The Steam Deck can be docked like the Nintendo Switch and connected to a TV or monitor. Valve confirmed this with the announcement. But now the publisher behind Steam has revealed that docking the portable PC does not increase the performance of games. This can cause some problems if you decide to get your Steam deck to a large 4K TV.
In an interview with PC player, Valve’s Greg Coomer stated that while developing and designing the Steam Deck, Valve considered adding a “higher performance mode” that activates after the device is docked. However, the company decided against it.
“… We thought it was actually better not to make changes based on docked status or mobile status,” said Coomer.
“We really wanted to prioritize to use it in what we believe to be the highest use case that is actually mobile.” Coomer told PC player. “So since we focused on that, we chose a threshold where the machine would run well and with a good frame rate for AAA games in this scenario. We didn’t really feel that we should aim for the dock scenario at higher resolutions. We wanted a simpler design goal and prioritize that. ”
We know from past interviews that Valve has tested many games on the Steam Deck and shoots at least 30 fps in as many games as possible. According to the company, they meet and exceed these goals in most games. But that’s in portable mode, which runs games at 800p. Docking the Steam Deck on a 1080p TV or higher resolution monitor would require more power, and if the dock doesn’t provide that, then in this scenario it is very likely that some high-end games will have performance issues.
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Of course it is Steam deck is not a locked console. These are PC games and players can change the resolution and visual settings in the game just like they would on a desktop PC. So if something like that steering, a game that after Giant bomb had some performance issues on Steam Deck, runs even worse on a 4K TV, players were able to lower the settings to make things smoother. And that is also to be taken into account steering
However, if you are planning on using the Steam Deck as your living room PC and portable console, this is something you should consider before you try to grab one later this year.
To this day we don’t even know how much the Dock for the Steam Deck will cost, when it can be pre-ordered or purchased, or really other details.
The Steam Deck will be shipped to some customers from December, with more to follow in the following months. You can pre-order one now, though Valve is warning that people who order today won’t get one until sometime in 2022.
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