Valve's Steam Deck

Lone Crusader

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Nov 24, 2011
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Valve’s gaming handheld is called the Steam Deck and it’s shipping in December​

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All-in-one portable PC gaming​

Steam Deck brings the Steam games and features you love to a powerful and convenient form factor that you can take wherever you go.

via: The Verge
Valve just announced the Steam Deck, its long-rumored Switch-like handheld gaming device. It will begin shipping in December and reservations open July 16th at 1PM ET. It starts at $399, and you can buy it in $529 and $649 models as well.

The device has an AMD APU containing a quad-core Zen 2 CPU with eight threads and eight compute units’ worth of AMD RDNA 2 graphics, alongside 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM. There are three different storage tiers: 64GB eMMC storage for $399, 256GB NVMe SSD storage for $529, and 512GB of high-speed NVME SSD storage for $649, according to Valve. You can also expand the available storage using the high-speed microSD card slot.

The Steam Deck has a huge number of control options. There are two thumbsticks, but also two small, Steam Controller-style trackpads beneath the thumbsticks, which could give you more precision for things like first-person shooters. The front of the Steam Deck also has ABXY buttons, a D-pad, and a 7-inch 1280 x 800 touchscreen for 720p gameplay. The device also has a gyroscope for motion controls. Like the Switch, it has two shoulder triggers on each side, and there are four back buttons (two on each side) as well as built-in microphones.

Here’s a legend to all of the Deck’s ports and controls:
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As for the battery, “Steam Deck’s onboard 40 watt-hour battery provides several hours of play time for most games,” Valve says. “For lighter use cases like game streaming, smaller 2D games, or web browsing, you can expect to get the maximum battery life of approximately 7-8 hours.” Valve tells IGN that “You can play Portal 2 for four hours on this thing. If you limit it to 30 FPS, you’re going to be playing for 5-6 hours.”

And if you need to pause your game, the Steam Deck offers a quick suspend / resume feature built into SteamOS that will let you put the device into sleep mode and pick up where you left off later.

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Valve will also sell a dock you can use to prop up a Steam Deck and plug it into external displays like a TV. You won’t need a dock to plug it into a TV, though — Valve says that the “Deck can be plugged in to your TV, monitor, or even your old CRT if you have the right cables.” The Deck comes with fully-fledged USB-C ports that contain HDMI, Ethernet and USB data, as well as standard Bluetooth. You’ll have native Bluetooth audio, something that’s missing from the Nintendo Switch.

On the software side of things, the Steam Deck runs what Valve is calling “a new version of SteamOS,” that it’s optimized for the handheld’s mobile form factor. But the actual OS is based on Linux, and will use Proton as a compatibility layer to allow Windows-based games to run without requiring that developers specifically port them for the Steam Deck.

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A rear view of the device showing off its four grip buttons, triggers, bumpers, vents and Switch-esque design.

Ultimately, though, the Steam Deck is still a full-fledged Linux computer, meaning that more technical users will be able to jump out to the regular Linux desktop, too. Valve notes that you’ll be able to plug in a mouse, keyboard, and monitor, and install other game stores, regular PC software, browse the web, and more.

Valve says the Steam Deck’s features are designed to emulate the regular Steam app on desktop, complete with chat, notifications, cloud save support, and all of your library, collections, and favorites kept in sync. And if you want more power, you’ll be able to stream games to the Steam Deck directly from your gaming PC using Valve’s Remote Play feature.

When reservations for all three versions open on Friday afternoon, they’ll initially be available only to accounts with purchases on Steam before June 2021, in a bid to keep reseller bots at bay. There’s also a refundable $5 reservation fee, and one reservation per person. Your reservation isn’t exactly a preorder, but it does put you in line to preorder the system once there’s inventory available.

In December, the first units will be available in the United States, Canada, the European Union, and the United Kingdom, with other areas following in 2022. The preorder invitations are supposed to go out before December, and if you miss your window on the invite, your reservation fee will be refunded to your Steam Wallet.

IGN got an early, exclusive hands-on with the Steam Deck, which you can watch below:


IGN also got an interview with Valve’s Gabe Newell, who said that Valve designed the whole system with “very aggressive” pricing in mind, calling it a “critical” and “painful” aspect of development. That’s a different strategy than Valve took with the Valve Index VR headset, when it intentionally tried to push the industry forward with what was then the most expensive consumer-grade VR experience, at $999. Here, a $400 entry-level Steam Deck comes in just $50 more expensive than Nintendo’s new OLED-equipped Switch, which goes on preorder for $350 today and ships October 8th. (Valve swooped in on that.)

Valve’s Greg Coomer told IGN that should the Steam Deck succeed, the company’s already thinking about future models, and offering the “building blocks” to other manufacturers as well. “We look at this as just a new category of device in the PC space,” he said. That might bring back echoes of Valve’s failed Steam Machines initiative, in which it tried to encourage partners to build desirable Linux gaming desktops, but with key differences.

This time, Valve has created its own hardware first, it doesn’t need to sell every game developer on Linux ports, and this “category” of PC already exists to some degree: we’ve written about how Windows portables have been edging closer to the dream of a Nintendo Switch-like gaming PC.



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Reserve your copy today! Steam Deck
 
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Same here and then I'm gonna compare it to the new OLED Switch and see which I'd rather get.
I don't own a Switch right now but have the white OLED model ordered but this seems pretty good if you wanna play more big games like gta or maybe red dead on the go and more indie titles it's good you can use it as a PC as well.

My PC is pretty old and the case is massive hopefully by the time I want 1 battery life is improved I might grab this then. I wonder how long the warranty is on this thing
 
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I don't own a Switch right now but have the white OLED model ordered but this seems pretty good if you wanna play more big games like gta or maybe red dead on the go and more indie titles it's good you can use it as a PC as well.

