We’re just some months shy of Valve’s Steam Deck turning 4 years previous, however the Steam proprietor would not seem like it’ll wind down assist any time quickly. In truth, it is perhaps listening to suggestions greater than ever, as one of the requested options for the hand-held gaming PC is lastly being added quickly.
One of the weirdest quirks with the Steam Deck is the requirement to have the hand-held’s show on to obtain video games. You were not capable of put the PC into sleep mode to preserve battery whereas downloading a brand new sport, which is very irritating for giant downloads and people utilizing the burn-in inclined Steam Deck OLED. Valve seemingly has lastly acknowledged that that is foolish, and has launched the flexibility to obtain video games in a brand new power-saving mode in a new Steam Deck update.
Accessible in preview earlier than going stay to all Steam Deck customers, the brand new mode is robotically enabled once you plug your handheld into energy. Whereas a sport is downloading, the display will robotically flip off and proceed within the background, with a brand new info display exhibiting progress being displayed for those who transfer the hand-held briefly or press a button.
The similar mode might be enabled within the settings menu for when the Steam Deck is operating off its battery, with Valve optimistic that this low-power mode will preserve as a lot as attainable. If the battery depletes to twenty%, the Steam Deck will robotically go into sleep mode and pause any energetic downloads.
Valve has remained coy on a successor to the Steam Deck regardless of its age, with studies suggesting {that a} new, upgraded mannequin may solely arrive in 2027. In the meantime, ASUS and Microsoft have just lately launched the ROG Xbox Ally X with AMD’s new Ryzen Z2 Excessive chip that provides improved efficiency over most different handheld gaming PC’s available on the market, albeit with some compromises. You’ll be able to learn our full ROG Xbox Ally impressions right here.