The E3 rumors have just materialized and Valve announced Steam Deck, so here is its specs, price and release date.
Valve has just launched a new device of its own called Steam Deck, which comes to be its vision of a Nintendo Switch. Inside it, we have a PC that, according to the product’s official website, is capable of playing AAA games with good quality.
Steam Deck specs
| STEAM DECK | |
|---|---|
| DIMENSIONS AND WEIGHT | 298 x 117 x 49mm 669g |
| SCREEN | 7″ LCD 1,280 x 800 pixels resolution 16:10 screen ratio 60Hz refresh rate 400-nits brightness Tactile support Automatic brightness adjustment feature |
| PROCESSOR | AMD APU Zen 2 4c / 8t, 2.4-3.5GHz CPU 4-15W APU Power |
| GPU | 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1-1.6GHz |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 |
| STORAGE | 64GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2×1 256GB NVMe SSD (4xPCIe Gen 3) 512GB High-Speed NVMe SSD (4xPCIe Gen 3) |
| EXPANSION | Micro SD |
| CONTROLS | ABXY buttons Cross-piece Analog Triggers L and R Front L and R buttons View and Menu Buttons 4 x assignable grip buttons 2 x capacitive analog sticks 2 x square trackpads (32.5mm) Six-axis gyroscope |
| CONNECTIVITY | Bluetooth 5.0 WiFi ac, 2×2 MIMO |
| AUDIO | Stereo with integrated DSP Dual microphone 3.5mm jack Multichannel audio |
| BATTERY | 40Wh, up to 8 hours of playtime 45W USB Type-C PD3.0 Power Supply |
| SOFTWARE | Steam OS |
| PRICE | 64GB: $399 256GB: $529 512GB: $649 |
A portable console with Steam as the operating system
Steam itself will be the platform for purchasing and managing these games, in the form of a special version of SteamOS 3.0. This system is based on Linux but is perfectly capable of running Windows games for full compatibility with the Steam catalog.
To achieve this, the company has teamed up with AMD and created its chip, seeking a balance between performance and efficiency. According to the official technical specifications we have a Zen 2 CPU with 4 cores, at 2.4-3.5 GHz. The GPU is based on AMD’s rDNA 2 architecture, which provides the Deck with Ray Tracing and a variable display Hz frequency. If we combine the computing power of the CPU and GPU we have about 2 teraflops.
The screen is touch and 7 inches and 400 nits, with a resolution of 1280×800 pixels. In addition to the typical buttons and hooks of a console, we also have two trackpads to replace the mouse in games where necessary. A gyroscope will also allow us to interact with the game by moving the console itself.
In case you want to play sitting down, the Steam Deck also offers a Dock with which you can connect the device to a TV or an external display. For this, we will have HDMI and USB ports that will also allow us to use a keyboard and mouse. Charging will be done through a USB-C port, and the integrated battery will have a maximum autonomy of 7-8 hours (it will surely depend on the game we use).
Steam Deck price and release date
The Steam Deck will be sold in three different models. All will have the same graphics power but different storage: 64GB for $399, 256GB for $529, and 512GB for $649. The more expensive models will include extras such as a special polished glass or a faster storage system. And if we want even more space, we can add it with a microSD card in its integrated reader.
The launch is scheduled for December, but you can reserve it from the Steam website (from tomorrow July 16 at 19:00) to ensure one of these models. Certainly, quite a move by Valve to have its console. Or PC, or hybrid, whatever you want to call it.
