Steam Deck Prototype Disassembled: Features Included Discrete GPU Support, Smaller Joysticks, and Circular Touchpads at $3,000

Alright, so get this. Picture this YouTuber, right? Somehow, they get their hands on this super early version of the Steam Deck, like prototype number 34 or something. Yeah, sounds like spy stuff. Anyway, this dude, Jon Bringus from Bringus Studios, gets to borrow it thanks to this guy on X (you know, ex-Twitter?), who goes by SadlyItsDadley. Apparently, Jon’s the right guy to show it off. Why? Your guess is as good as mine.

So, what does Jon do? Naturally, he rips this thing apart on camera. Wait, not literally ripping, but you know—disassembling, like a gadget surgeon. And under all that, he finds this paper with “POC2-34 Control 163” on it. Like, what does that even mean? But it sounds official.

For a minute, let’s talk about the look of this thing. It’s like Steam Deck’s awkward middle-school phase. Huge round touchpads staring back at you (so weird, right?), tiny joysticks, and palm rests that just feel off compared to the cool, sleek version we see now.

What’s inside? Well, Jon figured that part out too. It’s packing an AMD Ryzen 7 3700U, and 8GB of RAM if you can believe it. Plus, a 256GB SSD and some Intel Wi-Fi magic. And oh! There’s talk of a discrete GPU—but Jon couldn’t really test it, so who knows?

He’s copying stuff over to keep it all intact—very vault-keeper vibes—and surprise, surprise! The drive has this ancient (okay, not that ancient) version of SteamOS. Three accounts on it too, but one’s a mystery. The ’34’ account is like a locked treasure chest. No access. Plus, this operating system dates back to September 2020—feels like forever ago, right?

Now, Valve comes along and shakes up the whole portable gaming thing with their Steam Deck. Nintendo had already made handhelds a big deal in 2017 with the Switch, but Steam Deck? It’s like a revolution. Suddenly, everyone’s in the game. The Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, MSI Claw—name any, they’re all jumping on this bandwagon because portable PC gaming is the hot new thing. Unexpected, right?

Anyway, if you’re into all this geeky stuff, Tom’s Hardware is your friend. Just go click somewhere to follow, and yeah, you’ll be in the loop. That’s my chaotic train of thought about all this gadget madness.