An impressive new handheld console has taken the gaming community by storm. Valve announced their answer to the Nintendo Switch with the Steam Deck, a handheld console that allows players to take their entire PC Gaming library on the go.
For years now, PC gamers have been logging into their Steam accounts and compiling a library of the latest and greatest games. Now those vast libraries will be playable anywhere thanks to Valve’s brand new handheld console, the Steam Deck.
The Steam Deck uses a custom APU, a processor designed to optimize handheld devices, created by AMD. It’s an impressive Zen 2 + RDNA 2, capable of running the latest AAA games with ease. Furthermore, the Steam Deck will be available in 3 different versions ranging from $399 to $649. The higher you go up in price, the more impressive the Steam Deck gets.
While the Steam Deck is an obvious competitor the Nintendo Switch, as is evident by the design, docking station, and the fact that it was announced on the same day the Nintendo OLED version went on sale, the specs and seemingly limitless gaming possibilities make it stand out as an entirely unique, enticing gaming system, despite the price. It’s even capable of downloading Windows and thus Xbox Game Pass. That’s unbelievably cool.
As of today, Friday July 16, 2021 at 10am PDT, $5 reservations will go live on the Steam Store for the Steam Deck. This is Valve’s attempt to thwart bots and scalpers from preordering all the stock by making interested parties pay to reserve. By reserving, you’ll be placed in a queue to purchase your Steam Deck in December 2021. Depending on when you reserved will dictate when you get the opportunity to purchase. So, it’s best to reserve sooner rather than later.
As of now, reservations will only be available for players in the United States, Canada, European Union, and UK. Availability for the rest of the world will start sometime in 2022.
