Valve might still be best-known for its games platform, Steam, and a handful of enormously influential franchises including the Half-Life games and DOTA 2, but it's never been one to shy away from experimental devices either.

It's previously dipped its toe in with the divisive Steam Controller, and more successfully in the form of the Valve Index, still arguably the best consumer VR headset you can get your hands on and eyes in. 

Now it's apparently taking a new hardware gamble, working on a portable gaming PC reportedly codenamed SteamPal, designed on a Linux-based platform and aimed at letting players enjoy PC games on the go.

According to the exclusive at ArsTechnica, it'll have an integrated touch display and controller, making it a true portable to rival the likes of Nintendo's uber-popular Switch and Switch Lite. 

Valve would hardly be the first copmany to spot the gap for a portable gaming PC, and there are plenty out there already, but they generally fall foul of either high pricing, low availability or poor quality, elements that you might back Valve to be more successful with. 

The SteamPal, as it's still known for now, is still in the prototyping phase, apparently, so it will likely be a little while before we see it officially, but Valve's head honcho Gabe Newell has teased an announcement coming toward the end of the year, so that could be a sensible time for it to appear.