Yes, it feels power-hungry at times but it charges quickly, and there are plenty of high capacity USB-C power banks from reputable brands like Anker that should help me extend the playtime. Right now my Switch is my travel companion for the five-hour flights I take home, I plan for it to be the Steam Deck in the future. I found I could get several hours of Dying Light 2 in with the battery outlasting the time I had free to game, but always needed to juice it up overnight ready for the next day's gaming, or keep my charger handy for long days of fiddling and testing. Valve has put the battery life somewhere between two to eight hours, but the internet has found ways to get it down to 90 minutes running games with uncapped framerate and VSync disabled. And honestly, while battery life varies depending on a bunch of factors, like what you're playing, settings, FPS, all that jazz, you're going to want to have the charger nearby.

But, there's only one, so if you're planning to say, have a controller and the charger plugged in, you're going to want to invest in a USB-C hub that's set up for power. There's a USB-C on the top of the Deck, which is your link for peripherals, power, ethernet, and external display. The haptic feedback - while a step down from what you experience with a PS5 Dualsense - definitely gives a nice, satisfying feel to big moments in games. The trackpads are a nice, precise change - reactive without being twitchy - to trying to use a cursor with thumbsticks for simulation and point-and-click games. The layout of the controls takes a little getting used to if you've gotten comfortable with an Xbox controller or a PS5 Dualsense, but your thumbs quickly adjust to the higher, wider position of the thumbsticks and buttons. That 1.5lbs of plastic just hits different when it's your teeth. It just feels like a well-balanced machine, comfortable for hours of couch or coach play, though I don't recommend playing it in bed and dropping it on your face. My brain barely registers the difference when I swap between my Nintendo Switch OLED and the Steam Deck, despite the 200g or so difference. At first handling, the Steam Deck feels big, but not awkward.

The 256GB version came with a charging cable and a bulky case.

256gb steam deck