Steam Deck vs. Logitech G Cloud: Local or remote?

• 

  Steam Deck

  Local champ

  The Steam Deck can run the majority of your Steam library offline. It might be heavy and have lackluster battery life, but having that kind of horsepower in a portable device makes it a compelling product.

  Pros

  • Better value
  • Expansive game library
  • More powerful

  Cons

  • Mediocre battery life
  • Heavy
  • Gets hot

• 

  Logitech G Cloud

  Online-only

  The Logitech G Cloud is a lightweight and comfortable handheld that focuses on game streaming from services like GeForce Now and Game Pass. It doesn’t have powerful hardware to back that up with local play, so the question remains whether it’s worth its asking price.

  Pros

  • Portable
  • Good battery life
  • 1080p display

  Cons

  • Network-dependent
  • Poor local play

There are two approaches you can take to gaming handhelds. The Steam Deck is designed to play your games locally, so it has some reasonably powerful hardware in a package that, while heavy, is still portable. The Logitech G Cloud takes a different approach by focusing on streaming services. In return, its modest hardware can be contained in a more portable design that’s also easier to hold. But which approach is best? After all, the price difference is negligible, with the Steam Deck costing $50 more.

Price, availability, and specs

The base model LCD Steam Deck starts at $400 for 256GB of storage. The 64GB LCD and 512GB LCD models are currently available for $350 and $450, but that’s only while stocks last, as those variants have been deprecated. The Steam Deck is available directly from Valve.

The Logitech G Cloud is available from Logitech and other major retailers for $350, although it is sometimes discounted to $300. That gets you 64GB of storage that can be expanded via MicroSD.

• Steam Deck

  Dimensions

  298 x 117 x 49mm

  Playing Time

  2-8 hours

  Brand

  Valve

  Weight

  669g

  Chipset

  Zen 2 AMD APU 2.4-3.5GHz

  RAM

  16GB

  Storage

  256GB

  Wireless Connectivity

  Bluetooth 5.0, Wi-Fi 5

  Headset Compatibility

  3.5mm jack, Bluetooth

  Display

  7-inch 1280 x 800 LCD, 60Hz

  Graphics

  AMD RDNA 2, 1.6GHz

  Ports

  Headphone jack, USB-C, MicroSD

  Battery

  5,200mAh

• Logitech G Cloud

  Dimensions

  256.84 mm x 117.21 mm x 32.95 mm

  Playing Time

  Up to 12 hours

  Brand

  Logitech

  Weight

  463g

  Chipset

  Snapdragon 720G

  RAM

  4GB

  Storage

  64GB

  Wireless Connectivity

  Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.1

  Headset Compatibility

  Headphone jack, Bluetooth

  Display

  1920 x 1080 LCD

  Graphics

  Snapdragon 720G

  Ports

  USB-C, headphone jack, MicroSD

  Battery

  6,000mAh

Design and display

These two consoles go about things differently, and each approach has its strengths and weaknesses. The Steam Deck packs a lot of powerful hardware, but the price for that power is size and weight. The Steam Deck weighs 670g, while the G Cloud only weighs 463g. To put that into perspective, you could strap a Galaxy S24+ to the G Cloud and it would still weigh less than the Deck.

The Steam Deck takes advantage of its volume by packing in as many input options as possible. Aside from the 7-inch 1280×800 LCD touchscreen, you get dual touchpads for mouse input, a D-pad, ABXY buttons, two joysticks, triggers and shoulder buttons, and programmable buttons on the back where your ring finger and little finger naturally rest. At the bottom, you’ll find the MicroSD slot, and up top is the USB-C port, headphone jack, power and volume buttons, and an air vent. The display is good overall, but it lacks brightness outdoors, maxing out at 400 nits.

The Logitech G Cloud has a more conventional 1920x1080p LCD, and that 16:9 aspect ratio is a welcome change from the Steam Deck’s 16:10, which displays black bar letterboxing to fit 16:9 games (console ports and Japanese games tend only to support this one ratio). Like the Steam Deck, the display is 7 inches and has only marginally better outdoor performance, reaching 450 nits.

The G Cloud has the usual D-pad, joysticks, ABXY buttons, and a home key. It also has a “G” key that acts as either an Xbox or PS button, depending on which streaming service you’re using. There’s also a home key and start select buttons. Then, you have two triggers and two shoulder buttons, but nothing on the back of the device.

The bottom of the G Cloud has the USB-C port and headphone jack, and the top has the power and volume keys, along with a MicroSD slot.

Software and performance

Once again, both of these products take drastically different approaches to software and gaming. The Logitech G Cloud is named appropriately, as you’ll most often stream games to it through Game Pass or other services. The G Cloud performs well here, but your performance will vary based on network conditions or which service you’re using. In our testing, Nvidia’s GeForce Now is the best-performing service for the G Cloud, with a heavy-hitting game like Cyberpunk 2077 running smoothly with little latency.

Sadly, local performance leaves a lot to be desired, even though local games are limited to what’s on the Google Play Store. Our hands-on said local gameplay felt like an afterthought, which is a shame. Handhelds are meant to be used on the go, so not having competitive performance when away from Wi-Fi is a letdown.

Logitech’s software is very lightweight. It’s based on Android 11 and has a basic custom launcher that makes it controller-friendly.

The Steam Deck is the opposite story. You can use streaming services with it, but setting that up is a bit of a faff that will require using the Linux Desktop mode. The Steam Deck isn’t made for streaming, though. It’s about local play, and this is where it excels. The Steam Deck runs SteamOS 3, which is based on Arch Linux. With the help of the Proton compatibility layer, it can run the majority of the Steam Library, although it struggles with truly demanding games like Cyberpunk 2077. That game will perform better streamed to the G Cloud than played natively on the Deck.

The Steam Deck’s big advantage over the G Cloud is that it performs the same way no matter where you take it. Whether on a train, in a hospital waiting room, or at home, the Steam Deck offers consistent local performance.

Battery life

The G Cloud wins this category. Its 6,000mAh battery is 800mAh larger than the Steam Deck’s, and it’s paired with less demanding hardware. Logitech promises 12+ hours on a charge, and if you’re streaming, that’s doable, given that all the demanding tasks are offloaded to the streaming service. The battery life falls to around five to six hours if you’re playing locally. Standby time is incredible. It barely sips any power when asleep, so leaving it in a bag unplugged is feasible.

The Steam Deck’s battery life is a sore point. Its 5,200mAh battery is almost the same size as my smartphone’s, but unlike my S24 Ultra, the Steam Deck uses PC hardware that usually has a larger power reserve. If you stick to lightweight games like Stardew Valley, the Deck will manage around five hours, but load up something like Spider-Man or Horizon: Zero Dawn, and you’ll be plugging in within an hour or two.

Which is right for you?

It all depends on what you plan to do with the device. If you plan to game while traveling, then the Steam Deck is the better value. For starters, the streaming services the G Cloud depends on all require a separate subscription, while the Deck offers local gameplay for just $50 more. It might be heavy and require a battery bank, but the Steam Deck is the better value for most people, especially when games can be removed from streaming services, while they will remain in your Steam library after purchase.

If you can guarantee that you’ll have good internet when you want to play, and battery life and portability matter more to you, then the Logitech G Cloud is still a great product; it’s just harder to recommend when network performance is variable.