The Steam Deck OLED Now Is available in White, however You’ll Be Fortunate to Get One

There received’t be a Steam Deck 2 this 12 months. Valve employees already confirmed it in a recent interview. As an alternative of teasing any new {hardware}, the PC recreation retail large did its finest Pawn Stars impression Monday, telling ravenous handheld followers that “one of the best I can do is a white Steam Deck OLED.” Nevertheless, anyone hoping to beat the scalpers ought to know that after they’re gone, Valve received’t be making any extra of them.

Valve unveiled the upcoming white limited edition Steam Deck on the corporate’s Twitter web page. In line with Valve, the white Steam Deck is similar precise OLED-based system Valve launched final 12 months, however the system is available in a sporty, off-white shade with grey buttons and thumbsticks. It would value as a lot because the earlier 1 TB translucent plastic Steam Deck OLED at $680, but it surely additionally comes with a white carrying case and white microfiber cleansing material (which is, apparently, a promoting level). The facility button nonetheless consists of the orange accent as the one spot of additional shade.

These will turn into accessible Nov. 18 at 6 p.m. ET, 3 p.m. PT. They’ll be accessible within the U.S., Australia, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong. Valve mentioned it has “restricted portions” of white Steam Decks for all areas. To attempt to beat the scalpers, Valve declared it’s proscribing purchases to 1 per account. These accounts must have purchased one thing else on Steam earlier than November to be eligible. Nevertheless, we don’t think about that can utterly cease resellers from flooding eBay with marked-up white Steam Decks, like they did with the restricted version 30th anniversary PlayStation 5 Pro.

The common 1 TB Steam Deck goes for $650 MSRP, and if you wish to save the additional $30 and put it in direction of a pores and skin or dock, that’s completely affordable. Valve’s handheld is well one of the best of its type in its value vary. The following step for gaming handhelds is a Lenovo Legion Go or an Asus ROG Ally X, which value a whole lot of {dollars} further in trade for extra highly effective units that run Home windows as an alternative of the Linux-based SteamOS. Home windows additionally permits for simpler twin booting and fewer compatibility points loading your video games from non-Steam launchers. Nonetheless, if you need essentially the most easy expertise, the Steam Deck remains to be the gold normal for PC handhelds.

I take pleasure in my Steam Deck as a lot as the following gamer who can’t be bothered to take a seat at their desk. Simply this week, I spent an entire sick day doing nothing however moaning about my aching limbs and taking part in Metaphor: ReFantazio on that 7.4-inch OLED display screen. The brand new, white mannequin does look distinctive, however as with all white plastic, you’ll inevitably discover scuffs and filth mar the pristine exterior. You possibly can as an alternative go for decals and stickers like these from DBrand if you wish to make your Steam Deck look distinctive.

I additionally must admit I’m dissatisfied with how this restricted version mannequin feels barebones in comparison with the older translucent plastic (regardless of reported cracking issues). I’d need one thing that jogs my memory of the turrets from Portal, possibly with pink face buttons or trackpads. Maybe the corporate is saving its vitality for an inevitable Steam Deck 2. Valve designer Lawrence Yang instructed the Australian outlet Opinions.org that the corporate isn’t planning on any sort of yearly launch. As an alternative, it’s searching for an actual “generational leap” in computing energy with out sacrificing battery life. Contemplating the rumors for the AMD Ryzen Z2, the next-gen chip for what’s powering the Ally and Legion Go, that generational leap might already be on the horizon.