My PC is pretty old and the case is massive hopefully by the time I want 1 battery life is improved I might grab this then. I wonder how long the warranty is on this thing
I'm just concerned whether this is going to turn out like all the other Steam hardware. I mean everything they've made has one way or another sorta flopped. Although this would be ideal simply because I have over 40 Steam games which about 20-25 I haven't even scathed past 1st level in. Just because of that alone I'm probably going to side with this more than the Switch not to mention Steam already dwarfs Switch when it comes to game titles.
 
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My Sons on the bench with this at the moment as he isn't sure if to go for this or the new Switch.
The older he has got his gaming tastes have obviously changed and even though he has always enjoyed the switch I just don't really see him getting the same out of it as he would this.
 
the point having this - storage opinions ? kid's stuff. spoil 'em yeah.
I suppose to play Steam games without the ridiculous amount that some gaming PC'S can cost :whistle: Well that would be my son's point :D
 
It's a toss-up for me between this and the upcoming new Switch to be released around the same time. I'll wait for about 6 months to a year before I decide so I'm sure of what I want. Steam is known for making hardware that doesn't do so hot and becomes a worthless pile of trash like their gamepad...man what a joke.
 
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Does anyone have one of these yet? According to this review it looks to me that the Steam Deck is much better than the Nintendo Switch. The only thing the Switch has a better screen and more portable(smaller) but the Steam Deck has a much faster processor and can render scenes way better than the Switch can. I was considering getting the 256Gb model but wanted to hear what others think about it.
 
Does anyone have one of these yet? According to this review it looks to me that the Steam Deck is much better than the Nintendo Switch. The only thing the Switch has a better screen and more portable(smaller) but the Steam Deck has a much faster processor and can render scenes way better than the Switch can. I was considering getting the 256Gb model but wanted to hear what others think about it.
The way I see it the only reasons to consider a Switch is if you want to play Nintendo first-party / exclusive games (Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Metroid, Xenoblade and Fire Emblem, to name a few), or if you are a casual gamer and just want a cheap(er) handheld for some light gaming on the go. Anything else you're much better off going with a Steam Deck or any of the Windows handhelds, though those tend to be much more expensive. Switch's hardware was pretty poor back when it was released six years ago and it is really showing its age now. I don't have a Steam Deck yet but I hardly ever use my Switch anymore except for the occasional visual novels / indie games where graphics isn't a concern.
 
The way I see it the only reasons to consider a Switch is if you want to play Nintendo first-party / exclusive games (Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, Metroid, Xenoblade and Fire Emblem, to name a few), or if you are a casual gamer and just want a cheap(er) handheld for some light gaming on the go. Anything else you're much better off going with a Steam Deck or any of the Windows handhelds, though those tend to be much more expensive. Switch's hardware was pretty poor back when it was released six years ago and it is really showing its age now. I don't have a Steam Deck yet but I hardly ever use my Switch anymore except for the occasional visual novels / indie games where graphics isn't a concern.
Yeah what I've been reading is that you should get the 64Gb model and then buy a larger capacity SSD drive and install it and the flash the firmware to it and you wouldn't need to pay a high price for the middle and top tier models. As for games I don't really like Nintendo or their games plus I have over 50 games on Steam already so that's a plus.
 
OK, I pulled the trigger on the 64Gb model and also bought a 1Tb M.2 NVMe SSD to replace the standard 64Gb one and also bought a 1Tb Micro SD card as well. Since the 64Gb Steam Deck is $400, the 256Gb is $530 and the 512Gb is $650, I spent $620 and will be getting a total of 2Tb of storage, that's the size drive I have on my home PC for all my games so I should be good on that front. I just have to open it up and switch out the M.2 NVMe drive and reflash the Steam Deck OS onto the new drive which steam makes readily available on their website. Easy Squeezy Japanesey! :D There's some other accessories I'll be getting but will have to wait till I get more money like a docking station, a portable bluetooth keyboard with touchpad, wireless bluetooth earbuds and a better case that can hold more gear but all that can wait for now. I used to have a Sony PSP and I actually quite liked it but I sold it back to GameStop because there just wasn't enough games for it and the only one I liked was the original God of War, I had a few other games but they just didn't appeal to me like God of War did. At least with the Steam Deck I'll have the majority of my Steam library for it which will be nice to be able to take on the go. :thanks:

Now watch, I won't have it two months I bet and Valve will announce there releasing a Steam Deck 2 shortly. :facepalm: :bag:
 
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It came in today and I have to say...
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Although with only 64Gb of storage haha I can only have like one game installed on it at a time but I'm getting my 1Tb M.2 NVMe drive tomorrow and I can switch it out plus I've also got coming in the mail a 1Tb micro SD card. Here's some images of it.

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Here's a screenshot from Destroy all Humans: Reprobed from the Steam Deck, it's definitely going to take some getting use to, I have to learn the controls, haha! I got the 1Tb M.2 NVMe SSD installed successfully and re-imaged the Steam OS to the new drive. Went from 64Gb to 1Tb...Niiiice! I'm still waiting for my 1Tb MicroSD Card to come in the mail so I'll have even more storage.

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In case anyone is interested, it’s Steam Decks one year anniversary and so all versions of the STEAM DECK are 10% off right now. My suggestion is to get the 64GB model and also purchase a 1TB SSD NVMe that way you can switch them out and you’ll be set. Also if your waiting for the Steam Deck 2 to come out your gonna be waiting a while, Valve has announced and confirmed recently that it’ll be 2-3 years when they do.

 
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