With the Steam Deck, Valve has introduced a mobile PC where you can play all games. But how much do you actually have to spend on Valve’s Steam Deck? MeinMMO presents the prices for you.
What is the Steam Deck? With the Steam Deck, Valve has introduced a handheld console that aims to offer you the functions of a gaming PC in the form of a console. You shouldn’t have to make the usual compromises, like with the PS5 or Xbox Series X. Instead, you can install whatever you want on the device.
There are even initial unofficial benchmarks for the Steam Deck, which give a little insight into the performance of the handheld.
You will find this in our article: In our article, we discuss what the Steam Deck costs and what price tiers there are. We also address whether the higher price for an expensive model could be worth it for you.
Note: If you have already pre-ordered the Steam Deck, a fee of 4 euros will be added to the price of the console.
The prices for the Steam Deck start slightly above the Nintendo Switch
How much do I have to pay at least? The starting price for the Steam Deck is 419 euros. For this money, you get the Steam Deck and a carrying case. At 419 euros, the Steam Deck is above the Nintendo Switch, which currently costs around 300 euros (Switch) or 360 euros (OLED). However, the differences between the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch are considerably more extensive than just a simple price difference.
What do I get for a higher price? For 549 euros, you already get the Steam Deck with 256 GB of storage. That’s four times as much as the entry-level model and the storage is supposed to be faster as well. You also get an exclusive Steam community profile bundle.
If you’re willing to pay 679 euros, you get the Steam Deck with 512 GB of storage and anti-glare, etched glass, which the other models do not offer. You also receive a virtual keyboard with an exclusive design.
Is the higher price worth it? The biggest difference is definitely the storage space available to you when you’re willing to pay more.
Generally, you can also expand the storage later with a memory card. However, if you already know that 64 GB of storage won’t be enough for you, you should go for the larger model right away. Because the internal storage is still faster than a memory card.
The exclusive Steam community profile bundle and the virtual keyboard with design do not provide you with any gameplay or technical advantages. If you pay more, you only benefit from the larger and faster storage. We cannot judge the advantage of the anti-glare and etched glass strongly enough yet, as Valve has not shown enough so far.
Steam Deck: All official prices (in euros)
| Price | Steam Deck Features |
|---|---|
| 419 euros | 64 GB eMMC storage Carrying case |
| 549 euros | 256 GB NVMe SSD Carrying case Exclusive Steam community profile bundle |
| 679 euros | 512 GB NVMe SSD Anti-glare, etched glass Carrying case Exclusive Steam community profile bundle Virtual keyboard with exclusive design |
In general, you should be clear on how much storage space you really need. In the end, it depends on how many games you want to install on the handheld. Modern games tend to take up a lot of storage space.
For example, the latest update of Call of Duty: Warzone on PC requires 40 GB of storage.
What can I play on the Steam Deck? Theoretically, you can install all your favorite games on the Steam Deck, and the more space you have, the more games you can install simultaneously. However, there are some restrictions for games. The Steam Deck does not officially run on Windows, but on Steam OS, which is based on Linux:
If you’re still unsure whether you really want to buy the Steam Deck, we present a few exciting alternatives here on MeinMMO.
These alternatives are already available for purchase or pre-order and come directly with the Windows operating system. If Steam OS doesn’t really convince you, perhaps such devices could.
Steam Deck: Here are the 4 most exciting alternatives in 2021
