This third-party Steam Deck dock adds an M.2 SSD expansion slot

You still can’t buy the official Steam Deck Dock from Valve, presumably because the company is too busy making a bajillion actual Steam Decks. But, of course, where there are portable game machines, there are weird little companies ready and willing to sell you weird little gadgets that plug into them. In this case, that company is Jsaux, a name as unfamiliar to me as it is to my spell check. It’s selling a Steam Deck dock with a built-in M.2 port for easy solid state storage expansion.

See, the official Steam Deck Dock is basically just a fancy USB-C dock with an awkward cable for the gadget’s top-mounted port. Multiple companies have already replicated this — you can find plenty of examples on Amazon, featuring easy access to HDMI-out and USB ports for accessories. The Jsaux dock one-ups them with room for an M.2 SSD at up to 80mm long (the popular 2280 standard). It’s an easy and inexpensive way to add some storage to your Steam Deck, which maxes out at just 512GB and isn’t easy to upgrade.

Actually using that storage for high-end gaming while docked might not be easy. The dock uses an older Gen3 PCIe bus and, due to the limitations of the Steam Deck’s USB-C port, the connection maxes out at 900MB/s (as noted by Tom’s Hardware). But even so, it could be a great way to add some quick media storage or move around those massive modern game files without re-downloading them from Steam. The dock also features an HDMI port that can handle 4K at 60Hz or 2K at 120Hz, hardwired gigabit Ethernet, and two USB-A ports for accessories. If you’re so inclined, the dock also works with Android and iPad devices rocking USB-C.

The HB0604 dock is available from Jsaux’s website now for a reasonable $100. It also comes bundled with 1TB and 2TB SSDs for $170 and $240, respectively.

Author: Michael Crider, Staff Writer