I'm just thinking out loud here.

Steam Deck 2 is a long way away, and I think that's great. Giving developers a specific hardware target is crucial, and having consumers feel like they need to immediately upgrade is bad.

However, I think there is room for an advanced SD that's not necessarily "new" but just an external improvement over the existing model at a higher price tier for those looking for a premium experience.

Also I'm going to be nitpicking here, don't take that the wrong way, I love the SD but it does have some weak points.

So then Steam Deck LE would be identical to the current one with the exception of:

  • The screen. Wow this is probably the greatest weakness of the SD. A larger display with smaller bezels and better color accuracy would go a long way to improving the experience.

  • Hall Effect joysticks. Again, nitpicking here but it'd be nice to see a premium version with these included.

  • 1TB SSD. I originally bought the 64GB version thinking I would just use an SD card no problem. But the ridiculous amount of shader cache, the various Proton versions (~1GB each) and some other software like EmuDeck and Heroic, as well as the annoyance of moving things back and forth had me upgrading quickly to a 1TB, which immediately ended all of those concerns.

  • Different color ways. I'm partial to white but a transparent purple version would be nice to see also.

  • At least 1 more USB-C port… so we can do things like video out while charging.

What else would you like to see added?

  • Björn Tantau@swg-empire.de
    5·
    1 year ago

    At least the joysticks, bigger SSD and different color are all attainable with a small bit of tinkering. There’s even an aftermarket screen with a higher resolution available. But I don’t know if that has smaller bezels.

    And video out while charging can be handled by whatever dongle you use for video out. But I know what you mean.

    • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
      31·
      1 year ago

      Multiple USB-C ports is the one that I’d notice most. Less bezel would be good, too, but it wouldn’t change how I use it.

      • CalcProgrammer1@lemmy.ml
        1·
        1 year ago

        A bottom USBC for docking like the Switch would be awesome, and having two ports would allow an unpowered monitor or dock/hub while charging. A USBA port on top as well would be nice if they could fit it.

        • conciselyverbose@kbin.social
          1·
          1 year ago

          Having the port on the bottom was by far the worst design decision of a bunch of bad design decisions for the Switch. It makes charging while using it a trash experience.

          If the deck had 50 ports, 0 should be on the bottom.