The Steam Deck OLED improves much more than its screen
www.polygon.com
A better battery, faster refresh rate, and many tiny tweaks make the Steam Deck OLED hard to resist

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.

  • Deceptichum@kbin.social
    7·
    1 year ago

    Hard to get excited about this when Valve still won’t release the deck in my country and it’s now out of date hardware.

    Really kinda disappointed with Valve on the deck.

    • Lemmchen@feddit.deEnglish
      16·
      1 year ago

      it’s now out of date hardware

      What? It’s not the fastest APU around anymore, but it’s hardly outdated.

      • Deceptichum@kbin.social
        3·
        1 year ago

        It’s two generations behind the current handheld offerings.

        Now if you were going to buy something to last you the next few years would you pick the already old product or the fresh new one with modern components?

        It’s outdated.

          • T (they/she)@beehaw.org
            2·
            1 year ago

            Yeah. Unfortunately the hardware doesn’t run last gen games as other options but the need to deal with Windows is a nono for me. Also I don’t understand why people want to play AAA games on a handheld.

        • Vash63@lemmy.world
          4·
          1 year ago

          Is it though? It’s targetting 5-15W, the other APUs are terrible at lower wattages and only good if they’re blasting through energy.

    • Fubarberry@sopuli.xyzOPMEnglish
      8·
      1 year ago

      It’s lack of availability world wide is unfortunate, but unless Valve agrees to start letting retailers officially carry and sell it I doubt we’ll see that change.