After a protracted delay, Valve has launched its official docking station for Steam Deck, and it seems to be such as you will not have to attend lengthy to get your palms on it. In even higher information, the depressingly lengthy wait instances for ordering a Steam Deck could also be coming to an finish, too. Valve introduced that the Steam Deck will now be obtainable for orders without having a reservation.
We first noticed the official Steam Deck dock (opens in new tab) on the Tokyo Recreation Present (opens in new tab) a couple of weeks in the past, and it seems to be like its design hasn’t modified a lot. The inputs for the docking station embody 3 x USB-A 3.1 Gen1 Ports, DisplayPort 1.4, and HDMI 2.0. Not like the Nintendo Swap dock, the show of the Steam Deck is not coated, so you need to use it with out connecting it to an exterior show.
Whereas $89 feels a bit steep, the one factor Valve’s official dock presents that you just will not see on others is a full-sized DisplayPort connection. It will allow you to join your Deck output to screens in 4K at 120 Hz and even 8K 60Hz, although I doubt any of us will use that potential. The docking station would not give the Steam Deck a lift in efficiency; it is all about charging and connectivity.
The Steam Deck Docking Station is obtainable for $89 (£79) by way of Steam, with an anticipated supply date of 1-2 weeks for North America and the UK.
As soon as we get one in-house to take a look at, we’ll let you already know if the dock appears price that $89. Till then, there are many cheaper Steam Deck dock options you possibly can take a look at, like this Jsaux docking station for less than $40 (and the upgraded model is just $50).
On the time of penning this put up, it looks as if the 256GB Steam Deck is the one one you possibly can order with out reservation proper now, with an anticipated supply date of 1-2 weeks. The 64GB and 512GB Steam Decks are at present taking reservations and can ship out in some unspecified time in the future between late October and December.
Valve has mentioned in a weblog put up that “if order quantity for a particular mannequin of Steam Deck grows increased than our potential to ship it in a well timed method,” it should revert again to the reservation mannequin, which seems to be just like the case with two out of the three Deck fashions at present.
Nevertheless, on the price Valve appears to be producing these items, I would not be stunned if these orders ship out earlier than marketed.
