Ever since the launch of the Nintendo Switch in 2017, the perception of what a handheld gaming device can be has changed. No longer are handhelds relegated to good hardware trapped by inherently technologically limited games. Instead, they're now capable of letting you take console-quality experiences on the go. There's been an explosion of similarly compact PC devices attempting to mimic the success of the Nintendo Switch by letting you take your PC games library with you anywhere, with some mixed results. While there are great devices out there now, such as the Aya Neo Pro, they're still limited by the capabilities of mobile hardware while also costing a lot more than its performance suggests. However, Valve's Steam Deck addresses both pitfalls entirely.
With cutting-edge hardware, thoughtfully designed ergonomics, a satisfying controller layout, and a software layer that simplifies PC gaming, the Steam Deck makes it a breeze to link to your Steam account and get started with your library on the go. Better yet, it comes in at a reasonable price, starting at $400 and reaching only $650 for its highest-tier model--essentially half the price of its closest competitors. While that alone is impressive, it's in how well the Steam Deck performs that it becomes clear that it doesn't have much competition at all. With its AMD Zen 2 and RDNA 2 APU, it's head-and-shoulders above the Intel XE and Radeon Vega-powered portable gaming devices that made it to market first, creating a situation where you shouldn't really be looking at an alternative if you can get your hands on a Steam Deck.
Physical attention to detail
It starts with the Steam Deck's design, which will catch you by surprise if you're transitioning from a Nintendo Switch. The Steam Deck is massive by comparison, with the entire device coming in wider, taller, and thicker than Nintendo's counterpart. It's also noticeably heavier, weighing in at 669g as opposed to 440g for the original Switch. This allows the Steam Deck to pack in a larger display, with the 1200x800 7-inch display most likely to be one of the first things you notice. It's big and bright, offering some vivid color reproduction while also giving you ample brightness control for gaming in numerous environments. The bezels are on the thick side, with the two on the left and right of the screen specifically wasteful of space, but it's a small price to pay for a display of this quality.
Flanking the display are two thumbsticks and two touchpads, with the former being one of the Steam Deck's strongest pieces of hardware. These thumbsticks feel remarkable, with a satisfying amount of resistance and a great size (both in width and stem length) for comfort and accuracy. The tops of the thumbsticks are also tiny touchpads, too, allowing for some fancy software controller configurations that can activate certain layers of control when your thumbs are resting on the thumbsticks as opposed to being off them. The ability to activate gyro-assisted aiming while your thumb is on the right stick, for example, is a small but immensely useful detail that I now miss on the Xbox Series and DualSense controllers.
The two touchpads beneath the sticks are less impressive but no less useful, letting you play games that require mouse input relatively easily (or play them without the thumbsticks entirely if you like). Their tactile vibration as you move your finger across them adds accuracy to your input, with software configuration letting you alter this response to help you better feel the ends of each pad with the force of the haptics rather than just feeling your finger slide off entirely.
Both the D-pad and the four face buttons are pushed out to the edges of the Steam Deck, which can look odd on first inspection. Both clusters of buttons are delightfully responsive in practice, with a good feel to each press. The overall sculpt of the Steam Deck also naturally places your hands close to each of them, meaning you likely won't be adjusting your grip or reaching out in uncomfortable ways to these buttons when holding the auspiciously large device. The additional thickness of the Steam Deck and its curved back mitigates a lot of its size and weight when you're holding it, avoiding the vice grip you need to comfortably hold other, thinner devices of this ilk. It's still a heavy device, and one that will quickly test your grip strength if you're not resting your arms on a surface to help support it, but its comfort is still one of the most surprising aspects of its design and a testament to how much thought was put into the overall shape of the Steam Deck.
Further driving that home is the intelligent routing of the Steam Deck's cooling, which never makes areas near your hands heat up during sessions. There's a single exhaust on the back of the Steam Deck and another on the top, both of which push out enough air to keep the Steam Deck cool under stressful loads. The heat pips inside have been structured in a way that avoids the left and right sides of the Steam Deck, preventing any sort of sweaty palms while you play. The fans are not too loud, but their pitch is quite high, which prevents them from disappearing into the background. You're going to hear the Steam Deck when using it, or at least bug someone nearby with your intense gaming, but it's still quiet enough to not be overly obnoxious.
Rounding out the inputs are the digital shoulder buttons and analog triggers, each of which features a satisfying little rumble at the end of each press. Four programmable grip buttons also sit inside an area where your index, middle, and ring fingers will naturally rest, making them easily accessible (more or less, depending on your hand size) and a nice feature for use in all your games. You can make use of the Steam Deck's Bluetooth capabilities to connect other wireless controllers, which will be required if you're playing while connected to an external monitor. It could also give you a break from holding the device if you simply want to prop it up and continue enjoying the Deck's great screen and surprisingly powerful front-facing speakers, both of which can get incredibly loud without losing much of their detail.
The only big miss in terms of hardware on the Steam Deck is the device's rumble, which lacks the fidelity required to really accentuate actions within your games. The vibration isn't refined enough to make distinguishing between left and right sides of the device well, is rather weak overall, and is certainly one facet that could be improved on if any future revisions of the Steam Deck are planned.
Slick SteamOS
The attention to detail doesn't stop in the Steam Deck's software, although that's mostly reserved for the stock SteamOS platform that you'll be introduced to first when booting up the device. SteamOS is a layer that sits on top of an install of Arch Linux, leveraging Proton to form a compatibility layer between it and native Windows applications. SteamOS is very similar to Steam's Big Picture mode on desktops, giving you a console-like experience when navigating through your Steam Library but offering certain customization options that remind you that you're ultimately still on a highly pliable PC.
Your entire existing Steam Library can be viewed on the Steam Deck, but not every game will be playable. SteamOS features a filter that lets you view games that have been "Deck Verified" by Valve to be compatible with the Steam Deck while also achieving various quality checks, including input support, the native resolution of the Steam Deck, Proton support, and seamless launching. Having this filter lets you quickly get going with a game that will show off the device in its best light, but it doesn't mean the rest of your library won't work. Some games miss out on some of the four quality checks, which puts them in a "Playable" but not necessarily fully supported category. Some games, such as The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, are categorized like this purely because of in-game text that might be too small on the native display, but otherwise runs just fine on the hardware.