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94-575: The Steam Deck is a handheld gaming computer produced by Valve , designed to run the large library of games available on the Steam storefront client. Built upon the experiences gained from Valve's earlier ventures with Steam Machine and the Steam Controller , the Steam Deck integrates a custom AMD APU and SteamOS 3.0 , a Linux-based operating system . The Steam Deck represents Valve's pivot towards

188-483: A digital signal processor , an integrated microphone and a headphone jack, a 40 watt-hour battery, which Valve estimates that for "lighter use cases like game streaming, smaller 2D games, or web browsing" can last between seven and eight hours. Valve also estimated that by keeping frame rates to around 30 frames per second (FPS) more intensive games such as Portal 2 could be played for five to six hours. The system's software includes an optional FPS limiter that balance

282-463: A gamepad integrated for video games although it does not have a keyboard. The Handheld PC ( H/PC ) is a class of portable computers running Windows CE created and marketed by Microsoft . Introduced in 1996, the intent of Windows CE was to provide an environment for applications compatible with the Microsoft Windows operating system, on processors better suited to low-power operation in

376-533: A "generational leap" of CPUs with better computing power without significant power requirement increases before implementing a new version of the Steam Deck. The original Steam Deck was launched in February 2022 and included a custom AMD APU based on their Zen 2 and RDNA 2 architectures, named Aerith, after the Final Fantasy VII character Aerith Gainsborough . The CPU runs a four-core/eight-thread unit and

470-411: A 64 GB eMMC internal storage unit, running over PCI Express 2.0 x1 . A mid-tier model includes 256 GB of storage through an NVMe SSD device, while the high-end unit includes a 512 GB NVMe SSD storage unit, with the latter two both shipping with drives that run PCI Express 3.0 x4 . All 3 SKUs use the same M.2 2230 interface for internal storage. Valve stated that the built-in storage

564-508: A CPU and GPU on the same die at a 45 nm process, and conflicting views on what the role of the CPU and GPU should be within the project. The first generation desktop and laptop APU, codenamed Llano , was announced on 4 January 2011 at the 2011 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas and released shortly thereafter. It featured K10 CPU cores and a Radeon HD 6000 series GPU on the same die on

658-543: A Windows CE Handheld PC, the device must: HP 's first displays' widths were more than a third larger than that of Microsoft's specification. Soon, all of their competition followed. Examples of Handheld PC devices are the NEC MobilePro 900c , HP 320LX , Sharp Telios, HP Jornada 720 , IBM WorkPad Z50 , and Vadem Clio . Also included are tablet computers like the Fujitsu PenCentra 130, and even communicators like

752-457: A compatibility layer for Windows games. Additionally, the Steam Deck features a desktop mode and allows users to install third-party Linux applications. The device has seen multiple revisions, including the introduction of OLED screen models in November 2023. Despite criticism regarding battery life, the Steam Deck has achieved notable commercial success, selling millions of units and influencing

846-581: A complete package." Rumors that Valve was working on a portable gaming unit had emerged in May 2021, based on updates made within the Steam code pointing towards a new "SteamPal" device, and comments made by Gabe Newell related to Valve developing games for consoles. Ars Technica had been able to confirm that new hardware was in development at Valve. Valve revealed the Steam Deck on July 15, 2021. The Deck, existing in three different models based on internal storage options,

940-489: A device bigger than a personal digital assistant (PDA) and with the addition of a keyboard that folds in half (making it more similar to a laptop rather than for example a cell phone ) with both PDAs and handheld PCs considered under the umbrella "palmtop computer". After 2000 the handheld PC segment practically halted, replaced by other forms and continuing only as a niche, although later communicators such as Nokia E90 or Toshiba Portégé G910 can be considered to be of

1034-722: A device that was similar in function to the Switch. The Verge stated that the Steam Deck was generally a more powerful machine compared to the Switch but that power came with a tradeoff in battery life which was greater with the Switch. Furthermore, The Verge recognized that the specifications of the Deck were more comparable to the power of the consoles of the eighth generation like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 , though using more recent compute/micro- and graphics architectures than that which powered those older systems. Kotaku stated that while

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1128-512: A discrete-class graphics processor, all on the same die using the same bus. This architecture allows for the use of graphics accelerators, such as OpenCL, with the integrated graphics processor. The goal is to create a "fully integrated" APU, which, according to AMD, will eventually feature 'heterogeneous cores' capable of processing both CPU and GPU work automatically, depending on the workload requirement. The first generation APU, released in June 2011,

