I seriously would not expect anything more powerful than a Steam Deck if they want to keep the price point low, the Deck is probably the absolute best you could expect, but Valve cut it really close and probably take a loss on the lower end models
This is sooper late, but after thinking about it I actually agree. The ignorant will moan at how behind the curve Nintendo is on hardware, but one, that’s how Nintendo actually remains profitable, and two, that’s kind of the limit of what a portable system is capable of.
Because we have the Steam Deck now, right. And the Steam Deck has created a market of Steam Deck competitors – stuff like the ROG Ally and the Ayaneo. And for the current price point ($400-$700), we generally seem to have hit a limit of what’s possible in portable hardware, and it’s right around “about as powerful as a PS4” specs.
The ROG Ally and Ayaneo can push things beyond that a little bit, but the added power consumption basically makes the battery on these things worthless. Which is to say nothing about system heat; the ROG Ally was famous for having an emergency ejector function that would suddenly launch the SD card from the slot like a missile under the danger that it was getting so hot it might melt.
We’re simply at the boundary of what’s possible in that form factor, doubly confirmed by Valve stating last year that
we wouldn’t see a Steam Deck 2 “for at least a couple years.” For something this light, this thin, this is as stable and as usable as it gets. I imagine the Switch 2 will be somewhat competitive in this arena, but not quite as powerful or versatile as a Steam Deck. But it won’t exactly be a slouch, either. It’ll be the sort of thing where a $300 Switch 2 will be “good enough” but a $400 Steam Deck will still edge it out in performance.