Steam Deck

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The anticipated new portable gaming PC, the Steam Deck, has been released to some Youtubers for review, and the reviews are great. Linus from Linus Tech Tips was quite impressed with the Steam Deck, calling it “the most innovative gaming PC in twenty years.” The Steam Deck offers quite a lot of performance packed into a relatively small package. The Steam Deck comes in three packages: a $399 model with a 64GB eMMC drive, a $529 model with 256GB NVMe SSD, and a $649 model with a 512GB NVMe SSD and a premium anti-glare etched glass screen. The Steam Deck is set to begin shipping this month. 

First, let’s dig into the tech specs. The Steam Deck has a custom AMD APU with a Zen 2 4c/8t 2.4 – 3.5GHz CPU and an 8 RDNA 2 CUs 1.0 -1.66GHz GPU. There is 16GB of on-board LPDDR5 RAM and the storage comes in 3 different sizes/types: 64GB eMMC, 256GB NVMe SSD, and a 512GB high-speed NVMe SSD. If you want to expand your storage, the Steam Deck supports microSD (UHS-I supports SD, SDXC, and SDHC).

The display has a resolution of 1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio) and is 7” diagonal. The refresh rate is 60Hz and it is touch enabled. The Steam Deck connects to peripherals via Bluetooth 5.0, while sporting a dual-band Wi-Fi radio, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, 2 x 2 MIMO, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac for wireless internet connectivity. For audio, there is stereo with embedded DSP, a dual microphone array, 3.5mm stereo headphone/set jack, and a multichannel audio via DisplayPort over USB-C, standard USB-C, or Bluetooth 5.0. The power input is a 45W USB Type-C PD3.0 power supply, with a 40Whr battery that can provide between 2 and 8 hours of gameplay, depending on the system requirements of the game. For external connections, the USB-C has DisplayPort 1.4 Alt-Mode support with up to 8K at 60Hz or 120Hz at 4K, and there is a USB 3.2 Gen 2.

Now, let’s take a look at the controls. The Steam Deck features HD haptics, with 2 x 32.5mm square trackpads with haptic feedback that is 55% better latency than the Steam Controller and pressure sensitivity for comfortable click strength. There are 2 full-size analog sticks with capacitive touch, a 6-axis IMU Gyro, and the Gamepad controls, with ABXY buttons, a D-pad, L & R analog triggers and bumpers, View & Menu buttons, and 4 assignable grip buttons. 

The Operating system is the SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based) and the Desktop is KDE Plasma. So far, 86 games have been verified to be fully compatible with the Steam Deck, and the Steam Deck compatibility review is ongoing and they will continuously update the list of compatible games. Games on Steam will have information as to compatibility with the Steam Deck, and reason for incompatibilities. 

Several Youtubers have gotten a chance to review the Steam Deck, and the performance on their list of games has been great overall. It has even beaten out some competitors that are over twice the price on some of the games! Thermals are looking good, which is surprising with the hardware it’s running in such a small form factor, along with the demands of some of those games. The Steam Deck is looking to be an excellent gaming companion, and I have reserved mine, with a hopeful fulfillment of this month. I’m especially excited because one of my favorite games has been optimized for the Steam Deck–Terraria! That, and I’m really looking forward to playing the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters on a handheld. I don’t think this will be a so-called “Switch Killer” but I believe this device is going to be very popular.