1222-475: A full charge in as little as two hours of playtime." Seth G. Macy wrote for IGN in very similar terms, saying, "Beyond that limitation, the biggest, most deflating issue I've had has been battery life. It's all over the place and probably the biggest reality check when it comes to realizing the dream of truly untethered PC gaming." Richard Leadbetter of Eurogamer said he "can't help [but] feel that elements like fan noise and battery life can only be resolved with

1316-402: A fully internal hardware development approach, following the challenges faced with Steam Machines' reliance on external manufacturers and the requirement for native Linux game support. Since its release in February 2022, the Steam Deck has garnered significant attention for its widespread adoption and versatility, including support for both native Linux games and those running through Proton ,

1410-416: A game's performance to optimize battery life. At release, Steam Decks were only manufactured in a black casing to reduce the complexity of production, though Valve stated that they have considered introducing other case colors or themes in the future. Valve partnered with iFixit to provide replacement parts for users. The unit shipped in three models based on internal storage options. The base model includes

1504-478: A limited edition of the 1 TB model was released in North America exclusively, which has translucent plastic casing and selected orange colored components. A dock unit was released on October 6, 2022. The dock unit can be connected to an external power source to power the Deck, and to an external monitor via either HDMI or DisplayPort protocols to route output from the Deck to that monitor. Though limited by

1598-557: A lot of people who may have been planning on using the Steam Deck for long flights, for example" and that "it certainly makes this portable gaming system feel less ... well, portable." Matt Miller of Game Informer called the device's battery life "punishingly low". Steve Hogarty wrote in The Independent that "The battery life is by far the Steam deck's biggest weakness. The handheld PC chugs through juice like it's going out of fashion, with some graphically demanding games draining

1692-409: A new socket, FM2+. Ian Cutress and Rahul Garg of Anandtech asserted that Kaveri represented the unified system-on-a-chip realization of AMD's acquisition of ATI. The performance of the 45 W A8-7600 Kaveri APU was found to be similar to that of the 100 W Richland part, leading to the claim that AMD made significant improvements in on-die graphics performance per watt; however, CPU performance

1786-512: A portable device. These devices could run on the SH-3 , MIPS , and later ARM processor architectures. It provides the appointment calendar functions usual for any PDA. Microsoft was wary of using the term "PDA" for the Handheld PC. Instead, Microsoft marketed this type of device as a "PC companion". Its main competitor in the field was Psion with their Series 3 and Series 5 . To be classed as

1880-444: A quad-channel configuration, with a total bandwidth of 88 GB/s. The Deck's main unit is designed for handheld use. It includes a 7-inch (180 mm) touchscreen LCD display with a 1280×800 pixel resolution with a fixed 60 Hz refresh rate ; games are configured to use vertical synchronization where possible. The unit's input set features two thumbsticks, a directional pad, ABXY buttons, two shoulder buttons on each side of

1974-441: A revised processor on a more efficient process node." The research firm Omdia reported that the Steam Deck sold 1.62 million units in 2022. Their report estimated that the Steam Deck would pass 3 million units sold since its launch sometime during 2023. Through 2022 and most of 2023, the Deck had been one of the most popular purchases on the Steam storefront. Valve stated in November 2023 that they had sold "multiple millions" of

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2068-472: A system control to bring up the on-screen keyboard, are tagged as "Playable". Another category, "Unsupported", are games that Valve has tested to not be fully compatible with the Steam Deck, such as VR games, games using Windows-specific codecs that have not yet been made compatible with Proton or software apps. These ratings are to change over time as both the Steam Deck software improves as well as updates made by developers to games to improve compatibility with

2162-400: Is a de facto technology demonstration designed to show off the features of the Steam Deck, though it is still playable with an external controller. To assist in developing and testing software for the Steam Deck, Valve released SteamOS Devkit Client and Server under open-source licenses . Drivers for Windows are provided by Valve and AMD, but Valve does not provide support for them. During

2256-667: Is a series of 64-bit microprocessors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), combining a general-purpose AMD64 central processing unit ( CPU ) and 3D integrated graphics processing unit (IGPU) on a single die . AMD announced the first generation APUs, Llano for high-performance and Brazos for low-power devices, in January 2011. The second generation Trinity for high-performance and Brazos-2 for low-power devices were announced in June 2012. The third generation Kaveri for high performance devices were launched in January 2014, while Kabini and Temash for low-power devices were announced in

