[News] Steam Deck OLED review: Includes specs on new screen and other improvements

This is the best coverage of the new Deck that I’ve seen yet.

Upgraded:

  • 7.4" OLED HDR screen with a 90hz refresh rate and 600 nits brightness(with 1000 nits peak brightness), (old screen 7" LCD with 60hz refresh and 400 nits brightness). Touchscreen accuracy and responsiveness is reportedly improved.
  • Longer battery life. Improvements to software and hardware are supposed to increase the battery life by 30-50%. New battery is 50wh vs original 40. Original decks will see some of this improvement thanks to software/bios updates, but not as much as the new Decks. The new Deck charges faster as well, charge from 20 to 80% battery in 45 min.
  • 6E wifi module for improved wifi speed.
  • Dedicated bluetooth module, allowing better audio quality over bluetooth and the option to wake the steam deck from a bluetooth controller. Will also support more controllers at once for multiplayer.
  • Faster RAM, 6400 MT/s vs 5500 MT/s on original.
  • More repairable. The screws are now torx, and all thread into metal screw holes. Should prevent stripped screws that were the most common issues with SSD replacements.
  • New carrying case, for the 1TB model, there’s an insert case inside the full size case. The insert can be pulled out and used as a slim carrying case when you don’t need full protection.
  • Weighs 5% less.

Prices:

$649 - 1TB OLED

$529 - 512GB OLED

$399 - 256GB LCD

For a limited time, Valve will sell a special edition 1TB OLED with a translucent shell for $679, only in the US and Canada. Expected to sell out quickly.

Note: I’m updating this as I get more information, so the written out info will change as I learn more.

narc0tic_bird,

Sustained brightness is 600 nits, 1000 nits is peak brightness for HDR content. Still an improvement of course.

I’m wondering whether the charging circuitry is largely the same except for the quicker charging to 80 %. I’d love to be able to use some higher-powered USB-C hubs with PD passthrough, where currently a hub using 15 watts leaves 30 watts for the deck, and using a higher wattage charger won’t change that because the Deck only requests 45 watts (15 V @ 3 A). Would be great if the new Deck could do, say, 60 watts (20 V @ 3 A), because leaving just 30 watts to the Deck is right on the edge under full load with an external display, meaning it has to fallback to battery momentarily, which isn’t great.

Another nice thing to have would be a low-power standby/download mode, for which they’d probably have to tweak the hardware a bit. I don’t use my Deck too often (great device, but it only fills specific gaps in my gaming needs), and every time I pick it up it starts downloading quite a few game updates.

The OLED model is tempting, but I don’t use the Deck enough to justify upgrading I think.

A bit sad for these guys who made a display upgrade for the original Deck released a few weeks ago (the 1920x1200 one), as most people who really care about display quality will probably just upgrade to the OLED model instead. The higher resolution seems rather pointless (the Deck doesn’t have enough oompfh to run modern games in this resolution), especially compared to a bigger, brighter, higher refresh rate OLED screen.

Send_me_nude_girls,
@Send_me_nude_girls@feddit.de avatar

Translucent is USA/Canada only. So sad :(

Zedstrian,

While it seems that the new startup movie is exclusive to the 1TB OLED model, is that model’s exclusive keyboard theme the same as the prior 512GB Steam Deck (DEX-85) or a new one?

Breezy,

It seems silly, but that inner case is what’s really making me feel the FOMO, traveling with the current case is such a hassle. I hope they sell the case alone for current deck owners

syrvolga,

The tomtoc travel case is great and is already available.

Breezy,

Ooo, thanks for the recommendation, that does appear to be what I’m looking for! Although I’m still hesitating as some reviews do say that you can still click the joysticks through the case which isn’t ideal :/

syrvolga,

I was in the same boat. Note that you can click on the joysticks with the original case too if you try hard enough.

I guess you can’t have both: small and uber protective. I settled with small and good protection. 😊

ekZepp,
@ekZepp@lemmy.world avatar

I mean… this at the bare minimum deserve to be called an “Upgrade” with the capital U. Steam-Deck-OLED-vs-Steam-Deck-F1-22-comparison-

Link article

Vt1984,

I cannot use the oled screen, it hurt my eyes. Unfortunately the original steam deck screen also flickers.

robinj1995,

Interesting. I think OLED is meant to be more comfortable to the eyes actually.

Vt1984,

It is an improvement over the original steam deck screen. But I wish Valve could use some non-PWM screens to protect my eyes better

SilentStorms,

On one hand this is super cool.

