So, I kinda feel like buying before Summer Sale ends, but I have mainly one doubt. That is, does it make sense to buy now?
I remember reading news about the next installment of Steam Deck right after it came out. I really wouldn’t like it if I bought and next year something new came out and my device would already be outdated (not from a specs point of view, I know it isn’t particularly powerful or anything). For the same reason I usually prefer consoles over gaming computers, since generations have more or less a fixed time length (I hated last generation’s mid-gen upgrades) while new CPUs and GPUs basically come out every year or so. But this is another story.
So, do you know anything about the next Steam Deck? What’s your advice for someone in my situation?
Personally, I think I could put up with the next Deck coming out in, say, two years. But before that?.. I don’t know, I’m afraid I would feel like I wasted money.
I don’t think we’ll see a Steam Deck 2 anytime soon.
Is the Deck the best handheld on the market in terms of performance? No.
But if you ask me, it provides the most polished experience with SteamOS and probably has the best price to performance ratio, especially when on sale. If you want to check if your favourite games work on the deck refer to ProtonDB.
Plus you’re not limited to PC games, the Deck is also very good at emulating games. Mario Kart 8, Zelda Breath of the Wild or some PS2 classics like the Burnout series - it will do them all.
It all comes down to your expectations but if you want one, buy it now. Or buy it on the next sale. I got mine in May and I don’t regret the purchase whatsoever. Love to use it for quick couch gaming sessions, on the balcony or when travelling.
Also kinda unrelated but referring to your view on PC parts: yes new generations are released pretty quick compared to consoles but a build using components that are a couple of years old can still be equally powerful to a PS5 for example.
Valve have said they aren’t planning on a new Steam Deck until there’s substantial technology improvements, so I wouldn’t expect to see one for at least a couple of years yet.
Lawrence Yang from Valve said in an interview not to expect a next-gen Steam Deck for a few years still, so I think you’ll be using it untill at least late 2025 before a Steam Deck 2 succeeds it.
Buy it now you aren’t going to see another steam deck version for another three years probably.
If ever.
Steamdeck 2, never a 3
The current steam deck isn’t going to be obsolete just because a newer model comes out. I’m happily playing through the new System Shock right now, and there’s a gazillion things in my steam library that I can install and run any time I like.
At some point there will be a faster, better deck, but this one is going to do me for a while. It is, in that sense, like a gaming PC. The lifetime of it isn’t determined by the manufacturer in the same way, because you can choose when it’s worth paying more for a better experience.
Like a gaming PC the first question you need to ask is “what’s my budget”, and the second “what would I like to be able to play”. When you have those answered, you can decide whether the current sale price offers value for money. There is always going to be more power available for a higher price.
I’d say it’s one of the best consoles (if you want to call it a console) in relation to emulation. If you have very obviously legal copies of your console games they run incredibly well on the steam deck. Installed yuzu and configured it and got SSBU working 90%, multiplayer (even local) doesn’t work, at least the last time I tried it
Battery isn’t the best so it seems like it’s made more for steam link instead of natively running the game but my internet isn’t good enough so I tend to play on the couch tethered to a charge cable
I’m only waiting because I can’t spend the money right now. If you have the money and won’t miss it if you spend it, go for it. There won’t be a new release for a long while. I am finding it hard to wait to get one but I promised myself I would be better at saving money every month, so I am waiting. I am going to save up cash for one. No steak dinner for me for a while! Anyway, go for it if you can afford it. Just don’t wave it in my face being all "na na na na na I have one you don’t "
The Valve Index was released 4 years ago and there’s no legitimate sign of a successor. I suspect it’ll probably be another 4 years before we see a Steam Deck successor, like other consoles, but no one really knows.
if you buy it and play games on it, regardless of what happens external to you, you didn’t waste your money. I hesitated for like 3 months to buy mine and I was simply wrong. I’m having a blast with it and I wish I had gotten it sooner.
It’s honestly a fun device. We’ve only had it 4 days but it’s gotten a lot of use from both adults and 2 kids.
Dont expect to play super graphical AAA titles without compromise, but the Deck is an emulation powerhouse(even some PS3/Switch games work good, dreamcast, ps2, gamecube, wii and older just about flawless), and is so versatile that the $360 64GB model and a $100 1TB SSD upgrade makes it a great deal. Got a console/PC already? Can stream to the deck. Get a dock and it becomes a budget desktop with mouse/keyboard. The amount of money you save from Steam/Fanatical/any storefront you want(or piracy ;)) is great too. Got a Steam Library already? It works on PC and on Deck.
It is a tinkering device for sure though. Linux is a learning curve if you want to do more than just steam games. Kingdom Hearts 3 on Epic Store was an adventure to get working for example. Also still havent gotten my logitech steering wheel to work either. Overall though, absolutely a good deal from over a year i’ve had mine.
If you can buy one then do it. I’m in the UK and I’ve been trying to get one for months.
I’m sure they pop up from time to time but I can’t spend every waking moment refreshing the page to grab one.
Fingers crossed one pops up soon though.
Is it the same as the US version? I’d happily ship one if it made sense. No clue how bad shipping would be, though.
If you have a use case for it, buy it. The only way you’ll regret it is if you don’t use it, imo.
They invested heavily in custom CPU/GPU silicon, there’s no way SD2 is releasing any time soon. Especially that this combo was bleeding edge for battery/performance AMD has more R&D to do
This isn’t like an iPhone that has yearly updates. It’s more like a console, which is updating every 3 - 5 years. Better to buy early than late
