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Steam Deck OLED | Review Thread

Draugoth

Draugoth

Gold Member
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Critic Reviews:​

Engadget - Recommended
After testing and reviewing every console mentioned below, some more than once, we tried to categorize the 10 best gaming consoles for specific needs. You’ll find all of the big players represented and two best "high-end consoles," each for different reasons. We hope by the end of this guide, you’ll be much closer to deciding on the console with the perfect specs and functionality for you.
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Polygon - Recommended
I suppose that’s the question, really. If you already have a Steam Deck, is the OLED technically an incremental improvement? Yes. But you might find that the screen and the battery justify the double dip. For someone like me, who puts hundreds of hours into the Steam Deck each year, the upgrade is inescapable.
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The Verge - 8.0/10.0
It fixes my biggest complaints about Valve’s original handheld gaming PC and then some, without any new catch. Starting at $549 for 512GB of storage, it only costs $20 more than last year’s model with half that capacity — or you can pay the same $649 as last year’s 512GB to get 1TB now
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Gizmodo - 4.0/5.0
While I am quite fond of the Steam Deck OLED, part of me still yearns for a more streamlined or mini version of the handheld. It’s great that it’s lighter, but for those who found the original model bulky and heavy. You’ll have the same complaints.
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PCGamer - 89/100
The Steam Deck OLED refines an already fantastic handheld gaming PC. While it may not push the performance higher, the OLED screen, improved battery, and larger storage make it the most valuable device available.
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Eurogamer - Recommended
Across its lifespan, Steam Deck has outstripped expectations - and with Steam Deck OLED, Valve is set to do it again. This is an exceptional piece of kit
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IGN - 9.0/10.0
The Steam Deck OLED brings a fantastic, vibrant screen to Valve's handheld gaming PC, but its most impressive upgrade is the much-improved battery life. Combined with all its other small but altogether significant improvements, not to mention more storage at the same price, and it's enough to tempt even current Steam Deck owners into upgrading.
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Wired - Recommended
As a current Deck owner, I'm on the fence about whether it's a recommendation-worthy upgrade to other owners. After all, if you have your Deck set up the way you like it, and the screen doesn't irk you, and you're fine with the battery life, why upturn the apple cart? The core experience, for better or worse, is incredibly similar between the Steam Deck OLED and the original flavor. But if you're new to gaming handhelds and want to try one, the Steam Deck is my number one pick for its unbeatable mix of software support and efficiency. It just so happens that the little changes make the Steam Deck OLED a better machine for those new to this exciting hardware category.
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Tom's Hardware - 4.0/5.0
In many ways, the Steam Deck is catching up to the Asus ROG Ally, which has a brighter screen and lighter weight. If you want Windows 11 preinstalled, that may be the way to go, though you'll want to keep the charger with you. And the ROG Ally, at $699, is still more expensive than the 1TB Steam Deck, with less storage but a higher-resolution display. (The Ally, however, has gone on sale recently for less, so we'll see if that's something that eventually sticks.)
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USAToday - Recommended
The first generation of Steam Decks felt more like a hodgepodge of off-the-shelf parts that Valve cobbled together to hit a super low price point. The Steam Deck OLED, on the other hand, finally feels like a PC gaming handheld that was built from the ground up.
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Comparassion and Bechmarks:

Digital Foundry Analysis Test



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P

Poppyseed

Member
GreatnessRD

GreatnessRD

Member
This should be nice for those who like handhelds. Looks like the market is heating up, but Nintendo is still and most likely will forever be Da King.
 
gothmog

gothmog

Gold Member
It's nice to see some healthy competition moving things along in the space. Not enough of an upgrade for me to swap out my OG Deck but it's attractive. Maybe they'll offer a trade in deal.
 
TheStam

TheStam

Member
Damn I more or less broke my Steam Deck and love OLED so I'll probably order this one. That screen seems amazing. Battery life much improved as well, but it's a real shame that there's not more of a jump in performance in light of the the Z1 Extreme based handhelds..

But regarding HDR, without windows is Auto-HDR off the table? Because it's mostly AAA games that tend to support HDR and not all that many I'm gonna want to play on the Deck.
 
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Zathalus

Zathalus

Member
Cyberpunk 2077, 30FPS cap gets you 2 hours and 40 minute battery life. Less demanding games get way more with indie games getting 7+ hours. Finally a PC handheld with good battery life! Much quieter and cooler as well.

The Z1 extreme performance is nice, but it comes at the cost of basically being tethered to a charger, dropping to 15w to try and claw that battery life gets you basically near equal performance to the Steam Deck.
 
nikos

nikos

Member
I'm now interested in a Steam Deck for those games where I can't decide between PC or Switch. The OLED did it. Switch has been demoted to exclusives only.
 
