Steam Deck OLED vs. Steam Deck: Which should you buy?
The Steam Deck is one of the most popular handheld gaming machines, providing stiff competition to the Nintendo Switch OLED and the Asus ROG Ele. But now its new competition is from… A new version is coming with a larger OLED display, new more efficient internal components and better battery life.
There’s a lot to be excited about with the new Steam Deck, including the fact that it has twice the storage as the previous model. But given the drop in price from the original model, you may still be unsure which option is right for you.
Pricing and Availability
The original Steam Deck with LCD display launched in February 2022, priced between $400 and $650, depending on whether you want extra storage, a scratch-resistant screen, and some unique digital rewards. Some older models with 64GB eMMC onboard storage are still available at discounted prices, but they won’t last long.
Moving forward, only an LCD model will be available, with 256GB of storage space and a $400 price tag.
The Steam Deck OLED models are scheduled to launch on November 16, and will start at $550 for the 512GB model with the larger OLED display and better battery. The next tier is $650, and adds 1TB of storage space, a premium etched glass screen, and some digital rewards. There’s also a $680 limited-edition model that comes with a unique carrying case.
Glasses
| Steam Deck LCD | Steam Deck OLED | Steam Deck OLED | |
| CPU | AMD Zen 2 CPU 4c/8t 7nm process | AMD Zen 2 CPU 4c/8t 6nm process | AMD Zen 2 CPU 4c/8t 6nm process |
| GRAPHICS | AMD APU RDNA 2 8c 7nm process | AMD APU RDNA 2 8c 6nm process | AMD APU RDNA 2 8c 6nm process |
| to hit | 16GB LPDDR5 5500MHz | 16GB LPDDR5 6400MHz | 16GB LPDDR5 6400MHz |
| storage | 256gb ssd | 512gb ssd | 1TB SSD |
| Display | 7-inch LCD, 1280×800 | 7.4 inch HDR OLED | 7.4 inch HDR OLED |
| refresh rate | 60Hz | 90Hz | 90Hz |
| relationship | Wi-Fi 5, Bluetooth 5.0 | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Battery | 40 hours, 2-8 hours | 50 hours, 3-12 hours | 50 hours, 3-12 hours |
| weight | 1.47 pounds | 1.41 pounds | 1.41 pounds |
On the surface, the Steam Deck OLED seems like a Switch OLED-style upgrade with the new display technology, but that’s not the case at all. Steam Deck OLED is much more of a revision than its naming scheme suggests. In fact, it’s set to become the default midrange and high-end Steam deck moving forward, with Valve discontinuing the high-end version of its LCD model.
The display is new and improved, with OLED offering much higher contrast and better control of brightness on a per-pixel basis. This means the screen will look far more vibrant and rich, providing a more immersive gaming experience in almost everything. With support for HDR mode and a maximum brightness of close to 1,000 nits, it gets pretty bright. This really helps some of the content come off the screen. That display is also slightly larger, making the new Steam Deck a more impressive device to use.
The display is also 90Hz instead of 60Hz, which will make whatever you play on it look smoother if you can run the game at a high enough frame rate to notice it. This is arguably a big change for gaming, as gamers are big fans of higher refresh rates, and with good reason.
Elsewhere, there’s faster memory, support for next-generation wireless technologies like Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3. The weight has also gone down a bit, which is always welcome in a portable gaming machine.
However, one of the biggest changes is in battery life. With a larger battery and more efficient components, Valve has managed to increase the overall battery life by up to 50%. It is now claimed that Steam Deck can run for up to 12 hours in ideal conditions, which is a lot more than you might expect. You’ll generally get less than this, but more power is always good in a device like this.
Display
The Steam Deck OLED is not designed as a performance upgrade, and Valve has made it clear that when it was creating the new device, it was aiming for the same performance as the original Steam Deck. He comes forward in the trial. We haven’t got our hands on one of these yet, but our partners around the world have shown that when it comes down to it, the Steam Deck OLED performs just as well as the Steam Deck LCD, even the original Some examples are also performing slightly better.
However, the games look and feel much better. The OLED screen looks gorgeous, and the added refresh rate support means games look and feel smoother and play more responsively when you have the frames to take advantage of it. This is especially important in competitive sports.
Network performance has also improved. If you have a high-end Internet connection, you’ll be able to download games faster on the Steam Deck OLED – as long as you have a Wi-Fi 6E-compatible router.
Steam Deck OLED is the new Steam Deck
The Steam Deck OLED is no big revolution for the Steam Deck. It doesn’t do much for performance, real-world battery life isn’t likely to be dramatically better when you’re playing tough games, and there’s no real change to the ergonomics or controls. However, that OLED screen is so gorgeous that it should be considered the new base model for anyone looking to buy the Steam Deck OLED.
While the original Steam Deck is still great (especially when you mod it), the new version is the better of the two. In the same way that the Switch OLED is the version you should buy if you’re buying new, the Steam Deck OLED is the version we’d recommend. It looks much better, and the other changes are nice touches, making the Steam Deck feel more contemporary and relevant.
However, this is not Steam Deck 2. The ROG Ele is still faster and better in many ways, but the Steam Deck OLED is great. You probably shouldn’t upgrade your existing Steam deck to this, but if you’re buying new, consider the OLED version first.
