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The Steam Deck. Everyone knows the product as the leading way to play your favourite Steam games on the move, away from a PC, but does the Steam Deck still hold up in 2025?
Let’s take a closer look at the design, performance, and overall experience to find out.
The Steam Deck OLED features a 7.4-inch HDR display with a resolution of 1280 x 800, which, combined with its OLED panel and 90Hz refresh rate, gives this model a vibrant and responsive display.
It comes with a generous 1TB of SSD storage, offering fast loading times and plenty of space for games. The device also includes Wi-Fi 6E support for faster and more stable connections, along with a 50Whr battery that delivers a good few hours of gameplay for a handheld of its kind.
This model features:
- Generous 1TB NVMe SSD Storage
- Rich 7.4-inch HDR OLED Display
- Next-Gen Wi-Fi 6E Connectivity
- 50Whr Battery
Design and Build
The Steam Deck is straightforward to use and comfortable to hold. Whilst part of me wishes the screen were a bit bigger and the sides of the controllers a little smaller to allow for more display space, the sizing is perfect for what it was designed for.
Not every game is compatible with Steam Deck controls, especially those that rely on keyboard interactions like typing, but the games that do work well with the controller layout perform incredibly well.
Battery life is not the Steam Deck’s strongest feature, especially when running graphically intensive games. However, if you are somewhere it can be plugged in, it offers long play sessions. I can personally say I have easily done 11-hour sittings of gaming without feeling uncomfortable or fatigued.
Gaming Experience
When it comes to gaming, my favourite titles on the Steam Deck have been Nobody Saves the World and Palia. Whilst Palia struggles a little due to the text input feature with server chats, the performance for both games has been excellent. I even spent five hours of a 13-hour flight playing Nobody Saves the World on the Steam Deck, and it ran beautifully throughout.
The Steam Deck can get quite warm because of the constant fan output and heat, but the noise is very minimal and rarely distracting.
Graphics and Performance
Graphically, the Steam Deck still performs amazingly well, although performance depends on how it is used. When switching the device into Desktop Mode and watching videos, it does not always perform optimally, with some stuttering and occasional short freezes before it corrects itself.
There is room for improvement in a few areas, and battery life is one of them. While performance varies depending on usage and the type of game being played, it could last longer overall. The Steam Deck also has two buttons on both sides of the underside of the controllers that are rarely used in many games. Some titles do not recognise them at all. While this might not be a fault of the Steam Deck itself, more developers should make use of these buttons to improve controller input options.
Portability and Convenience
One of the biggest advantages of the Steam Deck is its portability. A few years ago, I never would have imagined playing full Steam games mid-air on a long-haul flight. For a portable device, it also delivers better-than-expected graphics that are comparable to some of the more modern games available today.
Steam Deck vs Competitors
Why should you get a Steam Deck instead of a ROG Ally or a Legion Go? It really comes down to personal preference.
The ROG Ally runs on Windows 11, which is quite unusual for a handheld device, especially considering the ongoing issues with that operating system. It also has worse battery life than the Steam Deck, although it does allow you to play Xbox titles.
The Legion Go, on the other hand, features RGB joysticks and adjustable triggers, but it also runs on Windows 11, which can cause some issues, and it is much larger in size than either the Ally or the Steam Deck.
The two others mentioned do feature a more powerful processor, especially in the Asus Rog Ally with the Z1 Extreme. This allows the Rog Ally to play at a slightly higher rate. You can check out our video where we play BeamNG.Drive in Max settings on the Asus Rog Ally to see how it runs. Just hit play below.
The Asus Rog Ally proved to be one of the best-performing popular handhelds right now. No, it’s not as powerful as the OneXFly and yes, you can now even get an updated Rog Ally with the Asus Rog Ally X. But for what the base form gives, it’s still pretty solid. Is it better than the Steam Deck? Like we said earlier, that is highly dependent on preference, but what I can say is that the Steam Deck operates much more smoothly. The integration of the Steam App to easily play games on the Deck works much better than most handhelds right now. So even though it may not be the best performing, overall, it feels like a much more complete device for its purpose.
Overall Thoughts
Personally, I love the Steam Deck. It is perfect for those days when you are travelling or just do not want to get out of bed but still want the comfort of all the games you know and love, just from a more convenient location. It is easy to pick up, play with friends online anywhere, and stay connected.
The Steam Deck is an excellent console for cosy gaming, especially with the wide range of relaxing and feel-good games available on Steam. And because it’s so popular, there are a ton of useful accessories you get for it. Check out our top 10 list for the best Steam Deck accessories here.
And to answer our earlier question…
Do I believe the Steam Deck is still worth getting in 2025? Absolutely.
However, I recommend considering the OLED version instead of the original. I purchased my Steam Deck shortly after its release in 2023, the original 512GB model, which is no longer available. It came with a hard drive instead of a superior solid-state drive. If the OLED version had been available back then, I would have gone for it without hesitation.
Thanks for reading. I hope this Steam Deck review helped you! By the way, make sure to try our Laptop Finder Quiz to get laptop recommendations if you’re on the lookout for a new laptop. Otherwise, check out our similar tech reviews on the links below.
