Valve Officially Launches Steam Deck

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Steam Deck: The comprehensive Ars Technica review

Power, battery, software compatibility, and too many random crashes: Let’s dig in.

arstechnica.com

The bad​

• ...but that price point is low in part because Valve skips an install of the gaming-friendly OS Windows, and Deck too often struggles to parse games through its Wine compatibility layer.
• Want to get your favorite game running on Deck? Prepare to tap around a mix of in-game menus and Deck's system-level toggles to either maximize power or battery life on a game-by-game basis.
• When a game doesn't work, you might have to flip through menus—again, on a game-by-game basis—to troubleshoot possible problems like Steam Deck's buttons being incorrectly mapped or a Steam Deck element randomly freezing.
• Valve cheaped out on Deck's 7-inch LCD panel.
• Grip buttons, rumbling motors feel like an afterthought.
• Deck owners may find themselves juggling microSD cards just to maintain a solid portable game library.
• Despite Deck's power efficiency, it can only last so long when demanding games rev to 100 percent power.

The ugly​

• When your favorite game glitches, crashes, or fails to boot.

Verdict: You have to be a specific kind of patient PC gamer to enjoy Deck in its current state. If you're not, wait for its software side to match the value of its price-to-performance ratio.

The only people universally praising this box are the paid review sites that only care about securing their next review sample; not a game reviewer who actually tried using it at a local bar!

And that screen looks worse than my $35 PocketGo 1 screen made in China (so you can imagine how many cents Valve must have spent on this thing!) If people didn't care about nice screens on portable devices, then why the hell is any high-end smartphone selling? The broken back buttons, plus clunky rumble and the location of some of those touch pads will make using the thing clunky!

Stick to the switch or your pocketgo, this isn't for you or anyone not already clued up enough on PC software compatibility, and steam OS.

Anyone buying this expecting a console experience is clearly a non reading, or listening tard who likes shiney stuff with buttons. ..

As for the rest, arguable, others say different Linus of LTT fame, a handheld pc junkie(self confessed) with experience of the aya neo and many more rates the screen and controls very, very highly.

Even though he has issues with it, like the rumble (a minor issue at best on pc games)
So

Secondly chill the FF out it's a computer were debating not your wife or something FFS

 

[GoldenX]

"SteamOS", the wisest of the wolves.

Internal name "Holo".

 

[Nordic]

From the Steam Deck Owners Clubhouse​

Frequently Asked Questions:​

Spoiler: The Steam Deck is finally released, does this mean I can pay for it now?

No, not necessarily. Each week Valve will send out purchase emails in the order of the queue for your model and region. The only users who will be able to make a purchase today are those at the beginning of the queue in Q1. You will only be asked to pay when your unit is ready to ship.

Spoiler: How long do I have to purchase my Steam Deck when I receive my email?

After receiving your email you will have 72 hours to complete your purchase. If you do not complete your purchase in this window, your place in line will be surrendered and reservation will be canceled. Reserving another Steam Deck will put you at the end of that respective queue.

Spoiler: Can I change what version of the Steam Deck I want to buy when it's my time to purchase?

No. You cannot change the model of Steam Deck that you reserved. If you want a different model, you must cancel your reservation and make a new one with the model you wish. Note that this will put you at the end of that respective queue.

Spoiler: What about the Steam Deck official dock? Can I buy that when I check-out too?

As far as we know currently, no. Valve has said that the official dock will be available for purchase in late Spring 2022.
The Steam Deck website has been updated with a new look and a picture of the official dock. The following list is not a comprehensive list.

Spoiler: What purchase methods can I use to pay for my Steam Deck?

You will be able to use any payment method you normally use on Steam to purchase your Steam Deck. This includes credit card, PayPal, and Steam Wallet funds.

Spoiler: What comes in the box?

The Steam Deck ships with a carrying case (with the Steam Deck already inside), a microfiber cloth, and a 45 watt USB-C AC power adapter for your region. No other additional accessories.

Spoiler: When will I get my Steam Deck?

If you have just reserved - be prepared to wait at least 6 months. Pre-orders are currently shipping for those who reserved 7 months ago.

You can find Valve's official estimation by visiting the Steam Deck reservation page. You need to be logged in.

