With the imminent arrival of the PlayStation Portal on November 15, it’s an opportune moment to compare it to the immensely popular Steam Deck.
In essence, these two devices serve distinct purposes. While the Steam Deck offers the capability to stream games from your gaming PC, it also allows for the installation and native running of games—an advantage not shared by the PlayStation Portal, which is limited to playing PS5 games exclusively through remote play. This significant disparity constitutes the primary distinction between the two gadgets. Many individuals employ the Steam Deck as their primary means of gaming through Steam, a use case that simply cannot be replicated by the PlayStation Portal, as it necessitates the presence of a PS5.
Consequently, the PlayStation Portal comes in at a notably lower price point and likely boasts a longer battery life (although precise details are yet to be confirmed). Additionally, it offers a higher resolution display. However, these advantages may not justify the investment of several hundred dollars for a secondary gaming device, depending on your gaming setup preferences.
Steam Deck vs PlayStation Portal – Price
The base configuration of the Steam Deck is priced at $399. This includes the same CPU and GPU as any other Steam Deck but comes with only 64GB of eMMC storage, which is typically found in Chromebooks. For an upgrade to a faster 256GB NVMe SSD, the cost is $529. Alternatively, you can opt for a 512GB SSD model with a stunning anti-glare screen for $649.
In contrast, the PlayStation Portal has a much lower starting price of $199. However, this affordability comes with a trade-off. While it boasts a larger and higher-resolution display than the Steam Deck, it lacks the powerful internal hardware that enables Valve’s handheld to run games independently. There’s a slight caveat as well – since the PlayStation Portal lacks Bluetooth support, which is standard in most 2023 devices, you might need to invest in new peripherals that use Sony’s new “PlayStation Link” wireless standard.
The pricing of these two devices differs significantly, with the Steam Deck starting at twice the cost of the PlayStation Portal. However, this discrepancy reflects the wide range of capabilities that the Steam Deck offers in comparison to Sony’s new handheld.
If you’re hoping to find Black Friday deals on the PlayStation Portal, you may be disappointed. Nevertheless, you can still preorder the PlayStation Portal in advance of its release date.
Steam Deck vs PlayStation Portal – Specs
The Steam Deck is powered by an AMD APU (Accelerated Processing Unit), a combination of CPU and GPU integrated into a single die for space-saving and reduced power consumption. The CPU component is a Zen 2 chiplet with 4 cores, 8 threads, and a turbo speed of up to 3.5GHz. This CPU is paired with an RDNA 2 CU, the same generation as the AMD Radeon RX 6800 XT, featuring 8 compute units. This configuration provides a total potential compute performance of 1.6 Teraflops.
In essence, the Steam Deck is capable of playing most current-generation games, albeit at lower settings compared to high-end gaming laptops. This is why it features a 720p LCD display; it aligns with realistic performance expectations, ensuring that gamers won’t be chasing resolutions they may not achieve.
Regarding the PlayStation Portal, Sony has not disclosed its specific hardware specifications, and it’s possible they never will. However, since the majority of processing will be handled by the PS5 console rather than being reliant on the Portal’s native hardware, it doesn’t necessitate exceptionally powerful components. In fact, it seems that the PlayStation Portal may have limited functionality beyond gaming, potentially featuring less robust hardware than other streaming handhelds like the Razer Edge, given its apparent lack of features like a calculator or support for Android apps.
Steam Deck vs PlayStation Portal – Games
The fundamental nature of the PlayStation Portal allows it to play any game that your PS5 can run, as the PS5 is the actual powerhouse behind the gaming experience. Consequently, the PlayStation Portal will launch with an impressively extensive catalog of games it can technically play, at least when connected to WiFi. However, once disconnected from WiFi, the PlayStation Portal’s functionality diminishes significantly, rendering it unable to access your extensive library of PlayStation games.
In contrast, the Steam Deck offers the versatility to run nearly any game available on Steam right from the get-go. While some games may exhibit slightly lower performance or compatibility issues, the user interface is generally effective at indicating which games are compatible with the device.
Furthermore, if you wish to expand your gaming horizons to include a broader range of PC games, you have the option to uninstall SteamOS and install Windows 11 instead. This modification enables you to play virtually any PC game you desire, including titles available on Xbox Game Pass and the Epic Games Store.
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