Steam Deck is now official, and Valve says it will ship more of its highly-anticipated handheld gaming device that works like the Switch.
Here’s everything you need to know.
What is Valve Steam Deck?
Have you ever wished that more of your favorite PC games could be played on the Switch?
Well, in July 2021, Valve showed off Steam Deck, a handheld PC for gaming that could make a big change in the portable market. With the Steam Deck, you can get to everything in your Steam library as soon as you log in. It runs a changed version of SteamOS, which makes it easy to download and play games. It also lets you install and use PC software, like a web browser, video-streaming services, and other game stores like the Epic Games Store. It can connect to a monitor and gaming accessories like a keyboard, mouse, or controller.
And because it saves in the cloud, you can pick up game save files between your Steam Deck and PC without any trouble.
Valve Steam Deck Feature
Display
Steam Deck has a 7-inch, 1280×800 touchscreen that lets you play games in 720p. It can also be controlled by touch for games that work that way.
Specs
When it comes to power, each Steam Deck is the same. It has 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, an AMD APU with a quad-core Zen 2 CPU, eight threads, and AMD RDNA 2 graphics with eight compute units. There are, however, three different levels of storage: 64GB of eMMC storage, 256GB of NVMe SSD storage, and 512GB of high-speed NVME SSD storage. You can add more space with a microSD card on any of the models. The Steam Deck has a total of 88GB/s of bandwidth and 16GB of LPDDR5 memory that is all linked together. It looks like the GPU can use up to 8GB of this shared memory.
There are also built-in microphones, a gyroscope for motion controls, and a “40-watt-hour battery that gives most games several hours of playtime.” Valve says that the Steam Deck will come with a 45-watt power supply and will be able to charge and play at the same time. Read More; Polium One is a Web3 games Console coming in 2024
The company says the battery will last up to eight hours, but in our testing and experience, it lasts more like two to three hours, depending on the game.
It has a USB-C port that lets you connect up to two 4K monitors that run at 60Hz. That also means that Steam Deck works with AMD’s FidelityFX Super Resolution, which is similar to Nvidia’s DLSS and is used for upscaling.
Controls
Steam Deck has two thumbsticks and two trackpads that look like the ones on the Steam Controller and can be used like a mouse. On the front of the handheld device, there are also ABXY and D-pad buttons. Like the Switch, the Steam Deck has two shoulder triggers on each side and four back buttons, two on each side. This gives you even more options.
Software
Steam Deck gives you access to the Steam library and runs a mobile-friendly version of Steam OS. In fact, the OS is based on Linux. In fact, more advanced users can use Steam Deck as a full-fledged Linux computer. Valve says you can plug in a mouse, keyboard, and monitor and install PC software (like Windows) on it. You can also use it to browse the web and get to other game stores. It has cloud saves so that files on different devices can be kept in sync, and it has a suspend/resume feature to put the device to sleep.
Valve’s Remote Play feature lets you stream games directly from your PC to Steam Deck. You can also chat and get notifications.
Accessories
Valve plans to sell a dock that can be used to prop up a Steam Deck so that it can be plugged into a TV or other display. But it’s not needed and has been put off for a while. Valve said you can connect Steam Deck to your TV, monitor, or “even your old CRT if you have the right cables.” The Stem Deck comes with HDMI, Ethernet, USB, and Bluetooth data ports on USB-C ports.
Verified Games
Valve wants as many games as possible to be able to be played on the Steam Deck.
The company has said that a lot of games will work right away. But it has also been working with developers to ensure that it is compatible with many things. Valve made the Steam Deck Compatibility program to determine which games will work with the console and which won’t. You can use this to find out which games work with different labels. Some of these labels are “verified,” which means that the games will work right away, “playable,” which means that the controller settings might need to be changed by hand, “unsupported,” which means that the games probably won’t work on Steam Deck, and “unknown,” which means that the game hasn’t been tested.
Over time, there will be more and more games that have been officially confirmed. In the meantime, one fan has made a list of compatible games using information from the Steam database. From this list, we can see that over games have been tested so far. The testing looks at everything, from how easy it is to read the text to how well the controls work.
There are other ways to find out which games will work with your Steam Deck, so you can be sure you’ll be happy with your purchase.
This will obviously be an important way to ensure games work before you buy them.
Epic Games compatibility
Steam Deck is mostly made to work with Steam and the games in its library. However, it could also work with other things because it runs on Linux. The games in your Epic Games library are one of those things. You might have to find a way around it. Heroic is an open-source game launcher that can run games that are compatible with Linux, including games from the Epic Games Store.
Theoretically, you could install this and then use that to start your games.
How much does Valve Steam Deck cost?
- 64GB eMMC storage for $399/£349
- 256GB NVMe SSD storage for $529/£459
- 512GB of high-speed NVME SSD storage for $649/£569
The models and their prices scale up based on your preferred storage and processing speed.
How to reserve Valve Steam Deck
You can now make a reservation for one of the units on the Steam website. For a $5 fee, Steam lets you reserve any of the three models of the Deck. This fee goes toward the price of buying the Deck. Your Steam account is the only way to make a reservation, and the account must be in good standing and have purchases on it before June 2021. Each account can only book one console at a time.
If you cancel your reservation within 30 days of making it, you can get your fee back to the way you paid for it. If you cancel after that, it will return to your Steam wallet. Read Also; Valve Steam Deck Review: Perfect for Playing Away
How to buy Valve Steam Deck
Once you’ve made your reservation, you will be placed in a queue. Steam will send you an email when it’s your turn to buy a Steam Deck. All console models have started to ship, but the ones with more features tend to get there later.