Valve is not prioritizing based off anything other than your queue position. Each queue is region and storage specific.

Your estimation will say either Q1, Q2, or After Q2. The 'Q' refers to Quarter. Nobody has a more specific date than what Valve provides. Your exact timing will depend on when you placed your reservation, for example someone who is in After Q2 placed in December 2021 will get their Deck before you if you are After Q2 placed in January 2022.

Q1 = February, March 2022

Q2 = April, May, June 2022

After Q2 = July 2022 and later.

The first round of Steam Deck purchases commenced on February 25th at 10AM PST. The next round will begin on Monday 7th March.

Desperate to get an estimation? You can use an unofficial calculator. These are plotting data from your region, storage choice, the Valve estimation and your timestamp for reservation in order to provide you with an educated estimation of when to expect your Deck.

Spoiler: What is the difference between the different Deck models? What are the Deck specifications?

Below is a table of the differences. Anything in 'Bold' is the highest specification.

	64GB (£349, $399, 419€)	256GB (£459, $529, 549€)	512GB (£569, $649, 679€)
Storage	64GB eMMC	256GB NVMe	512GB NVMe
Display	Regular	Regular	Anti-Glare Etched Glass
Carry Case	Regular	Regular	Exclusive Case
Community Profile	None	Exclusive Profile Bundle	Exclusive Profile Bundle
Keyboard Theme	None	None	Exclusive Virtual Keyboard Theme

eMMC and NVMe refer to the type and speed of an SSD. Put simply, the NVMe storage type is significantly faster than eMMC.

All other specifications are identical between Deck versions. Click this link to see the full specs.

Spoiler: Can I play [x] game on the Deck? How many games can I play?

The best way to check is Steam's official compatibility checker. It will show you a list of 'Verified' games at the top, followed by your 'Playable' games. It will then follow with the 'Unsupported' games. If you don't see the game you are looking for in any of those lists, and it's definitely in your library, it is currently untested.

If you aren't logged in. Use CheckMyDeck. It is also preferred by some for the layout/detail.

You can find a full list of games that have been officially tested by Valve and marked as verified or playable on SteamDB. This list is constantly growing as Valve tests more games, and as more games adapt their games to work on the Deck.

Just because a game is not marked as verified or playable, it doesn't mean it won't work. It simply means that it has not been tested. If your game is marked as 'Unknown' or cannot be found on either list, then it could work, but also might not - the best way to find out at that point is using ProtonDB.

Non-Steam games should work, depending on their specific launcher, but these won't be rated for playability. In these cases, games which are showing on Lutris may work, though this isn't as easy nor as elegant as Steam's solution. Xbox Game Pass (PC Game Pass) will not work, as this requires Windows. You can use xCloud Game Streaming, however.

Many multiplayer games use anti-cheat software which isn't compatible with Proton/Linux. Such games currently include Rainbow Six Siege and Halo Infinite. As time goes on, these may become compatible.

Some popular game launchers are unavailable on Linux, you can find replacements below:

• Heroic Games Launcher (Epic Games Launcher)
• MiniGalaxy (GOG Galaxy)
• GameHub (GOG Galaxy, Humble Bundle, Itch.io, also handles Steam)

You can also run emulators on the Steam Deck. The best way to download these is through the app store Discover. You can download Yuzu, Citra, Dolphin, Snes9x and many other emulators. The app store will allow you to easily install and update these, and remove them should you wish to do so. Once installed, you can add these to be viewable from directly within the Steam Deck's regular interface.

Spoiler: What programs should I install on the Deck?

See Foxlet's Linux List here - a set of applications which you may find useful to install.

To install any of the applications, simply click the link next to the program, and select 'Install'. This will then open Discover, the above mentioned app store. You'll then see the app you're looking to install. From there, select to 'Install' again. Depending on the app chosen, you then may see a dialog asking if you wish to install optional dependencies. Finally, you'll see a list of required dependencies, which you'll need to agree to. Once you've accepted, the chosen app will begin installing.

You'll be able to find it in the 'Start Menu' when it has installed.

With thanks to u/torac for this answer.

Spoiler: Can I do [x] like my PC on my Steam Deck?

