Steam Deck; New Tech or Same Old Thing?

Many people have known that popular game library platform steam had been working on something big over the last few years, and the unveiling of the Steam Deck was certainly exciting for some as a platform that looks similar to the Nintendo Switch with some key differences, but also being marketed towards PC players. So, whilst you won’t be playing your favourite handheld switch games or turning to typical mobile options just like these betting sites and others for example, you’ll still be able to access the latest AAA games directly from your Steam account. Is it new tech, though, or just recycling more of the same?

Given the partnership held with AMD whilst working on the project, the good news is there’s a lot of tech packed within the small body – whilst none of it is exactly brand new, it has been designed in such a way that it makes the Steam deck really powerful for what it is, running on SteamOS specifically designed for it, it is more like a handheld computer than a handheld gaming console as many others with Valve saying that it can run any game, even the most modern options, without any issues or performance hit which is a solid feat in itself.

One of the big features that is new comes within the touchpads that are on the device to give full mouse like control, they were initially trialled with the Steam controller but had been considered as one of the weaker points of the peripheral, something that certainly seems to be fixed on the Steam Deck and one of the more promising features.

There had been some complaints that the internal storage on the base model was a bit lacklustre, but with expandable storage options and the confirmation from Valve that the SSD inside the device could be replaced without any specialised tools, it does provide at least some more customizability to the device that isn’t available elsewhere.

Whilst it doesn’t really do anything to push the boat out in a revolutionary way, it is an exciting bit of kit that’s available at a really affordable price, those who will be most in the market to pick up one of these devices are those looking to try the latest AAA games but aren’t able to spend as much time at their PC, particularly those who may travel a lot of and will take full advantage of the handheld option available. The only area that could use some work likely comes from the battery, on full load for the more power hungry games it has a suggested 2-hour battery life, which does make the handheld option seem less than great, but it’s already a great starting place.