The Steam Deck 2 remains a glimmer in Greg Coomer and Lawrence Yang's eyes, and the AI-driven RAMpocalypse makes it feel further away now than when the original Deck launched in 2022. But by god, I'll still wishcast about it.
The rogue's gallery of $1,000+ hot slab handheld PCs that have come to market since left me feeling cold. They share the problems of all handheld PCs, even most gaming laptops from before the Deck: Too expensive, too big, too janky, fans blasting like a jet engine, like 45 minutes of battery life at full tilt. Oh, and most of them run Windows—that's a compromise on my desktop these days, let alone a handheld.
I've never liked my Deck for facilitating a stepped-on version of the cutting edge games I could play at home. To me, it is a machine for indies and PS4 era or older games—even emulation. To that end, I think my ideal Steam Deck 2 would be the same level of horsepower, but with better battery life and, crucially, it would be pocketable—or as close to it as Valve could manage without sacrificing ergonomics.
Have you beheld a PSP or Game Boy Advance in person recently? Handhelds used to be so tiny. I think part of the pivot to Switch-sized devices was to help differentiate consoles from smartphones, but I hate that we've relinquished this entire weight class to those awful little unrepairable glass rectangles that spy on us. A PSP-sized Steam Deck 2 would make my heart sing.
