I don’t talk about products unless they’re really good. I only say anything about the stuff that’s impressively good because I think good products should be rewarded. The steam deck is okay ergonomically, I’ve had hours long sessions and no issues. The screen is big enough to avoid eye strain while keeping it portable. The screen does a great job, and I haven’t seen any flickers or tearing. The screen also responds to touch. The thumbsticks are great quality, with good snap back, and no deadzone. The shoulder buttons aren’t mushy, and respond well. The dpad is unremarkable, but works well. The ABXY buttons are maybe slightly soft, but I haven’t lost any inputs. There’s a trackpad like square that is like a high DPI mouse, and has haptic response to touch.

The software is the real star. Its set it and forget it. Everything is easy to setup. Most games work, and all games in the store show their compatibility. Some games that aren’t supported still work fine regardless. As a bonus, the desktop mode also works well for acting as a normal PC with a good software “store” (most things are free).

But the best part is that you can be in the middle of a cutscene, and hit the power button. The deck can usually pick right up from where it left off. Add also the fact that the steam UI can be opened from anywhere so you can rebind controls on the fly. Extra buttons are available on the back for those games that need it, you just need to bind them once.