Yes. Your Steam Deck is a small, portable PC. This means that anything you can do on your PC, you can do on the Steam Deck. It's important to note that by default, the Steam Deck ships with SteamOS 3.0, compared to Windows there will be differences, so it may take some time to learn your way around before you become as comfortable as you are in Windows. Alternatively, you could always install Windows on your Steam Deck.

If you want to see what to expect from the SteamOS 3.0 desktop, take a look at KDE Plasma - it's the pre-installed desktop interface. By default, your Steam Deck will open on to the new Steam "Big Picture" mode.

Installing new programs on Linux is different from Windows. On SteamOS 3.0, you'll want to use the in-built app store Discover to download new programs, such as Chromium, Thunderbird and OBS.

In order to use your Steam Deck more like a PC, you'll likely want to connect some USB devices. See the question below for more details on that.

Spoiler: How can I dock the Deck? How do I connect USB devices / monitors/TVs?

In order to connect USB devices, like a keyboard and mouse, you will need either a USB-C hub/dock, as the Deck has only a single USB-C port at the top. If your devices support them, you can also use Bluetooth (for Windows setup, you will need a USB-C hub/dock). The official Valve dock is currently not available at the time of writing, however any reputable branded USB-C hub which has a USB-C PD passthrough, as well as at least 2 USB ports is suitable. Here is an example of one - or a 4K 60HZ compatible one. It's important to check the specifications of the hub to make sure it can run the devices you will connect, including the power delivery compatibility.

Spoiler: What is the Steam Deck's BIOS/UEFI? How do I use it?

The Steam Deck has a pretty extensive set of viewable options and properties within the BIOS, which you may wish to tinker with. Some items, such as APU Power can also be controlled from within software, which is a preferable method as you won't need to restart to apply changes every time. You can browse the menu using the D-Pad, and the A/B buttons to Accept/Reject as such.

Spoiler: How good is the battery life? How can I extend it?

This again depends on what you are playing, the settings, frame rate limit, screen brightness and many other factors. Valve officially says the Steam Deck can get between 2 hours - 8 hours, running at 30FPS, 50% brightness, and 50% volume. In the most intensive cases, your battery life may be as low as 90 minutes as per some reports, though this is not indicative of most real world use cases.

As per a video by The Phawx, using FSR (an upscaler, allows you to run games at a lower resolution such as 540p and upscale them to the Deck's 800p, whilst looking better than just running at 540p), a frame rate cap of 30FPS or lowering the game resolution can more than double the battery life in the most intensive games, without needing to drop graphics settings.

The Steam Deck by default will limit games to 60FPS, to avoid battery life loss. You can choose to remove this or lower it as you see fit. Valve has also included a tool called GameScope, which allows you to cap the frame rate of any game, as well as enable FSR on unsupported games. It's currently recommended to use the frame rate cap on GameScope rather than in-game, though. This helps with frame times, as some games do not implement frame rate caps very well.

As the Steam Deck is powered from a USB-C connection, a powerful PD power bank can supply enough charge to keep your Steam Deck powered and not discharging. In order to prevent discharging, this should be at least 45W. If you want to use a USB-C Hub/Dock at the same time, you need to account for the power draw of that, so around 65W should be used.

You can use a weaker power bank (e.g. 18W), but your Deck will discharge as you play. The essential part of any power bank is PD-compliance. If the power bank doesn't have that capability, it's not likely to correctly work.

With thanks to u/ThreeSon for a comment here.

Spoiler: Can I change my reservation from xGB to yGB?

No, your current Steam Deck storage choice is final for your reservation. If you wish to swap, your only choice is to cancel your reservation and reserve the size you now want. This will put you back at the end of the queue.

Spoiler: Can I upgrade the storage?

Yes, at your own risk. Depending on local laws, opening your Deck will invalidate your warranty. Please follow a tutorial for taking your Steam Deck apart, like the one from iFixIt. You need an M.2 2230 size, which is smaller than the typical M.2 size, as well as the EMI shielding (you can re-use the one the Deck SSD came with). Here is a list of drives that are expected to work - this hasn't been officially confirmed as we don't have hands on at the time of writing. Links are an example, and may not be the best price / in stock.

