery life definitely depends on what you are playing. In BG3 I get around 2 ish hours. But I can play older games like Morrowind, or newer retro style games like Skald against the black priory (10/10, do recommend) for 6-8 hours, maybe more.
  You also have a lot of control to improve battery life like clock speed, frame rate limiting, etc.
  But yeah it has a huge screen and if you play newer games with good 3d graphics it drains fast. Switch doesn't really have those kinds of games so it's not a 1:1 comparison.
  EDIT: I also agree with your points on it being very bulky and not well suited to a 10 minute session. Launching games is slower on the deck and most PC games have more loading screens before gameplay.
- even replace your laptop
  If you never bring your laptop with you and already have a second monitor, sure. Using the trackpads as a mouse kinda sucks though.
  
  You could get one of those Bluetooth keyboard/ trackpad combos and a case with a kickstand for desktop use. Small screen but usable. I personally wouldn't replace a laptop with it, but if you didn't have a laptop it could be useful to buy one device that does handheld gaming and other stuff too instead of buying two devices

End of life as in? Battery not keeping a charge? Joystick drifting? USB-C connector messed up? Most of those problems can be fixed, ifixit has the parts and great walk throughs. Just fix it and keep playing what you like how you like.

A Deck will likely be a better purchase for you. Shared library, more sales too. The Cities Skylines situation you’ve described would have been enough to make that decision for me

Steamdeck is better than the Switch or Switch 2, from pretty much every objective measure.
You can even get a switch emulator in your steam deck.

If you already have a gaming pc you could get a phone controller grip and use the steam link app.
I'm using a bracket for my xbox controller that way I keep the same comfort. Most phones have oled screens and a high ppi so it can look pretty nice.
It opens steam in big picture mode all ready, and since it's on a pc you can run the games at max quality.
- Latency is the big issue for me so i'd rather play the game directly on the device the screens hooked to.

You’ll be happier in general with the Deck I think unless you care about Nintendo exclusives

Nintendo is a terrible, anti-consumer company. Unless you simply can’t control yourself when it comes to their first party franchises, the Steam Deck is far and away the better choice.
- ALL the gaming console companies are, INCLUDING steam once gaben dies. Even currently you dont actually own your games on steam like you would a physical copy, you have to download a crack to play your steam games without steam.
  
  You are right. Unless the world starts to enshrine digital ownership laws very, very soon, things will get bad. They already are bad, but they could be, and will be, far worse in the not-to-distant future.
  
  True, but Steam deck lets you boot into the Linux desktop environment of the os and you can do whatever you want with it. I have installed games and emulators outside of steam on mine pretty easily.
  You could probably even put a different Linux OS on it entirely if you wanted to.
  That control over the platform was the biggest selling point for me. More control even than the windows based handhelds.
  
  I don't see Sony shutting down ShadPS4 despite the fact that PS4 games are still released

Just to preface, I have bias as a person who got a steam deck day 1 and love it with no plans of getting a switch 2 .
That being said it’s definitely on a per-person basis. The big differences are how comfortable you are with small “tinkering” because things work on the steam deck but small adjustments aren’t uncommon and how okay you are with not having Nintendo games like Mario Kart.
If you’re cool with both of those then I’d say Steam Deck! Otherwise waiting for the switch 2 is probably the move!
- You can just emulate Nintendo games...

If you already have a decent PC for games a Switch allow you to play more games.
- If you already have a decent PC, you can emulate Switch 🤷
  
  While I emulate switch too, I have to add that it’s getting harder and harder for me to pirate. So I’ve been stockpiling on switch roms. With certain isps and the current administration , freedom of internet traffic is under threat and isn’t as reliable as it was a year or two ago.
  Comcast for example has been going hard. Straight up blocking sites ( have several work arounds but now they’re throttling my vpn traffic to 0 kbs/sec no matter what the vpn or what settings I use. And half the vpns I have tried throttle torrent traffic.
  So that’s something to look for.
  
