Valve’s Steam Deck is the PRO Handheld that Might Make You SWITCH to Linux

Controls includes standard buttons as well as trackpads with haptic feedback, and you may have noticed from the specs that this display deviates from other 7-inch handhelds in that it has a 16:10 aspect ratio. (I think it’s safe to say that the 1280×800 resolution should not present a major challenge to the listed processing power.)

The full list of specs can be found here, with a few more excerpted below:

• Power:
  • Input: 45W USB Type-C PD3.0 power supply
  • Battery: 40Whr battery. 2 – 8 hours of gameplay
• Expansion: microSD UHS-I supports SD, SDXC and SDHC
• External connectivity for controllers & displays:
  • USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-mode support; up to 8K @60Hz or 4K @120Hz, USB 3.2 Gen 2
• Size: 298mm x 117mm x 49mm
• Weight: approx. 669 grams
• Operating System: SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based)
• Desktop: KDE Plasma

Yes, the Steam Deck is running Arch Linux-based SteamOS 3.0, and will make full use of the ever-expanding support for Linux gaming providing via Proton.

“On Steam Deck, your games run on a different operating system than the one on your desktop PC. It’s a new version of SteamOS, built with Steam Deck in mind and optimized for a handheld gaming experience. It comes with Proton, a compatibility layer that makes it possible to run your games without any porting work needed from developers. For Deck, we’re vastly improving Proton’s game compatibility and support for anti-cheat solutions by working directly with the vendors.”