Is The Steam Deck Already Obsolete?

Can the Steam Deck's hardware stand the test of time, or will it be outdated in the near future?

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[shardperson]

"PC Gamers tend to upgrade their hardware every 2 years" No, y'all rich people do, the grand majority of pc gamers make their hardware last as long as possible.

[EnochGitongaKimathi]

Apparently in Nov 2022 there was 6.75% of the users on Steam using DirectX 8 GPUs. The fact that the Steam Deck is made by Steam *(correction Steam is a platform by Valve)* themselves it can be seen as a console similar to Xbox and PS5 which use PC hardware.
It is easier for developers to target the Steam Deck for optimizations compared to the numerous PC configurations.

[OlegKOWALSKI-rpvi]

Come on, let's be realistic - people who upgrading their PC every two years are the same people who buy new iPhone every year. It's not because the previous one is obsolete, but because they have money and have no ideas how else they can spend them.
Steam Deck is obviously for mobile gaming and not for (all) AAA titles, аnd I don't see minimum system requirements skyrocketing outside of AAA titles. So Steam Deck will last you at least 3-4 more years since now with no issues at all.

[jedgarnett]

I do not think it will become obsolete anytime soon. I look at it from a use case. I baught my deck to run certain kinds of things in a more comfortable way. I work from home so the last thing I want to do sometimes is stay at my desk after a 10 hour shift. As a handheld I think it holds up very well.

[TheMotlias]

Antony: "Pc gamers upgrade their hardware every 2 years"
Me still with a 1070: 😳

[DerrickBommarito]

What is the "gamers upgrade on average every 2 years" based on? I thought the steam surveys showed much more prevalence of older hardware?

[MaxRovensky]

Well I mean, it's Valve, so we know Steam Deck 3 is never coming out, so it will be obsolete eventually

[purkie]

I don't think it will be for a year or two, it's popularity has created a benchmark for the low end. I think we will see games with a steam deck setting designed to hit a consistent 40 FPS

[Omendrix]

In terms of games, potentially could become obsolete. However in terms of emulation, this thing is a godsend.

[CraigHlavka]

You can rationalize anything. I'll rationalize it this way. I'm happy Steam deck has been a success and will push Valve and other companies to make better products. If it means buying a steam deck 2 in 5 years. Great. For now, I'm really enjoying the Deck. I'm actually playing games again.

[Seikatsu]

the deck will be an amazing indie games machine for years so no worries

[Jmdeleeuw-]

PC games tend to upgrade their hardware every 2 years? I really doubt that is a average statistic. I and most people I know use the same pc for like 6-10 years without upgrading it.

[drewdidit]

In our hearts, the Steam Deck will never be obsolete. Best gaming device I've ever owned. Revolutionary in its design in relation with price and functionality. My childhood self would have sacrificed all the other systems I owned for the portability of this thing

[mRibbons]

The deck is great and continues to improve! I feel like my Steam Deck has actually gained significant value since when it arrived in Sept.

[nathanielescudero]

One thing to remember when talking about compatibility is, when one platform sells millions of units, developers will optimise their titles for that platform. That gives me hope for the future.

[GeorgeNoiseless]

Baited, I admit, but it's kind of a nonsense title:
Deck could only be "Obsolete" if there was a competitor that provides the same experience for a cheaper price or one that provides a superior experience for (nearly) the same price.
I'd love to see the handheld PC market get really competitive, but considering Valve heavily subsidised the Deck to get it where it's at, this is a tough ask.

[ja]

Steam Deck's success is exactly what will make it *not* obsolete for a long time. It has become a performance target for developers to aim for. So they'll have extra graphical options like they always have, but they'll still be trying to make it play perfectly on a Steam Deck.

Regardless, the good news for Valve is that it doesn't matter if a competitor comes in with a better Steam Deck so long as it runs Steam!

[filedotnix]

I think medium settings 40fps is honestly an amazing target for the deck. I wasn't sure on 40fps until I tried it but it feels much closer to 60fps than 30, and has been working great for me on games like rdr2, sonic frontiers, and spiderman miles morales

[RokkitGrrl]

People still share pics or clips of their Commodore 64 or ZX Spectrum gameplay on social media, so the concern of the Steam Deck's obsolescence is wholly unwarranted. The Steam Deck will remain relevant long after it's no longer capable of running modern games and will become a very important part of games preservation, and that people are even now using it as a game emulator only cements its place in the future.

[Accessless]

I wish people competed with sub 100W PC's. Would be really fun to see how much performance can be squeezed out of a minimal amount of power.