What I Want to See From the Steam Deck 2

Ever since the

Keep the Price Low

Valve has a funny history with its hardware launches. While the Steam Deck was definitely a success, you don’t have to look too far in the past to remember the colossal failure that was the Steam Machine. These gaming PCs running off of a primitive version of SteamOS were prohibitively expensive and almost immediately flopped. But it seems like Valve learned its lesson, with the original Steam Deck launching for a very

But other handheld gaming PCs have definitely taken a different approach with pricing. For instance, the MSI Claw 8 AI+ will set you back a thousand bucks. You do get a very powerful Intel chip along with a gorgeous display, but at that price point it starts competing against much more powerful

Keep the 800p Display

When dreaming about the next generation of a beloved product like the Steam Deck, it’s super tempting to just say everything should be bigger and better. But the lower resolution display is a good thing, actually, and Valve should keep it that way for the Steam Deck 2. Hear me out.

I remember when I first picked up the

I Need a Second USB-C Port

Whenever I need to re-benchmark the Steam Deck, I have to go through the tedious process of installing Windows on the thing and then re-installing SteamOS when I’m done. Not a big deal, just part of the job, but what makes it annoying is that every time I try to install SteamOS it will fail if I plug the thumb drive into a USB hub. I don’t know why that happens, but it does. That’s not a problem for most recent handhelds, though, because they have multiple ports – the Steam Deck has just one.

There is no reason that the Steam Deck can’t have multiple USB ports, there’s plenty of room on the chassis, especially on the bottom of the device. But instead, the sole port on the bottom of the Steam Deck is an unprotected MicroSD card reader.

The simple solution would just be to add a second USB port on the bottom of the Steam Deck 2. Not only would this make the device easier to use with accessories, but it would make Steam Deck docks less of a nightmare to actually use. Imagine a Steam Deck dock that functions like the Switch dock. I want to live in that world.

The further we get from the original Steam Deck’s release the more I realize that it was basically a perfect device. While it does have its limitations, I mostly just want a spec bump out of its followup. Although, realistically, Valve is probably going to come up with all kinds of improvements over its first-gen handheld. I just hope they don’t dilute the magic that finally made PC gaming handhelds a mainstream phenomenon.

Jackie Thomas is the Hardware and Buying Guides Editor at IGN and the PC components queen. You can follow her @Jackiecobra