• Samsung PM991 (only a 512GB link, please let me know if you have a 1TB link)
• Kingston OM3PDP3512B-A01
• Kioxia BG4 (please suggest a link if you have one!)
• WD SN530 2230 (make sure it is 2230, they make these in multiple sizes)

Spoiler: Is the 64GB / micro SD card going to be too slow?

As of the time of writing, we do not have hands on with a 64GB to confirm, however what we do have is micro SD card tests.

Linus Tech Tips did a few loading tests, and found in GhostRunner the loading time was 19 seconds on SD card compared to 8 seconds on the 512GB SSD. See the video. This is only a single game test, but it will highly depend on a game by game basis as to how well it works.

The 256GB/512GB models do have faster storage, so the best experience will always be had on these. If you're handy, check the previous FAQ question to look in to upgrading your storage.

Spoiler: How powerful is the Steam Deck? What settings can I expect?

The Steam Deck is, in most games, the most powerful handheld PC thus far. Therefore, if you see any videos with games running on a different portable PC, such as an AYA NEO, it will only run better on the Steam Deck (generally).

Here are a few games, and the respective settings and frame rate to give a rough idea.

• Control, 1280x800 Low, Average 59.5FPS
• DMC5, 1280x800 Medium FXAA+TAA, Average 86.2FPS
• Ghostrunner, 1280x800 Medium, Average 89.8FPS
• Dead Cells, 1280x800, Average 165FPS*
  • This game runs slower compared to competing devices, for an unknown reason at this time. It is still at 165FPS though - which is far above what the 60HZ display can push.
• Forza Horizon 5, 1280x800 Low, Average 60FPS*
  • Game is locked to 60FPS, but also has a physics issue, click the link to watch the video on the issue.

Spoiler: How does my PC/laptop compare to the Steam Deck?

This depends on your specifications, but is also not a great basis to work off. The Steam Deck will have a smaller resolution than most modern (2015+) gaming laptops/PC monitors, whilst also having one of the most powerful integrated graphics. Please see the previous question as to how well it runs games - that is the best way of showcasing the performance. You can then look up how well the games run on your hardware / test your own hardware in comparison, and then you'll get a more definitive answer.

Spoiler: Is the screen good? Will it look blurry / sharp?

The screen is a 1280x800 60HZ IPS panel, with a size of 7". Whilst this might sound low, that gives it a Pixels per Inch (PPI) of 215. To put this in comparison, a 1920x1080 24" gaming monitor has a PPI of only 92. Whilst a gaming monitor is placed further away from you than the Steam Deck likely will be, it is still very unlikely to look 'blurry', though this is dependent on how close you hold it and your personal eyesight.

If you have a regular Nintendo Switch, you can use that a rough basis for what you expect from the Deck. The Switch has a slightly higher PPI at around 235, but it's close enough that if you find the Switch blurry/not blurry, you can pretty safely assume the same on the Steam Deck.

The screen is not the most colour accurate, though the screen does have a good response time, and can get very dim, whilst also being able to get fairly bright.

Spoiler: Will the controls be comfortable?

This is dependent on your hand size. For many, the Nintendo Switch is uncomfortable due to a very cramped control in order to ensure portability. The Steam Deck has much more space dedicated to the controls, including full-height joysticks. It's hard to tell specifically if you'll enjoy them or not without trying for yourself, but reports from reviews are positive, which is a good indicator as it gets to more people.

Spoiler: Does the Steam Deck have 3G/4G/5G? How can I play online games on the move?

The Steam Deck does not support cellular/mobile connectivity, it only supports WiFi. You can hotspot your phone to your Steam Deck, though do be warned that this will drain your phone battery quite quickly.

Spoiler: How does the purchasing process work? Can I use Steam Wallet / [x] payment method?

Once your time comes to purchase a Steam Deck, you will receive an email from Steam (noreply@steampowered.com) advising you that you are next in line to purchase. The email looks like this. If you have received the email, you can also go here and choose to purchase. You have 72 hours from receiving that email to purchase your Deck, otherwise your reservation will be forfeited.

As part of the payment process, you will select your shipping address. This needs to be in the same region you reserved, but it does not need to be the same billing address used to place the reservation. You can change address after purchasing within 24 hours of placing the order. To do so, go here and select 'Shipment Details' next to your Steam Deck purchase (you need to be logged in).

