Valve Steam Deck

PatchTuesday

PatchTuesday

Expert Member
Joined
Jan 16, 2015
Messages
2,667
Reaction score
1,231
Location
Cape Town
I was trying to find the appropriate place to post this,

I know two threads already exist linked here, some folks might miss it, linked below.

Steam Deck unveiled

Valve unveils portable steam gaming console Nintendo Co.’s Switch has some new competition. Closely held video game publisher Valve Corp. introduced a portable gaming device Thursday that resembles the Switch but will have technical capabilities comparable to a gaming PC or console, according...
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za

Steam Deck

Looks very decent, I wanted to buy the new Nintendo switch so I might just hold back for this https://www.steamdeck.com/en/ https://za.ign.com/steam-deck/154980/feature/steam-deck-faq-valve-answers-the-biggest-questions Your thoughts ?
mybroadband.co.za mybroadband.co.za

Going to do a copy paste for those interested and will be posting my thoughts and review within the next few days.

Pre-ordered 64GB model on 18 July 2021 using a VPN (Tunnelbear) and US steam account I created at the time for $5. Got the reservation email on the 25th of July 2022, completed the purchase without VPN and my South African Credit Card. The total was $425 USD due to the fact that the address supplied was in the state of Florida, used MyUS.com for a shipping address.

Valve used FexdEx for the US delivery, It was shipped from Carol Stream IL on 31st of July 2022 to Sarasota FL. It arrived in Florida on the 4th of August 2022

MyUS confirmed receipt of the package on Friday the 5th and I could choose what I wanted done.

Shipping cost with DHL in total came to $195 USD Landed. Breakdown of MyUS fees to follow

Inbound duties : 22.50USD
Inbound taxes : 68.31USD
Shipping: 72.44USD DHL Express (1-4 business days)

The rest were miscellaneous items like extra padding, additional packaging, photos of the item, fragile stickers and obligatory insurance of 12USD (Here i think its $2.50 according to every $100 of the package value) .

At the time, MyUS was running a 30 day free trial for the premium membership so I used that although I don't think it affected any of the costs

The order it was sent in;

Sarasota to Miami > Cincinnati Hub > Leipzig - Germany > Amsterdam - Netherlands > Cape Town

While waiting for it to arrive, I purchased a 512 Samsung NVMe 2230 from Geewiz for R1000 (product no longer available if I click the link) and have a dedicated Samsung 45W PD charger just for this

DHL delivered the box on 12 August 2022 around 9am.

On arrival I made sure everything worked before cracking her open and replacing the SSD. Once that was done I created a steam recovery image and reimaged the device.
It wasn't daunting at all except my hands aren't what they used to be and those screws are tiny as hell lol

So far I've dual booted with Windows 11 but honestly while options exist to regain most functionality that Steam OS offers, it felt very janky, so re-imaged it again with only Steam OS running. If in future i want to try windows again, I think i'll just use Windows to Go on a Samsung 128GB EVO Plus MicroSD

Will get up some pics and a proper review in the next few days
 
I put in a preoder in July this year for the 64GB version via the UK. Hoping it gets delivered to my mate before he comes back to visit in December. By all accounts from the increased production volumes it seems like I should get my email to confirm purchase in time for all of that to happen. Looking forward to a more detailed review of your experience with it!
 
It's going to be released in Asia soon I think. Just a matter of time before it's released here. Chances are it's going to be distributed via the core group so you're looking at R9,999 for the entry level version when it does reach out shores.
 
Polymathic said:
It's going to be released in Asia soon I think. Just a matter of time before it's released here. Chances are it's going to be distributed via the core group so you're looking at R9,999 for the entry level version when it does reach out shores.
Click to expand...
Fokken Core group :(
 
phool said:
I put in a preoder in July this year for the 64GB version via the UK. Hoping it gets delivered to my mate before he comes back to visit in December. By all accounts from the increased production volumes it seems like I should get my email to confirm purchase in time for all of that to happen. Looking forward to a more detailed review of your experience with it!
Click to expand...
Excellent. Are you planning on just popping 512GB Micro SD in there and calling it a day?
Working on that review lol, should be up this weekend
 
Polymathic said:
It's going to be released in Asia soon I think. Just a matter of time before it's released here. Chances are it's going to be distributed via the core group so you're looking at R9,999 for the entry level version when it does reach out shores.
Click to expand...
I hope so, would be nice to have local support.
According to the Valve Index guys, They don't seem to bring their hardware to smaller markets.
More people should have access to it though, its pretty awesome
 
animehero said:
I hope so, would be nice to have local support.
According to the Valve Index guys, They don't seem to bring their hardware to smaller markets.
More people should have access to it though, its pretty awesome
Click to expand...
From what I've seen Valve seems to be working with 3rd party distributors in Asia that gives me hope that they'll work the same way for smaller other markets like ours.
 
animehero said:
Excellent. Are you planning on just popping 512GB Micro SD in there and calling it a day?
Working on that review lol, should be up this weekend
Click to expand...
That's the plan for now but will certainly keep an eye out on any deals for a bigger SSD that could be installed down the line. What SSD did you upgrade to? Did you go with the smaller size that you're meant to use or did you YOLO it and go with a regular M.2?
 
