Everything you need to know about Steam Deck

Anyone who likes games has certainly heard about Steam Deck. It is a portable console being developed by Valve and it’s being lauded as the most powerful portable console ever created. Naturally, the pedigree of its developer and such claims are drawing everyone’s attention.

The best part about it is that it is made from the ground up to work with your Steam account. In other words, you’ll be able to play the best PC games you’ve ever bought, without having to spend much else!

All of this, of course, directly in your hands, saving a lot in terms of space. If you want to know everything about Steam Deck, just check out our complete guide below!

What is the Steam Deck?

The first part of the article couldn’t be anything else, right?

What you need to know about Steam Deck is that it is nothing more than a portable gaming console that was announced by Valve in mid-July. As you might guess from its name, the device was made to work with Valve’s Steam platform and allow you to play every game you’ve ever purchased there!

Of course, it makes perfect sense for such a device to be released. After all, the computer gaming community has always been restricted to super expensive desktops or laptops (with an external mouse, because there’s no way to play using a touchpad!).

In other words, we’ve never really been able to play our favorite games while on commute to work, for example. With the Steam Deck, everything changes, as the device is going to be really powerful and capable of handling most games other portable consoles can not.

Also, all your progress made on the Steam Deck will be saved in the cloud related to your account. That means you’ll be able to play a little bit on your laptop, and then pick up where you left off on your computer!

When will the Steam Deck be released?

As of the time of writing this article, on August 23, 2021, it does not have a specific release date. Still, Valve has promised that the first units will ship by December 2021.

It is currently only available in the United States, Canada, member countries of the European Union, and the United Kingdom. Even though it will be available in more countries next year, it is not known if it will be officially released in South America, Africa and Asia.

What are the Steam Deck specs?

The official specs have already been released. These are:

About Steam Deck and controls, it counts with 4 buttons on the right designated ABXY, a D-pad, the traditional R and L triggers, 4 additional triggers in the back, as well as analogs you can press.

It also counts with a trackpad on each side that responds to the touch of a finger.

How much will it cost?

The Steam Deck is fairly cheap if you are considering its dollar price.

The cheapest model, with a 64 GB memory size, is around US$400,00. Please note that it not only has a lower memory size than other models, but it is also slower due to it not being an SSD. When purchasing it, you also gain its case.

The second model has a 256 GB memory size on an SSD, bringing alongside its own case and an exclusive profile bundle for your Steam account. It costs US$530,00.

The most expensive model has a 512 GB memory size on an SSD, an anti-glare etched glass, an exclusive case, the exclusive profile bundle, and an exclusive virtual keyboard theme. All of this for US$650,00.

Will Steam Deck really be compatible with every game?

The answer is rather complicated, and it was supposed to be a yes. However, Steam Deck uses SteamOS, which is based on the Linux OS. The difference between this and pure Linux is on a piece of software called Proton.

It works as a compatibility layer so even Windows exclusive games can run on Linux. Unfortunately, it has multiple compatibility problems, making it so it isn’t capable to run every single game.

Even then, every game that is currently working on the Steam platform will without a shadow of a doubt work on Steam Deck, according to the developer Valve.

There are two main types of games that show these problems: the large-in-size heavy-hitters and a lot of multiplayer games, like Destiny 2, Apex Legends, and PUBG. It is worth keeping in mind that we are still months away from its release, so there’s still hope!

This means that Valve still has plenty of time to find out any errors and try to correct them to make sure it works properly. It is also good to mention that the Steam Deck will work with the Epic Games Store!

What accessories can I use with it?

If you are thinking about using mouse and keyboard to play on your Steam Deck, it’s good to set expectations straight away: the console only has one Type C USP input. This means that you’ll need an adapter for multiple USB Type A inputs, but you can probably make use of it.

Besides that, absolutely any Bluetooth device that you have in your possession will work with Steam Deck with no problem whatsoever!

Where can I pre-purchase the Steam Deck?

If you live in South America, Africa or Asia, here’s the bad news: it is not being currently pre-sold in any countries outside the ones cited above.

Now, if you are checking out this article and you live where it is available for pre-purchase, just check out the official Steam Deck page, log in with your Steam account and make the purchase!

So what do you think about Steam Deck?

Leave us a comment down below if this article informed you or if it cleared any doubts you had about Valve’s console!