The official dock will be available in ‘late spring’
Valve has quietly updated the specs to its still-unreleased official dock for the Steam Deck handheld gaming PC, as reported by Review Geek. The Steam Deck tech specs page originally said the dock would have one USB-A 3.1 port, two USB-A 2.0 ports, and an Ethernet port for networking, but the page now says that all three USB-A ports will use the much faster 3.1 standard, and it now specifies that the Ethernet port will actually be a Gigabit Ethernet port.
According to the Wayback Machine, Valve’s Steam Deck tech specs page listed the original specs as of February 12th, and the accompanying diagram of the dock pointed to an “Ethernet” port for networking. But by February 22nd, the specs were updated to list the three USB-A 3.1 ports. And by February 25th — the first day Valve began selling the Steam Deck — the dock diagram was updated to show the three USB-A 3.1 ports and a Gigabit Ethernet jack.
The dock’s original specs (left) vs. the updated specs (right).
(The Wayback Machine’s February 25th archive is also the first time I see Valve using the header “Docking Station” instead of “Official Dock.”)
The upgrades seem like good ones for the dock and I’m looking forward to picking one up for myself. I’m envisioning a future where I can use the dock to play Steam games on the TV in my living room. Unfortunately, I don’t know exactly when I’ll be able to do that, as Valve has only provided a vague late spring 2022 release date for the dock, and the company hasn’t shared how much it might cost. Valve didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.
If you don’t want to wait for Valve’s official dock, the company says you can use other USB-C hubs instead, like my colleague Sean Hollister did in his review. But I’ve waited long enough for the Deck itself, what’s another couple months for the dock?