2350-593: Is not compatible with the Deck. Due to potential confusion on game compatibility, Valve introduced a process in October 2021 by which they brought in additional staff to review games on Steam to make sure a game is fully playable on the Steam Deck. Games that are confirmed to be compatible with the Steam Deck, including those with Proton and any middleware DRM solutions, that by default meet minimum performance specifications, are marked as " Verified ". Games that may require some user tinkering with settings, such as having to use

2444-450: Is not meant to be replaceable by end-users, though can be replaced as necessary for repair. Additional storage space is available through a microSD card slot, which also supports microSDXC and microSDHC formats. As Valve considered options for bringing a handheld device to market, they set a priority that the device had to be able to play nearly the entirety of the Steam game catalogue, and rejected possible hardware that moved away from

2538-719: The FM1 socket. An APU for low-power devices was announced as the Brazos platform, based on the Bobcat microarchitecture and a Radeon HD 6000 series GPU on the same die. At a conference in January 2012, corporate fellow Phil Rogers announced that AMD would re-brand the Fusion platform as the Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), stating that "it's only fitting that the name of this evolving architecture and platform be representative of

2632-581: The FM2 socket. AMD released a new APU based on the Piledriver microarchitecture on 12 March 2013 for Laptops/Mobile and on 4 June 2013 for desktops under the codename Richland . The second generation APU for low-power devices, Brazos 2.0 , used exactly the same APU chip, but ran at higher clock speed and rebranded the GPU as Radeon HD 7000 series and used a new I/O controller chip. Semi-custom chips were introduced in

2726-649: The Jaguar architecture . Since the introduction of Zen -based processors, AMD renamed their APUs as the Ryzen with Radeon Graphics and Athlon with Radeon Graphics , with desktop units assigned with G suffix on their model numbers (e.g. Ryzen 5 3400 G & Athlon 3000 G ) to distinguish them from regular processors or with basic graphics and also to differentiate away from their former Bulldozer era A-series APUs. The mobile counterparts were always paired with Radeon Graphics regardless of suffixes. In November 2017, HP released

2820-460: The 18-watt AMD E-Series APU (codename: Zacate) for mainstream and value notebooks, all-in-ones and small form factor desktops. Both APUs feature one or two Bobcat x86 cores and a Radeon Evergreen Series GPU with full DirectX11, DirectCompute and OpenCL support including UVD3 video acceleration for HD video including 1080p . AMD expanded the Brazos platform on 5 June 2011 with the announcement of

2914-479: The 256 GB LCD version becoming the new base model. The new model upgrades include a larger 7.4 inches (19 cm) OLED 90 Hz display, Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 support, a battery with an estimated 25% improvement in capacity, and improved cooling. The OLED deck includes a revised APU based on 6 nm processor production named Sephiroth, also based on the Final Fantasy VII character . In addition,

Steam Deck - Misplaced Pages Continue

3008-599: The 4.5-watt AMD Z-Series APU (codenamed Hondo ) and the A55T Fusion Controller Hub (FCH), designed for the tablet computer market. The Hondo APU is a redesign of the Desna APU. AMD lowered energy use by optimizing the APU and FCH for tablet computers. The Deccan platform including Krishna and Wichita APUs were cancelled in 2011. AMD had originally planned to release them in the second half 2012. The first iteration of

3102-537: The 5.9-watt AMD Z-Series APU (codename: Desna) designed for the Tablet market. The Desna APU is based on the 9-watt Ontario APU. Energy savings were achieved by lowering the CPU, GPU and northbridge voltages, reducing the idle clocks of the CPU and GPU as well as introducing a hardware thermal control mode. A bidirectional turbo core mode was also introduced. AMD announced the Brazos-T platform on 9 October 2012. It comprised

3196-475: The Australian market from November. The initial reaction to the announcement of the Steam Deck was positive. Epic Games ' Tim Sweeney and Xbox Game Studios ' Phil Spencer complimented Valve on the Steam Deck, with Sweeney calling it an "amazing move by Valve!" Spencer congratulated Valve "on getting so many of us excited to be able to take our games with us wherever we decide to play". Many outlets compared

3290-575: The CE software failed to improve the situation. In October 1999, Philips announced that it will stop producing their Velo Handheld PC and stop using Windows CE entirely due to low sales. After 2000, with Microsoft attempting again with Handheld PC 2000, interest in the form factor overall quickly evaporated, and by early 2002 Microsoft were no longer working on Handheld PC, with its distinct functionality removed from version 4.0 of Windows CE. HP and Sharp both discontinued their Windows CE H/PCs in 2002, while NEC

