Console Shock Podcast 158: Steam Deck 2 Wishlist

About this episode

Trev and Stu discuss the potential features and improvements for a second-generation Steam Deck.

Retro and current gen gaming chat, with Trev and Stu, its the Console Shockcast! PC gaming handhelds have evolved fast since Valve shook things up by revealing the Steam Deck in 2021—but what should a true second-generation Valve handheld look like? Trev and Stu break down what would actually make a Steam Deck 2 a meaningful upgrade, drawing on features from newer PC handhelds and asking which ones Valve should steal, refine, or ignore entirely. In this episode: We kick things off with EA FC 26 somehow running on a 12-year-old laptop Valve nailed the original form factor—but is it time for a higher-resolution display? Modern handhelds are pushing higher TDPs for extra performance—should Valve move beyond the 15-watt limit? A more modular design, including easily user-replaceable SSDs, for better long-term upgrades Is a 5× performance jump over the original Steam Deck the bare minimum expectation? Bigger batteries for longer, truly untethered gaming sessions Hall-effect joysticks to finally put stick drift in the bin A next-gen dock with Switch-style performance boosts when docked If that’s still not enough power… is it time for external GPU support? Whether you’re all-in on…

People in this episode

Hosts: Trev, Stu

Topics covered

• Steam Deck
• PC gaming
• handheld gaming
• gaming hardware

Keywords

• gaming chat
• Valve
• EA FC 26
• higher resolution display
• modular design

Mentioned in this episode

Products: Steam Deck 2, the Console Shockcast, the Steam Deck, a Steam Deck 2, EA FC 26, Steam Deck, Switch, Ridge Racer Type 4

Books & works: Console Shock Podcast, Star Trek, Turn The Page

More episodes of Console Shock, Retro and Modern Gaming Chat.

• Console Shock Podcast 161: Marchintosh 2026 · April 10, 2026 · 1h 8m
• Console Shock Podcast 160: Steam Machine vs Xbox ‘Project Helix’ · March 18, 2026 · 1h 2m
• Console Shock Podcast 159: What we’ve been playing · February 27, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Console Shock Podcast 157: End of year and 2026 catch-up! · January 17, 2026 · 1h 12m
• Console Shock Podcast 156: Xbox 360 20th Anniversary · December 14, 2025 · 1h 9m
• Console Shock Podcast 155: Valve Steam Machine · November 14, 2025 · 1h 3m