What do you mean by Valve’s idea? Gaming oriented ultra mobile PCs existed before the deck. Valve just brought us an affordable one. (That runs Linux. Plus all the resources they put into proton.)
Edit: You can go back to at least 2010 with the Pandora.
What do you mean by Valve’s idea? Gaming oriented ultra mobile PCs existed before the deck. Valve just brought us an affordable one. (That runs Linux. Plus all the resources they put into proton.)
Edit: You can go back to at least 2010 with the Pandora.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandora_(computer)#:~:text=The Pandora is designed to be a handheld,comes with a Linux OS based on Ångström.
Edit 2: I never heard of the Ocosmos OCS1 before, but it also dates to 2010 (announced).
https://www.anandtech.com/show/3932/ocosmos-ocs1-oak-trail-gaming-tablet-impressions
Edit 3: Can’t find anything suggesting the OCS1 actually released.
Sure, it always existed, but I think it’s obvious that the Switch and Steam Deck, more so the Switch, took off with the idea in modern gaming.