The Nintendo Switch (OLED model) wasn't the "Pro" upgrade many expected it to be with 4K support and new internals but before its announcement, other handhelds aimed to take the role of the "Switch Pro". The AYA NEO and GPD Win 3 are among those devices shooting for that nickname since they are able to run recent AAA PC games on the go, given that they are handheld gaming PCs. Their efforts and popularity, although niche, enticed companies like Lenovo and Tencent to make similar concepts or patents; indicating that these indie companies might have more serious competition in the future.

It seems like this will indeed be the case and these handheld gaming PC manufacturers will need to brace themselves as Valve is itself entering this market with a Valve-branded handheld gaming PC. This news was actually reported back in May and today we have the official confirmation. In a Steam post today, Valve revealed the Steam Deck, an AMD-based handheld gaming PC that is expected to begin shipping in December 2021 in select regions.

The software giant partnered with AMD to create a custom APU for the handheld that is said to be "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," reads the announcement.

It will run on SteamOS 3.0 (Arch-based) and there will be several models of the Steam Deck, which differ on the storage capacity, with the base model starting at $399. However, every model will include a microSD slot for additional storage capacity. For more details about the models available and their price, refer to the image below:

You can find additional specs details in the images below (click/tap to enlarge):

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And just like the AYA NEO and GPD Win 3, the Steam Deck will also have a dock which will be sold separately. This accessory will provide ports for external displays, wired networking, USB peripherals, and power. More details about the dock's pricing will be announced at a later date but you can find some specs details in the thumbnail below:

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Valve says that the Steam Deck will start shipping this December to the United States, Canada, the European Union and the United Kingdom, with more regions coming in 2022. However, to be able to purchase one, you will need to book a paid reservation which will let you pre-order when the time comes. This reservation fee will also count towards the Steam Deck purchase price.

"The main reason for reservations is to ensure an orderly and fair ordering process for customers when Steam Deck inventory becomes available," writes Valve in the announcement FAQ. "The additional fee gives us a clearer signal of intent to purchase, which gives us better data to balance supply chain, inventory, and regional distribution leading up to launch."

Reservations for the Steam Deck will open Friday July 16th, 10am PDT. For more details about the new handheld gaming PC, head to the source link and official Steam Deck website linked below.

Are you interested in getting one?

SOURCE
Steam Deck Official Website

 

[AirbusX]

Day 1 Purchase for me

 

[Chrisssj2]

"It will have 1.69tflops or thereabouts. The new Arya Neo lands at around 1.1" for GPD win 3. this will have like 1.6 to 2 teraflops? yet to be determined. So performance on similiar level as GPD win 3?
How? When they are using a dedicated graphics unit as per the GPD win and such use intel internal proc GPU?

 

[GBADWB]

DLSS no longer also rquires training by A.I just so you know. And at this point DLSS is still superiour.

its not superior in all fronts, one of the big things DLSS introduces is ghosting in some situations, due to the fact that its a temporal and motion vector based upscaling tech.

"It will have 1.69tflops or thereabouts. The new Arya Neo lands at around 1.1" for GPD win 3. this will have like 1.6 to 2 teraflops? yet to be determined. So performance on similiar level as GPD win 3?
How? When they are using a dedicated graphics unit as per the GPD win and such use intel internal proc GPU?

tflops between vendors are not exactly comparable. its only when youre comparing flops from one AMD device to another, or one nvidia device to another where its more accurate.

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

"It will have 1.69tflops or thereabouts. The new Arya Neo lands at around 1.1" for GPD win 3. this will have like 1.6 to 2 teraflops? yet to be determined. So performance on similiar level as GPD win 3?
How? When they are using a dedicated graphics unit as per the GPD win and such use intel internal proc GPU?

They're not using dedicated graphics, they're using an APU. The integrated graphics are simply RDNA 2 based compute units, whereas past AMD APUs were Vega based.

 

[Xzi]

DLSS no longer also rquires training by A.I just so you know. And at this point DLSS is still superiour.

DLSS would be great...if it wasn't limited to only two series of GPUs that nobody can buy at reasonable prices. As a GTX 1000 series owner, I have to wait for AMD to provide some facsimile of DLSS for my card, and that's really quite pathetic on Nvidia's part.

 

[mspy]

DLSS no longer also rquires training by A.I just so you know. And at this point DLSS is still superiour.

Any proof or I am to take your word for it? Is there any games that even support DLSS and FSR at the same time so you can compare which one is better?

Also DLSS is an AI based technology which requires training, what they did was eliminate the per-game training that DLSS 1.0 fiasco required. If anything, for the simple fact that FSR is open source and not proprietary like DLSS (FSR even supports nvidia GPUs) devs will most likely support FSR 100%, making it open source was truly a genius move by AMD.

