The Steam Deck is an incredibly powerful portable gaming device that's only improved since its launch.
Steam Deck MSRP $400.00 Score Details DT Recommended Product “The experimental Steam Deck is the king of portable gaming PCs thanks to Valve's consistent software improvements.” Pros Cons Valve’s Steam Deck is an exercise in expectation setting. If you’re buying one hoping it’ll be the be-all and end-all of video game devices, you’re going to be disappointed. It’s not going to replace your PC or Nintendo Switch, nor does Valve intend for it to.
The first thing you’ll notice when you unbox the device is that it’s a giant. Let’s use the Nintendo Switch OLED for comparison. The Steam Deck is just over 2 inches longer than that device, coming in at 11.7 inches. It’s height is a bit more comparable at 4.6 inches, but those few extra inches are noticeable. I can comfortably pick up my Switch with one hand wrapped around its edges, but I have to go full-on claw machine mode to scoop up the Steam Deck in the same way.
The bumpers are the worst offenders. If I’m playing a game that requires me to press both a bumper and trigger routinely, I’m suddenly doing a juggling act as I shift my grip on the controller. In my most comfortable resting position, I can’t reach the bumpers without changing my grip to something that feels less stable. The tiny menu buttons also feel a bit out of reach at the very top, and it doesn’t help that I have to wedge my thumbs behind the sticks to get to them.
The beast incarnate While it’s awkward on the outside, it quite literally is the inside that counts here. The Steam Deck is a true powerhouse for what it is, which is what makes it so exciting in spite of its quirks. That’s thanks to its RDNA 2 GPU and AMD Zen 2 CPU, the same tech that’s used in the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X. It’s not as powerful as those consoles, with the cutdown chip performing closer to the power of a PS4, but it’s impressive all the same.
I’m perhaps most surprised by how fantastic the Steam Deck’s speakers are. Usually, onboard speakers on devices like this are obligatory, but weak. That’s not the case here. When I loaded up Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice, one of the best games I tried on it, I was shocked to hear its binaural audio effect come through perfectly. I could clearly hear voices whispering from each side of the device as if I had on a great pair of headphones.
That doesn’t mean every other game won’t work. On the contrary, many just haven’t been tested by Valve yet and work without a hitch. Steam has a “playable” marker too, denoting that a game will work with some quirks. For the aforementioned Dicey Dungeons, all that meant was that the mouse showed up on-screen. Otherwise, it’s a perfect experience.With a lot of time on the market and plenty of interest from fans, playability has become much more consistent with each passing month.
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