Ordinarily, when I buy hardware to support other hardware, I tend to not worry about it unless it's very expensive or if it's complicated. The Steam Dock, the system rest/USB-C port hub officially supported by Valve for the Steam Deck, is kinda pricey, but not overly complicated. That said, it's worth explaining in detail why I still would recommend it anyway. The Steam Dock is a combination system rest for the Steam Deck handheld game system by Valve and USB-C hub providing various ports for different accessories and extensions. It's not unique, there are similar devices already on the market, but it does provide a lot of services in a small but well-built package.

First off, the Steam Dock is officially supported by Valve, meaning it is covered by the same warranty and service they provide to the parent system the Dock goes to. That alone is a good deal, given Valve has promised they will service it even past the warranty expiry, just charging a fee depending on the degree of service and repair it might need even after the expiration. Other third-party USB-C hubs and docks do not come with this feature, and given the price of the Steam Dock, that makes its fairly high price tag well worth it. That said, Valve does not officially prohibit the use of other third-party devices in this vein, they just don't provide support for them. Nor will using said third-party docks invalidate your Deck warranty.

The actual rest portion of the Dock is a rectangular slot to slide the Deck bottom into, where it will be propped up at an angle leaning slightly away from the user. The construction is composed of a firm plastic-based compound, black in color, and it feels very solidly built and has great balance. It rests well either on any level surface or, if you play lying down or sitting down, also works great to let it rest in your lap while greatly reducing hand strain while keeping the Deck level.

As for the USB-C ports, it offers several options. First, it comes equipped with three USB-A 3.1 ports, so it can fit items like PC Gamepads, keyboards, mice, or any other accessory that uses those ports. There is also a Gigabit Ethernet port, for those who need to provide direct internet connections to the Deck for any reason, including networking support or simply dedicated internet service more reliable than the Wi-Fi provided by default. There are two ports for display devices, a Display Port 1.4 and HDMI 2.0 port. Both will allow for the Deck to display on a larger monitor of the user's choice.

According to Valve, there is a firmware update that will be provided soon for the Dock allowing for multi-monitor support, provided both display ports are in use. FreeSync support is another feature with a to-be-announced firmware update to add that functionality at some later date.

The Steam Dock comes with a secondary corded charger plug, identical to the one that ships with the Steam Deck, so you can simply put up one of them if using the other. The Steam Dock itself will provide a plug to hook the Dock into the Deck power supply to provide power (if the charger plug is plugged in) and added port support either way (though if forced to run on charged battery life performance will be reduced to compensate).

The Dock is not overly heavy or large. Its official dimensions are a weight of 120 grams and dimensions of 117mm x 29mm x 50.5mm. Overall, it's quite portable to the point it could be picked up by a young child in one hand with very modest effort, yet is constructed well enough it should survive a decent amount of wear and tear, provided it's not dropped on anything overly hard nor suffers damage to the port connections.

My only point of contention so far is the price tag. While very well constructed and coming with superb warranty service, it will cost nearly 100 dollars USD to purchase, with tax and shipping included. There may be cheaper options that provide most if not all of the same features at far more reasonable prices for those with tighter wallets. Regardless, if the price is not an object, I would highly recommend this accessory to go with the Steam Deck.