Valve Steam Deck 1TB 7" 2024, AMD APU, 1TB

The Steam Deck 1TB packs a 1024GB NVMe SSD that ranks at the 99th percentile, which is absurd for a handheld. The custom AMD APU delivers CPU and GPU performance well above average, and owners give it a 4.9 star rating with an 88/100 sentiment score. The trade-offs are real though: screen, battery, and RAM all sit in the bottom third of our rankings.

The custom AMD APU is the star here. Valve worked with AMD on a Zen 2 and RDNA 2 chip optimized for handheld gaming, and it shows. The CPU ranks at the 83rd percentile and the GPU at the 79th, which puts it well above average for this category. That's enough to run AAA titles in a power envelope that fits in your hands. The 1024GB NVMe SSD is the real flex though. Storage at the 99th percentile means you're not juggling installs every week. Load times will be snappy, and you can keep a serious library installed without touching the micro SD slot. The 7-inch LCD display is fine for gaming, but it's not going to win any awards. Screen quality sits at the 29th percentile, and this model doesn't have the anti-glare etched glass that some other Steam Deck configurations offer. The description mentions it, but the highlights say the screen is non anti-glare, so there's some confusion there. Either way, it's a 1280 x 800 panel, which is perfectly serviceable for a handheld but nothing to write home about.

Stacked against the iPad Pro M5, Samsung Galaxy Tab S11, and Surface Pro 11, the Steam Deck loses on screen quality, battery, and general productivity. Those are proper tablets with gorgeous displays and all-day batteries. The Steam Deck's screen is at the 29th percentile while those competitors sit near the top. But none of them can touch the Steam Deck for gaming. The custom AMD APU and 1TB of NVMe storage blow past what you'd get in a typical tablet. The Surface Pro 11 might handle some light gaming, but it's not built for it. The Steam Deck is the only one of the bunch that's a dedicated gaming machine, and it shows in the GPU and CPU rankings. If you want a tablet that can game, buy an iPad. If you want a gaming PC that fits in your hands, this is the one.

At USD 1,090 from the single US listing, this is a lot of money for a handheld. But you're paying for the 1TB NVMe SSD and the bundle extras like the case, grips, and tempered glass. The value proposition is tricky because the base Steam Deck models are cheaper, but you'd be giving up the storage headroom. For portable PC gaming with your entire Steam library in tow, owners seem to think it's worth it. The sentiment summary calls it good value for portable PC gaming, and with a 4.9 star average across 19 reviews, the people who bought it aren't complaining about the price.

The Steam Deck 1TB is a weird product to score against tablets, because it's not really a tablet. It's a handheld gaming PC that happens to have a touchscreen. Our database puts its storage at the 99th percentile, which makes sense given the 1024GB NVMe SSD. That's more room than most laptops we've seen, let alone tablets. The user sentiment score sits at 89th percentile too, so people who buy this thing really like it. But the screen, battery, and RAM all land in the bottom third of our rankings. That tells you exactly what this is: a gaming machine first, everything else a distant second.

If you're looking for a general-purpose tablet, skip this. The screen is at the 29th percentile, battery life is at the 29th, and the feature set is just the 21st. You'd be paying USD 1,090 for a device that's mediocre at everything except gaming. If you don't have a Steam library or don't care about PC gaming, there's no reason to buy this over an iPad or Galaxy Tab. Even if you do game, the battery won't get you through long sessions away from an outlet, and the LCD panel won't impress anyone coming from an OLED Switch.

The Steam Deck 1TB is a niche product that absolutely nails its niche. The storage is best-in-class, the APU is strong, and owners love it. The 88/100 sentiment score and 4.9 star rating back that up. But you need to know what you're getting into. The screen is mediocre, the battery won't last long sessions, and the RAM is nothing special. This is not a tablet replacement. It's a handheld gaming PC, and for that specific job, it's one of the best options out there. Just don't expect it to be your daily driver for anything else.