Linus Tech Tips shares long-awaited verdict on Valve’s Steam Deck: “There’s no competition”

Bill Cooney

Linus Tech Tips has finally started to review Valve’s highly-anticipated Steam Deck, and doesn’t think there’s any competition for the handheld in its price range.

The Steam Deck is one of the most anticipated pieces of hardware in recent memory, and according to Linus, it does indeed live up to the hype.

On February 7 the first of his long-awaited reviews for Valve’s handheld gaming PC came out. 

While there are still some questions to be answered, according to Linus there’s really no beating the Steam Deck for the price.

“It’s half the f**king price”

In this first review Linus focuses mainly on hardware, and how the select games included for the review performed.

For gaming, the input of the joysticks, D-pad, and buttons was right up there with the best console controllers, according to the YouTuber.

“The joysticks in particular are miles ahead of every other handheld [PC] I have touched,” Linus gushed. “And, Valve’s repair-friendly approach to the joysticks promises a long gaming life for your Deck.”

Games that Linus was allowed to review also performed well, save for some issues with Forza Horizon 5. However, there are still some outstanding questions on the software that the YouTuber said need to be answered.

Steam Deck model prices
The price of the Steam Deck is what Linus says sets it apart from every other PC handheld.

“The software is still make or break for this puppy, and Valve has some big questions to answer,” Linus explained. “The game engine rubber banding like we saw in Forza Horizon 5, game compatibility, and things like auto-resuming gameplay.”

“Let’s say your Steam Deck wasn’t online the last time you were playing, are you going to overwrite a bunch of progress when you switch to your desktop?” he continued. “We’re going to have a lot to talk about when we get to look at the software.”

Despite those small issues though, Linus seems very impressed with the Steam Deck, and thinks it could be the next big thing when it comes to handheld gaming.

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About The Author

Bill is a former writer at Dexerto based in Iowa, who covered esports, gaming and online entertainment for more than two years. With the US team, Bill covered Overwatch, CSGO, Influencer culture, and everything in between.