I enjoyed my SD LCD but found it lacking in several areas. Yes, the OLED screen gets a lot of the spotlight, but there’s much more going on with this new model and overall it feels like a massive upgrade to me:
- OLED screen: it’s beautiful, significantly better than the LCD, 90Hz and fast OLED response time is very noticeable and makes even browsing around the menus much smoother. The increased screen size is more apparent in person than you’d think too and feels more appropriate to the overall size of the device.
- The -30g weight: I really didn’t think this was going to be noticeable but wow am I wrong. You immediately notice the weight reduction upon picking it up and the whole unit feels a lot more balanced and comfortable to hold.
- The buttons: every single button feels better, crispier, and more tactile to use. D-pad feels amazing, bumpers and triggers are wonderful, even the “Steam” and “***” buttons are so much nicer with noticeable tactility now. These two buttons were one of my big gripes before as they felt mushy and inconsistent.
- Trackpads: much, much improved, haptics are strong, the usability has been improved, they’re more enjoyable to use now.
- Joysticks: no more need for an extra cover or anything, stock they feel really great.
- Materials: Maybe they didn’t change the plastics or anything at all but it certainly feels like it. Something about this SD OLED case/shell just feels more premium than the original. Call this one placebo/honeymoon effect but the device feels nicer in the hands than before.
- Fan: this is so quiet compared to the original, even the Huaying fan.
- Charging cable: that extra 1m length is so nice.
- Audio: I had no issue with the original SD speakers but this is just nicer, no doubt about it.
- WiFi 6E is such a noticeable boost in speed and performance.
The list can go on and I’m sure I’m going to get some eyerolls for this post. But the SD OLED feels like a way bigger upgrade than I expected. The whole device just feels more premium, more comfortable, snappier, smoother, etc.
My expectations were already super high with this device and somehow Valve exceeded them.
Ps you only get the longer cable on the 1tb.
But it’s not hard to get a 100w pd charger and a separate long cable.
Nah 512 def is longer too
You are right both oleds get 2,5m I don’t know why I thought different.
I had no idea there were any changes or upgrades made to the buttons or haptics - is this snake oil?
It’s not. Go on Valve’s website and you can see the list of all the upgrades they did. I think another user said there were 31 upgrades in total.
Shit. Just what I needed. More reasons to upgrade…
I think I might be alone in disliking the sticks. I don’t like the glossy feel, and they’re a bit too big for me. I have small things though.
That said, it’s not a deal breaker. Everything else comes together to make a wonderful upgrade.
Sold my 64 GB SD, Switch and some MTG cards to upgrade to the new one. Couldn’t be happier.
Im salivating. Mine arrives mid december.
The weight, yes. I immediately noticed it taking the handheld out the box(or perhaps I am used to my current LCD steamdeck weighing as much as a tank because of the Killswitch case). I’m downloading Lords of the Fallen as we speak!
That game is pretty rough on steamdeck
Massive 😍😍 so now I can run starfield with 2x the fps of the original
You’d have to attach an external GPU which is technically possible, but would be bottlenecked by the CPU, so probably not.
Totally agreed. Sorry everybody. Totally get not upgrading, but it’s very much worth it.
One more thing is input lag is much improved
I’m glad you said 6. I keep thinking I might be hallucinating, but I’ve been switching back and forth between my OG and the LE and… At first I thought it was the textures, but now I’m not so sure. Something is different about the shell with regards to feel. Maybe it’s the age of the OG (launch)?
People trying to justify their wrong expenses so bad….
I hope they upgrade every year, constantly improving. Like mines the 2022 model, these are the 2023
I’d be surprised if they do any other refresh other than a full blown SD2. The next one they release will have to boost performance by a lot to both be competitive and offer something new for existing users. They upgraded pretty much every inch of the original SD LCD into what they consider their “definitive” first generation device. The next upgrade will carry all of these improvements forward, fixing more things that they learn about with this generation, but include a big performance increase that will be much needed 2-3 years from now when it releases.
I can now play Metal Slug XX on the OLED model. The game did not work on the LCD model.
The significantly reduced heat and temps make me finally feel comfortable playing games that push it to the limit. My OG just got so hot and this one does not.
Totally agree. I think the OLED SD might be the best consumer electronic device ever made IMO. Nothing Microsoft, Sony, Samsung, or Apple has ever made has been this exciting and useful to me at the same time, and the fact that it’s so relatively affordable and it fills a unique but important role in my life makes it so easy to love. I’ve been playing mine for 4+ hours a day since I got it and am not even remotely bored. Every game from the most retro to Cyberpunk looks incredible, and I am someone who also owns a desktop PC with an RTX 4080 and an LG OLED monitor that I also love. Valve knocked it out of the park with this and the fact we can have this incredible handheld gaming PC and OLED display for $550 is unheard of.
Steam deck OLED is more exciting and useful than the iPhone?
It really depends on what one finds exciting, but the iPhone was extremely exciting because all it was capable of in something that could fit in your pocket all with a very easy to use UI. I’ve been a big handheld gaming nerd since the 90s and I was excited to see what the iPhone could bring in that regard. Apple’s chip advancements were the most exciting thing about the iPhone over the years, but it was clear pretty quickly that it would never be a serious gaming machine, at least not for the foreseeable future. A very convenient pocket computer no doubt that I cannot live without now. BUT, I still felt like handheld gaming was just not moving at the pace of things like phones or PC hardware.
I think what caught my attention and got the gears turning in my mind was the first time I played a Switch. Seeing DOOM 2016 run on a handheld blew my mind and I realized what Nintendo had done was break the barrier between handheld and home console that had never been done in such a seamless way. Yes, there were handheld PCs at the time, but they ran Windows and were extremely underpowered and physically unergonomic. Just like the smartphones before the iPhone could email, browse the web, etc… it was a pain to do and not pleasant at all. The Steam Deck has made handheld PC gaming finally, pleasant, affordable, and accessible. The OLED model further refines it while slapping a display on the Deck that any iPad or MacBook would be jealous of. Come to think of it, I feel like the Steam Deck is Valve’s iPhone moment.
I agree with lots of that. I also agree the steam deck itself is a bit of an iPhone moment for valve, but to say it’s the most exciting and useful consumer electronic ever is perhaps a stretch given the high standard of other devices. Nonetheless enjoy it and I’m fully with you with your enthusiasm for it!
Most exciting for me. I know the Steam Deck will never have the mass appeal of an iPhone. But to have almost my entire Steam library, that I have been building for almost two decades, now accessible in a handheld with a gorgeous OLED panel (I’m an OLED fanatic)… I couldn’t ask for too much more but I know that Valve will continue to improve and it’s exciting to see where it will go. The iPhone feels stagnant right now, but the Steam Deck does not.