You basically need an external keyboard because the built in onscreen keyboard takes up about half the screen and the resolution doesn't get scaled down. And there's only one USB-C port so you need to buy a hub to extend it to multiple ports (and the charger is USB-C so a C to A hub means you can't charge while using your keyboard) or a Bluetooth keyboard.

Note that if you already have a laptop dock, you may not need to buy a separate one for the Deck.

When researching before ordering my Steam Deck last week, I looked into it and found that the Lenovo Thinkpad dock that work sent me with my work laptop is said to work great with Deck. (I just received my Deck and haven't yet tried this, though.)

One of the docks I had lying around worked perfectly, including the power passthrough. Very cool to plug in one USB and have an instant desktop.

> the built in onscreen keyboard takes up about half the screen

Well I've written thousands of lines of code in an 8x154 Termux terminal with Unexpected Keyboard. I got used to it.

It's terrible; the device is quite bulky and bigger than people seem to expect. I like the on screen keyboard, but it's not exactly fast or fully featured and the touch screen is too far away from your fingers in any comfortable holding position to type more than a name or a message here and there. It's also quite heavy if you hold it horizontal with only one hand.

With a docking station or a small Bluetooth keyboard you could probably turn the Deck into a portable dev platform, but it's simply not designed for text entry.

I suppose if you are already coding on your phone it could be an upgrade. I find the touch keyboard to be pretty basic, but it does have all the symbols and special characters visible like on a physical keyboard. Once you get used to the double trackpad and hot keys, I think the coding experience could be maybe even better than a phone.

For real coding plugging in a dock and going real keyboard, mouse and monitor would be a must for most.

> Once you get used to the double trackpad and hot keys, I think the coding experience could be maybe even better than a phone.

That's what I'm wondering about. Do those trackpads let you type without a virtual keyboard covering half the screen? That would be a killer feature for me.

For what it's worth, the on-screen keyboard is kind of awful. You can also type using the two thumb touchpads, so I guess you could do it with that, but it sounds like an exercise in frustration unless you're using an external keyboard of some sort.

As others were mentioned, it sucks with the onboard keyboard, but I used it for a bit to type out my dissertation with a portable type-c keyboard and a 3rd party stand and it was great.

I have a Deck and a first gen M1 Air, and I still pull out the Air to code. The Air is lighter, packs easier, lasts longer without charging, and has a real keyboard and a bigger screen.

With an external mouse, keyboard and monitor it’s great. I use vscode to write javascript and Python. You can do it with the built-in screen with external keyboard and mouse too, it just isn’t as comfortable due to the small screen. Trying to code using the touch screen keyboard will drive you insane.

> Trying to code using the touch screen keyboard will drive you insane.

I dunno about that. That's exactly how I've been programming for months now: an 8x154 Termux terminal with Unexpected Keyboard. I'm kind of hoping those touch sensitive pads will let me type without placing my thumbs over the screen.