The Valve Steam Deck, Explained
The Valve Steam Deck, Explained
8:01

The Valve Steam Deck, Explained

Tech Industry
Speaker 1: Valve steam deck will allow you to take your steam library anywhere. Here's everything you need to know before launch. We should probably kick this video off by answering the most important question you might have. What even is a steam deck? Well, it's a handheld console designed for PC gamers to access their steam library when they're untethered from their main computer. Like if a gaming laptop had a little baby [00:00:30] with the Nintendo switch Speaker 1: What's inside. Let's talk about specs. The steam deck is equipped with AMD APU, combining a Zen two CPU within our DNA. Two GPU that our DNA two GPU is the same one inside the PS five and Xbox series X and series S just with a little less compute units compared to the NextGen consoles, but it's still pretty [00:01:00] impressive stuff. There's a seven inch LCD touch screen with a 1200 by 800 resolution, 16 gigs of Ram and three different storage capacities, 64, 2 56 and 512 gigabytes. All of the three models have the same Ram in APU. So the only difference between them is how quickly you'll be accessing installed games and how many you can doll. Plus a few extras. I'll get to that in a minute. A quick note on steam deck storage options, by the way, the 64 gig base model [00:01:30] uses EMC storage versus faster and Vme storage on the two higher end models. So if you think you really want one of these and you plan on playing bigger, more resource intensive, that take up a lot of disc space, factor that into your decision making process. You'll thank me later. Speaker 1: The design of the steam deck itself is pretty rad. If a tad bulky looking aside from the touch screen, it has a micro SD card [00:02:00] slot for storage expansion, two precision tr iPads underneath the analog sticks, a dedicated steam button and two additional buttons on the back of the device. That's on top of the standard bumper slash trigger combo on top the USBC port on top, isn't just for charging. You can actually plug in peripherals like a keyboard, or if you're feeling extra Saucey, a freaking fight stick. If you want more ports, there's even the steam dock, a sold separately [00:02:30] accessory. That basically turns your steam deck into a desktop PC, running Linux with additional ports. Now, you know what it is, and what's inside still interested. Let's talk about what you can do with the steam deck and what you can't do. Speaker 1: The steam deck runs on a custom Linux distribution, steam OS, which means this is a full fledged, portable PC with a custom operating system. Proton is the compatibility layer [00:03:00] that makes it possible for windows games to run on Linux hardware and valve says their goal is to get every single game on steam in playable condition at 30 frames per second, or better on the steam deck. A hundred percent of steam. That is an incredibly ambitious goal, but the key here is playable. Will it be glorious high res 120 frames per second gaming? Probably not, but playable is [00:03:30] playable. So I have to give valve credit where it's due, but steam is only one game store. What about everything else? Epic Xbox origin. You play battle.net. Well, I am going to let valve answer that themselves, take it away. Speaker 2: And steam deck is not a walled garden. You can install whatever you want on it, including other apps and OSS. Speaker 1: That's right. If you want, you can technically wipe the entire thing and install windows on it. It's a PC. Remember genuinely one [00:04:00] of the coolest, most open portable consoles out there. So huge kudos valve for not locking everything down, which I think is a major win for users. Give this video big thumbs up. If you want to see us install windows on a steam deck in a future video. Speaker 1: So theoretically you can take this thing anywhere and play anything right. Even offline. Well kind of obviously [00:04:30] you'll have to be online to download a game to the steam deck. And if you wanna play online multiplayer, well, I hope I don't have to spell that one out for you. If you're offline, you'll also need a local save file or you'll need access to the game while connected to the internet. In order to load a cloud save before starting an offline session, valve also says some games are required to be launched in online mode as part of initial game startup before they'll work in offline mode, usually because of some required update either [00:05:00] to steam or the game itself. So make sure you have all your day zero updates or day one patches fully installed before you go on a big road trip or to a cabin somewhere without internet access. Oh, and one more important caveat. Some games employ anti cheat measures and they need to be specifically configured for steam deck for the game to work. Speaker 1: If you're still with me, you're probably pretty interested in getting a steam deck, how [00:05:30] much? And when can you get it? The steam deck is competitively priced starting at $399 for the base 64 gigabyte model, $529 for the 256 gig model on $649 for the 512 gigabyte model. All of them again are the same. Uh, they come with a carrying case, but the two price versions do have a few extras. I know the top of the line model has a premium screen. It's anti scratch might be a [00:06:00] good idea. You can pre-order one right now for just five bucks, but your pre-order won't actually get you a steam deck when it launches officially on February 25th. Cue the sad trombone music please. Yeah, sad initial pre-order has opened up in the summer of last year and quickly pushed out the ship date at the time of this recording anyone. Speaker 1: Pre-ordering a steam deck. Isn't going to get it until after Q2 2022, according to Val's [00:06:30] landing page. Now I don't actually know if that means starting in Q3, which would mean July of this year, or if it means after the start of Q2, which would be sometime after April 1st, either way, it's still a bit of a wait to get one, but it only costs $5 to hold a spot in line. And when it's your turn, you'll get an email from Val to confirm your order and pay the final balance. So there's not too much risk if you're interested, but quite ready to commit. Speaker 1: [00:07:00] However, some corners of the internet have noticed that valve hasn't exactly been well successful when it comes to some of its previous hardware attempts over the years. Yes, the in deck is a great VR headset, but do you remember steam link steam controller and maybe the biggest flop of the ball steam machines? I can see where some [00:07:30] folks might be hesitant about steam deck and take a decidedly, wait, and see approach to its release and reception. No, one's gonna blame you there day one. Pre-order late to the party, but excited or waiting to hear a more thorough verdict from your friends and favorite content creators before placing an order, drop your thoughts down in the comments and be sure to subscribe to C's YouTube channel for more great tech videos. Just about every day of the week. I'm Ashley Cheva be at humans.

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