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Pre-orders for Valve’s portable gaming PC, Steam Deck, open today, but getting their hands on the new device can be difficult due to measures Valve has put in place to deter resellers.
If you haven’t seen yesterday’s reveal, Valve calls Steam Deck “the world’s most powerful and complete gaming handheld.” As well as being able to access your entire Steam library on the go, you can also stream video content, browse the web, and install and access other PC software.
If you weren’t impressed with the Nintendo Switch OLED reveal, or just want more ways to browse your Steam backlog, you can find out how and where to pre-order the Valve Steam Deck below. It’s not as easy as you might think …
Valve Steam Deck release date
All three versions of the Valve Steam Deck will begin shipping in December 2021 (an exact date has not yet been provided) to customers in the UK, EU, US and Canada. The device is expected to be released in other countries outside of these areas in 2022.
Where to pre-order the Valve Steam Deck
You will be able to place a reserve order for the Steam Deck directly from the Steam website today (Friday, July 16) at 6 p.m. BST / 1 p.m. EST / 10 a.m. PDT. Reservations are limited to one per customer and incur a charge of $ 5 which is deducted from your total purchase balance when you place your order for the device.
If you are the type of person who needs constant reminders to do things, you can also visit the website now to set up a handy reminder email. And if you missed the opportunity to pre-order the device, the $ 5 will be added to your Steam balance.
How to pre-order the Valve Steam Deck
It’s important to note that this is not a classic, straightforward pre-order process. Note the wording reserve rather than pre-order. Booking the Steam Deck does not guarantee that you will be able to purchase it.
No other retailer is listing the Valve Steam Deck at the time of writing, but we’ll update this page with links and pricing information for other outlets if they start stocking the device.
The reservation system puts you in a queue system where Valve will contact you when the Steam Deck stock becomes available for purchase. You will be contacted depending on when you made your reservation, so if you reallywant one, make your reservations quickly – if you can, it’s …
Valve Steam Deck Pre-Order Terms
While reservations for the Steam Deck are open today, you will only be able to make a reservation in the initial 48 hour window if you made a purchase on Steam before June 2021.
If you don’t have a Steam account yet, you’ll have to wait until Sunday to get your reservations, which will take you further down the line.
Demand for the Steam Deck is expected to outweigh supply, and the move is aimed at preventing resellers from buying bulk copies of the portable device to sell at inflated prices.
Your Steam account must also be in a valid region. At the time of writing these are UK, EU, US and Canada. If you live outside of these areas, Valve’s FAQ states that extended regional support information is “coming soon.”
Valve Steam Deck prices and models
There are three main models of Valve Steam Deck with prices ranging from £ 349 / $ 399 to £ 569 / $ 649 and the cheapest version with 64GB eMMC storage. Performance is the same across all three models, the Valve boss Gabe Newell revealing that the price of the Vale Steam Deck was tough due to its specs.
The top version includes faster 256GB SSD storage for £ 459 / $ 529 and a carrying case and Steam community profile set, while the more expensive model comes with 512GB SSD storage, an anti-reflective etched glass and an exclusive virtual keyboard theme, as well as the carrying case and the community profile set.
Make sure you’ve taken the time to think about which version of Steam Deck you want. Once your reservation has been made and the invitation to pre-order received, you will only have access to the model you have chosen.
Steam bridge specifications
The Steam Deck is powered by an AMD APU processor with a quad core Zen 2 processor and an AMD RDNA 2 GPU with 8 compute units. There is 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM and all versions of the Steam Deck come with a high speed microSD slot, and there are no other differences between the different models in terms of performance.
We expect side-by-side comparisons with the Nintendo Switch to continue for some time. The Steam Deck features a 7 “touchscreen and there’s even an official docking station (sold separately) for video output to monitors, TVs and other devices.
You can take a more detailed look at the specifications and layout of the Valve Steam Deck by checking out our announcement coverage.
It’s all for now. We would love to hear what you think of the Valve Steam Deck and who will like it the most. Is the lack of news around the Switch Pro enough for Nintendo fans to grab hold of it? What about people who don’t have a decent gaming PC / laptop but have been looking for a way to access the Steam library? Let us know below.
And remember that you can follow Jelly offers on Twitter to stay up to date with the latest game deals and discounts, as well as regular updates on PS5 and Xbox Series X stock when they go live.
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