Valve finally announces its handheld gaming PC, Valve Steam Deck. It’s a portable PC with a 7-inch touch screen, two thumbsticks, a D-pad, a four-button layout, and four triggers on its shoulders. Similar to an Xbox Elite Controller, it also has four configurable triggers on its back. For games that are more comfortable with a mouse, this device has two trackpads to simulate mouse control.
Under the hood, it’s equipped with a custom APU from AMD, an equivalent of Zen 2 + RDNA 2, and 16GB of memory. The CPU will be running at the max speed of 3.5GHz. Meanwhile, with 8 RDNA 2 compute units, the GPU will be running up to 1.6GHz to give a peak performance of 1.6 teraflops. The specs seem weak compared to a desktop PC with discreet GPU in today’s standard. However, the screen only has a resolution of 1280×800 (720p) and a 60Hz refresh rate. It’s good enough for a small screen, and it doesn’t need that much power as a 4K and 144Hz gaming.
Introducing Steam Deck: powerful, portable PC gaming starting at $399. Designed by Valve, powered by Steam. Shipping December 2021.
Learn more at https://t.co/ZOTx3KUCVK and reserve yours tomorrow. #SteamDeck pic.twitter.com/jcgbaKfT9c
— Steam (@Steam) July 15, 2021
For the internal storage, Valve Steam Deck will have 3 variants with different prices. The 64GB version is priced at US$399, and the next model, with 256GB, sells for US$529. The highest version, which has 512GB, will be sold at US$649. The 256GB and 512GB models will use NVMe SSD, but the 64GB version will only use an eMMC. Every model will also feature a MicroSD slot for external storage.
Besides having exciting specs, this Valve Steam Deck will have a great operating system, SteamOS 3.0. It’s based on Linux but it will have all advantages of PC gaming, including modding capability with or without Steam Workshop. Valve will also allow other game stores in the devices such as Microsoft or even Epic Games Store.
“It is a PC; you can install whatever you want on it,” said Erik Peterson in the official introduction video.
I am honestly excited about this device but, sadly, I live in Indonesia. The reservation page tells me that “This item is not available for reservation in your country.” Hopefully, Valve will make this device available for more countries on its release date.
