Gamers seem to love almost everything about Valve’s Steam Deck, except for how hard it is to buy one. That objection might be a thing of the past, though. Valve has announced that the Steam Deck is now available without a reservation. It’s not shipping immediately, but you can have one in your hands in just a week or two. That’s a far sight from the months of waiting past purchasers experienced.
You can head over to the Steam Store right now and order two versions of the Steam Deck: the $399 base model or the $529 mid-tier. The less expensive version only comes with the case, and it uses 64GB of slower eMMC storage. The upgraded unit includes the 256GB of faster NVMe storage you want, and you still get the case. The premium model, which retails for $649, is still a reservation-only affair. It adds 512GB of even faster storage, an anti-glare screen, and more.
Until now, buying the Steam Deck was a waiting game. Even with plenty of lead time, Valve delayed the first batch of units beyond its original holiday 2021 estimate. It was only available in batches that shipped every few months throughout 2022. Most recently, Valve promised a restock would allow it to ship pending orders between October and December. It appears the shipment has come in, and the supply of units is big enough that you can just buy one. The wait is 1-2 weeks, but that’s still a big improvement.
https://twitter.com/OnDeck/status/1578088497759793152
When placing an order for the in-stock Steam Deck, you can also pick up the official dock. It has the same 1 to 2-week shipping estimate as the handheld console, and it costs $89. The Dock connects to the Steam Deck via USB-C, giving you HDMI, DisplayPort, USB-C, Ethernet, and three USB-A 3.1 ports. Unlike the Nintendo Switch, docking your Steam Deck doesn’t increase its power. However, the console has famously middling battery life, so the docked configuration is desirable if you want to game for longer than an hour or two.
After a number of disappointing hardware efforts, Valve is making all the right moves with the Steam Deck. In addition to finally getting the device in stock, it’s also making replacement parts available and pledging to offer future hardware and software updates.
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