Valve Announces Steam Deck
In a fast paced world where we are always on the go, mobile gaming has become increasingly popular. Not just games on cellphones, but hand held consoles such as the Nintendo Switch are extremely popular for both game enthusiasts and light casual gamers as well. And now to join the ranks, steam has announced their new hand held console, the Steam Deck.
What Makes It Tick?
The Steam Deck is powered by a custom AMD APU. It runs on ZEN 2 architecture to result in a powerhouse that runs any AAA game. In fact, steam has claimed that they have yet to find a game that the Steam Deck can’t run. “All the games we wanted to be playable is, really, the entire Steam library. We haven’t really found something we could throw at this device that it couldn’t handle.”
| Steam Deck | |
|---|---|
| CPU | AMD Zen 2 |
| Core count | 4-core/8-thread |
| CPU clock speed | 2.4–3.5GHz |
| GPU | AMD RDNA 2 |
| GPU Compute Units | 8 |
| GPU clock speed | 1–1.6GHz |
| RAM | 16GB LPDDR5 @ 5,500MT/s 32-bit quad-channel |
| Storage | 64GB eMMC / 256GB NVMe SSD / 512GB NVMe SSD |
| Display | 7-inch LCD touchscreen |
| Resolution | 1280 x 800 |
| Refresh rate | 60Hz |
| Audio | Stereo speakers, 3.5mm jack, dual mics, USB Type-C/Bluetooth |
| Connectivity | Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, USB Type-C with DisplayPort 1.4 support |
| Battery | 40Whr |
| Size | 11.7 x 4.6 x 1.8-inch (298 x 117 x 49mm) |
| Weight | Approximately 1.47 lbs (669 grams) |
| Price | $399 (64GB) / $529 (256GB) / $649 (512GB) |
Overall the specs are quite impressive for a hand held console, that is except for the display. 720p is quite disappointing, considering most new cell phones come with a 1080p display that can run games at up to 60 fps with little to no problem.
How To Get A Steam Deck
If you’re interested in getting your hands on one, Valve has introduced a reservation system where you can pay to reserve one, so that when they come out you can purchase it. The reservation fee will be coming out of the overall cost of the Steam Deck. Since there are millions around the world showing just as much interest in it as you are, there will be quite the queue before your reservation can be processed. For more information on the steam deck and reservation system, you can read Steam’s official site page all about it.
