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- Brooklyn, NY
- KR_Viper
- I Renown I
So this took me completely by surprise. Valve announces the Steam Deck, their new handheld that's set to release this December. Powered by an AMD Zen 2-based CPU and RDNA 2-based GPU, the Deck will have more than enough power to drive its 1280x800 native resolution. Beginning tomorrow, you can reserve yours for a whopping five smackaroos ($5 USD) with Valve getting in touch with those with a reservation (in the order reserved) closer to launch to make the full purchase.
Speaking of the full purchase, let's talk price. How much is the Steam Deck? Prices start at $399 for the cheapest model. With it comes 64GB of eMMC internal storage and a carrying case. Moving up to the $529 model nets you a 256GB NVMe SSD and an exclusive steam community profile bundle, in addition to the carrying case. Finally, there's the $649 model which bumps up the SSD storage to 512GB and includes "premium anti-glare etched glass" as well as an exclusive virtual keyboard theme.
It should be noted that all models include a MicroSD card slot for further storage expansion. Come December, the Deck will initially be available for shipping to the US, Canada, EU, and the UK with more regions to follow suit in 2022. Like the Nintendo Switch, the Deck can also be docked. Yes, there's an official dock albeit a separate accessory with more information coming at a later date. What we know at the moment is it will include an HDMI 2.0 port, DisplayPort 1.4, an RJ45 Ethernet port, 2 USB 2.0 slots, and a single USB 3.1 port. Power to the Deck comes in the form of a USB-C connection. Meaning, naturally, you can simply use a powered USB-C hub to keep the Deck going as well.
Here's a list of specs:
Processor AMD APU
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)
APU power: 4-15W
RAM 16 GB LPDDR5 RAM (5500 MT/s)
Storage 64 GB eMMC (PCIe Gen 2 x1)
256 GB NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
512 GB high-speed NVMe SSD (PCIe Gen 3 x4)
All models include high-speed microSD card slot
All models use socketed 2230 m.2 modules (not intended for end-user replacement)
Resolution
1280 x 800px (16:10 aspect ratio)
Type Optically bonded LCD for enhanced readability
Display size 7" diagonal
Brightness 400 nits typical
Refresh rate 60Hz
Touch enabled Yes
Sensors Ambient light sensor
What are your thoughts? I'm all but ready to lay down my $5.
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