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And while most games felt great out of the box, you can fully remap the Deck’s controls on a title-by-title basis, which is great for accessibility as well as simply being able to play exactly how you want to. The handheld even has Switch-esque gyroscope controls, which made it easy to precisely aim in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive by simply moving the system around. I especially love that the Steam Deck has four programmable buttons on the rear grips, which were very handy for jumping and dashing around in Doom Eternal without having to take my thumbs off the sticks. The handheld blends a familiar Xbox-style button layout with some features from Valve’s Steam Controller - if you’re one of the dozens of people who remember that thing - with all of your requisite buttons, thumbsticks and shoulder buttons as well as two unique trackpads that can mimic everything from joysticks to mouse inputs. It’s surprisingly light at about 1.5 pounds and features substantial ergonomic grips on the left and right sides that feel more like an actual controller than the flat Joy-Cons that attach to the Switch.
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And aside from a few quirks, Valve’s plus-size portable feels largely great to use for long periods of time.
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Fortunately, the Steam Deck comes with a free carrying case, which has a sturdy outer shell and a convenient handle that makes it easy to carry the system around. The nearly 12-inch-wide handheld makes even the standard Nintendo Switch feel tiny, and will demand a decent amount of space in your backpack. The Steam Deck is just about the biggest portable gaming machine I’ve ever gotten my hands on - and I’ve been around since the OG Game Boy. And while not all Steam games are fully optimized for Steam Deck just yet, it has the advantage of having a larger library than just about any console - just note that it’s not explicitly designed for non-Steam games, such as the ones you’ll find on Xbox Game Pass and the Epic Games Store. Its battery life generally isn’t as long as the Switch’s based on our testing, likely because the Steam Deck draws more power and can run higher-end games.
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How it compares: Valve’s portable gaming rig is much larger and more powerful than the Nintendo Switch, packing a custom AMD processor that allows it to run graphically rich games at settings comparable to what you’d see on a PS4, Xbox One or cheap gaming rig.
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It delivers a pretty great portable PC gaming experience, though its battery life isn’t very good for demanding titles, and not all games on Steam are optimized or compatible.
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It’s also a full-on Linux computer, with a desktop mode that you can use to run apps and browse the web. What you need to know: The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming PC designed to play the tens of thousands of games on the Steam marketplace at fairly respectable settings. Who it’s for: The Steam Deck is ideal for two groups of people: PC gamers who own lots of games on Steam and want a convenient way to play them on the go, and folks looking to get into PC gaming without shelling out $1,000 or more on a gaming PC.
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Should you take the risk of being an early adopter or wait for Steam Deck’s kinks to be worked out? Here’s what I think after doing lots of gaming (and even a bit of working) on Valve’s innovative handheld. It also isn’t guaranteed to play every Steam game out there, with some notable titles that are fully incompatible. It’s pretty bulky, it has some occasional performance hiccups and its battery life isn’t always great.
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Now, while the Steam Deck does a great job letting you play PC games on the go (and is a lot cheaper than a gaming laptop), it’s very much a first-generation product. It’s essentially a Nintendo Switch on steroids - and not just because it’s huge. Valve’s new handheld successfully makes PC gaming portable, packing enough power to play the tens of thousands of games on Steam at console-like quality while also doubling as a full-on computer. When I play visually rich PC games like God of War and Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order on the Steam Deck’s small screen, I feel like I’m getting a taste of a very exciting future. Your CNN account Log in to your CNN account
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