Pre-orders for Valve’s Steam Deck console went live on Friday and wouldn’t you know it, it all went it a bit tits up. Prospective buyers had issues with the website and many were denied a console as you must have had an active Steam account before June this year to purchase the device, a move implemented to stop scalpers.
Reservations for the console are still open, but with high demand, Valve has now shifted the expected delivery window for new pre-orders that are placed. All three models are now labelled with an expected order availability of Q2 2022, which means an order should arrive by the end of June 2022. However, this window has shifted over the last few days, where at one point the 64GB eMMC model was expected in Q1 2022, while the 256GB NVMe SSD and 512GB NVMe SSD models are now expected in Q2 and Q3 of 2022 respectively. The earliest pre-orders should still begin shipping in December 2021.
Despite Valve keeping registrations open and putting a number of measures in place, this hasn’t stopped hundreds of listings showing up on eBay with massive inflated prices, the 512GB model is currently being listed for almost £900, if you bought it directly from Valve it would cost £569.
The device has a 7″ touchscreen for typing and swiping through the Steam UI, a pair of trackads, analogue triggers, grip buttons, two “best in class” thumbsticks and a gyro for motion controls. For storage you can choose between 64GB eMMC, 256GB NVMe SSD, or 512GB NVMe SSD, and expand that with a microSD card.
The 40 watt-hour battery should provide “several hours” of playtime, but less intensive games of web browsing should increase the battery life to up to eight hours. There is a built a quick suspend / resume feature and a multi-purpose USB-C jack for charging or peripherals including an official docking station. The dock has not been revealed but will allow you to hook up the console to your TV or monitor and use it as a standard PC.
One can’t but think they have an issue selling the device in New Zealand where the local accent does something rather amusing to the word ‘deck’.
ICYMI, here are the full tech specs:
Speeds and Feeds
Compute
CPU: 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)
APU power: 4-15W
256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
512 GB high-speed NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
All models include high-speed microSD card slot
Controls and Input
D-pad
L & R analog triggers
L & R bumpers
View & Menu buttons
4 x assignable grip buttons
55% better latency compared to Steam Controller
Pressure-sensitivity for configurable click strength
Display
Connectivity
Audio
Power
Expansion
controllers & displays
Size and Weight
Software
Official Dock
Sold seperately. Specifications subject to change.
Expansion
2 x USB-A 2.0 Ports
HDMI 2.0
Power
Size and Weight
MrYd
That thing where you get halfway down an article and then realise who wrote it just happened. Nobody else would slip that deck video in there, would they?
Disappointed you avoided making any comments about the size of this Steam Deck. A 7 inch deck isn’t that impressive. I’m waiting for the inevitable bigger model. (Although there’s a good chance they’ll quietly give up on the whole idea in a year or so anyway)