More from Steam Deck, ROG Ally, and more: all the news about the handheld PC gaming revolution
It started as an April Fool’s tease, but the very real handheld gaming PC is now six months old. Along with gyro controls, a new Armoury Crate update is adding a new Feedback Hub, the ability to turn CPU Boost off, new AMD Advanced Graphics Options, and direct sharing of images and video to Discord and TikTok.
Windows Central highlights this Asus video tracking everything added since launch (we revisited our review over the summer), or you can read the changelog here.
Elden Ring, Hades, Vampire Survivors, Dead Cells and Persona 5 can now wake up your Deck. (If you’ve ever spent $30 on Steam, you’ve likely already got enough points for a vid.)
Hey Moon Studios, can we get an Ori and the Will of the Wisps HDR one for Steam Deck OLED?
Will you buy Valve’s limited-edition transparent Steam Deck for the US and Canada which has special eligibility rules? A “normal” OLED model that I swear to you is much better than the original where it counts? None at all?
No wrong choices here, but you’ve got under two hours to decide.
The Steam Deck’s initial Windows support lacked audio output before addressing that in May of last year, but we’ve been waiting for an update on dual-boot ever since.
Now, Valve designer Lawrence Yang told IGN in an email that “Dual-boot support (and SteamOS general install) is very high on the list for folks working on SteamOS.” However, those OS folks have been working on the new OLED version. Now that it’s here, players should expect “meaningful updates” in the coming year.
It’s a limited-edition $679 1TB model of the just-announced Steam Deck OLED, and this one’s only for sale in the US and Canada.
Valve says it’s an experiment and is hopeful it can do more colorways in the future. It’ll come with an exclusive case, too, based on the new case within a case that ships with the $649 version.
Valve just announced the $549 Steam Deck OLED — but the Steam Deck will still start at $399 if you’re willing to settle for the old LCD screen, less efficient chip, and smaller battery. You do get 256GB of NVMe storage for $399 now, up from 64GB eMMC!
The 64GB and 512GB LCD models are discontinued, though you may still be able to find them on closeout for $349 and $449 respectively.
Listen along (use this link to get it in your podcast player of choice) as The Verge’s David Pierce discusses the current flood of portable gaming systems with Polygon editors Chris Plante and Russ Frushtick.
Yes, there’s plenty of focus on the portable gaming PC movement led by the Steam Deck, Rog Ally, and company, but there’s also consideration for the Switch and even your iPhone or Android device.
GPD, a boutique handheld PC maker that’s been kicking around long before the Steam Deck, is now pointing the finger at AMD for failing to deliver an entire batch of 7840U chips for its Win Max 2.
Practically every PC gaming handheld maker save Valve uses this chip or derivatives. Maybe a shortage? Bad blood? We’ve asked AMD to comment. Ayaneo has a clamshell coming out too...
Better known as the Ayaneo Slide, the company’s first handheld gaming PC with a keyboard (despite GPD filling the gap with many, many QWERTY-equipped entries, including the upcoming Win Mini) is among a slew of Steam Deck rivals with AMD’s 7000-series chip built-in, as well as a 6-inch 1080p screen, and Hall effect joystick / trigger setup.
The full details and price haven’t been revealed yet, but Ayaneo’s Indiegogo page is taking sign-ups for people who want alerts to lock in the lowest price possible right away.
If you took a Framework Mainboard, added a battery, screen and speakers, and stuck it all inside a case with slots for a pair of Nintendo Switch-style detachable Bluetooth controllers, you wouldn’t just have a poor man’s Lenovo Legion Go.
You’d have a gaming portable you can upgrade, potentially year after year, just by swapping that mainboard out. Why do I bring this up? Well:
The Steam Deck is discounted again, now up to 20 percent off for Steam’s 20th anniversary. Valve is selling its handheld PC for $359.10 ($39.90 off) for the 64GB model, $449.65 ($79.35 off) for the 256GB, and $519.20 (about $130 off) for the 512GB with an anti-glare screen. Even Valve’s dock is 20 percent off.
These are the best prices on Steam Decks right now, as the refurbished models are sold out. The promo runs until September 21st.
With Steam Deck competitors on the rise, Microsoft has been focused on phones for Xbox Cloud Gaming so far.
You can now nab a 2TB Sabrent Rocket Q4 for just $200 at Amazon — it’s typically $220–$260, and originally cost $300+ until SSD prices fell off a cliff.
2TB is the biggest you can easily fit into a Steam Deck, ROG Ally or Surface, because a single-sided M.2 2230 only has room for one flash chip.
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[Amazon.com]