The Steam Deck is not the first attempt at a handheld for PC gaming, but it does come with a pedigree and a market-friendly price.
Since 1996, Valve has evolved from game developer (the Half-Life franchise) into being a major online market for PC games, into offering an open-hardware platform (Steam Engine) and now, fully into the console market after a flirtation with peripherals.
The company has quite the fanbase, and the bad news is that if you have not already reserved a Steam Deck, you will have to wait until “after Q3 2022” for its delivery. Like most console vendors, the company has fallen prey to semiconductor shortages.
Enthusiasm for the Steam Deck does not only reflect Valve’s reputation and the promise of PC gamers being able to migrate much (but not all) of their libraries from desktops and laptops. Priced mainly according to storage at £349 (64GB), £459 (256GB) and £569 (512GB), the Steam Deck is a lot cheaper than comparable handhelds...