3384-500: The CPU/GPU as developers working on the Switch due to the Proton compatibility layer. One of the main criticisms of the Steam Deck highlighted by multiple reviewers has been its battery life. Matt Hanson writing for TechRadar stated, "the battery life of the Steam Deck is pretty poor, with it just about managing one and a half hours while playing God of War  ... That's going to upset

3478-481: The Deck and Switch may be similar in concept, the two were not competing devices due to their target demographics, with the Switch aimed more at a broad audience machine, while the Deck was geared towards more "hardcore" gamers. Digital Foundry noted that while the Deck's hardware may be more powerful, game developers only developing games for the Windows operating system are not necessarily able to get low-level access to

3572-470: The Deck. Steam Deck runs SteamOS version 3, based on the Arch Linux operating system. While SteamOS had been previously developed for Steam Machines using Debian Linux, Valve stated that they wanted to use a rolling upgrade approach for the Deck's system software, a function Debian was not designed for, but which is a characteristic of Arch Linux. An application programming interface (API) specific for

3666-422: The Deck. Newell continued that he believed this was a new product category of personal computer hardware that Valve and other computer manufacturers would continue to participate in if the Steam Deck proved successful, and thus it was necessary to keep the unit's price point reasonable to demonstrate viability. The openness of the system was also a key feature according to Newell, as that is a defining "superpower" of

3760-853: The Envy x360, featuring the Ryzen 5 2500U APU, the first 4th generation APU, based on the Zen CPU architecture and the Vega graphics architecture. AMD is a founding member of the Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA) Foundation and is consequently actively working on developing HSA in cooperation with other members. The following hardware and software implementations are available in AMD's APU-branded products: The following table shows features of AMD 's processors with 3D graphics, including APUs (see also: List of AMD processors with 3D graphics ). AMD APUs have CPU modules, cache, and

3854-520: The GPU runs on eight compute units with a total estimated performance of 1.6 TFLOPS. Both the CPU and GPU use variable timing frequencies, with the CPU running between 2.4 and 3.5 GHz and the GPU between 1.0 and 1.6 GHz based on current processor needs. Valve stated that the CPU has comparable performance to Ryzen 3000 desktop computer processors and the GPU performance to the Radeon RX 6000 series . The Deck includes 16 GB of LPDDR5 RAM in

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3948-656: The Linux-based SteamOS. According to ProtonDB, a community-run database that compiles information on game compatibility of Steam games within Linux using Proton, several of Steam's more popular game releases were not yet compatible with Proton primarily due to anti-circumvention and anti-cheat controls or digital rights management (DRM). Valve stated they were working with vendors of these middleware solutions to improve Proton support while also encouraging Linux-specific versions to be developed. Epic Games ' Easy Anti-Cheat, one of

4042-577: The Llano APU. The release of this second iteration of this generation was 12 March 2013 for mobile parts and 5 June 2013 for desktop parts. In January 2013 the Jaguar-based Kabini and Temash APUs were unveiled as the successors of the Bobcat-based Ontario, Zacate and Hondo APUs. The Kabini APU is aimed at the low-power, subnotebook, netbook, ultra-thin and small form factor markets, while

4136-633: The Microsoft Xbox One and Sony PlayStation 4 video game consoles, and subsequently in the Microsoft Xbox Series X|S and Sony PlayStation 5 consoles. A third generation of the technology was released on 14 January 2014, featuring greater integration between CPU and GPU. The desktop and laptop variant is codenamed Kaveri , based on the Steamroller architecture , while the low-power variants, codenamed Kabini and Temash , are based on

4230-532: The Proton layer and only required developers to opt-in to enable it. Valve stated that in testing games otherwise currently available on Linux or compatible with the Proton layer, they had yet to find a game that failed to meet a minimum 30 frames-per-second performance on the handheld, a performance metric comparable to the consoles of the eighth generation . The Proton layer includes support for AMD's upscaling technology FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR); while Proton also supports Nvidia's DLSS upscaling solution, it

4324-457: The Remote Play feature. Remote Play allows the Steam Deck to be used as a controller for a game running on a computer, providing additional control options beyond traditional keyboard and mouse or common controller systems. The Steam software on the Deck also supports suspending a game in progress, a feature considered by Valve to be core to the Deck. Otherwise, games that do not take advantage of

