Steam Deck is Valve's PC handheld answer to the Switch and it's out in December

(Image credit: Valve)

Valve will release a parvenue handheld gaming arrangement called the Steam Deck this December, efficaciously bounteous all game on Steam the portability of the Nintendo Trade.

The company announced the new handheld today. Starting at $399 and grading upfield to $649 with additive internal computer storage and accessories, the Steam Grace comes fully loaded with thumbsticks, a D-pad, touch trackpads to mimic sneak out movements, and typeface buttons, as healed as shoulder and back buttons.

The basic $399 Steam Pack of cards sports 64GB of internal storage (eMCC format) and comes with a carrying case. For $529, you can elevate to 256GB of quicker memory board on an NVMe SSD – like the ones utilized in the PS5 and Xbox Serial publication X – and get an exclusive Steam visibility bundle. At the top end of $649, you get 512GB of space on a fast NVMe SSD plus a model with a premium anti-glare etched glass screen, and information technology comes with exclusive accessories including a virtual keyboard theme and a special case.

The general form gene is undeniably reminiscent of the Switch, just it's got a circumstances more going on – especially under the hood, using a custom AMD Zen 2 APU to power the thing. With a quadriceps-core Zen 2 CPU running at 2.4 - 3.5GHz, 8 RDNA 2 CUs running at 1 - 1.6GHZ for the GPU, and 16GB of DDR5 RAM, Valve says the Steam Deck comfortably "runs the latest AAA games."

The whole Steam Deck specs confirm a 7" 1280x800 touch-enabled LCD screen with a 60Hz refresh rate. The hand-held's 40WHr battery delivers 2 - 8 hours of battery life depending on the strength of what you're playacting, and the whole handheld filaree in at 669 grams, or roughly 1.4 pounds. All models come with a fast microSD card slot, and the handheld as wel supports 2.4GHz and 5GHz Wifi, Bluetooth 5.0 for controllers and accessories, and a 3.5mm audio output.

Crucially, and also like the Switch over, Steam Decorate has a USB-C dock that you can use to relate to external displays for up to 4K 120HZ Beaver State 8K 60Hz output. The loading dock has two USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.1 for peripherals, DisplayPort and HDMI output signal, and hardline ethernet. The Steam Deck dock leave be sold singly (for a currently unrevealed price), and because Steam Deck is effectively an open PC, Valve says you can conscionable wa it into a TV OR monitor and "do your regular productiveness stuff, establis some other game stores, whatever."

You'll be able to backlog into a Steam clean Pack of cards with your existing Steam account, and Valve says you'll have access to all the games you own, and you'll be able to cream leading wherever you left thanks to Steam's cloud saves.

Along July 16 at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BT, you'll comprise competent to second-stringer unitary Steam Deck for yourself for a small fee. You can find Sir Thomas More reservation details Hera.

Austin freelanced for the like PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while coating his journalism arcdegree, and he's been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They've yet to realize that his position as a staff writer is just a cover for his career-spanning Destiny chromatography column, and he's kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the infrequent have.