With the Steam Deck, Valve might beat Nintendo at its own game

Steam Deck Source: Windows Central

Always since the historic period of the original Game Boy over thirty years ago, Nintendo has dominated the portable gaming space. This tendency continues in the modern day, as its latest console, the Nintendo Switch, which is a handheld/docked hybrid and has enjoyed years of market supremacy. The reason why? At the end of the 24-hour interval, there'south aught else like information technology bachelor.

Notably, though, the Switch does have one key weakness: lackluster tech specs. The console oft struggles to play Nintendo'southward cadre games at 30 FPS, and significant downgrades have had to be made to many of the other games ported to the organization just to get them to run semi-smoothly. Despite this glaring flaw, even so, Nintendo has chosen to remainder on its award instead of developing a "Nintendo Switch Pro" with more than capable hardware (merely, hey, there'southward an OLED version coming. That's cool, I guess).

Unfortunately for Nintendo, a new challenger approaches in the wake of its complacency, and it'due south a developer that nobody expected to run across enter the ring: Valve. The PC gaming developer, publisher, and distributor recently appear the Steam Deck, a Switch-sized miniature gaming PC that threatens to shell Nintendo at its ain game. Here's how.

Hardware that blows the Switch out of the water

Steam Deck Source: Valve

Category	Steam Deck	Nintendo Switch OLED Model
CPU	AMD Zen 2, iv cores/viii threads (ii.iv-3.5GHz)	Custom NVIDIA Tegra X1 processor
GPU	1.6 TFLOPS	Unknown
Retentiveness	16GB LPDDR5	4GB LPDDR4
Storage	Up to 512GB NVMe SSD	64GB
Display	7-inch 1280x800 (400 nits), up to 8K @ 60Hz or 4K @ 120Hz via USB-C DisplayPort	seven-inch OLED, upwards to 1080p in TV mode, 720p in handheld
Bombardment	40WHr (2-8 hours estimated)	iv,310mAH (4.5-9 hours estimated)

Above all else, the biggest edge that the upcoming Steam Deck has over the Nintendo Switch is its significantly meliorate hardware specs. Compared to the Switch's rather outdated NVIDIA Tegra X1 system-on-fleck, 4GB of LPDDR4 RAM, and 32GB of storage (64GB on the new Switch OLED Model), the Steam Deck boasts an impressive 1.vi TFLOPS GPU, an AMD Zen 2 CPU with four cores and eight threads, 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, and either 64GB of eMMC storage or 256/512GB of NVMe SSD storage. At 400 nits, the device'south 7-inch touchscreen display is as well near 100 nits brighter than the standard Switch'southward. It even comes with a 40WHr battery, which is impressive for the size of the Steam Deck.

Steam Deck looks like information technology volition exist the powerful Switch Pro that Nintendo never made.

Of form, whether or non the Steam Deck actually performs as well as its specs suggest information technology will remains to be seen. It's worth pointing out that the Steam Deck's official website shows actual gameplay on a image, though, and the experience looks very smooth. Overall, based on everything we've seen and so far, the Steam Deck looks like it volition exist the powerful Switch Pro that Nintendo never made.

Huge versatility in a small parcel

Steam Deck Source: Valve

Some other large advantage that the Steam Deck has over the Nintendo Switch is its immense versatility. Featuring a USB-C port for peripheral connectivity, full Bluetooth v.0 support for wireless accessories, a dock you can use to hook the device upwardly to a full-sized monitor, and the ability to install Windows, Linux, and tertiary-party content, the Steam Deck sounds similar it's going to exist one of the most versatile portable gaming systems e'er made. Compared to the Switch'south very limited selection of peripherals and capabilities, y'all'll be able do anything you want and use any wireless accessory you lot want with the Steam Deck. There'southward even the possibility of emulation on the Steam Deck (60FPS Zelda anybody?).

The versatility of the Steam Deck isn't limited to gaming, either. Pair it with a Windows installation and a wireless keyboard and mouse, and y'all'll have a quick and snappy productivity device at the set up. A foldable stand on the back would have made the Steam Deck fifty-fifty better for this, but there will most likely exist affordable 3rd-party stands made after the device launches after this year.

Let'south talk about those controls

Steam Deck Source: Valve

Uncomfortable controls may undermine Valve's efforts to challenge Nintendo.

While everything nigh the Steam Deck from a hardware specs and software standpoint looks incredible, something that's a bit concerning about the device is its ergonomics. The control surfaces on either side of the screen are quite beefy, and I'grand skeptical about Valve'south decision to put the ABXY buttons and D-Pad straight next to the joysticks. Information technology also remains to be seen whether or not the trackpads are enjoyable to use in shooter games where lining up shots chop-chop and fluidly is important. Overall, the machine just doesn't look very comfortable to use. In a hands-on preview, IGN said that despite its looks, the Steam Deck is really very comfortable to use for long periods of time, then we'll reserve any judgments until Steam Deck is actually out in the wild.

If the fear that the Steam Deck's controls aren't pleasant to use comes truthful, Valve's efforts to challenge the authority of the Nintendo Switch may autumn curt. The Switch is certainly disappointing from a ability standpoint, simply a huge reason why information technology has and continues to sell so well is because of how comfortable and easy to apply it is. A portable gaming arrangement needs to be enjoyable to use, so it's crucial that Valve gets this right.

Terminal thoughts

Ultimately, I think this is the about exciting matter Valve has done in years, and I tin't expect to run into how the Steam Deck squares up to the Nintendo Switch. People have been asking for a Switch Pro for a long time now, and Valve has a serious opportunity to eat Nintendo'due south tiffin and beat information technology at its own game with the Steam Deck. If it'south equally good as the spec sheet indicates, the Steam Deck will also be one of the best ways to play some of the best PC games portably.

Steam Deck prices commencement at $399, and preorders brainstorm on July xvi at x AM PT / 1 PM ET on the official preorder page. Will you lot be getting a Steam Deck? Allow me know in the comments.

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