You can use Steam Wallet Funds (either for the entire amount, or just a partial amount), as well as any other payment method Steam supports (e.g. PayPal, Credit Card, etc). You will receive Steam Points for the purchase. You can only purchase the storage size you reserved. All Euro and GBP (£) amounts are the final price, including shipping, and all other fees. USD ($) price does not include any sales taxes, which will be shown at checkout if applicable.

Once purchased, you should receive further updates on when to expect your Deck via email, including tracking. See the full shipping FAQ here.

Spoiler: What charger will I receive?

You will receive the 45W charger, with an appropriate plug for your specific region. The Steam Deck supports up to a 45W adapter. If you are using a USB-C Hub/Dock, you will need more power to account for that, including any extra USB devices.

Spoiler: Can I play non-controller games with the Steam Deck's built-in controls?

Yes. Thanks to Steam Input, any game that has been originally designed for mouse & keyboard only, can be played without a mouse or a keyboard just using the Steam Deck's own controls, even if the game requires hundreds of hotkeys / keyboard combinations (such as WoW, ARMA, Elite Dangerous).

You'll be able to create custom touch menus for both of the two touch pads, with up to 16 different keys / macros assigned to each. But that's not the limit, you can also make it so that when you hold one of the four back buttons on the controller (or any other buttons of your choosing), the touch pad keys / macros change to a completely different set, so you can theoretically assign more than a hundred keys onto a single touch pad. The same can be done for the DPad and thumbsticks.

These touch menus can either show the keyboard key that they activate, or you can add custom icons to them, so for example, if you play Skyrim and have your sword hotkey assigned to 1, and bow to 2, you can add icons with a picture of a sword and a bow, making your on-screen touch menu simpler to understand.

The Steam Deck also has a touch screen, so playing games that normally use a mouse, such as Civilization, Cities: Skylines or Don't Starve should work great on that.

Even FPS games like CS:GO will be very playable on the Steam Deck, thanks to the possibility of using the built-in gyro for aiming.

Steam Input supports non-Steam games too, though you do need to manually add these yourself.

Credit to u/apinanaivot on the original FAQ for this answer.

Spoiler: Where are the reviews?

• Linus Tech Tips Hardware Review | UI Review
• GamersNexus Hardware Review | UI Review
• The Phawx Hardware Review | UI Review | Many more on his channel

Anything marked as a 'Hardware Review' released around the 7th Feb 2022, when the full embargo had not lifted. Anything marked as a 'UI Review' released around the 25th Feb 2022, when the full embargo was lifted. They may not specifically focus around the topic mentioned.

Longer list, with French and German reviews, here!

Spoiler: I have a question which isn't in this FAQ, help!

It's more than likely that your question is asked in a different way to how I have worded it, so search the FAQ by keyword. For example, if your question is "What are the Steam Deck's controls", search for "controls" - you'll find your answer that way. Please also check the Valve FAQ.

Secondly, search the sub for the question - many questions have already been asked so it's unlikely that nobody has asked your specific question yet.

If it definitely isn't here, then ask in the comments. It helps keep the subreddit from being flooded with the same question! I'll be active and responding where I know in the comments, and as will others in the community. I'll look to keep the main list updated (and credit users for their contributions) in order to make it as simple as possible.

With thanks: u/torac for many useful suggestions, the r/SteamDeck moderators for being great, and all the helpful users in the commenters below for helping to answer questions and for smaller suggestions.

Source

News Coverage​

Spoiler: New Trailers

Steam Deck is here (Valve)

New Valve demo - Aperature Desk Job Trailer (Valve)

Spoiler: Video Reviews

The Steam Deck is Incomplete (LinusTechTips)

Steam Deck 1-Month Review: SteamOS Difficulties, Software, & User Experience (Gamer Nexus)

Steam Deck Review - Playing PC Games Has Never Been Easier! (The Phawx)

Steam Deck Live Q&A (The Phawx - Live stream)

Steam Deck Review: Console Quality Handheld Gaming - Believe It! (Digital Foundry)

Valve Steam Deck Handheld Gaming PC Review! (Adam Savage's Tested)

Steam Deck Review: PC Gaming in Your Palm, at Long Last (CNet)

Steam Deck Review in Progress (IGN)

Gabe Newell on Steam Deck's Launch and Future (IGN)

