So I had until today been thinking the Steam Deck would be the Switch for PC gaming. Then I saw this twitter thread:

Here’s the #steamdeck next to the Switch OLED. pic.twitter.com/kbGF9exbe0

— Cary Golomb (@carygolomb) February 4, 2022

It shows size comparison of Steam Deck versus many portable systems. And my god the thing looks terrible. Switch was pushing the size limit for what a portable can be, I can't imagine wanting to play anything much larger than it, and the Steam Deck makes the Switch look tiny.

A telling comparison in that twitter thread is the pic of the Wii U tablet. The Steam Deck is a little less tall but is much wider. That's insane. The Wii U tablet was absurdly big and was still only designed for use in the house, not as a true portable thing obviously since it needs to be near the system. And the Steam Deck is larger than it!

Not only is it wayyy too big to be a portable system, but its dpad and buttons seem to be falling off the edge, so even with how big it is the layout looks cramped and poorly designed - looks like they needed to make it an inch wider than it already is!

I mean I guess it needs to be so enormous in order to have the power to play modern games, but damn it looks bad.

Seems like Valve was basically like hey Switch is awesome let's make a much much worse version of that for PC gaming.

Before today I thought the Steam Deck looked really cool but I just lost all interest in it, that thing is a monstrosity. I wonder how the terrible design will affect sales. Will it be successful or will most PC gamers just be like well if you're gonna have something that big you may as well just stick to a PC and a gamepad?

With decent gaming laptops having been available for a decade or more, and no real expressed desire for on-the-go PC gaming without the comfort and luxury of proper screens, mouse, keyboard, and a comfy seat, I just can't understand who this product is aimed at. Most people I know who game on PCs, especially the sort of games that requires some juice on the hardware side, avoid handheld devices due to the limitations in the format and form itself. I think the Steam Deck will crash hard, and, moreover; I believe it will be well deserved.

PS: And this is coming from a die-hard PC gaming and Valve fan.

I'd like to see a profile view comparison to the Wii U gamepad.

Anyway, I'm basically in the same boat as the OP. When I saw this thread, I realized that it is gigantic. It appears to be the largest portable gaming device ever made, by a very wide margin. This really crushed a lot of my enthusiasm for the product. I have not ordered one, but it was on my "wait and see reviews" list. I think the likelihood of me buying it has decreased by like 75% after seeing the relative size.

I don't know either who its aimed at. These handheld PCs have been available for a long time, but now Valve is jumping in the hype is through the roof. The price is much better though and specs aren't bad.

https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-deck-alternatives-handheld-pc/

Now I see.

By Deck, they meant a pool deck.

Would be nice if they made a slim for those who want it, but it’s not going to be significantly more portable either way so I don’t really care.

I think we are still probably 3-4 years from handheld PC type devices being actually good. The performance on the Steam Deck is in a good spot, but the size is prohibitive.


I would like to see Sony and Microsoft try to get involved with this market at some point in the future. The concept is great, just needs a bit more time to mature in technology

It's way to big, the battery life is to short and the right joy stick placement is questionable.
Definitely not something for me.

I do find the Steamdeck intriguing, as someone that loves the Switch, has never used steam before and I don't have a pc. I'm not a fan of the size of that thing, I will need to watch quite a few Youtube videos on it to see what other think of it.

I'd watch reviews before jumping to conclusions. While I agree that it's quite big compared to the switch, the switch itself isn't exactly pocket-able unless you have some really big pockets. So as far as portability goes, I think both requires a similar method of transportation through a carrying case (which the Deck comes with) or putting it in a backpack. The biggest issue the Steam Deck really has isn't it's size but rather it's weight as that is it's biggest weakness against the switch.

As for the button placement and such, from virtually every hands on reviews that I have seen, they all praised it. So before claiming the layout is poorly designed, I'd watch some hands on previews.