4418-475: The Steam Deck API have the handheld's controller input automatically converted for them. For example, the touch-sensitive controllers on the Deck translate input appropriately for games that typically rely on keyboard and mouse controls. Valve added to Steam's current approach to cloud saving with the introduction of Dynamic Cloud Sync in January 2022. Prior cloud functionality only synchronized game saves after

4512-667: The Steam Deck from a local network Steam installation was added in February 2023. While the Deck was designed for playing games on the Steam storefront, desktop mode allows for installation of third-party storefronts like Epic Games Store , Ubisoft Connect , or Origin . It is possible to replace SteamOS with a different operating system entirely or set up multi-booting . It is also possible to use Microsoft Edge for Xbox Cloud Gaming , allowing those with Xbox Game Pass subscriptions access to that catalogue of games. Newell stated that Valve would support Microsoft in bringing Xbox Game Pass to Steam and Steam Deck if they want that route. With

4606-403: The Steam Deck is available to game developers, allowing a game to specify certain settings if it is being run on a Steam Deck compared to a normal computer. Within the Steam storefront, developers can populate a special file depot for their game with lower-resolution textures and other reduced elements to allow their game to perform better on the Steam Deck; Steam automatically detects and downloads

4700-420: The Steam Deck software. Users download games onto the Steam Deck to store on either the internal storage or SD card, each storage device treated as a separate Steam Library for games. This allows SD cards with different Steam Libraries to be swapped in and out. Valve is exploring the ability to pre-load games on an SD card outside of the Deck, such as through a personal computer. The ability to download games onto

4794-444: The Steam Deck to be future-proof . While the specifications are modest compared to high-end gaming computers, they felt that the performance was at a good place that would be acceptable for many years, while still looking at newer software improvements, such as the addition of AMD's FidelityFX Super Resolution (FSR). Though they do not have any current designs for a successor, Valve stated that there would likely be future iterations of

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4888-427: The Steam Deck were opened a day after its announcement. Pre-orders were limited to those with Steam accounts opened before June 2021, to prevent resellers from depleting stock and making the device more difficult to purchase. First-day pre-order reservations through the Steam storefront briefly crashed the servers due to the demand. By September 2021, development kits for the Steam Deck were shipping to developers. For

4982-521: The Steam Deck. The Steam Deck is credited with triggering a wave of similar handheld gaming computers. This includes the Asus ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go , which both launched in 2023, and the MSI Claw A1M which launched in 2024. Handheld PC The term has been varyingly used and intermixed with other terms. The first "hand-held" device compatible with desktop IBM personal computers of

5076-759: The Temash APU is aimed at the tablet, ultra-low power and small form factor markets. The two to four Jaguar cores of the Kabini and Temash APUs feature numerous architectural improvements regarding power requirement and performance, such as support for newer x86-instructions, a higher IPC count, a CC6 power state mode and clock gating . Kabini and Temash are AMD's first, and also the first ever quad-core x86 based SoCs . The integrated Fusion Controller Hubs (FCH) for Kabini and Temash are codenamed "Yangtze" and "Salton", respectively. The Yangtze FCH features support for two USB 3.0 ports, two SATA 6 Gbit/s ports, as well as

5170-411: The accidental announcement on the AMD website on 26 May 2014. The announcement included components targeted at the standard voltage, low-voltage, and ultra-low voltage segments of the market. In early-access performance testing of a Kaveri prototype laptop, AnandTech found that the 35 W FX-7600P was competitive with the similarly priced 17 W Intel i7-4500U in synthetic CPU-focused benchmarks, and

5264-416: The aim of developing a system on a chip that combined a CPU with a GPU on a single die . This effort was moved forward by AMD's acquisition of graphics chipset manufacturer ATI in 2006. The project reportedly required three internal iterations of the Fusion concept to create a product deemed worthy of release. Reasons contributing to the delay of the project include the technical difficulties of combining

5358-467: The appropriate files for the system (whether on a computer or Steam Deck) when the user installs the game. The Steam client on the Deck features a revised interface and functions different from the desktop client. Unlike Steam's Big Picture mode which was designed for use on television screens, which was treated as a separate software branch within Valve, the Deck version of the Steam client stays consistent with

5452-530: The desktop version, adding functions and interface elements to make navigating through Steam easier with controller input, and indicators typical for portable systems such as battery life and wireless connectivity. Valve replaced the previous Big Picture mode in Steam with one based on the Steam Deck user interface in February 2023. The version of Steam on the Deck otherwise supports all other functions of Steam, including user profiles and friends lists, access to game communities, cloud saving, Steam Workshop support, and

