Maybe I’ve been scarred by unlucky experiences in the past, or just haven’t had a console or handheld, but it is a remarkable feature to me, just on a technical level. I’ve never experienced a hitch in the quick sleep/resume function.

This will be something any competitors, whether also on SteamOS, a derivative, or Windows with its updates likely less controllable, will have to live up to. Hardware and software that sleeps and resumes perfectly might later develop a very occasional failure rate, which can be very difficult to diagnose.Īll that is to say that Valve have nailed it with SteamOS and the Deck’s hardware configuration. I’ve certainly lived in fear when shutting the lid of my laptop, suddenly remembering I didn’t save something I was working on, just in case. Often it is graphics drivers (Nvidia especially in my experience, but not only) or hardware quirks, but it is a difficult problem. While sleeping/resuming is not perfect on many OSes and hardware, I think anyone that has used Linux for a while can attest to the many pitfalls for sleep. You can also set the Deck to go to sleep after some idle time, confident you won’t lose your game progress or battery life. Running low on battery or just need a moment to move the Deck without accidentally hitting the buttons? Or want to resume in that spare minute to get in a quick gaming fix? The Deck delivers every time.

In the middle of a game without a pause button (hi, Elden Ring)? No problem. It is a quick power button press away or in the Steam button’s power menu. The Deck’s sleep ability is just that: every time it works quickly and flawlessly. No, it’s not the powerful processor or advanced options and software, but seemingly the complete opposite of that: the Steam Deck’s real power is its super sleep.įirst, a superpower needs to be reliable and without any big caveats. The Steam Deck undeniably has some great features, but if it were a superhero its superpower might not be what you expect.

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