Today, Valve announced the rumored new product of the game handheld, officially named Steam Deck. The device will be officially launched in December this year, and the minimum version with 64G capacity will cost $399. On the page dedicated to Steam Deck in the Steam Game Mall, we can see the main features and selling points of the handheld.
For example, a custom APU from AMD is used. The architecture is the same as the next-generation host, Zen2 + RDNA 2. The official claims are sufficient to run the latest 3A games. In addition to being able to log in to the Steam account and synchronize the game library, Steam Deck, like the Nintendo Switch, can also use a dedicated dock to connect to other display devices, but the official does not disclose whether the performance in dock mode will be enhanced.
Taking into account the global shortage of chips, it is also in response to the scalper Steam Deck will use a prepaid subscription model. Starting this Sunday, users in the United States, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom can pre-order one for each person and it is required that the pre-purchase account must have had consumption behavior on the Steam platform before June 2021.
In terms of hardware configuration, like the new OLED version of Switch, Steam Deck also uses a touch-enabled 7-inch screen with a resolution of 1280×800, a refresh rate of 60Hz, a typical brightness of 700nit, and an overall size of 298×117×49mm. The weight is approximately 669g. The machine has built-in DSP and dual microphones.
For input, it is equipped with dual joysticks, four ABXY buttons, cross keys, two 32.5mm touchpads, four shoulder keys, four back keys, support for force feedback, and a 6-axis gyroscope. Steam Deck memory is 16GB LPDDR5-5500, storage can choose at least 64GB eMMC (PCIe 2.0 x1), or 256GB/512GB NVMe SSD (PCIe 3.0 x4), support high-speed microSD expansion card, and Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band 802.11ac 2×2 MIMO. The Steam Deck has a built-in 40Whr battery that can play for 2-8 hours and uses 45W USB-C PD 3.0 fast charging.
The operating system used by Steam Deck is SteamOS 3.0 based on the Arch Linux distribution, which provides fast hibernation and wake-up functions. Users can use it as an independent PC, browse the web, work, and even install other game platforms such as Epic. The Steam Deck dedicated dock has 2 USB 2.0 and 1 USB 3.0 ports, a network cable port, and can connect to an external monitor via DP and HDMI.
The Steam Deck will be officially launched in December 2021. The pre-sale will start this weekend. Prices range from $399 for 64G, $529 for 256G to $649 for 512G.
