HANDHELD NEWS – Someone paid over $3,000 for a prototype Steam Deck, and you can see the differences between it and the final version.

Bringus Studios released a 36-minute video analyzing, testing, and disassembling the prototype Steam Deck that sold on eBay in April. The device has much lower performance than the final version, but the layout is surprisingly close. Another YouTube user, SadlyItsBradley, purchased the device and lent it to us for the video.

Externally, it looks exactly like the prototype model presented by Valve programmer Pierre-Loup Griffais in 2022. Its unique software would be almost impossible to fake. The question remains: How did the engineering prototype make it out of Valve’s clutches? While initially it appeared that the device had no operating system, the video shows a prototype version of SteamOS that has never been seen before.

Griffais described the model as having “about half” the performance of the final Steam Deck APU, which AMD has yet to release. Counter-Strike 2 and Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga ran poorly, presumably due to a lack of drivers for the experimental silicon. The prototype’s internal layout is similar to the final model’s, although the battery has a different shape, and the whole thing has more of a stock, cobbled-together feel.

Its rounded industrial design is strangely retro, reminiscent of the Steam Machine or the original Steam Controller. It’s still a design icon from the previous decade. It has a 16:10 screen aspect ratio, showing that Valve settled on this ratio early on. Valve replaced the Switch-like, “mobile” analog sticks of this prototype with a full-fledged gamepad for the retail Deck, which ultimately proved to be a good decision.

Like so many prototypes in the gaming industry, whether hardware or software, it’s a fascinating piece of history and worth exploring Valve’s hardware design and iteration process.

Source: PCGamer