Steam Deck Docking Station Now Available for Pre-Order at $89

[Tsing]

Valve has opened up pre-orders for the Steam Deck Docking Station, a first-party option for owners of the handheld who are looking to extend the connectivity of their systems.

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[DrezKill]

People I know with Steam Decks have gotten hubs that offer more for cheaper. The only thing Valve's dock will do that those don't is stand your Steam Deck upright.

 

[Uvilla]

Got my deck yesterday. I think I will get this from them.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

Glad they got this out but it is fairly late to the game with something like a half dozen others on the market already. What I'm wondering is if it'll fit the next version but it is nice they put a DP 1.4 on it for those who want to connect to a 1080p/1440p display since this gen does have some potential there.

The sad thing though is that a number of overseas competitors are already working with the next AMD APU and I wouldn't be surprised if Valve makes an announcement by spring for theirs so the success of these dock/hub/stands will greatly increase if they can be reused. Not that it needs it but it would've been nice to have HDMI 2.1 instead of 2.0. I'm sure there are some less demanding games that could've benefitted from it.

 

[Stoly]

Glad they got this out but it is fairly late to the game with something like a half dozen others on the market already. What I'm wondering is if it'll fit the next version but it is nice they put a DP 1.4 on it for those who want to connect to a 1080p/1440p display since this gen does have some potential there.

The sad thing though is that a number of overseas competitors are already working with the next AMD APU and I wouldn't be surprised if Valve makes an announcement by spring for theirs so the success of these dock/hub/stands will greatly increase if they can be reused. Not that it needs it but it would've been nice to have HDMI 2.1 instead of 2.0. I'm sure there are some less demanding games that could've benefitted from it.

I wonder if steam could get a real custom APU like sony and MS do for the next gen. CPU wise it doesn't really need much more power, but it could use a beefier GPU if it wants to do 1080p which would be the next logical step.

BTW I would skip Raytracing for now. Even with FSR2 I don't think it would perform well on the Steam Deck 2.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

I wonder if steam could get a real custom APU like sony and MS do for the next gen

I've been theorizing that they might try. I haven't heard anything but seems like a logical next step to further separate them from the pack that's come into being.

 

[Uvilla]

If its as successful as they suggest, im sure they will go custom and more power. I wouldn't be too worried about competition, if they are serious about the deck, its more important that they remain that way.. Surely a lot of competition will flake out. Yes I got the deck partly hoping Steam will remain serious about it long term.

 

[Brian_B]

The sad thing though is that a number of overseas competitors are already working with the next AMD APU and I wouldn't be surprised if Valve makes an announcement by spring for theirs so the success of these dock/hub/stands will greatly increase if they can be reused.

It's not the hardware that makes the Deck work - it's almost entirely in the software.

Even if the knockoffs run SteamOS (or Windows) directly, there's still a lot of customization in the software there that needs to be specific to the unit - Valve doesn't even have it all baked into the current Deck as it is and a lot of tweaking is still going on.

 

[Peter_Brosdahl]

It's not the hardware that makes the Deck work - it's almost entirely in the software.

Too true and all the more reason it could be a win-win if Valve were able to negotiate a deal for a custom chip with Proton optimizations. I admit I have no idea what that would entail but I could see it as a possibility. If they got those chips at close to the same price as the non-custom version it could mean less demand on their limited in-house resources.

software there that needs to be specific to the unit

Yep, custom drivers and such and it can get messy quickly when they don't work for everything. Similarly, with laptops, it's why I always get a little nervous after doing a fresh OS install. Sure, I can always grab the custom stuff from the manufacturer after but I'm always nervous about what unique chip or feature got left out after the 1st bootup and if I'll find a driver for it.

 

[Uvilla]

I think valve is dead serious about this. When they did and cancelled the controller while they did cancel, they seemed to have put some significant development behind it, and it seems it wasn't wasted either, as I am sure knowledge would have applied to the deck. They been serious about steam OS for a long time now. Yeah, steam boxes went nowhere, but they wouldn't offer anything else above any gaming pc. The deck does offer the portability, and presumably polished controls ( only had my deck for a few days, can't attest, plus I am working in another game right now). I would buy and recommend only valve for this type of hardware, seriously I can't think of a better steward for this, last thing you want is an MS quasi monopoly.

 

[Brian_B]

I’ve had my deck for a few weeks now (side note - there is supposedly no waiting list now)

There are games it works extraordinarily well for. A surprising amount actually. And by this, I mean I actually prefer playing some games on the handheld than on the PC. Mostly console crossovers, I admit, but it’s nice to chill on the couch with it while the wife watches dumb TV stuff.

And there are games it just works for, but the experience isn’t as good as a PC. A lot of FPSers, things that are text heavy or have very intricate menus. They run fine, but the low resolution does bring limitations, and if you are going to use a KB/M with it may as well use your desktop.

And there are some games that just don’t run. I haven’t run across a lot of these, but there are some.

The most interesting part is that it feels like a console - a PSP or giant Gameboy or Switch; but it’s completely open and unlocked on the software side - which makes it interesting beyond just the games (at least to me). If you are into emulators then this is a dream come true.