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?
At least the joysticks, bigger SSD and different color are all attainable with a small bit of tinkering. There's even an aftermarket screen with a higher resolution available. But I don't know if that has smaller bezels.
And video out while charging can be handled by whatever dongle you use for video out. But I know what you mean.
Multiple USB-C ports is the one that I'd notice most. Less bezel would be good, too, but it wouldn't change how I use it.
A bottom USBC for docking like the Switch would be awesome, and having two ports would allow an unpowered monitor or dock/hub while charging. A USBA port on top as well would be nice if they could fit it.
Having the port on the bottom was by far the worst design decision of a bunch of bad design decisions for the Switch. It makes charging while using it a trash experience.
If the deck had 50 ports, 0 should be on the bottom.
I think one on top and one on bottom would be best. Bottom for docking, top for charging while playing.