Ctrl+Alt+Delete: The Steam Deck leaks have got me excited

OPINION: The Steam Deck is a Switch-esque portable PC that's scheduled to launch in December 2021. Despite beingness a few months abroad from release, a 'leaker' has seemingly posted some benchmark results for the portable console – and they look fantastic.

An early review (spotted by PC Gamer) of the Steam Deck has been posted by someone in China who has apparently got agree of a development kit, detailing the portable's performance results. Of grade, there'due south no style of knowing how accurate this information is without testing the Steam Deck for ourselves, but it's still very interesting, nevertheless.

We already know the Steam Deck has a screen with a 1280 x 800 resolution and a 60Hz refresh charge per unit, while packing an AMD APU with a Zen ii CPU and RDNA ii GPU. But what kind of performance can you expect with these specs when played in portable way? Apparently, information technology'll be something similar the below…

Game	Graphics Setting	Frame Rate
Shadow of the Tomb Raider	Highest / Loftier / Custom	30 FPS /36 FPS / 60 FPS
Doom	Medium / Custom	60 FPS / 46 FPS
Cyberpunk 2077	High	twenty FPS – xxx FPS
DOTA 2	Highest / Low	47 FPS / 80 FPS

The leaker claims the Steam Deck was able to run the likes of Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Doom and DOTA 2 with a smooth performance – just Cyberpunk 2077 seemed to show performance bug at the highest graphics setting, only that's inappreciably a surprise since many consoles and graphics cards have struggled to run that game.

It's worth pointing out that none of these games were able to hit 60fps at max graphics settings, but that's forgivable for a portable. Plus, the reviewer was able to hit 60fps plus for every game just Cyberpunk past fiddling with the settings.

Okay, and then that may non sound all too impressive to anyone with a desktop gaming PC or a next-gen console, but you have to remember that this is a portable. And while the Nintendo Switch is also capable of playing the likes of Doom, it'due south limited to a 30fps performance, which isn't ideal for a fast-paced shooter.

If these Steam Deck functioning results are authentic, I'd exist confident to suggest the Steam Deck should exist able to play most any game in the Steam library with a smooth performance, as long as you're happy to compromise on the graphics settings.

That's a considerable comeback on the Switch, which has been forced to make use of cloud streaming technology in order to run the likes of Command, Hitman three and the upcoming Marvel'due south Guardians of the Galaxy.

But what about battery life? The reviewer claims the battery fell from 100% to 46% in three hours. That's a surprisingly good outcome because the games on test, falling in line with Valve'southward quoted bombardment life effigy of two – 8 hours of gameplay.

Of grade, we tin can't guarantee that any of these performance results are accurate, especially since they've been provided past one source at the time of writing. Simply it's all the same hard to non become excited by this portable PC system, especially in a twelvemonth where PC gamers have found information technology difficult to purchase new CPU and GPU upgrades.

Ctrl+Alt+Delete is our weekly computing-focussed stance column where nosotros delve deeper into the earth of computers, laptops, components, peripherals and more. Discover it on Trusted Reviews every Saturday afternoon.