Steam Deck Reservations replaced with purchase system and Official Dock shipping now

[AlTech]

Summary

 

Valve has dispensed with their Steam Deck reservation system, at least in the US and Canada, (no word on if this also applies worldwide) and is now letting customers purchase Steam Decks outright. They've also applied the new system to the Official Dock for Steam Deck now that they're selling that.

 

The Dock for SteamDeck is $89 + taxes from Valve.

 

As for Deck reservations, Valve have said that they plan to fulfill all outstanding reservations by the end of this year and their aim is to ramp up production if there are any spikes in Deck orders.

 

Quotes

Quote

The Steam Deck's long-delayed official dock is now available for order, according to Valve, the company behind it. The dock was initially planned to launch closer to the launch of the Steam Deck, but it was delayed this summer on account of supply chain challenges.

 

Quote

Speaking of reservation-based ordering processes, there's big news about the Steam Deck, too.

For months, would-be Steam Deck buyers have had to place reservations for the device and wait for an email from Valve. Demand far outpaced supply, but Valve said it's catching up. The company previously said it planned to fulfill all outstanding reservations by year's end.

It seems that process has gone well; you no longer need to make a reservation to buy the Steam Deck in the US and Canada. Even folks without reservations can expect to receive the device within one to two weeks after they order.

 

My thoughts

As much as I will miss the reservation system going away, this is the right move for Valve to make. Once it's easier to get a Deck, people who were put off by the reservation system may end up finally purchasing a Deck.

 

Sources

 https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/10/now-you-can-order-the-steam-deck-and-its-dock-without-a-reservation/

[suicidalfranco]

The purchase that brought me back to gaming. Deck is an impressive device and worth every penny

[Salv8 (sam)]

if i had $500 aud to splurge and it was in Australia, i would get it.

i've heard nothing but praise for the little device, considering it's only competition that can really go up against it is the switch it really has made me consider buying one if i ever wanted to start gaming on the go again.

with the experience that valve has gained with making the deck, i really do think if they start doin hardware again they would be at least be able to really make a mark.

hell they might even make a steam machine 2.0 with what they've learned. (which i would buy, a console pc that's officially supported? hell yes.)

[Arika]

meanwhile in australia:

 

 

if it's anything like the Index, the Deck wont be available until 2024

[AlTech]

25 minutes ago, that_dude said:

$90 for the dock is rough.

It is just a USB-C dock with an integrated stand. The exact same (bad) design is already avaible from third-party for half the price.

The bad design from 3rd parties is somewhat worse. Their designs obstruct the vents more than Valve's design does.

 

Also some of the other docks need firmware to be installed from Windows whereas Valve's dock updates firmware on SteamOS.

 

Edit: Also some have speculated that the inclusion of the power adapter in the dock purchase is part of what's dragging up the price (It's available from iFixit for $25).

[cmndr]

I have a Deck. I'm more excited for it NOW after getting it than when the news hit. Kind of a "cheap" impulse buy, because "why not?"

It's a delightful device. I spent $900ish on a Pixel Slate to be used as a flight gaming device when I was doing flights around once every other week.
Flash forward a bit the steam deck has ~2x the CPU power and a good deal more GPU power. The form factor is way better for a flight and the only real complaint I'd have is that the screen is merely "decent" instead of "awesome". This is comparing against a $1500ish high end TV and a tablet sold primarily on its screen quality.

Glad this will be out for the broader market.

I'm probably going to start unplugging my desktop 3-6 days a week, moving it into the living room or garage and instead... being productive. Because I have an internet addiction. I can't go on forums with the steam deck, but I CAN play 20 year old jRPGs while walking around the block.

[Fasterthannothing]

3 hours ago, that_dude said:

$90 for the dock is rough.

It is just a USB-C dock with an integrated stand. The exact same (bad) design is already avaible from third-party for half the price.

Yeah the dock is worthless but I guess they are trying to make their money somewhere since they are loosing money on the deck itself.

[WereCat]

3 hours ago, AluminiumTech said:

The bad design from 3rd parties is somewhat worse. Their designs obstruct the vents more than Valve's design does.

 

Also some of the other docks need firmware to be installed from Windows whereas Valve's dock updates firmware on SteamOS.

