A new challenger approaches. The infamous Nintendo Switch is getting rivaled by Valve this winter. The Steam Deck is looking to try and take some mobile market share from its competition in a big way.
The Steam Deck is a new portable gaming device by Valve that resembles the Nintendo Switch in many ways. There will be three models upon release depending on the amount of storage size you want.
Valve announced today on Steam the release date will officially be in December 2021.
We partnered with AMD to create Steam Deck’s custom APU, optimized for handheld gaming. It is a Zen 2 + RDNA 2 powerhouse, delivering more than enough performance to run the latest AAA games in a very efficient power envelope.” – Steam Deck devs
Steam Deck will boast a 7″ screen that puts it on par with the Nintendo Switch and the recently announced OLED model.
There are some pretty significant differences from the Valve’s new hardware and the Nintendo Switch. For starters, the controllers don’t detach like they do on the Switch. This can either be a pro or con depending on who you ask. Also, because the Steam Deck is from Valve, you can expect the full arsenal of games available on Steam. If you’re looking for Nintendo games, you might want to stick with the Switch.
The Steam Deck Specs
When a fancy new piece of hardware comes out the first thing I want to know about is the specs. Ladies and gentlemen, here you go.
| 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) |
| RAM | 16 GB LPDDR5 |
| Resolution | 1280 x 800px |
| Screen | 7″ optically bonded LCD |
| Adapter | Bluetooth 5.0 |
| Connection | Wi-FiDual-band Wi-Fi radio, 2.4GHz and 5GHz, 2 x 2 MIMO, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac |
To top it off, the Steam Deck will feature a built-in mic for team communication and will coem with the option to alter the graphics settings on games. Battery life is estimated around 2-8 hours depending on what you’re doing with the device.
Steam Deck will run the latest version of SteamOS and will basically be a mini-pc in your hands. Valve said you will even have the option to “install third party software and operating systems.”