Steam Deck is official

DanteErodov

DanteErodov

Adept
Steam deck is official now.

Its a portable computer with steam OS so you can basically play all your steam games handheld. Specification are pretty impressive too:
  • APU: 4core/8threads Zen 2 cores + RDNA2 based 2 Tflops iGPU with full support for VRS & RT
  • Ram: 16 GB LPDDR5
  • 7inch screen (720p)
  • Storage: 64GB emmc ($399), 256GB NVME SSD($529), 512GB NVME SSD ($649) + micro SD slot
  • Controller: All regular keys + 4 Back customizable keys + 2 touch pads which are good enough to replace mouse in FPS games(As per reviewer)
It can play all games at medium-high settings smoothly. As per the reviewer there were no issues in playing Death stranding, Doom eternal & Control & they all ran smoothly in his experience.

Honestly, this looks excellent to me. Pricing is a bit on the higher side compared to the competition, but you are essentially getting a full PC with an option to use a USB C dock & connect everything like a regular computer.

Source:

Update: Availability December 2021

Actual specs on steam website:

B1C78D26-8DC5-49A2-B59B-E149A7E58A23.png

more details: https://www.steamdeck.com/en/
 
Last edited:
This is amazing, on paper. But I am missing why Valve would want to get into consoles. And let's be honest, this is a console no matter how much you might think it is a small gaming PC. In the real world, it will be for games first and maybe used as a PC second. But the way these console manufacturing companies truly make money is through their games and not their hardware. Does this mean there will be more Valve original games coming in future?
 
Kinda hyped for this, ngl. AMD APUs are good as well (coming from a 3400G user) and I can kind of see myself buying this. Is the competition for this the Chinese handheld? (Can’t quite remember the name of the brand rn.)
 
GN did a pretty detailed run down of SteamDeck, goes a bit more in depth on hardware

Edit- quite mod friendly too! Valve says you can install any software or any os even, no need to stick to SteamOs.
No Switch pro? Download emulator and have your switch pro *wink*
 
It would have been even better had they used the latest AMD architecture rather than going for 2nd gen, mainly given the efficiency, but I think silicon shortage might be a big reason for using older CPU.

As for why Valve is trying to get into consoles, I think they believe there exists a market between PC gaming and console gaming.

In the PC world we have -
- configurable game settings
- freedom of softwares and doing things beyond gaming
- hardware lasts for longer (bit debatable) and since it can last longer people will play/buy games for longer

In the console world we have -
- easy interface
- Better UX, focused mainly on gaming, so no need to bother / meddle with anything else
- games economy is very much favorable for the companies to make money

The biggest issue with PC gaming I believe would be piracy, for PC games its not a matter of if a game gets cracked, but when. This can be counted as lost revenue, however if one has a hardware (console style) which can run games without having to think much about settings and stuff (iirc they said some games will have good OOB settings which will make most of the console) the convenience of buying games would outweigh the motive for piracy.

But honestly speaking, I'm bit scared for Valve as this device has tech (Custom OS, trackpad, etc) from their failed attempts. I'm sure they have been working on it from a loong time (from the question about layout of buttons, analog sticks and precision pads, the rep mentions they have done a lot of internal testing).

And seriously, I don't think anything comes close to this level of portability and performance even for the price tag. The chinese counterparts might have the hardware, but Valve clearly has the software advantage. Even if the OS is used on other hardware, its a win for valve anyways.
 
deezcnuts said:
GN did a pretty detailed run down of SteamDeck, goes a bit more in depth on hardware

Edit- quite mod friendly too! Valve says you can install any software or any os even, no need to stick to SteamOs.
No Switch pro? Download emulator and have your switch pro *wink*
Click to expand...
This sounds great. So we can install windows, and game on that with Ahem games too? Tbh, this is sounding a little too good lol.
My only problem is the 720p resolution. If it was medium high at 1080p it would have been a no brainer. But I suppose next gen one could give you that.
 
Party Monger said:
This sounds great. So we can install windows, and game on that with Ahem games too? Tbh, this is sounding a little too good lol.
My only problem is the 720p resolution. If it was medium high at 1080p it would have been a no brainer. But I suppose next gen one could give you that.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I think Gabe confirmed that it’s a PC and you can use Microsoft, Epic, etc. services.
 
This is a full fledged PC with almost no shortcomings. You can basically install windows or any other OS for that matter & install steam app on top of that, if that is what you want to do, or any other game launcher including XBox app for PC or even emulators. The possibilities are limitless just like a regular PC. The processing power, both on CPU as well as GPU front, is more than enough for almost any kind of gaming. I mean its a 1.6TF GPU, remember Xbox one had a 1.4TF & PS4 had a 1.8TF, & on top of that this is has a much mature RDNA2 architecture compared to GCN used by last gen consoles. Also, this will be targeting just a 720p image compared to 900p/1080p of consoles so I think it should perform perfectly even in the upcoming game.

