Valve Steam Deck Docking Station Hands-On

Last week Valve launched their much anticipated Steam Deck Docking Station as the official "dock" for the Steam Deck to allow connecting up to two external displays, power, additional USB ports, and Gigabit Ethernet. I've been testing out the Steam Deck Docking Station and it's been working out well but on the pricier side compared to alternatives.

The Steam Deck Docking Station "Steam Deck Dock" designed by Valve is a USB-C connected dock for their Arch Linux powered handheld gaming console. The dock was designed exclusively with the Steam Deck in mind and thus serves as a nice-sized stand too with molded rubber seat and sufficiently sized USB-C cable.

The Steam Deck Docking Station features three USB-A 3.1 Gen1 ports, Gigabit Ethernet, and can interface with two displays via DisplayPort 1.4 and HDMI 2.0. The Steam Deck Docking Station is compatible with FreeSync / Adaptive-Sync and can support up to 4K@60 or 1440p@120 as well as being able to leverage DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport (MST).

This basically amounts to being a nice USB-C hub for the Steam Deck albeit comes at a hefty price: $89 USD. Meanwhile I've been using an Anker USB-C hub with the Steam Deck and from there a USB Ethernet adapter. The Anker USB-C hub is about $30 USD. Meanwhile there are alternatives like the JSAUX Docking Station for the Steam Deck that retail for $38+. So for about half the price of the official Steam Deck Docking Station, the JSAUX product available from Amazon.com (affiliate link) and other retailers goes for half the cost. The JSAUX Docking Station supports USB-C power delivery, one HDMI 2.0 output, two USB-A ports, and Gigabit Ethernet.