Valve has announced a mid-generation update for its wildly popular Steam Deck PC gaming handheld. It’s called The Steam Deck OLED and here’s what’s new.
Valve, the gaming giant behind the Steam Store and Steam Deck PC gaming machine, has announced a hardware update that brings some significant advancements. In many ways it’s quite similar to the update delivered by the Nintendo Switch OLED.
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The Steam Deck OLED isn’t the much-vaunted Steam Deck 2, but the mid-cycle update that has been hinted at for a while. The new models will be available in 512GB and a new 1TB storage capacity from November 16.
So what’s new? And is it worth upgrading? Well there’s the obvious hint provided by the name, but let’s see what else Valve is proposing and how the prices compare.
Display
As the name would suggest the Steam Deck OLED has a display based upon the OLED technology, rather than the LCD in the original.
That’s not all. While the 1290 x 800 resolution remains the same, the Steam Deck OLED benefits from HDR technology. That means brighter colours, blacker blacks.
The display is now slightly larger at 7.4-inches, rather than 7-inches. The 1TB model also adds glare resistant glass to the equation.
Battery
Another high advantage over the original Steam Deck is the larger battery, which now promises a third more run time depending on the games you’re playing.
While the 40Whr battery on the original proposed 2-8 hours of run-time depending on the activity, the 50Whr Steam Deck OLED promises 3-12 hours in total.
Specs and design
Valve is also promising faster downloads too because the Wi-Fi has been upgraded from Wi-Fi 5 to Wi-Fi 6E. Valve says this could be 3x faster and could unlock more stable online play with lower latency and increased bandwidth.
The OLED model also comes in a new 1TB storage capacity and that has a display with “premium anti-glare etched glass”. Previously, the largest available Steam Deck was 512GB.
There’s a larger fan inside the handheld this time, which means it’ll run a little cooler. The change in display technology means it’s 30g lighter too. There’s also a limited edition smoky translucent colourway that’ll be limited edition and exclusive to gamers in the US and Canada.
Price
The new Steam Deck OLED is available in the 512GB and 1TB models for $549 and $649 respectively. They will become the default models at those storage sizes. The 256GB LCD version drops to $399 and will remain on sale. The limited edition 1TB smoky model is $679
The 64GB and 512GB LCD models are being phased out and are currently available at a discounted rate until stocks last. They’ll be £349 and $449 respectively.