  How it's the emulation? Can you emulate all the games?
- I had a decent PC back in the day (I grew up in the era of building my own water cooling systems) but as a casual gamer I can't wrap my head around around modern graphics card prices and I rather be able to play on the sofa for five minutes while I wait to pull something from the oven.
  I'm old.
  
  I understand you, following the hardware market has nothing to do with playing properly, I play on all the platforms I can get my hands on and I prefer systems with a lower setup, so consoles.

Personally, I didn't like physically holding the steam deck. In my opinion, it's much too heavy/bulky and even with a high quality comfort grip It just wasn't working for me. Ultimately, I ended up going with an Ayn Odin 2 instead and I've been enjoying my portable/lounging game time much more now. I do miss the ability to play my steam library though. Even though I can still do this with streaming, I just don't like streaming games as much. Other than the weight/size/ergonomics, which most people seem to be just fine with, the only other thing I'd mention is that steam's UI is buggy as hell when you're browsing around the store. I ended up doing most of my browsing on desktop as a result.
All that being said, you can't deny the draw of it. Even though it wasn't for me personally, I still like the system and I'd still recommend it to pretty much anybody. There's a reason Steam Deck is the champ.
Also, look up retro game corp if you aren't familiar. He just released a video today called 'dude, just get a steam deck'
- Yeah, it's kinda big. I happen to have big-ish hands, so it's fine, but I still wish it was a bit smaller. The Switch is too small though, so I mostly play with my Pro controller on the TV.
  I do love my Steam Deck though. I love playing in bed while having access to all my PC games.
- Poor ergonomics is actually a large reason why I sold my Deck. It is quite heavy and clearly made for hands bigger than mine, which made holding it for more than 20 minutes quite uncomfortable. Also the joysticks are just awful, awful, awful awful awful. Id say a hall-effect stick mod is basically mandatory.
  
  Yeah, I didn't like the shape/feel of the stock sticks either. I never really had any problems with sick drift or anything, but I also didn't actually own the system for very long either.
  To remedy this, I had actually bought some stick caps from skull & co (per recommendations from people on here actually) and they were quite excellent.
  
  The joysticks are way better than the Switch and comparable to regular controllers. I haven't had any issues with stick drift, and generally find it quite pleasant.
  What exactly were your issues with the joysticks?
  And yeah, being able to replace them a/ hall effect sticks is awesome, and I plan to do so if the sticks ever run into issues or I need to open it up for some reason. But I have no complaints, and in fact love playing with gryo aiming.

What do you mean by "end of its life" ?
- Joysticks need to be replaced again, battery life is becoming tragic so that needs replacing too. Any time I pick it up at this point, the battery is dead.
  Biggest issue to be honest is that I want a bigger screen and that isn't the device's fault.
  I'm going to order a whack of parts from ifixit and spruce it back up for those Nintendo exclusive hankerings.

Out of curiosity, what games do you play other than Cities Skyline?
If you just want something for portability + ten minutes of gameplay, what about an android phone you can emulate on + one of those phone controllers that turn your phone into a portable console?
- To be honest - that's probably the dream setup. The challenge is that android games seem to all be low-effort ad delivery systems.
  My happiest place is turn-based strategy and RPGs. XCOM, Total War: Warhammer, anything Baldur's Gate, 4Xs that sort of stuff.
  I have several hundred hours killing time on Unciv on Android. Mindustry is fun but cramped. Polybridge was great until I finished it.
  
  Definitely go Steam Deck then. No question. You'll have far more to choose from, and the Deck's suspend and resume is shockingly good considering you'd never expect that feature to work on a Windows PC mid-game.
  
  Oh, in that case you might have a swell time with using an android phone for emulation. Just ignore playstore games for a minute.
  I feel like you might not understand what emulation is based on you commenting that you aren't much of a gamer---basically, using a phone you can emulate different consoles. And they often don't have ads.
  What type of phone do you have? On my S24 I can emulate up to Switch games, but a lot of phones can emulate up to the PS2 era. You can also look into something called "Winlator" where you can emulate windows games on the phone too.

