Ever since the Steam Deck initially launched again in 2022, handheld gaming PCs have been blowing up in reputation. I’d even go so far as to say that Valve’s handheld has since been dethroned, with gadgets like the Lenovo Legion Go S and ROG Ally X drastically enhancing efficiency and show decision. Nonetheless, whereas there are extra choices than ever for Home windows handheld gaming, there’s nonetheless a ton of oldsters that swear by the Steam Deck, and so they’re not flawed.
However on condition that the Steam Deck is now a three-year-old tech product, the time has come to look into the future and take a look at to work out what the subsequent technology ought to appear to be. And whereas I’m tempted to simply say “toss in a extra highly effective chip and name it a day,” it’s a bit extra difficult than that.
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Maintain the Worth Low
Valve has a humorous historical past with its {hardware} launches. Whereas the Steam Deck was positively a hit, you don’t have to look too far in the previous to keep in mind the colossal failure that was the Steam Machine. These gaming PCs working off of a primitive model of SteamOS had been prohibitively costly and virtually instantly flopped. Nevertheless it looks as if Valve realized its lesson, with the authentic Steam Deck launching for a very cheap $399.
However different handheld gaming PCs have positively taken a distinct strategy with pricing. For example, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ will set you again a thousand bucks. You do get a really highly effective Intel chip together with a beautiful show, however at that worth level it begins competing towards rather more highly effective gaming laptops.
My hope is that no matter the subsequent Steam Deck is, it retains the worth low, regardless of the success of rather more costly gaming handhelds. In spite of everything, it’s going to be a tool that funnels customers straight into the Steam retailer, so Valve can afford to subsidize the price of the {hardware} a bit. That’s seemingly an enormous a part of why the authentic Steam Deck was as inexpensive because it was.
At the identical time, quite a bit has modified in the previous couple of years. Each kind of computing {hardware} has gone up in worth, and even the Nintendo Change 2 is considerably dearer than its predecessor. Whereas it’s potential that Valve eats no matter further prices are added by components like tariffs and inflation, it’s extra seemingly that the subsequent Steam Deck goes to be at the very least just a little bit dearer than the authentic. By how a lot, I don’t know, however I hope it stays inside the identical basic worth vary, even when it’s a tad dearer.
Maintain the 800p Show
When dreaming about the subsequent technology of a beloved product like the Steam Deck, it’s tremendous tempting to simply say all the things must be greater and higher. However the decrease decision show is an effective factor, really, and Valve ought to preserve it that method for the Steam Deck 2. Hear me out.
I keep in mind when I first picked up the Lenovo Legion Go, with its 1600p show, and being impressed by how the desktop regarded. Nonetheless, as quickly as I booted up a recreation, I realized that 1600p is an unrealistic decision to really play at given the comparatively weak efficiency provided by the Ryzen Z1 Excessive. In spite of everything, that is the identical decision as the most up-to-date Razer Blade 16 – and that gaming laptop computer is powered by up to an RTX 5090, which is leagues extra highly effective than the Go’s little APU.
What this led to was me having to both decrease the show decision to 800p anyhow, or in any other case closely tweak video games to run effectively on the {hardware}. That’s fantastic with me, I’m going to mess with recreation settings it doesn’t matter what, however a part of the magic of the Steam Deck is that you simply don’t actually have to do this. The Deck’s 800p decision signifies that despite the fact that it’s technically much less highly effective than the Lenovo Legion Go, some video games run higher at default settings as a result of they’re working at actually half the decision.
So regardless of how a lot of a generational uplift Valve wants to justify making a second Steam Deck, it ought to preserve the 800p decision. In spite of everything, video games aren’t getting any much less demanding over time, so a extra highly effective chip on the identical show will ensure that new video games proceed to run effectively on Valve’s {hardware}.
The Foolish Little Haptic Pads Keep
Ever since the Steam Controller, Valve has been working little haptic trackpads into its controller design. And whereas I don’t personally use them for something past stimming, they’re cool and may keep in the Steam Deck 2.
The trackpads are ostensibly for video games like Civilization that don’t historically help controllers. And whereas builders have more and more discovered how to make controller enter work in any such recreation, generally a trackpad simply works higher. Plus, I love the method that the Steam neighborhood comes collectively to create customized controller configurations for video games, and having extra enter choices solely advantages that.
It’s not like different handheld producers are dashing in to implement this of their merchandise, both, so it retains the Steam Deck particular.
I Want a Second USB-C Port
At any time when I want to re-benchmark the Steam Deck, I have to undergo the tedious course of of putting in Home windows on the factor after which re-installing SteamOS when I’m executed. Not an enormous deal, simply a part of the job, however what makes it annoying is that each time I strive to set up SteamOS it can fail if I plug the thumb drive right into a USB hub. I don’t know why that occurs, nevertheless it does. That’s not an issue for most up-to-date handhelds, although, as a result of they’ve a number of ports – the Steam Deck has only one.
There is no such thing as a motive that the Steam Deck can’t have a number of USB ports, there’s loads of room on the chassis, particularly on the backside of the system. However as an alternative, the sole port on the backside of the Steam Deck is an unprotected MicroSD card reader.
The easy answer would simply be to add a second USB port on the backside of the Steam Deck 2. Not solely would this make the system simpler to use with equipment, however it will make Steam Deck docks much less of a nightmare to really use. Think about a Steam Deck dock that features like the Change dock. I need to stay in that world.
The additional we get from the authentic Steam Deck’s launch the extra I notice that it was mainly an ideal system. Whereas it does have its limitations, I principally simply need a spec bump out of its followup. Though, realistically, Valve might be going to give you all types of enhancements over its first-gen handheld. I simply hope they don’t dilute the magic that lastly made PC gaming handhelds a mainstream phenomenon.
Jackie Thomas is the {Hardware} and Shopping for Guides Editor at IGN and the PC parts queen. You may comply with her @Jackiecobra