5546-458: The device would fail to ship by December and instead would ship in February 2022, retaining the same order for delivery based on pre-order placement. By June 2022, Valve stated they were able to double the number of Steam Decks shipping out each week, helping to meet the initial reservations, and by August 2022, Valve's production was outpacing expectations, allowing them to send out Steam Decks to consumers that were originally anticipated to ship in

5640-519: The dock unit was also made to support variable refresh rate monitors. The dock also supports Ethernet network connectivity and support for USB connections for controllers or other input devices. The Deck can also work with any third-party docking station that supports similar types of interfacing for portable devices. External GPUs are not officially supported, although testing via the M2 slot has demonstrated that eGPUs are capable of running when connected to

5734-468: The early prototypes of Valve's Steam Controller , also released in 2015, included a small LCD screen within the middle of the controller which could be programmed as a second screen alongside the game that the user was playing. One idea from this prototype was to include the Steam Link , a device capable of streaming game content from a computer running Steam to a different monitor, here routing that output to

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5828-601: The entire, technical community that is leading the way in this very important area of technology and programming development." However, it was later revealed that AMD had been the subject of a trademark infringement lawsuit by the Swiss company Arctic , who used the name "Fusion" for a line of power supply products . The second generation desktop and laptop APU, codenamed Trinity , was announced at AMD's 2010 Financial Analyst Day and released in October 2012. It featured Piledriver CPU cores and Radeon HD 7000 series GPU cores on

5922-476: The final quarter of the year. Valve was able to fulfil all reservations by October 2022, opening the Steam Deck to purchase without reservation, though Valve tentatively will return to a reservation system should demand be too high. In December 2022, the Steam Deck was officially released for sale in Asia.In October 2024, Valve announced that after 2 years since its release the Steam Deck will be made officially available to

6016-524: The first few days of release, Newell himself directly delivered some of the first Steam Deck units to residents in the Seattle area. Due to its popularity, some pre-order purchasers were informed that later shipments of the 64 GB model and 256 GB NVMe models would be in Q2 2022 and the 512 GB NVMe model by Q3 2022. Valve informed pre-purchasers in November 2021 that due to the ongoing global chip shortage ,

6110-453: The hardware in years to come, but the company expects the timing of releases to depend on the current state of processor technology and handheld device limitations rather than a regular upgrade cycle. Two new models were released on November 16, 2023. These models, with 512 GB and 1 TB of internal storage come in to replace the previous top of the line LCD variant. The 64 GB and 512 GB original units are now discontinued, with

6204-477: The hood, as well as full VGA display resolution. New hardware resembling subnotebooks were released on the market using this version. In September 2000, the updated Handheld PC 2000 was announced which is based on version 3.0 of Windows CE. Handheld PC failed to be a success, being not so competitive against Palm 's smaller and lighter keyboard-less Palm PDAs as well against subnotebook computers that were quickly dropping in price. The second version of

6298-488: The late Samsung NEXiO S150. The second generation of Handheld PCs were based on Windows CE 2.0. Improvements include color 640 x 240 resolution displays (the first generation devices only supported 480 x 240), taskbar customization, printer support, and the addition of Pocket PowerPoint to the Pocket Office suite. In October 1998, Handheld PC Professional based on Windows CE 2.11 was released with many enhancements under

6392-457: The market with its approach to portable gaming, and has spurred interest in similar handheld gaming computers. Valve's Steam Machine series of gaming computers using Linux -based SteamOS was introduced in 2015, which worked their way into the conception of the Steam Deck. Valve quietly pulled back on it by April 2018, but stated they remained committed to providing some type of open-hardware platform. Steam Deck designer Scott Dalton said "there

6486-417: The mobile market as their primary competitor for the Deck. However, their focus was on the unit's performance; Newell stated, "But the first thing was the performance and the experience, [that] was the biggest and most fundamental constraint that was driving this." Newell recognized that the base pricing was somewhat lower than expected and "painful", but necessary to meet the expectation of gamers who would want

6580-469: The more popular anti-cheat options for developers, was made available for macOS and Linux systems in September 2021, which Epic stated that developers could easily transition for the Proton layer. Valve worked with Epic over the end of 2021 to make the transition of Easy Anti-Cheat to Proton simple for developers. Another popular anti-cheat solution, BattlEye , also affirmed their software was ready to work with

