Steam Deck is Valve's new handheld, starts at $400

[Animous]

Valve will start shipping a new handheld gaming device called Steam Deck in December 2021.

According to Valve, the device is an AMD "powerhouse" which can run "the latest AAA games." The chunky black rectangle includes a 7-inch, 1280x800 touchscreen, trackpads like the Steam Controller, and full-sized analog sticks. 

Maybe a better way to think about it is that it's a small PC with a controller attached as opposed to a gaming console.

Lawrence Yang, Valve

On the software side, Steam Deck runs on a new version of SteamOS, the Linux-based operating system Valve hoped to make a living room staple back when Steam Machines were a thing. That doesn't mean that the Steam Deck will be limited to Linux games, though. Valve says that its Proton compatibility software has been "vastly improved," and works with anti-cheat systems. You'll be able to play Windows games that don't have official Linux support, put simply.

You can also tinker with the Steam Deck—it isn't a locked box—and even use it as a regular PC by plugging it into a monitor and peripherals. "Browse the web, watch streaming video, do your normal productivity stuff, install some other game stores, whatever," says Valve. An optional USB-C dock will provide DisplayPort and HDMI output, an Ethernet adapter, and three USB ports.

If you want, you can even kick SteamOS off of the device and install Windows, or something else. 

"We don't think people should be locked into a certain direction or a certain set of software that they can install," Valve designer Lawrence Yang told IGN. "If you buy a Steam Deck, it's a PC. You can install whatever you want on it, you can attach any peripherals you want to it. Maybe a better way to think about it is that it's a small PC with a controller attached as opposed to a gaming console."

Steam Deck hardware specs

Here are the specifications of the handheld itself, according to Valve:

CPU: AMD 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)

RAM: 16 GB DDR5

Storage: 64GB, 256GB, 512GB versions; expandable with MicroSD cards

Display: 7" diagonal, 1280x800 (16:10), 60Hz LCD touchscreen

Audio: Stereo speakers that "pack a punch," says Valve, 3.5mm stereo jack, dual mics, multichannel USB-C/Bluetooth output

Controls: Two analog sticks with capacitive touch, D-pad, face buttons, analog triggers, bumpers, assignable grip buttons, "view" and "menu" buttons, gyro

Trackpads: There's two of them, and Valve says that they have "55% better latency compared to Steam Controller."

Wireless connectivity: Wi-Fi and Bluetooth

Wired connectivity: USB-C with DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-mode support; up to 8K @60Hz or 4K @120Hz, USB 3.2 Gen 2

Battery: 40Whr, "2-8 hours of gameplay"

Size: 11.7" x 4.6" x 1.8" (298mm x 117mm x 49mm)

Weight: Approximately 1.47 lbs (669 grams)

Valve claims that the Steam Deck has "more than enough performance to run the latest AAA games in a very efficient power envelope." I wouldn't expect it to perform especially well with graphically-taxing games at 1080p or higher, but it should suffice at its own screen's 1280x800 resolution. The promotional material includes shots of people playing Doom Eternal, Control, and Jedi: Fallen Order. We look forward to putting a Steam Deck to the test with those games and others as soon as we have one. (We will make sure it can run Crysis, of course, but I seriously do wonder how it fares in something like Hunt: Showdown.)

One potential disappointment is the battery life. Valve says that the Steam Deck's battery will last for "several hours" while playing most games, and it maxes out at 8 hours in "lighter use cases like game streaming, smaller 2D games, or web browsing." At a minimum, it should last two hours playing a resource-intensive game. Hope your airplane seat has an outlet, then.

A quick suspend/resume function will let you pause the Steam Deck and send it to sleep mode, and then quickly wake it up and go back to your game when you're ready. (When you've plugged it in, for example.)

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