On the other hand, I already have a Steam Deck goddammit

Diplomjodler,

That’s the whole point. They had to walk a thin line between making an attractive upgrade and pissing off the existing users. If they had made the deck more powerful, the old ones would suddenly have been obsolete. I think they did a good job of that. And no, I’m not buying the new one either.

lemming741,

Also keeping pricing and margins on line.

SilentStorms,

Yeah, it’s just a big enough upgrade to be a little envious, but not feeling like I got ripped off.

The way I’m looking at it, I’m still very satisfied with my current deck and this upgrade shouldn’t change that. But still, damn, OLED…

Walnut356,
@Walnut356@programming.dev avatar

If they had made the deck more powerful, the old ones would suddenly have been obsolete.

I’m pretty sure it has more to do with current chip technology not actually changing that much in the, what, 2 years since the deck first released?

Also obsolete is a pretty strong word for what - if it had stronger internals - would likely end up being more expensive than current models.

narc0tic_bird,

I think it’s two things.

Firstly, the landscape hasn’t changed that much as you said. People will say the Z1 Extreme/7840U is available and while that’s a lot more powerful, the difference isn’t night and day to what the Deck’s APU offers at lower wattages. I wouldn’t be surprised to see another custom APU made in cooperation with AMD. The Z1 Extreme is basically an 7840U, a chip made for notebooks, and usually not gaming notebooks. Sure, even the GPU it comes with is faster than what’s in the Deck, but I don’t think CPU/GPU power is balanced well for gaming. With a custom chip design, they’d be able to strip away unnecessary pieces of the silicon, like excess PCIe lanes and probably some other stuff, resulting in a smaller die, which then results in less power draw.

Secondly, there’s compatibility. Developers often include a graphics preset specifically for Steam Deck in their games nowadays, and having two hardware configurations with a huge gap in performance would mean they’d have to include two. Sure, people in this community are mostly fine with setting their own graphics preferences, but I’d imagine there are many people out there who just want to start playing as soon as the game has downloaded.

vividspecter,

Dedicated bluetooth module, allowing better audio quality over bluetooth and the option to wake the steam deck from a bluetooth controller. Will also support more controllers at once for multiplayer.

Anyone know what version? It would nice if it would support LE audio since that should help with latency significantly. Not that there are many client devices that support it yet, but Pipewire at least has some initial support.

EDIT: Appears to be BT 5.3. Not a 100% guarantee of LE audio support, but that’s promising.

krolden,
@krolden@lemmy.ml avatar

Just give me usb4

ekZepp,
@ekZepp@lemmy.world avatar

Multiple usb4

krolden,
@krolden@lemmy.ml avatar

I wish. Theres gotta be spare pcie lanes on that chip to make it work somehow.

foggenbooty,

That would have to wait for a SD2 as it would need a completely new APU. I think this is the best refresh we could hope for without major changes that would warrant a new version. One thing I wish they’d been able to do is get VRR on the screen. The fact they didn’t means there must be some technical limitation.

bc3114,

I don’t need a new Steam Deck I don’t need a new Steam Deck I don’t need a new Steam Deck I don’t need a new Steam Deck

HubertManne,
@HubertManne@kbin.social avatar

I am feeling you. I spent for the high end partially for the screen and it was hard to play on the balcony but maybe thats because I did not have oled :)

bc3114,

it was hard to play on the balcony

OLED should be better but I believe it’ll draw a lot of power at peak brightness so playtime is quite limited without a (huge)powerbank

HubertManne,
@HubertManne@kbin.social avatar

see. I thought oled darks were better so you would not need as much brightness due to better contrast???

Diplomjodler,

This isn’t the SteamDeck you’re looking for…

SatyrSack,

I am feeling the same. Some really neat upgrades, but nothing major like an extra USB port that actually warrants an upgrade (for me and the way I use mine, anyways). We will see if I get one on sale.

SatanicNotMessianic,

When the OLED Switch came out, I ordered one as soon as they became available. It was my first handheld, and the advice at the time was that you didn’t need it if you already had one, but if you didn’t the OLED was the one to get. I enjoyed the switch, and ended up buying a deck not long after that.