6674-548: The original launch models, but at the time, OLED screens of sufficient size and quality did not yet exist on the market, and they would have had to delay release by 12 to 18 months if they went on that route. Alongside the announcement of the OLED models, Valve stated they are working towards a Steam Deck 2 with overall system improvements including the CPU and GPU chips, but these systems will likely not be ready for two to three years. System designer Lawrence Yang said they wanted to wait for

6768-417: The personal computer space over typical console systems. Newell did not want to have any limitations on what the end user could do with the hardware, such as installing alternate non-Steam software on it. As of December 2022, Valve was pursuing improvements on the Steam Deck, including per-game "power profiles", and some other performance improvements, as well as evaluating a second generation Steam Deck. Valve

6862-575: The planned release in Asian regions, Valve worked with Komodo to help with local production, localization, and distribution support. The Steam Deck was released on February 25, 2022, in North America and the European regions. As part of the Steam Deck's launch, Valve released Aperture Desk Job , a spinoff game in the Portal series, for free on March 1, 2022, available to all Windows and Linux/SteamOS users. The game

6956-430: The platform, codenamed Kaveri, was partly released on 14 January 2014. Kaveri contains up to four Steamroller CPU cores clocked to 3.9 GHz with a turbo mode of 4.1 GHz, up to a 512-core Graphics Core Next GPU, two decode units per module instead of one (which allows each core to decode four instructions per cycle instead of two), AMD TrueAudio, Mantle API , an on-chip ARM Cortex-A5 MPCore, and will release with

7050-427: The processor speed, the display output from the Deck via the dock can reach as high as 8k resolution at 60 Hz or 4k resolution at 120 Hz; this resolution boost can also be achieved by attaching the Deck directly through a USB to HDMI adapter without the use of the docking station. There is no other change in performance of the Steam Deck whether docked or when used in portable mode. With SteamOS update 3.5.5,

7144-489: The same class. On the other hand, ultra-compact laptops capable of running common x86 -compatible desktop operating systems have been typically classified as subnotebooks . Microsoft's ultra-mobile PC brought x86-based Windows — typically the modern definition of 'PC' — to palm sized mobile devices for the first time and these have also been referred to as handheld PCs. The Steam Deck has rekindled interest in "handheld" PCs since 2021, specifically for gaming, designed with

7238-497: The second generation platform, released in October 2012, brought improvements to CPU and GPU performance to both desktops and laptops. The platform features 2 to 4 Piledriver CPU cores built on a 32 nm process with a TDP between 65 W and 100 W, and a GPU based on the Radeon HD7000 series with support for DirectX 11, OpenGL 4.2, and OpenCL 1.2. The Trinity APU was praised for the improvements to CPU performance compared to

7332-422: The small LCD on the controller. This was later considered by Valve a very early concept behind the Steam Deck. Furthermore, their experience with trying to convince other manufacturers to produce Steam Machines led Valve to realize that it was better to develop all their hardware internally. Dalton said, "More and more it just became kind of clear, the more of this we are doing internally, the more we can kind of make

7426-424: The standard x86 -based processing structure that would have been easier to implement in handheld form but would have limited what games would be available. Only through recent discussions with AMD and their current product lines was Valve able to identify a technical approach that would meet the goal of a handheld device capable of playing all Steam games without overtaxing the processor unit. The developers considered

7520-504: The summer of 2013. Since the launch of the Zen microarchitecture, Ryzen and Athlon APUs have released to the global market as Raven Ridge on the DDR4 platform, after Bristol Ridge a year prior. AMD has also supplied semi-custom APUs for consoles starting with the release of Sony PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Xbox One eighth generation video game consoles . The AMD Fusion project started in 2006 with

7614-434: The system's open nature, users have also been able to add emulators to run games that users own from other consoles or computer systems. The operating software of the Steam Deck is open-source, allowing a range of third-party software tools to be developed to bring additional utility to the device. Examples include SteamOS plugin loader Decky, emulation manager EmuDeck and the batocera.linux distribution. Pre-orders for

7708-643: The time was the Atari Portfolio of 1989; such devices were often called " Palmtop PC s" at the time, as they were IBM PC–compatibles that could fit in the palm of a human hand . Other early models were the Poqet PC of 1989 and the Hewlett Packard HP 95LX of 1991 which run the MS-DOS operating system. Other DOS-compatible hand-held computers also existed. The popular definition of "handheld PC" eventually became

