Why I’d Choose Steam Deck Over Nintendo Switch 2
After spending about a week with the Nintendo Switch 2 , I have to admit that it’s a good console. It’s priced fairly for its sleek form factor and the performance it offers, and it keeps Nintendo relevant while gaming graphics continue to get more sophisticated. That said, for my personal tastes, it’s still not my pocket choice. Instead, I’ll stick with Valve’s Steam Deck, the first and still the best overall portable gaming PC, at least for the price. And if you’re not necessarily interested in exclusive Nintendo games, there’s a good chance that might be a better option for you.
Steam Deck is cheaper than Switch 2
At first glance, the most obvious reason to buy a Steam Deck over a Nintendo Switch 2 is the price. Starting at $400 new , it’s only modestly cheaper than the Switch 2’s $450, but that’s only part of the story. Valve also runs a Certified Refurbishment Program that offers used Decks with cosmetic flaws for as little as $279. Restocks don’t happen often, since Valve can only sell as many as it gets restocked, but when they do, it’s a heck of a deal.
There’s a catch, though. The Steam Deck OLED, which offers a larger, more colorful screen and a bigger battery, is more expensive than the Switch 2, starting at $549. It’s perhaps a little unfair to compare the two models, however, since the Switch 2 doesn’t use an OLED screen and comes with less storage. If you’re just looking for the basics (I’m perfectly happy with my LCD model), the base Steam Deck is pretty good — it performs just as well as the newer model. And that performance, by the way, was about on par with the Switch 2 in my testing, at least in Cyberpunk 2077 (one of my favorite games to benchmark).
The Steam Deck is more comfortable to hold than the Switch 2
It’s a bit of a moot point depending on your preferences, though I think the Steam Deck is a bit ahead here. While the Nintendo Switch 2 aims for a completely flat and somewhat compact profile, the Steam Deck allows itself to stretch out instead , and while it’s a bit bigger and a bit heavier for it, I ultimately think it makes it more comfortable.
At 11.73 x 4.60 x 1.93 inches versus the Switch 2’s 10.7 x 4.5 x 0.55 inches, and 1.41 pounds versus the Switch 2’s 1.18 pounds, I won’t deny that it’s a disadvantage for some. But personally, I still think the Steam Deck comes out on top, and that’s because of its ergonomics.
I’ve never been a big fan of Nintendo’s Joy-Con controllers, and while the Switch 2’s Joy-Con 2 controllers are superior to the Switch 1’s with larger buttons and thumbsticks and more space to hold them, they still pale in comparison to the Steam Deck’s controls.
The Switch 2 doesn’t have grips to wrap your fingers around. The Steam Deck does. The triggers also spread out more, and since the console is wider, your hands can stretch out a bit rather than pressing down on the device. The Steam Deck can get a little heavy to hold after a while, but I still prefer the approach overall, and if you have a surface to rest the Steam Deck on (like a plane table), the weight won’t be an issue.
Plus, there are some extra bonuses that come with the extra space. The Steam Deck has large touchpads on both sides of the unit, plus four capture buttons on the back, giving you a few extra inputs to play with. Nice.
It’s a little less portable and a little heavier, but for my adult hands, the Steam Deck just fits better.
Steam Deck has a bigger and cheaper library than Switch 2
That’s the kicker. While there are cheap games that can work on the Switch 2 thanks to backward compatibility and third-party eShop games, big system drops (like Nintendo-developed games like Mario Kart World ) can cost up to $80. It’s not that there aren’t expensive games on Steam Deck, but overall I think it’s easier to get cheap and free games on Steam Deck than on the eShop.
That’s because, as a portable gaming PC, the Steam Deck can take advantage of the many sales and freebies that PC game stores love to hand out. This happens a little more often on PC than on console, and that’s because there’s more competition on PC. Someone on PC might download games from either Steam or Epic, for example, while someone on a Switch 2 might only download games from the Nintendo eShop.
So even if you stick to Steam, you’ll still get access to regular weekend and midweek sales, quarterly sales, and developer or publisher sales. That’s more sales than you’d typically find on the Nintendo eShop, and if you’re looking for cheaper first-party games, forget it. Nintendo’s own games almost never go on sale, even years after release.
But that’s just the beginning. Despite its Steam Deck name, the device can run games from other stores, too. That’s thanks to an easy-to-install Linux program called Heroic Launcher , which is free and lets you download and play games from your Epic, GOG, and Amazon Prime Games accounts with just a few clicks.
This is a game changer. Epic and Amazon Prime are both underdogs in the PC gaming space, so to boost their numbers, they regularly give away free games. Epic, in particular, offers one free PC game every week, while if you’re a Twitch user, you’ll notice a decent but less frequent number of notifications allowing you to claim free Amazon Prime games. Some of these are big titles, too – that’s how I got Batman: Arkham Knight and Star Wars Battlefront II . With a simple install and a few months of waiting, you can fill your Steam Deck to the brim with games you didn’t even pay for. You just can’t do that on Nintendo.
And then there’s the elephant in the room: your backlog. If you’re anything like me, you probably already have a Steam library of hundreds of games. You probably did even before the Switch 1 came out — regular sales tend to pile up the number of games you own. By choosing a Steam Deck as your portable device, you’ll be able to play those games on the go, instantly getting what you could call a full library at no extra cost to you. If you upgrade to the Nintendo Switch 2, you’ll have to start with a new library, or at least one that’s no older than the Nintendo Switch 1.
In fact, while the Switch 2’s hardware is only $50 more expensive than the Steam Deck, it’s easier to fill your Steam Deck with high-quality, affordable games than the Switch 2. If you don’t care about access to exclusive Nintendo games, that’s a huge plus.
TV Play is a mixed bag
Finally, I want to acknowledge that the Steam Deck is still not necessarily a better option than the Switch 2 for everyone. That’s why I’m writing here from a personal perspective. Like all gaming PCs, some games will take a bit of fiddling to get running, so the Switch 2 is definitely a smoother experience out of the box. It also has worse battery life, based on my tests. But the main starting point is watching TV.
Playing handheld games on your TV on the Switch 2 is as easy as plugging it into the dock. With the Steam Deck, you have to buy the dock separately ( the official one costs $79 ), and even then, you have to plug your controller into it and manually find the right TV graphics settings for each game. It’s not as simple or flexible.
And yet, for people like me, I’m willing to say that even gaming on a TV is better. Or, depending on what type of PC gamer you are, gaming on a monitor.
That’s because you’re not limited to playing Steam Deck games on the Deck itself, with or without the dock. Instead, you can play on the Deck when you’re away from home, then switch to your regular gaming PC when you return. The Deck will automatically upload your saves to the cloud, and your PC will load them seamlessly. While it’s not as intuitive as plugging your Switch 2 into the dock, the benefit here is that your non-portable gaming isn’t limited by the power of your portable device, whereas playing on a docked Switch 2 is still limited by the portable hardware.
The tradeoff is that a dedicated gaming PC in addition to a Steam Deck is more expensive to maintain, but perhaps more importantly, it requires more fiddling (there are ways to build a cheap gaming PC, after all). And I think that’s the key point here. If you want an easy-to-use portable console that you can pick up and play, the Switch 2 is a great choice for you. But if you’re like me and aren’t afraid to download some launchers and occasionally dive into compatibility settings or switch between the two devices, the Steam Deck may still be the best portable gaming device for you, even three years later.