Steam Deck OLED review

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The SteamDeck OLED was announced. Days ago, we  have not reviewed the OG SteamDeck, but that doesn’t matter. The TL;DR is; If you can afford it, and you’re looking for a gaming handheld, the SteamDeck OLED: is a no-brainer: “you should buy this”.

Hear us out.

  1.  For the same price of 399USD, 549USD, and 649USD (let’s ignore the special edition that’s being sold for 679USD for a second here), you get yourself a very different SteamDeck compared to the OG SteamDeck. Gone are the 64GB emmc options, and now you get a 256GB edition as the baseline model, with the 1TB model as the new high-end option. Everything has been upgraded. Even the chip (sort of, but we’ll explain a little bit down the line). It is a more mod that’s really suitable as a device released in 2023, compared to the OG SteamDeck.
  2.  Valve’s incredible software support in both OS and software optimization. Ever since Steam Deck LCD’s original announcement and release a year later, up until now (and also hopefully into the future), Valve has been on a breakneck pace of updates and optimization. Let me explain. Steam Deck OLED runs on SteamOS 3, which is based on Arch Linux. Because it is an OS that Valve updated, Valve has control over what it can and what it wants to update. Therefore, in theory and practice, Valve can now update and make changes to the OS if it can positively affect games. This is how SteamOS runs Proton to run Steam Library games. Steam Games that can be played are listed as “playable”, while games that run very well / optimized for For are listed as “SteamDeck Verified”. To quote an example, when Fromsoft released Elden Ring, some players found the game not enjoyable due to performance hits on the OG SteamDeck. While Fromsoft couldn’t address the issue immediately, Valve was able to. It is a well-documented case, and SteamDeck players enjoyed a much smoother experience (and in some cases, smoother than even god-tier gaming PCs) . This marks as the third year for SteamDeck LCD’s release, it hasn’t stopped Valve from optimizing games to run on Steam Deck. This is almost unheard of (except if you compare to consoles like the Playstation, Switch, XBOX, etc) in terms of longetivity support for an “underpowered” gaming handheld, and even games in 2023 can be played with satisfaction.
  3.  “The whole is greater than the sum of parts”. We may butcher Aristotle’s quote here, but it is what it is and is more prominent in SteamDeck OLED. We did say we’ll delve deeper into some specifics, didn’t we? Let’s do so. Go to https://www.steamdeck.com/en/oled, scroll down to “See Other updates to Steam Deck OLED”, click the “+” expand button, and then read that. If that doesn’t make sense, let us try to. In summary


You get a bigger, more vivid, more colour-accurate, brighter, smoother (for some games) screen on the Steam Deck OLED

You get better connectivity to your wireless devices (and now you can use devices like Bluetooth gaming headsets that support low latency), and you can upload and download faster on your Steam Deck OLED.

Maintenance is easier because the screws are now torx screws that screw into metal, no more self-threading Phillips head screws, and much lesser screws.

The entire innard layout is re-designed, and also a slightly beefier fan and slightly beefier battery. With APU changes, the overall unit should run cooler, and the fan noise should be lower (because it’s a better fan and there’s less heat from the new APU).

While it is not noticeably lighter, the Steam Deck OLED is identical to the Steam Deck LCD. If you’ve bought any accessories in preparation to buy a Steam Deck, you’ll be happy knowing that they would work just as well with Steam Deck OLED (anything except innard components).

All of the hardware upgrades also mean that now Steam Deck OLED (while it isn’t designed to be), is now a more capable computing device if you need it to do generic computing stuffs. (Some caveats still exist, but remember, Steam Deck is a gaming handheld first, computing device second).

If you have the money, and looking for a PC gaming handheld, go get the Steam Deck OLED.

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