7802-515: The unit to that of the Nintendo Switch , generally recognized as the first true hybrid video game console. Valve stated that they did not really consider the Switch in designing the Deck, as they "tried to make all the decisions really in Steam Deck that targeted that audience and that served the customers that were already having a good time interacting with the games that are on that platform, on our platform", and that by happenstance, came out with

7896-519: The unit, four additional buttons on the rear of the unit, as well as two trackpads under each thumbstick. The thumbsticks and trackpads use capacitive sensing , and the unit further includes a gyroscope to allow for more specialized controls on the handheld mode. The unit also includes haptic feedback . The Deck supports Bluetooth connectivity for input devices, including common game controllers, and includes integrated WiFi network support to meet IEEE 802.11 a/b/g/n/ac standards, stereo sound out via

7990-421: The user has exited a game; developers can enable Dynamic Cloud Sync to use cloud saving while the game is running, making this feature more amenable for portable use on the Steam Deck. The Deck displays compatible games from the Steam storefront. Games developed for Linux run natively. The SteamOS software includes support for Proton , a compatibility layer that allows games developed for Windows to be played on

8084-487: The xHCI 1.0 and SD/SDIO 3.0 protocols for SD-card support. Both chips feature DirectX 11.1-compliant GCN -based graphics as well as numerous HSA improvements. They were fabricated at a 28 nm process in an FT3 ball grid array package by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), and were released on 23 May 2013. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One were revealed to both be powered by 8-core semi-custom Jaguar-derived APUs. The third generation of

8178-449: Was also considering bringing some of the Steam Deck technology into a new Steam Controller 2. Valve announced two new Deck models to be available for purchase in November 2023, both with OLED screens, extended battery capacity, and improved cooling features, but otherwise no changes to internal components. These models replace two of the existing models. Hardware designers for Valve stated that they would have wanted to include OLED screens for

8272-524: Was always kind of this classic chicken and egg problem with the Steam Machine", as it required the adoption of Linux by both players and game developers to reach a critical interest in the machines to draw manufacturers in making them. The lack of Linux game availability during the lifetime of Steam Machines led Valve to invest development into Proton , a Linux compatibility layer to allow Windows–based games to be run on Linux without modification. Some of

8366-415: Was criticised for its poor CPU performance and praised for its better GPU performance. AMD was later criticised for abandoning Socket FM1 after one generation. The AMD Brazos platform was introduced on 4 January 2011, targeting the subnotebook , netbook and low power small form factor markets. It features the 9-watt AMD C-Series APU (codename: Ontario) for netbooks and low power devices as well as

8460-577: Was found to lag behind similarly specified Intel processors, a lag that was unlikely to be resolved in the Bulldozer family APUs. The A8-7600 component was delayed from a Q1 launch to an H1 launch because the Steamroller architecture components allegedly did not scale well at higher clock speeds. AMD announced the release of the Kaveri APU for the mobile market on 4 June 2014 at Computex 2014, shortly after

8554-468: Was last to leave the market. At the same time, notebook computers had become increasingly slimmer and portable, and the Handheld PC was increasingly limited by its Windows CE software in comparison. Due to limited success of Handheld PC, Microsoft focused more on the keyboard-less and smaller Pocket PC , which would run what would later be known as Windows Mobile . AMD APU AMD Accelerated Processing Unit ( APU ), formerly known as Fusion ,

8648-428: Was shipped starting in February 2022 in North America and Europe, with other regions to follow throughout the year. Valve's CEO, Gabe Newell , said of the Steam Deck's approach, "As a gamer, this is a product I've always wanted. And as a game developer, it's the mobile device I've always wanted for our partners." According to Newell, they wanted to be "very aggressive" on the release and pricing strategy as they considered

8742-541: Was significantly better than previous integrated GPU systems on GPU-focused benchmarks. Tom's Hardware reported the performance of the Kaveri FX-7600P against the 35 W Intel i7-4702MQ , finding that the i7-4702MQ was significantly better than the FX-7600P in synthetic CPU-focused benchmarks, whereas the FX-7600P was significantly better than the i7-4702MQ's Intel HD 4600 iGPU in the four games that could be tested in

8836-504: Was used in both desktops and laptops. It was based on the K10 architecture and built on a 32 nm process featuring two to four CPU cores on a thermal design power (TDP) of 65-100 W, and integrated graphics based on the Radeon HD 6000 series with support for DirectX 11 , OpenGL 4.2 and OpenCL 1.2. In performance comparisons against the similarly priced Intel Core i3-2105 , the Llano APU

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