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OmegaSupreme

OmegaSupreme

advanced basic bitch
Oh fucking hell. I just sold my old own one and now I want this one. Must resist
 
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LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
This thing check most of the boxes we could have asked for minus a major HW bump but that's coming in the next years.

Valve just keeps knocking it out of be park with the Deckening.
 
nial

nial

Gold Member
I remember reading a post a bit ago saying that an OLED revision wasn't that easily possible. I don't think I could find it, tho.
 
A

Aguero9320

Member
Want this but going to resist. I’ve never had a problem with the screen tbh. If it had a bit more power I’d be all over it. Waiting for Steam Deck 2.
 
Zathalus

Zathalus

Member
CapMaster said:
Steamdeck is like playing PC games on a netbook and trying to convince yourself it's a good experience because there are controllers attached to the monitor
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A massive number of my PC games can be played at max setting at 60fps on the Steam Deck. Sure they are indie or older titles, but they are still incredible games. Almost all games that run on PS4 can easily do medium+ settings at a solid 30fps as well. Some current-gen exclusives work well too.

Stating it's not a good experience basically rules out every portable console and all prior home to this gen consoles as well. Oh and all PCs prior to 2012.
 
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64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
the battery upgrade is the real hero here. That life upgrade is substantial. Screen is already beautiful (the bezels are so much smaller adn better now!!!!) but that is the cherry on top.

There's gonna be a lot of new Deck listings on ebay soon....
 
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64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
Zathalus said:
A massive number of my PC games can be played at max setting at 60fps on the Steam Deck. Sure they are indie or older titles, but they are still incredible games. Almost all games that run on PS4 can easily do medium+ settings at a solid 30fps as well. Some current-gen exclusives work well too.

Stating it's not a good experience basically rules out every portable console and all prior home to this gen consoles as well. Oh and all PCs prior to 2012.
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S

SomeGit

Member
CapMaster said:
Steamdeck is like playing PC games on a netbook and trying to convince yourself it's a good experience because there are controllers attached to the monitor
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In my college days I would have loved to have a netbook with the relative performance of the the Deck.

I don’t think you remember just how awful those atoms cpu and GMA/Nvidia ion gpus were.
 
THE DUCK

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
Poppyseed said:
If you need that brightness. I use my Ally at around 30% brightness, and only ever rarely need more than that. YMMV. I wish the Ally would get as dim as the Deck at minimum brightness!
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It's not just about brightness, in order to convey proper hdr you need the extreme lowes and highs, the value in between the contrast that can't be achieved with the old screen, regardless of room brightness.

To say nothing of the response time, overall contrast, and color improvement. This is a huge upgrade.
 
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Poppyseed

Member
THE DUCK said:
It's not just about brightness, in order to convey proper hdr you need the extreme lowes and highs, the value in between the contrast that can't be achieved with the old screen, regardless of room brightness.

To say nothing of the response time, overall contrast, and color improvement. This is a huge upgrade.
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The screen is a huge upgrade, you're not getting any argument from me. I understand well the highs/lows, but it really, REALLY bothers my eyes (even on my LG OLED) to get blinded like that just to convey highlights. If the performance and resolution had been upped, this would be a no-brainer for me. As it is, I'm on the fence, but probably will wait for gen. 2.
 
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Doctor Hades

Doctor Hades

Member
Looks awesome and OLED is the reason I haven’t bought a Steam Deck yet. Would have been nice to have had VRR support as well.
 
Darko

Darko

Member
Aguero9320 said:
Want this but going to resist. I’ve never had a problem with the screen tbh. If it had a bit more power I’d be all over it. Waiting for Steam Deck 2.
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Yea that seems like a good move.. I woulda been All over this a few months ago… the price is too much I can wait for 2
 
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LiquidMetal14

LiquidMetal14

hide your water-based mammals
Doctor Hades said:
Looks awesome and OLED is the reason I haven’t bought a Steam Deck yet. Would have been nice to have had VRR support as well.
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I would normally agree but the way the Deck works, I don't really care if it has VRR. I want all the features too but other than the power advantage in graphics, Steam Deck is the best of the bunch and this just enhances that. Like the Pixel phones, it's all about the SW and user experience.
 
D

damidu

Member
damn this looks good.
and i would totally regret buying it, another pricey reminder of my backlog, must resist.
 
64bitmodels

64bitmodels

Reverse groomer.
damidu said:
damn this looks good.
and i would totally regret buying it, another pricey reminder of my backlog, must resist.
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the deck is a backlog destroyer, buying this could be the best decision you make to clear it.

Unless you already have one, in which case sell it and get another.
 
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