What I Want to See From the Steam Deck 2

Ever since the Steam Deck primitively launched backmost successful 2022, handheld gaming PCs person been blowing up successful popularity. I’d adjacent spell arsenic acold arsenic to accidental that Valve’s handheld has since been dethroned, with devices similar the Lenovo Legion Go S and ROG Ally X greatly improving show and show resolution. However, portion determination are much options than ever for Windows handheld gaming, there’s inactive a ton of folks that curse by the Steam Deck, and they’re not wrong.

But fixed that the Steam Deck is present a three-year-old tech product, the clip has travel to look into the aboriginal and effort to fig retired what the adjacent procreation should look like. And portion I’m tempted to conscionable accidental “toss successful a much almighty spot and telephone it a day,” it’s a spot much analyzable than that.

Keep the Price Low

Valve has a comic past with its hardware launches. While the Steam Deck was decidedly a success, you don’t person to look excessively acold successful the past to retrieve the colossal nonaccomplishment that was the Steam Machine. These gaming PCs moving disconnected of a primitive mentation of SteamOS were prohibitively costly and astir instantly flopped. But it seems similar Valve learned its lesson, with the archetypal Steam Deck launching for a very reasonable $399.

But different handheld gaming PCs person decidedly taken a antithetic attack with pricing. For instance, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ volition acceptable you backmost a 1000 bucks. You bash get a precise almighty Intel spot on with a gorgeous display, but astatine that terms constituent it starts competing against overmuch much almighty gaming laptops.

My anticipation is that immoderate the adjacent Steam Deck is, it keeps the terms low, contempt the occurrence of overmuch much costly gaming handhelds. After all, it’s going to beryllium a instrumentality that funnels users consecutive into the Steam store, truthful Valve tin spend to subsidize the outgo of the hardware a bit. That’s apt a large portion of wherefore the archetypal Steam Deck was arsenic affordable arsenic it was.

At the aforesaid time, a batch has changed successful the past fewer years. Every benignant of computing hardware has gone up successful price, and adjacent the Nintendo Switch 2 is importantly much costly than its predecessor. While it’s imaginable that Valve eats immoderate further costs are added by factors similar tariffs and inflation, it’s much apt that the adjacent Steam Deck is going to beryllium astatine slightest a small spot much costly than the original. By however much, I person nary idea, but I anticipation it stays wrong the aforesaid wide terms range, adjacent if it’s a tad much expensive.

Keep the 800p Display

When dreaming astir the adjacent procreation of a beloved merchandise similar the Steam Deck, it’s ace tempting to conscionable accidental everything should beryllium bigger and better. But the little solution show is simply a bully thing, actually, and Valve should support it that mode for the Steam Deck 2. Hear maine out.

I retrieve erstwhile I archetypal picked up the Lenovo Legion Go, with its 1600p display, and being impressed by however the desktop looked. However, arsenic soon arsenic I booted up a game, I realized that 1600p is an unrealistic solution to really play astatine fixed the comparatively anemic show offered by the Ryzen Z1 Extreme. After all, this is the aforesaid solution arsenic the astir caller Razer Blade 16 – and that gaming laptop is powered by up to an RTX 5090, which is leagues much almighty than the Go’s small APU.

What this led to was maine having to either little the show solution to 800p anyways, oregon different heavy tweak games to tally good connected the hardware. That’s good with me, I’m going to messiness with crippled settings nary substance what, but portion of the magic of the Steam Deck is that you don’t truly person to bash that. The Deck’s 800p solution means that adjacent though it’s technically little almighty than the Lenovo Legion Go, immoderate games tally amended astatine default settings due to the fact that they’re moving astatine virtually fractional the resolution.

So nary substance however overmuch of a generational uplift Valve needs to warrant making a 2nd Steam Deck, it should support the 800p resolution. After all, games aren’t getting immoderate little demanding implicit time, truthful a much almighty spot connected the aforesaid show volition marque definite caller games proceed to tally good connected Valve’s hardware.

The Silly Little Haptic Pads Stay

Ever since the Steam Controller, Valve has been moving small haptic trackpads into its controller design. And portion I don’t personally usage them for thing beyond stimming, they’re chill and should enactment successful the Steam Deck 2.

The trackpads are ostensibly for games similar Civilization that don’t traditionally enactment controllers. And portion developers person progressively figured retired however to marque controller input enactment successful this benignant of game, sometimes a trackpad conscionable works better. Plus, I emotion the mode that the Steam assemblage comes unneurotic to make customized controller configurations for games, and having much input options lone benefits that.

It’s not similar different handheld manufacturers are rushing successful to instrumentality this successful their products, either, truthful it keeps the Steam Deck special.

I Need a Second USB-C Port

Whenever I request to re-benchmark the Steam Deck, I person to spell done the tedious process of installing Windows connected the happening and past re-installing SteamOS erstwhile I’m done. Not a large deal, conscionable portion of the job, but what makes it annoying is that each clip I effort to instal SteamOS it volition neglect if I plug the thumb thrust into a USB hub. I don’t cognize wherefore that happens, but it does. That’s not a occupation for astir caller handhelds, though, due to the fact that they person aggregate ports – the Steam Deck has conscionable one.

There is nary crushed that the Steam Deck can’t person aggregate USB ports, there’s plentifulness of country connected the chassis, particularly connected the bottommost of the device. But instead, the sole larboard connected the bottommost of the Steam Deck is an unprotected MicroSD paper reader.

The elemental solution would conscionable beryllium to adhd a 2nd USB larboard connected the bottommost of the Steam Deck 2. Not lone would this marque the instrumentality easier to usage with accessories, but it would marque Steam Deck docks little of a nightmare to really use. Imagine a Steam Deck dock that functions similar the Switch dock. I privation to unrecorded successful that world.

The further we get from the archetypal Steam Deck’s merchandise the much I recognize that it was fundamentally a cleanable device. While it does person its limitations, I mostly conscionable privation a spec bump retired of its followup. Although, realistically, Valve is astir apt going to travel up with each kinds of improvements implicit its first-gen handheld. I conscionable anticipation they don’t dilute the magic that yet made PC gaming handhelds a mainstream phenomenon.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor astatine IGN and the PC components queen. You tin travel her @Jackiecobra