Steam Deck review: Valve's handheld gaming PC (Engadget)

Spoiler: Publication Reviews

Steam Deck Review 85/100 (PC Gamer)

Steam Deck Review (TechRadar)

Steam Deck Review: An Unrivaled Portable Gaming Powerhouse (Forbes)

Steam Deck review: the handheld PC capable of console quality gaming (EuroGamer)

Steam Deck: The comprehensive Ars Technica review (Ars Technica)

The Steam Deck Review (GameInformer)

Steam Deck review: Just portable enough (Yahoo Finance)

Steam Deck Review - Redefinition (GameSpot)

Steam Deck review: Switch up your expectations (Shacknews)

3 reasons why the Steam Deck is the ultimate handheld (Digital Trends)

Gabe Newell talks Steam Deck, crypto risks and why the PC industry “won’t tolerate” closed platforms (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Here's what Valve have been playing on Steam Deck (Rock, Paper, Shotgun)

Steam Deck performace tested: How do your favorite games play? (Windows Central)

Source

Steam Deck Game Verification Progress​

• Steam Deck Verified: 426 titles
• Steam Deck Playable: 399 titles
• Total: 825 titles
• Right now we have on average 23.2 new validated titles added on a daily basis to that list.

Verified = The game works great on Steam Deck, right out of the box.
Playable = The game may require some manual tweaking by the user to play.
Unsupported = The game is currently not functional on Steam Deck.
Unknown = We haven't checked this game for compatibility yet.
You can see the most up to date verified and playable titles here.
You can see what specific games in your library are ready here.

Source

The device is already thick due to the grips, so they're missing an opportunity by not adding a modular extra battery to fit in the space between the grips.

It wouldn't cover the whole area, but even accounting for the finger grips, there is volume there for a significant battery boost, which is critical for a device like this. It would have been a great value-added feature...

They still could honestly, or even a third party as others has mentioned. I expect such devices to come out third party. They should work well as long as they don't cover the fan. I suspect most Deck owners won't want the extra weight. Valve wasn't even able to release the usb dock at he same time because they were too busy ensuring the experience of the Deck was as flawless as possible for launch and the Deck still needs a lot of work after launch. What makes you think that Valve had time to make an add on like that when they haven't had time to release the dock?

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Anyone else just noticed that they're nudged to Q3?! Like me :/

 

[Cutechri]

Anyone else just noticed that they're nudged to Q3?! Like me :/

Same here... AFTER Q3! October! Ugh. I really only care about the beautiful profile.

I hope the reservation rewards aren't time limited. And I hope it doesn't ACTUALLY take that long, and production increases.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

Same here... AFTER Q3! October! Ugh. I really only care about the beautiful profile.

I hope the reservation rewards aren't time limited. And I hope it doesn't ACTUALLY take that long, and production increases.

I was hoping for a fair few pre order bailee's personally, looks like some barged the que instead, I'm British, we know how to que, I better not see no skipping.

 

[Cutechri]

I think Valve's just assuming the worst and playing it safe by estimating it to the worst case scenario, I think I'll receive the e-mail way sooner than that say in July. Fingers crossed. Let's hope I'm right

 

[ThrashZone]

Hi,
I don't know but post 28 has the most spoilers I've ever seen

 

[Durvelle27]

Anyone else just noticed that they're nudged to Q3?! Like me :/

Yep was Q2 now says Q3

 

[Nordic]

Were you Q2 or Q2+? Q2+ was always going to be Q3 or later. I am now Q3. I expect my steam deck in July.

 

[Cutechri]

Were you Q2 or Q2+? Q2+ was always going to be Q3. I am now Q3. I expect my steam deck in July.

I was After Q2. Now I'm After Q3. Hopefully, I'll also get it around July. Right in time for my birthday.

 

[Durvelle27]

Were you Q2 or Q2+? Q2+ was always going to be Q3 or later. I am now Q3. I expect my steam deck in July.

I was just Q2 not after. Now it says Q3

 

[Nordic]

I was just Q2 not after. Now it says Q3

That is unfortunate. Valve has said they will improve their predictions over time as shipping data comes in. They also said that they plan to be shipping 100k a month starting in April. The silver lining is that valve seems to be selling a lot of Decks.