"Steam Deck" is a small gaming PC released by Valve, and its feature is that you can easily carry and play games from the PC game distribution platform "Steam".

Pre-orders began in August 2022 in Japan, and shipments began in December. Recently, it became possible to purchase it without a reservation, but it is still very popular, with reservations already being accepted with no stock.

Although it is not light, it has a body that is easy to hold with both hands.

Steam Deck is equipped with a custom chip that uses AMD's Zen 2 architecture and has 4 cores and 8 threads, operating at 2.4 to 3.5 GHz, and the graphics function uses a CPU-integrated GPU based on RDNA 2 and running at 1.0 GHz to 1.6 GHz. The OS is "SteamOS 3.0" (based on Arch Linux), and the desktop OS is "KDE Plasma". This APU and 16 GB of memory (LPDDR5) are common to all three models.

The 7-inch LCD display supports 1280 x 800 pixels (216 ppi) with an aspect ratio of 16:10. It has a maximum brightness of 400 nits and supports touch operation, but the surface treatment is glossy (only the 512GB version uses "premium anti-glare etched glass").

The wireless LAN is Wi-Fi 5, and Bluetooth 5.0 is supported.

The body size is approximately 298 (width) x 117 (depth) x 20-49 (thickness) mm, the nominal weight is approximately 669g, and the actual weight was 696g (for the 256GB version). It has a similar size to the popular Windows-equipped portable gaming PCs these days, and although the weight is not as heavy as the AYANEO AIR's approximately 398g, it is close to the ONEXPLAYER mini Pro's approximately 620g, so it can be said that this is also a similar weight to other models. Grips are provided on the left and right sides of the main unit, and it is also designed to be held firmly with your fingers.

For those who usually use the Nintendo Switch, it may be easy to imagine a body that is about twice as large and thick.

The interface is simple. It has a 3.5mm earphone jack on the top, a USB Type-C terminal that supports USB Power Delivery and DisplayPort Alternate Mode, and a microSD memory card slot on the bottom.

On the other hand, there are plenty of controllers. The A/B/X/Y buttons are located on the right side of the front, and the cross key is located on the left side. The only triggers on the left and right are L1/L2 and R1/R2, and R2/L2 correspond to analog input. The basic operation is to confirm with the A button and cancel with the B button.

Pressing the "STEAM" button on the bottom left displays the "STEAM Menu" where you can set up the main unit, and the "..." button on the bottom right is "Quick Settings" where you can change the screen brightness, volume, airplane mode, Wi-Fi on/off, etc.

The sound is good because there are built-in speakers on the left and right bottom of the front, so you can get an immersive feeling even without headphones.

What makes the Steam Deck different from other handheld game machines is the presence of a slide pad with haptic feedback. It is located on the left and right, and you can use it to operate. There are also R4/R5 and L4/L5 buttons on the back, and if you assign functions to these, you can operate it with your middle and ring fingers.

In addition to the usual Steam screen (Gaming Mode), the Steam Deck has a desktop environment called "KDE Plasma", and if you connect a keyboard and mouse, you can use it like a normal PC.

If you have a Steam account, you can download your games to the main storage or microSD memory card and play the games. The battery life is officially 2 to 8 hours, but it seems that the capacity decreases visibly when you actually play, so if you are serious about enjoying games for a long time, a power source or portable battery is essential.