Steam Deck Release Date And Price. After years of mobile gaming PCs like the Aya Neo appearing out of nowhere, Valve has entered the fray with the Steam Deck, which will be available in December. There are three variants to pick from, all of which are inspired by the Nintendo Switch and cost between $399 and $649.
It’s powered by a unique AMD APU that combines the Zen 2 and RDNA 2 platforms – the latter being the same architecture as the greatest graphics card from Team Red. Despite the lack of benchmarks, Valve claims to have “more than adequate performance to handle the newest AAA titles.” You can also use it like a regular computer by connecting it to a keyboard, mouse, and monitor on the best gaming desk with the purchase of an extra dock.
It comes with the latest SteamOS 3 Linux-based operating system, but you can put Windows on it to make it compatible with even more of the top PC games. However, Proton compatibility has improved substantially to the point where you won’t need to.
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STEAM DECK RELEASE DATE
The Steam Deck, Valve’s portable gaming PC, was supposed to ship in December this year, but supply chain concerns have pushed the delivery date out to February 2022. Thankfully, Valve recently announced that it is certain that the Steam Deck will not be delayed any more.
For a nominal charge of $5 / £4, you can still reserve one of the three models. Valve will send out notifications to individuals who have reserved a model to purchase whenever stock becomes available.
STEAM DECK PRICE
There are three versions of the Steam Deck, each with slightly different specifications but vastly varying costs. The entry-level model costs $399 / £349 and includes 64GB of eMMC storage. Upgrade to a Steam Deck with 256GB of NVMe storage for $529 / £459, which also includes a special Steam community profile bundle.
The screen on this most costly $649 / £569 512GB variant is made of superior anti-glare etched glass, making it a better choice for outdoor use. It also comes with a somewhat more boujie carrying bag, but the retail packaging is the same (complete with Portal Easter eggs).
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STEAM DECK SPECS
You’ll receive the same performance inside games regardless of the model you choose. The APU features an AMD Zen 2 quad-core, eight-thread CPU with a 2.4GHz base clock and a 3.5GHz boost clock, as well as an RDNA 2 GPU chip. There’s also 16GB of LPDDR5 RAM, which should keep the gadget up to date in the future.
It has a 7-inch IPS touchscreen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels and a maximum refresh rate of 60 frames per second. While the colours won’t be as vibrant as the Switch OLED panel, the Deck should still have excellent viewing angles. The Switch Lite operates well with just 380 nits. So a top brightness of 400 nits should be ideal for outdoor gaming.
It has all of the buttons you’d expect on a top-tier PC controller. As well as a gyroscope and two track pads. You’ll also be able to use a microSD card to expand the capacity on any Steam Deck. Which will be necessary on the 64GB model because the OS will take up 15% of the internal storage.
STEAM DECK PERFORMANCE
The Steam Deck’s 1.6 teraflop GPU places it between an Xbox One S and a PlayStation 4. This may not seem spectacular until you consider that Valve’s handheld gaming PC can employ AMD FSR to enhance frame rates and is far more portable than any console other than the Nintendo Switch.
We already know that Valve’s portable gaming PC can run classic games. From the previous console generation, such as Horizon Zero Dawn. Despite the capability of its technology, it’s unlikely that we’ll be running many games at maximum or very high settings.
Despite the Deck’s relatively modest 15W power consumption rating. Valve claims a battery life of two to eight hours during gameplay, depending on how demanding the game is. When compared to the Nintendo Switch. Which can run on battery power for up to nine hours, this is significantly less.
