I’ve at all times had a tender spot for Jsaux. Its powerful, braided USB cables have seen me proper for years, and now the corporate has deigned to deliver us a substitute for the official Steam Deck (opens in new tab) dock, whereas Valve is out twiddling its thumbs.
There are two variations of the Jsaux Steam Deck Dock: the usual HB0602 (opens in new tab), and the upgraded HB0603 (opens in new tab) which primarily improves on the USB port specs. Sadly, each undergo with limitations in the case of ethernet speeds, however we’ll get to that in a second.
For probably the most half, the Jsaux dock is a sturdy, handsome piece of equipment. I like the gunmetal gray, and it does an important job of presenting the Steam Deck in type. Nested in its little silicon-lined nook, the Deck does not slide about when you’re shifting it from one floor to a different, and the cable is simply the precise size so it reaches the Deck’s cost port, with sufficient slack to take the Deck out whereas retaining it plugged in.
It is clear Jsaux has put sturdiness as a prime precedence with its Premium Aluminium Alloy body, although there’s a little bit of a hollowness to the physique. My important concern listed here are the steel corners, whereas principally rounded, are frighteningly near my Steam Deck’s display screen. Perhaps I am only a worrier.
At the very least I do know once I get a pet it’s going to have a tricky time chewing by means of this dock.
Jsaux Steam Deck Dock Spec
Connections: 2x USB 2.0 Sort-A, 1x USB Sort-C (100W), 1x HDMI 2.0, 1x RJ45 ethernet enter.
Materials: Premium aluminium alloy, Gunmetal Gray
Mannequin: HB0603
Worth: $39.99 (opens in new tab) (£35) / $49.99 (opens in new tab)
As for connectivity, whereas the official Steam Deck dock will supply HDMI 2.0 and DisplayPort 1.4, Jsaux has opted to provide as much as 4K resolutions at 60Hz by means of a single HDMI 2.0 output. Nearly all of use instances will not warrant 4K because the Steam Deck is prone to battle at these resolutions.
After all you’ll be able to at all times play at a decrease decision and use AMD’s Constancy FX Tremendous Decision (opens in new tab) tech to upscale, when you’re utilizing the Jsaux dock with among the finest 4K gaming displays (opens in new tab). Sadly, although, you will not have the ability get full use of the Steam Deck as a conveyable 8K+ film participant with this dock. For those who’re simply trying to make use of it as a conveyable workstation, although, the Jsaux dock has you coated, although an additional USB port or two might need been good.
There’s a USB Sort-C out there which fees as much as 100W (the Deck solely wants 45W) so there’s some leeway for charging peripherals. Although, once more, one other port would have been an important addition so you can cost and have one thing else plugged in there. To free one in every of these ports up, you may contemplate connecting the dock to a monitor with a USB Sort-C downstream (for charging and picture output), but it surely’s necessary to notice that the DisplayLink chipset in lots of displays is not supported on Linux as of but.
For some unusual motive, Jsaux has despatched me the cheaper $40 (£35) model of the dock with its twin USB 2.0 ports, versus the $50 model with three USB 3.0 Sort-A ports. My important query is that this: why would I hassle skimping for such a downgrade? As our Dave says, “There isn’t any place for USB 2.0 on any new PC dock in 2022,” which is strictly why Valve delayed the official Dock to improve to USB 3.1 (opens in new tab).
What we do know is the Jsaux dock is restricted to 100Mbps ethernet. For reference, it takes round 5 minutes to obtain a film in 1080p at these speeds, so you’ll be able to think about how lengthy it would take to obtain the complete measurement of a few of at this time’s video games (opens in new tab). For some customers, this limitation will negate the necessity to jam an ethernet cable in there; your Wi-Fi might even be sooner when you’re paying for greater than 100Mbps.
Setting the ethernet and USB limitations apart, there’s nonetheless lots to be mentioned about an organization that launched a sturdy, trendy Steam Deck dock, earlier than Valve managed to deliver us an official one.
However, it is positively price spending that additional $10 on the HB0603 (opens in new tab) as a substitute, particularly as there is a little bit of noticeable enter latency when utilizing these USB 2.0 ports to play video games. Whereas we’re betting on the official dock being round $50 or much less, we have nonetheless no thought how a lot it’s going to price. The $50 HB0603 with its USB 3.0 ports might but be higher worth, but when the official Dock is wherever close to that worth on launch, and may boast higher ethernet speeds, that is actually the place I will be spending my cash.