Polymathic said:
It's going to be released in Asia soon I think. Just a matter of time before it's released here. Chances are it's going to be distributed via the core group so you're looking at R9,999 for the entry level version when it does reach out shores.
Click to expand...
I highly doubt they will release it in South Africa, will probably be the same countries in the end as the Index.
1662140549924.png
 
Johnatan56 said:
I highly doubt they will release it in South Africa, will probably be the same countries in the end as the Index.
View attachment 1376447
Click to expand...
The steam deck is launching in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, I don't see these countries on the list of countries that Steam ships hardware (including Valve Index) to.

At their current rate of production they are shipping 6400 units per week and at that rate they would probably be double amount of units sold compared to the Index but they are ramping up production so expect it to be more.

Honestly though I don't see them releasing the Steam Deck here until very late into this gens lifecycle.
 
Polymathic said:
The steam deck is launching in Korea, Hong Kong and Taiwan, I don't see these countries on the list of countries that Steam ships hardware (including Valve Index) to.

At their current rate of production they are shipping 6400 units per week and at that rate they would probably be double amount of units sold compared to the Index but they are ramping up production so expect it to be more.

Honestly though I don't see them releasing the Steam Deck here until very late into this gens lifecycle.
Click to expand...
Jip, December 17th. Hope they come here.....but then version 2.0 will probably be coming out in other regions and we'll get the old hand-me-downs 1.0, right?:confused:

https://www.gamingonlinux.com/2022/...kong-south-korea-and-taiwan-on-december-17th/

Valve and Komodo have officially announced the Steam Deck will arrive in Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan on December 17th.
Click to expand...
 
This is kind, thank you Valve!

store.steampowered.com

Steam Store

Steam is the ultimate destination for playing, discussing, and creating games.
store.steampowered.com store.steampowered.com

The Game Awards Steam Deck Giveaway

In celebration of The Game Awards, Steam Deck now being in stock, and gaming in general, we will be giving away one 512GB Steam Deck every minute during the live airing of The Game Awards. Unfortunately your region is not eligible for registration in the giveaway, but you can still claim the Steam Pal digital sticker.
Click to expand...

The Steam Pal digital sticker is so cool :love:
 
I'm getting a onexplayer mini amd.
Should arrive next week....
 
phool said:
I put in a preoder in July this year for the 64GB version via the UK. Hoping it gets delivered to my mate before he comes back to visit in December. By all accounts from the increased production volumes it seems like I should get my email to confirm purchase in time for all of that to happen. Looking forward to a more detailed review of your experience with it!
Click to expand...

So my deck was delivered to my friend and he handed it over to me back in December. I have been using it almost daily since then and it is certainly a boon to be able to game away from my computer desk at home. The various 3rd party plugins and tools just add to the experience of the device.

The games I have tried to date seem to work without issue but some did take a fair amount of tinkering/learning to get working. I bought a 256gb SD card and am running everything off that. Having not used linux, I had to do a bit of research to get some of them up and running (hitting a few brick walls, due to user error, along the way). However, as I enjoy the tinkering aspect, this has not been detrimental to the enjoyment of the device. I have not tried any RTS games yet, so I can comment too much on how usable it is for mouse-centric games. The emulation side of things looks really great as well but not something I have dived deep into as yet.

Most of my time on it so far has been completing Spiderman Remastered which ran flawlessly but did highlight how short the battery life is with demanding titles (which was around 2 hours with Spiderman). I haven’t played with the various settings and tweaks to optimise the battery life as I am generally just using the device at home on my bed or on the couch. I even look forward to loadshedding in the evening now, lol.

The biggest game-changer (hur hur) is the suspend and resume feature which basically let’s you start the device back in-game exactly where you left off. As a time-strapped, working adult, it really helps when you can game on and off for short sessions rather than sitting at your machine gaming for hours on end.
 
Ladies and gentlemen,

I present the steam deck at Incredible connection at Canal Walk Cape Town

I asked the guy about it.Said it came in today but had no further info about it.
Seems like there's only one, so don't fight over it now...

IMG-20230405-WA0013.jpg
 
Oh if any of you chaps buy it, I'd be curious to know what Valve says regarding ownership
 
animehero said:
Ladies and gentlemen,

I present the steam deck at Incredible connection at Canal Walk Cape Town

I asked the guy about it.Said it came in today but had no further info about it.
Seems like there's only one, so don't fight over it now...

View attachment 1503941
Click to expand...
I expected a R2,000 rarity tax on it, not a R5,000 one. :cautious:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top
Sign up to the MyBroadband newsletter
X