Steam Deck Specs, Price, Release, Windows and more
Here is what we know on the Steam Deck
- By Craig Robinson
- July 16, 2021
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Valve has shocked the world with a surprise announcement of its mobile gaming device, the Steam Deck. The news dropped from Valve itself on July 15, after several mumbling and rumours of a new piece of Valve technology hitting the market. If you’re wondering what the Steam Deck specs are, including its price, availability and more, we have you covered.
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
Steam Deck Specs
The Steam Deck follows in the footsteps of the Nintendo Switch, bringing premium gaming to mobile devices. The core of the Steam Deck uses the Steam OS, along with a new technology called Proton, which automatically makes Steam’s games compatible with the Steam Deck without extra work from developers.
On the exterior, the Steam Deck specs feature two thumbsticks, two trackpads for laptop-like navigation, and the usual D-pad, ABXY buttons, triggers and bumpers, and four programmable buttons at the back. Furthermore, the kit comes with a dedicated steam button which will feel familiar to the PSN and Xbox dashboard buttons.
If you want to know more about the demon inside the Steam Deck, then you’ll be happy to know the Steam Deck specs use an AMD Zen 2, one of the more powerful mobile CPUs on the market. The AMD Zen 2, 8 RDNA 2 GPU and 16GBs of RAM DDR4 will run all your games in 720p on the 7” screen at 1280 x 800 resolution. Lastly, you can play the Steam Deck via its Docking mode and Steam Big Picture. More is to come on that, so keep your eyes peeled on updates from Valve.
As for the Steam Decks Storage, there are three different options for purchase. The Steam Deck price is different depending on which model of the Steam Deck you buy. Be aware that not a lot changes between the three options, other than memory size and a few other gimmicks.
Option 1 | Option 2 | Option 3 | |
Price | £349 /$399 | £459 / $529 | £569 / $649 |
Memory | 64GB eMMC | 256GB NVMe SSD | 512GB NVMe SSD |
Carry Case | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Exclusive Digital Merch | No | Yes | Yes |
Anti Glare Screen | No | No | Yes |
If you’re after a full list of the Steam Deck specs, Valve has published them out on their official page. If you know which version of the Steam Deck you want to pre-order, then check out Gaming Verdict’s Steam Deck preorder article to get you reserved and ready for December 2021.
Steam Deck Release Date
Sadly, the Steam Deck doesn’t necessarily have a dedicated release date. As it stands, the device is available for reservation, with those who want to express their interest able to reserve one. Valve states by December 2021, those reservations will eventually turn into preorder purchase options. If you manage to express your interest through Steam’s reservation system, you could expect your Deck for the 2021 Holidays.
Steam Deck with Windows
Valve has confirmed that the Steam Deck can do “whatever a PC can do”. So far, we know that the Steam Deck can even download other PC clients, such as the Epic Games Store (EGS), via IGN. Regardless, we know games from Ubisoft requires the Ubisoft Connect (UC) client to function. Therefore, you can download the UC, Origin Client for EA and EGS for Fortnite. Besides, we know that Windows and Steam are more than happy to partner up to bring Xbox games to the broader PC audience. Technically, we can play games like Master Chief Collection or Halo Infinite on the Steam Deck.
Either way, we at Gaming Verdict are very excited to get our hands on the Steam Deck specs, so we can write detailed content on the best games to play come December 2021 and beyond.