1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:03,360 While no one is seriously calling the Steam Deck a perfect console, 2 00:00:03,360 --> 00:00:07,680 you can't deny that it's been a pretty big hit since it released in early 2022. 3 00:00:07,680 --> 00:00:13,120 But here's the elephant in the room. The Steam Deck is, really, a miniature PC. 4 00:00:13,120 --> 00:00:17,840 It's just crammed into a chassis with joysticks and runs SteamOS instead of Windows. 5 00:00:17,840 --> 00:00:22,960 And it's no secret that PC hardware ages in the minds of gamers much more quickly than consoles do. 6 00:00:22,960 --> 00:00:27,200 The typical console has a lifespan of around five years, give or take a year or so, 7 00:00:27,760 --> 00:00:33,360 but PC gamers tend to upgrade their hardware every two years, or at least this was the case 8 00:00:33,360 --> 00:00:38,160 before the pandemic. So despite the current excitement around the Steam Deck, does the fact 9 00:00:38,160 --> 00:00:45,200 that it's really a PC doom it to a disappointingly short lifespan? It's like this. When you go and 10 00:00:45,200 --> 00:00:50,640 buy a console game, you know that the game should run properly in that console unless the developer 11 00:00:50,640 --> 00:00:55,440 royally screwed up somewhere. Even if the console isn't as powerful as a current gen PC and the 12 00:00:55,440 --> 00:01:00,320 graphics look a bit dated after a few years, you can still be confident that any title worth 13 00:01:00,320 --> 00:01:07,600 its salt is still going to run as intended, or mostly free at bugs, because these games are 14 00:01:07,600 --> 00:01:13,200 supposed to be written specifically for that console, or at least get ported over and tested 15 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:20,000 before release. But the Steam Deck is primarily built to run PC games off of the Steam Store. 16 00:01:20,560 --> 00:01:25,920 And due to the virtually infinite hardware and software combinations that can exist on any given 17 00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:32,880 PC, there is much more variation in how well a given PC game will run, meaning there's no guarantee 18 00:01:32,880 --> 00:01:37,600 that the Steam Deck will be able to smoothly run new titles a few years down the road. However, 19 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:41,840 the Steam Deck does have a few tricks up its sleeve to give it more longevity than you might 20 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:46,480 have thought. Since the Steam Deck is designed primarily to be an on-the-go system instead of 21 00:01:46,480 --> 00:01:51,360 a true hybrid console like the Switch, it can get away with having a screen with a resolution of 22 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:59,920 only 1280x800. The display is only 7 inches diagonally, so while it's not quite a retina display, 23 00:01:59,920 --> 00:02:05,120 if you hold it like a foot away from your eyes, it's still pretty close. And why am I talking 24 00:02:05,120 --> 00:02:10,800 about this? The relatively low resolution means that the GPU doesn't have to push too many pixels. 25 00:02:10,960 --> 00:02:16,560 Good thing, as the AMD GPU inside only has about 1.6 teraflops of raw power. 26 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:21,600 Might sound like a lot, but it's roughly the same as the GTX 950. Right now, some notably 27 00:02:21,600 --> 00:02:26,720 demanding AAA titles run on the Steam Deck at around 40 frames per second at medium-ish settings 28 00:02:26,720 --> 00:02:31,840 at 800p. But that doesn't mean you should just dismiss the Steam Deck as an already outdated piece 29 00:02:31,840 --> 00:02:37,200 of hardware that's only as powerful as a 7-year-old graphics card. The GPU inside the Steam Deck uses 30 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:42,800 AMD's RDNA2 architecture, which supports modern features like FidelityFX Super Resolution, allowing 31 00:02:42,800 --> 00:02:47,200 smart upscaling that increases the framerate and battery life. It can even do ray tracing, and 32 00:02:47,200 --> 00:02:51,600 although it most of the time only works when you dual boot with Windows, there's a good chance that 33 00:02:51,600 --> 00:02:56,800 ray tracing will get more official support, making the Steam Deck even more compelling. Additionally, 34 00:02:56,800 --> 00:03:01,840 expandable NVMe storage is available, and the Steam Deck itself comes with 16 gigs of RAM built 35 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:06,400 in. Enough for virtually any game out there right now, especially if you're running them at lower, 36 00:03:06,400 --> 00:03:13,520 Steam Deck-friendly settings. Now, with all that being said, it still lacks the power of most gaming 37 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:18,320 laptops, but it's not trying to be a gaming laptop. Although it's targeting a slightly different 38 00:03:18,320 --> 00:03:23,920 crowd than Nintendo's Switch, there's a lesson to be learned from the Switch. That console has been 39 00:03:23,920 --> 00:03:32,480 going strong for nearly six years, with much less powerful hardware and older too, because it was 40 00:03:32,480 --> 00:03:37,600 built to provide a specific kind of experience that wasn't centered around having the very best 41 00:03:37,600 --> 00:03:42,160 graphics available. Similarly with the Steam Deck, Valve understood that while people would 42 00:03:42,160 --> 00:03:47,600 certainly want to play the latest and greatest titles on it, there is also a massive library 43 00:03:47,600 --> 00:03:52,240 of games on Steam that are still very popular despite being significantly less demanding. 44 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:56,400 And being able to play that huge library on the go is why the Steam Deck exists, 45 00:03:57,040 --> 00:04:01,760 not to give you the same experience as your desktop battle station 6900 that you have at home. 46 00:04:01,760 --> 00:04:07,360 Of course, the current iteration of the Steam Deck will be outdated one day. We're just saying that 47 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:12,960 it most likely isn't going to just die a premature death, especially as Valve continues to work on 48 00:04:12,960 --> 00:04:18,400 its proton compatibility layer in order to make more of Steam games play nicely with the Steam Deck. 49 00:04:18,400 --> 00:04:23,760 Remember that the Steam OS that it runs on is Linux-based. Valve has also all but confirmed that 50 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,600 there will be new versions of the Steam Deck in the future for when the current hardware just gets 51 00:04:27,600 --> 00:04:32,480 long in the tooth. It's just worth remembering that not every gamer is chasing the most realistic 52 00:04:32,480 --> 00:04:37,280 hair physics possible, pleasing as they may be. Thanks for watching guys, like, 53 00:04:37,280 --> 00:04:40,960 dislike, check out some of our other videos, comment with video suggestions down below, 54 00:04:40,960 --> 00:04:42,800 and don't forget to subscribe and follow.