Valve Announces Steam Deck Handheld Gaming PC Starting at $399 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 15 July 2021 / 5,312 Views
Valve has announced a new all-in-one portable PC gaming device: the Steam Deck. The device launches in December 2021 with a price starting at $399. At launch it will be available in the US, Canada, the European Union, and the UK.
Valve says the Steam Deck runs the latest AAA games and runs them well. The handheld has a battery life of two to eight hours depending on what game you are playing.
The Steam Deck will have an all-new Steam home screen. From the new home screen you will be able to get back into your games whether you were playing them on the Steam Deck or your PC. It will also showcase what is new in your library and the store, as well seeing what your friends are up to.
The handheld will have support for Steam Chat, the ability to stream your home PC games directly to your Steam Deck no matter where you are, notifications in one play, the entire Steam Store, Cloud Saves, and a community section to keep up to date with friends, news, and the latest activity from Steam.
The Steam Deck will have a dock that will be sold separately. It has 1 USB-A 3.1 port, 2 USB-A 2.0 ports, an Ethernet port, a 1.4 Display Port, and an HDMI 2.0 port.
The $399 starting price is for the model with 64GB eMMC internal storage. The $529 model comes with 256GB NVMe SSD internal storage, while the $649 model comes with 512GB NVMe SSD internal storage.
The Steam Deck runs on an AMD APU. The CPU is a Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32), while the GPU has 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32). The APU uses 4-15W. The handheld also comes with 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM (5500 MT/s).
View a hands-on video of the Steam Deck via IGN below:
The Steam Deck will come in three models with varying amounts of storage:
$399 - 64 GB
- 64GB eMMC internal storage
- Carrying case
$529 - 256 GB
- 256GB NVMe SSD internal storage
- Faster storage
- Carrying case
- Exclusive Steam Community profile bundle
$649 - 512 GB
- 512GB NVMe SSD internal storage
- Fastest storage
- Premium anti-glare etched glass
- Exclusive carrying case
- Exclusive Steam Community profile bundle
- Exclusive virtual keyboard theme
Read the complete breakdown of the tech specs below:
Compute
Processor
- AMD APU
-
- CPU: Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32)
- GPU: 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.0-1.6GHz (up to 1.6 TFlops FP32)
- APU power: 4-15W
- RAM
-
- 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM (5500 MT/s)
- Storage
-
- 64 GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2 x1)
- 256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
- 512 GB high-speed NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
- All models include high-speed microSD card slot
Controls and Input
- Gamepad controls
-
- A B X Y buttons
- D-pad
- L & R analog triggers
- L & R bumpers
- View & Menu buttons
- 4 x assignable grip buttons
- 2 x full-size analog sticks with capacitive touch
- HD haptics
- 2 x 32.5mm square trackpads with haptic feedback
- 55% better latency compared to Steam Controller
- Pressure-sensitivity for configurable click strength
- 6-Axis IMU
Display
- Resolution - 1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio)
- Type - Optically bonded LCD for enhanced readability
- Display size - 7" diagonal
- Brightness - 400 nits typical
- Refresh rate - 60Hz
- Touch enabled - Yes
- Sensors - Ambient light sensor
Connectivity
- Bluetooth - Bluetooth 5.0 (support for controllers, accessories and audio)
- Wi-Fi - Dual-band Wi-Fi radio, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, 2 x 2 MIMO, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Audio
- Channels - Stereo with embedded DSP for an immersive listening experience
- Microphones - Dual microphone array
- Headphone / mic jack - 3.5mm stereo headphone / headset jack
- Digital - Multichannel audio via DisplayPort over USB-C, standard USB-C, or Bluetooth 5.0
Power
- Input- 45W USB Type-C PD3.0 power supply
- Battery - 40Whr battery. 2 - 8 hours of gameplay
Expansion
- microSD - UHS-I supports SD, SDXC and SDHC
- External connectivity for controllers & displays - USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-mode support; up to 8K @60Hz or 4K @120Hz, USB 3.2 Gen 2
Size and Weight
- Size - 298mm x 117mm x 49mm
- Weight - Approx. 669 grams
Software
- Operating System - SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based)
- Desktop - KDE Plasma
Official Dock
Sold seperately. Specifications subject to change.
Expansion
- Peripherals
- 1 x USB-A 3.1 Port
- 2 x USB-A 2.0 Ports
- Networking - Ethernet
- External displays
- DisplayPort 1.4
- HDMI 2.0
Power
- Input - USB-C Power Delivery passthrough input
- Deck connection - 6" USB-C captive cable with low profile 90° connector
Size and Weight
- Size - 117mm x 29mm x 50.5mm
- Weight - Approx. 120 grams
View more images of the Steam Deck below:
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Valve made a Switch Pro when Nintendo Didn't
Valve does what Nintendon't
If I can use Gamepass on it, without any major workarounds, I'll be a buyer.
Nice design, nice price. If performance is too I may pick up one of these.
it's a little bit more powerful than PS4 & Xbox One
Download Yuzu and you have a switch pro
This thing looks good.
Look out here's the switch killer!
I hope Vgchartz tracks sales of this hardware as well.
Price is not bad but this is a niche thing.
I'm actually interested in this one. I'll probably reach for the 256GB one.
That's awesome. Looking forward it
Didn't see it coming ! This is a great idea and a good strategy for valve. They can't compete with Sony and Microsoft but they can get some mobile gamers from Nintendo for sure. This is also interesting as a computation base for the switch 2 which, I guess, will be way more powerful (if it release in 2023/24)
I really wanna see what sorts of games this handles and how it looks in someone's hands, but the prices are way better than the VR headsets and the fact it comes in 3 priced variants is decent. Either way I'm on board with this.
If Switch 2 doesn't come out within the next year or two, I can see myself going for this instead.
Should at least sell more than an Ouya.
Not for me but very cool
So it definitely was their own system that Gabe was talking about in regards to "Valve putting games on consoles". Not really something I'm interested in, but should do better than their previous hardware shenanigans.
I mean.. it looks nice and all, however i cant see it selling well. Happy to be proven wrong on it. I think its a good idea to really utilize Steam's Big Picture mode.
It's targeting those who are looking for something akin to the GDP's, but at a lower price and this seeks to fill such a gap. It's not a system designed to attract uber, "mom and pop, grandma/grandpa/kids casual camps. The tech marketing for it already screams which audience it's going for.
it's cool...but I see a potential financial flop coming.
Good! Nintendo needs competition. Nintendo needs a fire to be lit under their ass.
Slight error.
RDNA2 isn't in AMD's APU's yet... And definitely not Zen2 APU's.
It will be Vega.
Actually you are incorrect as those are official specs:
https://www.steamdeck.com/en/tech
Valve worked with AMD to make this a thing.
Seems I am. It's going to be using discreet not integrated graphics, which actually makes this even more impressive than I originally glanced at.
Happy to be corrected. Cheers.
So, this is probably the first hardware will equip AMD Van Gogh APU, i heard laptops will get this APU as well months ago.
Well this is quite promising looking.
They'll f*** it up somehow.
Essay Pro