It sports a specially crafted AMD Aerith APU, which has a total of four AMD Ryzen Zen 2 CPU cores. That’s not to say that the Steam Deck isn’t impressive.

Desktop PCs get the fastest processors, the most powerful graphics cards, the most storage, and the most exotic cooling solutions, all helping to deliver the fastest and most detailed contemporary gaming experience. Whether it’s competing against handheld portable gaming systems like the Steam Deck, gaming laptops, or even the latest generation of games consoles, desktop gaming PCs have always offered bleeding-edge performance for those willing to pay for it. When it comes to gaming, there’s nothing like a desktop gaming PC. That means less screen space and certainly less performance, but where the Steam Deck is much more portable than a standard gaming PC (desktop or laptop) it isn’t necessarily the most portable gaming system overall. A Switch is around half the weight of that and notably smaller, too.

It is, however, much larger than a Switch, weighing just under 700g, and measuring almost 30CM long. The Steam Deck is like a Nintendo Switch: a completely self-contained gaming system that you can take almost anywhere and enjoy a full gaming PC experience. And though gaming laptops are, in many ways, just as portable as a Steam Deck, even the smallest ones aren’t as compact, nor come with the array of controller inputs and performance capabilities at the same sort of size. Desktops, even small ones, can’t be played with on the go. Gaming PCs, on the other hand, aren’t quite so portable.

Actual battery life lasts between one and a half and eight hours in real-world testing, depending on the game being played and your particular Steam Deck settings, like screen brightness, and what FPS it’s locked to. You can take it anywhere with you and enjoy multiple hours of gameplay without the need for anything else – even the charger. The big selling point of the Steam Deck is that it’s a portable gaming PC.

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