The first orders for Valve’s handheld gaming PC, Steam Deck, will begin shipping this Friday, but it’s important to note that this shipment doesn’t come with an official dock. In a blog post about Steam Deck shipments, “We’re also looking forward to getting official Steam Deck docks into the hands of our customers.
The reality is that it won’t happen as we expected, but we’re happy that we’ll soon be More information will be made public and planned to be available in late spring.”
Valve hasn’t shared many details about the dock, other than a brief description on the Steam Deck website: “The official dock supports your Steam Deck when connected to an external monitor, wired network, USB peripherals, and power supply. If You have a powered USB-C hub nearby, and Steam Deck supports it.”
According to Valve’s Steam Deck FAQ, docking the Steam Deck won’t improve its performance, so if you’re playing your game while docked, it doesn’t sound like it will run any better. Docking is more like plugging a USB-C hub into a PC. Steam Deck runs at full performance in portable mode, the company said.
Valve also provides email alerts for release-day shipping orders. The first pre-orders will begin receiving this email on Friday, February 25th at 1pm ET. These users can complete their pre-order model purchases on Steam within 72 hours of receiving the email. If they cancel or don’t buy within that time frame, Valve will release their reservation to the next person in line.