 

[Foxi4]

DLSS would be great...if it wasn't limited to only two series of GPUs that nobody can buy at reasonable prices. As a GTX 1000 series owner, I have to wait for AMD to provide some facsimile of DLSS for my card, and that's really quite pathetic on Nvidia's part.

As far as I know, FSR already works on 10-series GPU's, if that's what you're waiting for.

 

[64bitmodels]

399 for a portable handheld gaming pc.
youre joking
i think i read that wrong
this is actually affordable.
bout the price of a digital ps5 as well
thank you valve

 

[Xzi]

As far as I know, FSR already works on 10-series GPU's, if that's what you're waiting for.

I suppose that was bad phrasing. I am excited to see the technology improve further, but at the moment I'm more than happy enough with what my GPU can do natively at 1440p.

 

[64bitmodels]

The thing here is that i dont see Nintendo nowadays doing something so risky as launching a more powerful console. If they cant produce at a cheap price, i dont see them selling it.

the oled is the first nintendo console to go above 300- im pretty sure nintendo doesnt care about making their stuff cheap anymore. especially considering the price of all of their triple A exclusives

 

[Lodad]

EDIT: It's going to have a 2230 (a very small form factor, smaller than current 2280 standard) M.2 slot for the SSD, and the top-end model is apparently going to offer high-end anti-glare glass for the screen. Who knows if the LCD itself will offer anything special. But, the important part is that the $250 larger price tag might just make sense due to the fact that a 512GB 2230 M.2 drive actually costs that much from a quality brand. Hopefully by the time it comes out, there will be aftermarket solutions available for the less premium models that can at least close the gap in storage for a better price.

The SD card slot bit tells me you can't use your own M.2 drives. I ain't spending $250 more for 512 GB when you can get a 1 TB Samsung SSD for $159.

So what are you gonna do, play two hours of Candy Crush before your battery dies? If you've got bangin' internet and a really good data connection, I'd understand using this for Steam Link on the go (or in your house like an excited time traveler from 2012 who wanted the Wii U to play PC games) and therefore not really needing the storage, but 512 GB is like four AAA games nowadays. And I'm way out of the loop on SteamOS, but is there even full compatibility across the Steam Library for PC games? What could the graphics capabilities of this mobile AMD chipset be?

I was more enthusiastic about the other handheld PCs that have been announced over the past year (was it AYA NEO and another GPDWin product?), but I really like the touch pads on Valve's controllers, so I'm a bit conflicted.

 

[Xzi]

399 for a portable handheld gaming pc.
youre joking
i think i read that wrong
this is actually affordable.
bout the price of a digital ps5 as well
thank you valve

Make no mistake, in the current climate it will sell out quickly, but yeah it's a great device at a stellar price point. If I didn't already have a solid gaming desktop, I'd use it with the dock as my main PC.

 

[64bitmodels]

Make no mistake, in the current climate it will sell out quickly, but yeah it's a great device at a stellar price point. If I didn't already have a solid gaming desktop, I'd use it with the dock as my main PC.

i wont use it as a main pc or anything but damn that price point is competitive

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Not enough ram, lack of mouse/touchpad and keyboard and you can play more games wasting a bit more and getting a 500 bucks laptop.

how is 16 gb not enough ram???

 

[ZeroT21]

Guess pc's and consoles are the same

 

[shadow1w2]

Oh this looks nice.
I loved the Steam controller and this seems a logical step in the right direction.
Controller design wise that is.
Does look a little cramped though.

I've been waiting for something like this for a long time and looking forward to see how emulation handles on it.

Switch is still good for casual local multiplayer though so I dont see myself abandoning it completely.

Though without restrictions I could just grab a small 8bitdo pad to carry around and toss to friend. Hmm.

Really hope this does well and promotes more open non restricted platforms.
Even if it doesnt do well its already doing a lot of things I like.

 

[the_randomizer]

With chip shortages included? Sign me up!

 

[64bitmodels]

With chip shortages included? Sign me up!

that's the biggest problem here- then again if they do a reservation system for the preorders it could work itself out

 

[gamesquest1]

nice, I know valve have a habit of bringing something to market then quietly dropping it, but at least with a big company behind it you know the quality is going to be consistent and not pushed to the limit where it dies within a few months and the warranty process being such a pain it becomes impossible to even bother with, here hoping there is just user accessible M.2 slot to upgrade the storage on the base model as M.2 SSD's are pretty affordable at this point and you could pick up a 1TB M.2 drive for cheaper than difference between the base model and the 512gb model

 

[CompSciOrBust]

Already have that with the switch. Moonlight baby!

My laptop has an AMD apu and my Switch is Mariko so it can't use xCloud via android.

 

[the_randomizer]

that's the biggest problem here- then again if they do a reservation system for the preorders it could work itself out

I wouldn't bank on it. Don't forget those conceited prick scalpers too.