I'm just thinking out loud here.
Steam Deck 2 is a long way away, and I think that's great. Giving developers a specific hardware target is crucial, and having consumers feel like they need to immediately upgrade is bad.
However, I think there is room for an advanced SD that's not necessarily "new" but just an external improvement over the existing model at a higher price tier for those looking for a premium experience.
Also I'm going to be nitpicking here, don't take that the wrong way, I love the SD but it does have some weak points.
So then Steam Deck LE would be identical to the current one with the exception of:
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The screen. Wow this is probably the greatest weakness of the SD. A larger display with smaller bezels and better color accuracy would go a long way to improving the experience.
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Hall Effect joysticks. Again, nitpicking here but it'd be nice to see a premium version with these included.
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1TB SSD. I originally bought the 64GB version thinking I would just use an SD card no problem. But the ridiculous amount of shader cache, the various Proton versions (~1GB each) and some other software like EmuDeck and Heroic, as well as the annoyance of moving things back and forth had me upgrading quickly to a 1TB, which immediately ended all of those concerns.
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Different color ways. I'm partial to white but a transparent purple version would be nice to see also.
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At least 1 more USB-C port... so we can do things like video out while charging.
What else would you like to see added?
My biggest wish for a Steam Deck Pro or whatever would be a variable refresh rate screen. 60Hz is still fine for the handheld format given the current Deck APU specs, but if it could handle frame dips below 60 without requiring manually fixing the refresh rate lower or dropping to 30 that would be wonderful.
VRR displays almost require >60hz, they don't work properly when they don't have a significant range to work with. Although in theory if it clocked down to at least 30hz (preferably lower) that would be okay, but that's fairly uncommon.
There are 60Hz VRR displays but they're not as common, especially not anymore. They do exist. With the right VRR range and LFC (low-framerate compensation, which doubles the refresh rate and displays the same frame twice to achieve VRR at rates below what the display supports) it would still be able to achieve smoother frame rates than a hard drop from 60 down to 30 which is what you get with conventional vsync. If a game runs between 40 and 60 FPS and you had the Deck set to 60Hz, you would get bad stuttering/jittering as it continuously goes from 30 to 60 FPS but with VRR it would simply slow down the display gently. My old 2017 Razer Blade Pro has a 60Hz 4K VRR panel and, while I don't game on it much at all anymore, it did work in the same sort of situations.
I don't understand how you claim that it doesn't have variable refresh rate and then gripe about having to vary the refresh rate in the same comment.
Adjustable refresh rate and variable refresh rate are not the same thing...have you ever used a VRR display (Freesync/GSync)? VRR means the panel refresh changes dynamically with the game framerate. Having an adjustable fixed refresh range between 30 and 60 is damn nice compared to a fixed 60, but VRR is better and would hugely benefit the Deck since it tends to run a lot of games sub-60.
I mean it sounds a whole lot like the same thing...
Sounds like you've never used a VRR display. It's actually very obvious you've never used a VRR display. Once you use one you won't want to go back. Fixed refresh stutters and/or tears when the game frame rate doesn't match the display's refresh rate. VRR just dynamically speeds up or slows down the panel refresh to match, giving a tear-free image with as minimal stuttering as possible. Just because the Deck display supports a wide range of fixed refresh rates does not make it anywhere near equivalent to a proper VRR panel as the Deck screen does not adjust dynamically to match the game FPS.
That's not correct. I have used several.
How does my personal experience weigh into terminology?
If you've used a VRR display you would be able to see the difference between the fixed but selectable refresh rate of the Deck and proper variable, dynamic refresh rate. There's a very noticeable difference. The Deck is not VRR. It was never claimed to be VRR. Some of the other handhelds like the ROG Ally do have VRR screens. A VRR screen for the Deck would be an upgrade. I'm not sure why this merits any sort of debate.
So after I use it, the definition of VRR will change, is that right?
Your definition will, but the industry standard of VRR is what it is, and the Steam Deck is not VRR.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_refresh_rate
"Variable refresh rate (VRR) refers to a dynamic display that can continuously and seamlessly change its refresh rate without user input."
Note the "without user input" part.