Is the Steam Deck worth purchasing?

Back in July 2021, Valve announced its latest foray into the gaming hardware industry with the Steam Deck. Some believe the Steam Deck will be a worthy opponent to the Nintendo Switch in the handheld gaming market, while others have their doubts. The Steam Deck is, of course, a portable PC, and while it does run on the SteamOS, gamers can even install windows on it, dock it (dock sold separately) and is expected to play any game on Steam, at roughly 800p with a target of at least 30fps. 

The Steam Deck, which will start shipping in December 2021 to those who were fast enough to pre-order the first batch, sounds like a dream come true, right? Well, we've asked our fans on Twitter and the results are a bit surprising...

Is the Steam Deck worth it?

Playing CS:GO on the go, Dota 2, and thousands of other PC games does seem appealing, to say the least. 

We asked our followers on Twitter if they are planning to purchase the Steam Deck, with options for "Yes", "No", "Maybe", and the inevitable "Shut up and take my money" option. View the results below.

We are taking that "Shut up and take my money" option as a yes, which would put the votes for yes at 25.2%. 

With 42.3% voting "no" and 32.5% of voters still sitting on the fence, we can't help but wonder where that 0.1% is, probably just rounded out, right?

While this is by no means a definitive "yes" or "no" regarding the topic of the Steam Deck being worth it or not, our fans have spoken up. This is a relatively small sample size...but we do want to give our fans a voice on the platform.

Those who voted "Maybe" might be waiting for user reviews of the Steam Deck to trickle in once the interesting piece of gaming hardware gets into the hands of the public.

A wait-and-see approach could possibly be a great option for prospective buyers. After all, this is a new piece of hardware that, while it seems impressive, isn't in the hands of any normal gamers just yet.

• Read more: New Nintendo Switch (OLED): Release date, price, specs, availability, and features

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