My personal wishlist for a “Steam Deck 2”

Given that I have a lot more room to work with here, I think this is a good opportunity for me to be more elaborate with what I would want out of a successor to Valve's handheld gaming machine, and also explain my desires a little.

Note: While there are some areas where I have some idea for what I would want the specs to be, I will not get bogged down in RAM speeds, CPU generation, which specific graphics chip to use, etc. Instead, it is more a list of features I want the device to have that I also find somewhat realistic.

Display

I am happy with my “Gen 1” Steam Deck's LCD panel in terms of quality, so I am fine with it if they release it with an LCD panel at one price tier and then an OLED one at a higher panel. However, for a successor, I would quite want it to be at least at 1920x1200 to maintain the 16:10 aspect ratio. However, I would find 2560x1600 ideal for one reason: It would allow for a perfect 2x integer upscale from 1280x800px (or one with slim borders on the top and bottom from 1280x720px), which are both well-established resolutions that (for my personal taste) aren't too low. Meanwhile, 1920x1200 would merely have 960x600 and 960x540 available for a 2x integer upscale, and while 960x540 is also established under the qHD standard, 960x600 seems to be a complete oddball, and I personally also find those resolutions to be too low for many games. (Heck, even 720p is kind of borderline in some instances.) This could be important for a “high-performance” mode, as logically, only a quarter of the pixels would have to be rendered, and at least personally, I vastly prefer crisp evenly-sized pixels of twice the normal size over some filter that smears the pixels – or, worse, AI-upscaling. *shudder*

Storage

For a successor device, I don't mind them sticking with the smaller 2230 M.2 SSDs, however I would like an upgrade in one of two areas: Either a second internal NVMe slot for a second internal drive (or perhaps other devices), or an SD Express slot instead of the MicroSD slot. Both would serve the user to allow them to expand the storage with a faster option than the default MicroSD card slot in the original Steam Deck.

Connectivity

I think the “Steam Deck 2” could take a note from some of its competitors here, and offer a second USB-C port. That could allow a user to keep a different USB-C device (for example an external SSD) connected while docking or charging it. Speaking of docking the device: I think one of the Steam Deck's biggest missed opportunities was that it has no option to connect an external GPU, and I think a successor should fix that one. And by doing so, if the “Deck 2” were to be connected to an eGPU dock, it could disable or severely underclock its internal GPU, and overclock its CPU instead, to make use of the gained thermal headroom – perhaps while combining it with a built-in fan in the dock that blows more cold air into the device.

Inputs

I will not beat around the bush here: Resistance-based analog sticks and triggers ought to belong in the past. Replace them with Hall Effect equivalents instead. It's not like they are a new technology – the SEGA Saturn's 3D pad and the SEGA Dreamcast's controller used those for their analog sticks. Heck, I find it utterly unacceptable that Nintendo didn't switch (put not intended) to those on the Switch 2 after the whole drifting business on the Switch 1, but that is beside the point. Other than that... I am perfectly happy with the input options and the layout of the Steam Deck. Same with the...

Ergonomics

Speaking for myself, the Steam Deck fits perfectly in my hands. It's comfortable to hold, I don't have to contort my hands to use any of the inputs, and while it is a bit on the heavier side, it is not uncomfortably heavy. Frankly, if the “Steam Deck 2” ended up looking exactly like the original, I would have no complaints.

Upgradability and repairability

While it is not inhumanly hard to remove the battery from the Steam Deck, I still don't like that it's glued down. I would prefer it if it was at least glued onto a carrier that you can easily remove with two or three screws, for easily replacing a borked battery. I would also prefer it if the memory was upgradable via SODIMMs, especially due to this also resulting in a graphics memory upgrade, as APUs generally share system memory with the integrated graphics chip.

...and that's pretty much it. Granted, the display in particular is the one where I likely had my biggest flight of fancy, as I think Valve would be more likely to go with a 1080p or 1920x1200px panel, but it's called a wishlist for a reason.

~ Sparky A stylized drawing of a catbulb; a warmly glowing yellow lightbulb in the simplified shape of a cat's face with triangular ears, tall almond-shaped pupils, a black nose and whiskers, with teeth barely protruding from the snout. The screw consists of a black cylinder - around which is a red leather collar, with a golden spherical bell hanging off of it - and a purple hemisphere.

If you have constructive feedback, I can be reached on Kind.Social.