Written by Edwin Francisco
Valve has announced a new handheld hardware called the Steam Deck. This is a portable gaming device that looks like Nintendo Switch. We have to admit that Nintendo has made an impact with the Switch. Ever since they released the portable console that can work as home console, it has sky rocketed the demand for a powerful hand-held gaming device.
For the past few years some companies have been crowd funding or making PC hand held consoles that resemble the Nintendo Switch like the GDP Mini Handheld Console Player, One Netbook, Aya Neo. These are all gaming handheld PC’s with Windows installed.
Steam Deck instead is using their own SteamOS which is a Linux based operating system. It focuses as a game launcher which runs Windows based games.
Here are the specs:
- 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)
- 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM (5500 MT/s)
- 1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio)
- 7″ optically bonded touchscreen LCD
- 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
- Expandable memory with microSD
- 2-8 Hour Battery
They are selling 3 versions of this which only differs with the internal drive and speed:
- 64GB eMMC = US$399
-
- Carrying Case
- 256 NVMe = US$529
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- Faster Storage
- Carrying Case
- Exclusive Steam Community Profile Bundle
- 512 NVMe = US$649
-
- Faster Storage
- Premium anti-glare etched glass
- Exclusive Carrying Cake
- Exclusive Steam Community Profile Bundle
- Exclusive virtual keyboard theme
The system uses a custom AMD APU. It seems that the specs are close to PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Steam Deck is designed to run games on 720p, which seem to be more than enough. It should run most modern games between medium to high settings.
You really don’t need 1080p for this since you are generally playing it on a 7-inch screen. Ultra-high details won’t be noticeable unless you’re pixel hunting.
Image: Steam
The controllers are not detachable. So, if you are expecting to detach the controller like the Nintendo Switch, sorry to say that you can’t. What does stand out with the controller, is that it also has those dual trackpads similar to what they had with the Steam Controller. The trackpads will be similar to using a mouse on your computer. So, can you imagine yourself playing Anno or Age of Empires on the road?
Note that the handheld Steam Deck won’t have wireless mobile network connection like 4G or 5G. So, don’t expect to be able to use this for playing online games without a Wi-Fi signal close by.
Using a Linux based OS is great and since it won’t have lots of resident memory programs, it might even perform quite well too. The problem here is compatibility.
Steam has a ton of games, it’s basically the standard game store and launcher for a lot of PC gamers. But games are mostly made for Windows, and Linux native games are only a fraction of the list.
Steam Deck is using Proton, which is a tool to make Windows games run easily on SteamOS. The Witcher 3, Hades, Cuphead are examples of games that work great. But at the same time games like Destiny 2, PUBG, Rainbow Six Seige, Dead by Daylight won’t work.
So, this can be a hit or miss depending on what games you are looking forward to play. If you are wondering if a new game like Cyberpunk 2077 will run? Yes, it is playable, but with some issues.
What’s amazing with Steam Deck is that, since this is essentially a PC, you can still install Windows and install Steam, Epic Games, uPlay, or even Xbox Gamepass and it would still work.
But if you have a 64GB Steam Deck model, installing Windows 10 can range from 16-32GB. While SteamOS would be significantly smaller since its only primary function is play games. It’s a good thing that it has microSD support.
With that in mind, controller support may possibly be just as good as the Steam launcher which allows you to use pretty much any modern controller that you can think of.
Valve Has Announced the Steam Deck Handheld Gaming PC
Image: Steam
A dock is also planned to be released that should allow you to connect a monitor, ethernet, and some USB plugs. But it should be noted that you can use any third-party USB-C type device that allows the same functionality.
So, it can literally work as a normal PC if you wanted. Hook up a keyboard and mouse if you want. Once you attach a monitor, the Steam Deck works as a secondary screen for chat and other functions.
It is an impressive gadget.
We have to note that Valve hasn’t had a good history with hardware. Valve released Steam Machine in 2015. It was again a mini-PC with Linux as its operating system that can play PC games.
It even included the Steam Controller which was designed to look like a gamepad but has dual track pads to replicate mouse controls.
The Steam Machine sold less than 500,000 units while Steam Controller sold around 1.5 million units. Steam Machine even had manufacturing partners, but somehow was a hard sell to the masses.
Valve is taking a slower approach with Steam Deck since they don’t have manufacturing partners for now.
They will see if the Steam Deck performs well in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and European Union countries.
If your country is not listed, you won’t be able to order Steam deck through regular means. If Steam Deck does perform well, they will partner up with manufacturers to get better distribution.
This portable handheld PC is not new as I mentioned earlier. What is making the buzz now? It’s made by valve and they are selling at a very low cost.
Other handheld gaming PC’s cost around US$800 and up. The GDP Win 3 is even priced at $1,309 and it only has a 5.5 inch screen.
It’s possible that Valve might not be getting much from selling the $399 version, but if it does get popular, it might help them push their brand into the hardware space.
So, the cost of the Steam Deck is significantly cheaper than the competition in the handheld PC. And the price is also not far off from Nintendo’s Switch OLED which is priced at $349.99.
Valve Has Announced the Steam Deck Handheld Gaming PC
Image: Steam
If you are thinking that this is the Nintendo Switch killer, it is not. For the main reason that games on the Switch just work. Get a game and you are assured that the game will work 100%.
This is not the case with the Steam Deck mainly because it still works like a PC. You get a long list of games, but you have yet to see if it is compatible since it’s also possible that one of your favorite games on the PC might not work well on the Steam Deck using the SteamOS.
Steam has already started their reservation. Steam has noted that you must have at least bought anything once before it lets you get a reservation, or you might have a waiting period.
But even at this early a stage, you can check ebay for scalpers pricing their reservation of the Steam Deck at thousands of dollars.
With the world-wide chip shortage, we are not sure how this will affect distribution. And since Steam Deck is only available in a handful of countries, for sure that there are people who will try to get their hands on it outside the eligible areas.
We do look forward to see how Steam Deck performs when it launches at the end of this year. It is a flexible gaming system, which is great.
But you also have to be technically inclined to actually appreciate everything that it can offer.
But for people who just want to play out of the box, I wonder if this will gain the interest of the masses.
Related: A New Nintendo Switch Is Coming This October