What concerns me the most is the battery life, I mean AAA games are only going to last up to 2 hours which seems a bit low but I think that will be the norm for such a powerful device.

I am mostly excited for the APU AMD is using though, I would love to get that kind of a power for a small ITX pc... but I don't think AMD is going launch anything similar anytime soon.

Regarding how & why is steam is getting into it, I mean its obvious that they want to target all the games sales of handled market, which is just left to Nintendo right now, increasing the player base & revenue on their platform. Pretty smart TBH, as long as the hardware is reliable.
 
I really like the device from a general perspective but pricing is a bit high for me. I wonder if they will be able to run MOBA's and MMO's without any visual/control problems.
Definitely worth trying. But not sure how long it will live without community's backing.
Btw what will be the size of each games? Like Warzone? 200GB on PC and how much will it be on that device? Dota 2 40GB+. Etc. Etc.
 
What are the chances that this comes to India?

Personally, I don’t expect it to come here. Never officially got the steam link or the controller. I have given up hopes of index launching here. Not holding my breath for this. But do wish valve finds a way to get their hardware for sale here.
 
iPwnz said:
I really like the device from a general perspective but pricing is a bit high for me. I wonder if they will be able to run MOBA's and MMO's without any visual/control problems.
Definitely worth trying. But not sure how long it will live without community's backing.
Btw what will be the size of each games? Like Warzone? 200GB on PC and how much will it be on that device? Dota 2 40GB+. Etc. Etc.
Click to expand...
Should be the same size as PC as Dante has stated that it’s essentially a handheld PC.
 
iPwnz said:
But not sure how long it will live without community's backing.
Click to expand...
See this is what I think is the best part, no actual community backing is required. If you are going to play on Steam OS, games compatibility will be dependent on Proton only which again is handled by steam. All proton compatible games will be compatible from day one & new ones will also keep releasing, no developer involvement is required for the most part as things will just work out of the box.

iPwnz said:
I wonder if they will be able to run MOBA's and MMO's without any visual/control problems.
Click to expand...
This might be a concern due to the handheld nature of the device but you still have more control options here compared to anything else in the market. You can always hook this to a Monitor/TV with keyboard mouse if you are really into those games.

iPwnz said:
Btw what will be the size of each games? Like Warzone? 200GB on PC and how much will it be on that device? Dota 2 40GB+. Etc. Etc.
Click to expand...
I don't think steam will try to control this, so it will reman the same w.r.t. to the PC. Maybe developers, specially for e-sports game might end up doing some smaller texture pack versions of the game but I don't think steam has any way of handling & delivering such content at the moment. They might go the Microsoft way of having something similar to Smart delivery, but that will again limit their options unless they totally leave that up to the developer.

deezcnuts said:
What are the chances that this comes to India?

Personally, I don’t expect it to come here. Never officially got the steam link or the controller. I have given up hopes of index launching here. Not holding my breath for this. But do wish valve finds a way to get their hardware for sale here.
Click to expand...
Very unlikely TBH. Considering the state & size of console market in India, I don't think there is much scope for handheld devices specially this expensive. Although I wonder if folks here can easily spend 20k-30k on phones for playing mobile games would they pay a ¬50% premium if such a device were to be available for 40k-45k? Personally, I don't think they will but would love to be proven wrong.
 
FXGalvatron said:
Should be the same size as PC as Dante has stated that it’s essentially a handheld PC.
Click to expand...
That's going to be a big con. I hope the devs can make a much smaller sized version for this one seeing as the resolution is also only 720p. Else even the $500 option will be able to install only COD.
 
They were already talking about a queue system to book devices. Even if it launches in india, it wont be for the next year or two or atleast till this shortage is done.
 
Party Monger said:
Damn thats insane. So everyone will be buying the cheapest one, adding an ssd, installing windows and playing cracked games. Sounds good to me lmao!
Click to expand...
One thing that remains to be seen is how easy/accessible would be it be to replace that SSD. Let's hope it doesn't require a full disassembly.
 
iPwnz said:
I really like the device from a general perspective but pricing is a bit high for me. I wonder if they will be able to run MOBA's and MMO's without any visual/control problems.
Click to expand...
GabeN confirmed that Dota 2, a MOBA game, works. Pic not mine.
IMG_20210717_132623.jpg

Woah. It's going to be like Mobile Legends lol.
Party Monger said:
Damn thats insane. So everyone will be buying the cheapest one, adding an ssd, installing windows and playing cracked games. Sounds good to me lmao!
Click to expand...
Forget PC games man it might be best for running old ROMs lol.
Woah woah people are already scalping even the UNRELEASED Steam Deck haha
www.pcgamer.com

Steam Deck reservations are already selling on eBay for absolutely stupid prices

And people are buying them.
www.pcgamer.com www.pcgamer.com
 
Last edited:
Back
Top