I'm a collector of physical games, but with the last couple of models of PS5 lacking a disc drive and Nintendo's Screwball "Game Key Card" situation with Switch 2, the writing is on the wall when it comes to physical games media. I just recently got a Steam Deck LCD model (I don't need OLED) and couldn't be happier. I don't see myself getting a Switch 2 unless maybe it's years down the road, pre-owned and with at least three decent exclusives (one would have to be a "Zelda BOTW 3".) But no, Nintendo pissed away all their goodwill they built up as the common folk's console with the OG Switch

I love the steam deck. I haven't used my switch for anything other than family Mario kart since I got it. I really like having access to PC games, especially at steam sale prices, which makes the deck a lot cheaper in the long run vs Nintendo games that never go on sale. Even Pokémon games that are years old are still full price when they're 2 or 3 releases behind in the series.
The only thing I prefer about the switch is physical cartridges. The deck wins in every other category for me.
- As someone with a primarily physical Switch library and more than 100 Switch games, the Switch cartridges aren't even satisfying to put in and harder to store or display than consoles of old.
  Even the 3DS just feels easier and more substantial. So, despite the Deck's lack of a cartridge slot, I don't even think the Deck really loses.
  
  That's a good point. Also with it being a PC, you can keep a library of DRM free games on an sd card or something and kind of get the same thing. Limited on what games you can do this with officially though. DRM is the worst

The deck is actually a little more expensive overall: You cannot detatch the controllers. Need to buy a 3rd party if you don’t want to always play handheld (most 3rd party will work though) Doesn’t come with a deck (any usb-c to HDMI dongle should work)
Besides that, if you have a big steam library already , it’s pretty amazing. Cities Skyline isn’t very steam deck friendly though.

If you want to stay in the Nintendo eco system (or at least have no issue with that), the Switch 2 would be the better choice - better hardware, more options with the mouse feature and placing on a TV or display, etc.
If you want to be more flexible, like tempering around with a bit of config stuff and game / graphics settings, controller layout, etc. then I suggest the Steam Deck. I can honestly say that it's a lot of fun. Non-Steam games are sometimes tedious to install and configure Proton with the right version of proton etc, bit you don't have to do any of that, it's just options that come with the device.

Don't give Nintendo any more money
Steam Deck

Obviously it depends on what games you want to play.
The one point I will mention in the Switch's favor is that I feel like it's a much better handheld. It's a lot lighter and I like the feel of the JoyCons better (or I did until mine went bad, we'll see how durable S2 JoyCons are). Still, both are ultimately too bulky for me to take on the go, instead I bought a Miyoo Mini Plus on sale and that's become my portable while the Deck gathers dust and the Switch no longer leaves the dock.

I love my Legion Go. Solid screen. detachable joycons. Standard Win11. It plays things like Satisfactory and RDR2 real well. Ok batt life. Meh speakers. use bluetooth.
- There's a SteamOS version too, right?
  
  i think. never tried it. just kinda lazy lol.

Switch has dlc, did they just not release any for cities?
- Yeah, I got DLC for Smash Brothers. I don't see DLC for Cities Skylines though, but it seems After Dark and Snowfall come with it (and maybe more?).

Nintendo is going to lose alot of gamers this generation, they have gotten too greedy.
- One can hope. Subscription just to backup saves is what fucked me up.

SD is a bit underpowered. Write down a list of games you want to play first and then check if there are SD compatible.

The only reason you should buy a Switch is if you have no self respect, don't give a shit about being in an abusive relationship with Nintendo, and don't care about sending thousands of dollars to a company that hates you to get an artificially limited device, and absolutely MUST play Nintendo first-party games, in the intended fashion.
The Deck is such a better device in nearly every way.