Steam Deck is now available to reserve

21-08-2021

Valve is getting into the handheld gaming business with the Steam Deck: a handheld device that can play any game in your Steam Library. It's aiming to be the Nintendo Switch of PC gaming.

You will be able to plug Steam Deck into a monitor or a TV, install apps and software, use it to watch streaming video, and more-even install other game stores on it, according to Valve. The Steam Deck will run on a new version of SteamOS, Valve's Linux-based operating system, though you'll be able to play Windows games that don't have official Linux support using Valve's compatibility tech, Proton (Steam Play), or even uninstall SteamOS and just install Windows.

When is the Steam Deck release date?

The Steam Deck will begin shipping in December 2021. However, that doesn't mean if you reserved one you'll receive it this year, as the Steam Deck site is now showing "expected order availability" in Q2 of 2022. What's interesting here is that, for the 512GB version at least, the ETA date has actually been pulled in. Where it hit Q3 2022 almost immediately after reservations went live, it has now been adjusted to Q2 2022.

How much does the Steam Deck costs?

The price of the Steam Deck depends on which version you want, and there are three different versions based on storage size. The Steam Deck costs:

$399 for the 64GB version
$529 for the 256GB version
$649 for the 512GB version

The more expensive versions of the Steam Deck feature faster NVMe SSD storage, while the cheaper is listed with a 64GB eMMC (embedded multi-media card) storage solution. All three versions will let you increase storage space with a MicroSD card, at least.

What are the Steam Deck specs?

The Steam Deck specifications were revealed by Valve alongside the console itself, which means we know all about what lies beneath the console's 7-inch screen.

The most important thing to note for PC gamers is that the Steam Deck runs on an AMD APU, and one we're yet to see elsewhere. This chip is built around two key AMD architectures: Zen 2 and RDNA 2.