I’m going to treat this update to the same advice that they made for the switch. Since I already have one, and since the internals are essentially the same, it doesn’t make sense to update after less than a year, and it’s not worth the hassle of trying to sell the old one.

bc3114,

Original switch screen was rubbish, to put it mildly. While original Steam deck screen is in fact quite decent. It gets bright enough for indoor usage, has large viewing angle, color is ok. I can happily play my original steam deck for another one or two years. I only play on my original switch with it plugged in to a TV.

SatanicNotMessianic,

Fair point. I never tried the original switch. I only bought one once the OLED came out and everyone was raving about it, despite the fact that Nintendo didn’t give it the full 2.0 treatment. I had packed away my pc for a move and just never got around to unpacking it, and wanted something to play on. When I saw it had games like Diablo and Disco as well as Mario Cart, I decided to pull the trigger.

I ended up liking it enough that I went out and got the deck to try to work through my games backlog. Because of steam sales, I have dozens of games I’ve played for less than a couple of hours and some I’ve never even opened.

Of course, right after buying it I ended up buying Stray, BG3, and a couple of others, and still haven’t made progress on my backlog…

Mac,

I really want a Deck but I’m not sure how much I’ll play it :/

LUHG_HANI,
@LUHG_HANI@lemmy.world avatar

Same. Go halfs with me and we can share it.

M137,

I really want a deck and would use it hours every day, but I can barely afford food.

Waluigis_Talking_Buttplug,

Buy a used one, if you don’t like it, sell it for most of what you paid

DjMeas,

What’s funny for me is I have two gaming PCs and yet I play more games on the deck. It’s just easier for me to pop into games for an hour or so and suspend it when I’m done. So far I’ve beaten the Trails In The Sky trilogy (with each game taking me about 3-4 months to beat) and it’s been such a wonderful experience on the deck.

Diplomjodler,

Same here. I built a new PC recently but I still play mainly on the deck. Sitting in front of the PC all day at work is enough.

Diplomjodler,

Just do it. You know you want to.

beastlykings,

It’s funny because I was at a point where I wasn’t playing games at all really, not on my big PC, phone, or anywhere.

I had pre-ordered the steam deck for my wife, and she used it a bit but when TotK came out that took all her attention playing on switch.

I had poked around on the deck, played a few games, but didn’t love using a controller instead of mouse and keyboard.

Then we had a gig where we had to sit in a car for 8 hours, and she convinced me to try playing horizon ZD. I had never played it, but I ended up really liking it. And the convenience of having it on the deck was great! I ended up playing it all the time, and beating it, and now I’m emulating BotW, playing it for the first time, and enjoying it.

Now I’ve gone full crazy, I’m emulating a couple dozen games, got a bunch of others installed and waiting. I upgraded my SSD to 2tb, replaced my fan, and am eyeballing that clear back with RGB.

My advice, if you can afford it, get it and just see what you think. You might like it!

Or, if you don’t like it, you can resell it. The value of these things seems to stay reasonably high. Though I imagine we might see a drop in price with the flood of LCD models about to hit the market.

Mac,

Funny. I had bought one for my ex when we were together and played it a little. I really enjoyed playing games and messing with it. I had plans to do some emulation on it too.

But now she’s gone and the Deck was a gift so it is too.

I want one but i just don’t game much and i would never actually sell it. Lol

twistypencil,

Timeline?

Lemmchen,
@Lemmchen@feddit.de avatar

It says 6nm vs 7nm APU on the store page. Is this a new APU?

Fubarberry,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

It’s supposedly considered the same APU according to the different leaks we’ve seen. The 6nm is supposed to increase power efficiency but that’s it.

lud,

It’s also potentially slightly faster but never slower. According to Valve anyways.

Vash63,

The speed boost is from the faster RAM, which is a pretty big bottleneck in many cases. Up to 11% faster. In many cases not faster though, just depends on the game and settings.

philodendron,

God I want it but all I play lately is Stardew Valley

Fubarberry,
@Fubarberry@sopuli.xyz avatar

I’ve seen people get 8-10 hours out of the battery playing Stardew on the standard deck, so you could maybe squeeze up to 15 hours out of it on the new Deck. What more can you ask for?

TheaoneAndOnly27,

It's so nice being able to have mods on the steam deck though. I had stardew valley on my switch, and while I enjoyed it, I missed so many of the quality of life mods. Now I can have my cake and eat it too lol

Ninmi,
@Ninmi@sopuli.xyz avatar

167h of Stardew on the Deck here so far and probably wouldn’t even play it if Deck didn’t make playing games so comfy.

TWeaK,

Ahah! I knew the sales were pointing to some sort of new version incoming.

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