 

Edit: Also some have speculated that the inclusion of the power adapter in the dock purchase is part of what's dragging up the price (It's available from iFixit for $25).

Recent update massively improved compatibility with USB 3rd party docks

[Shreyas1]

5 hours ago, that_dude said:

$90 for the dock is rough.

It is just a USB-C dock with an integrated stand. The exact same (bad) design is already avaible from third-party for half the price.

At the very least they aren't trying to lock users to their own dock, and seem to be happy with people using their own.

[Shreyas1]

Funny story, it seems valve had to reupload their YouTube video on this announcement since the old one had a screenshot of a switch emulator:

 

New:

 

Old:

 

 

[Forbidden Wafer]

32 minutes ago, Shreyas1 said:

 

Playing Tunic on the go sounds fantastic.

[SeriousDad69]

Neat, hopefully they'll get around to releasing the Steam Deck 2 next year. I never buy first generation hardware.

[Salv8 (sam)]

15 hours ago, Fasterthannothing said:

Yeah the dock is worthless but I guess they are trying to make their money somewhere since they are loosing money on the deck itself.

can you provide a source for this statement? i would really love to read the stats and information backing this up.

[PineyCreek]

53 minutes ago, SeriousDad69 said:

Neat, hopefully they'll get around to releasing the Steam Deck 2 next year. I never buy first generation hardware.

Though the first gen Steam Deck seems to have had an impressive amount of QC.

 

I fully agree though...even though I still have first gen Ryzen.

 

Usually holds true for just about any product, but doubly so for anything promising a grand new innovation (and absolutely anything in the auto industry).

[Guest]

I'm still sleeping over Steam Deck news until it's available locally, and on a reasonable price.

[AlTech]

9 hours ago, Herrscher of Whatever said:

I'm still sleeping over Steam Deck news until it's available locally, and on a reasonable price.

Valve's less than profitable prices are unreasonable?

 

Local availability isn't happening anytime soon unless a company reaches an agreement with Valve but I don't see that happening tbh.

 

11 hours ago, Salv8 (sam) said:

can you provide a source for this statement? i would really love to read the stats and information backing this up.

Some youtubers calculated that the cost of buying all the parts for a replacement deck from iFixit cost more than what Valve sells the Deck for, and that's not even considering the assembly and shipping costs.

[Shreyas1]

12 hours ago, SeriousDad69 said:

Neat, hopefully they'll get around to releasing the Steam Deck 2 next year. I never buy first generation hardware.

I think it will take a few years before they get the next one out. They still have a lot of demand despite the waitlist being gone and also need to expand into markets where they don't give the steam deck yet. Not to mention the time it takes for them to make a new chipset with AMD.

 

With how repairable it is I also wonder if it would be possible for them to release a new motherboard on its own so that the user can update their own first gen steam deck when they go about making the second one.

 

And the current one performs pretty good for a lot of games. It's surprisingly good for a first gen product, although I've only had mine for a few days it seems to be quite solid and software updates come out all the time. 

[GhostRoadieBL]

Just released the most sought after accessory? Guess it's time to tease steamdeck 2 with a different port layout.

[yolosnail]

Realistically, what is the difference between the £80 Steam Dock and a £30 one off Amazon? The only difference I can see is the cheaper ones don't have Ethernet, but from my experience WiFi performance on the Steam Deck has been excellent

[Guest]

On 10/8/2022 at 10:38 PM, AluminiumTech said:

Valve's less than profitable prices are unreasonable?

 

Local availability isn't happening anytime soon unless a company reaches an agreement with Valve but I don't see that happening tbh.

I'm not that pessimistic on that, I'm pretty sure it could be happening soon.

I meant a reasonable price because the only other way to buy Steam Decks outside select countries are through third-party sellers, and at a marked up price because of the cost of importing these.

[sof006]

I just got my Steam Deck about an hour ago now and so far I love it. Fan is not loud at all, least not to me (everyone is different). My ears are quite sensitive to noise so i'd say the noise of the fan is very acceptable, the speakers are decently loud so I can hear the game over the fan easily.

 

Just waiting for my 512GB SD card to arrive so I can put all my emulators on it