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.
Thing about the weight reduction that I feel a lot of people have missed is that the OLED display itself is significantly lighter, and as such the ‘center of mass’ or ‘center of gravity’ to the Deck has shifted more towards the larger battery so it simply feels better weighted to the hand compared to the top heavy LCD.
So while it may not feel immediately obvious that there are ~30g less, what I think people are actually picking up on immediately is the more natural shifting of the weighted center which just “feels” better.
Yeah, this is definitely true. Whether it’s feeling lighter or better balanced, or both, you do immediately notice it when picking up the device and it feels much, much better to hold. I kind of eye rolled when I heard other people saying you notice it, but you absolutely do.
I feel like its definitely a balance thing, way less stress on my wrists. The weight change alone doesn’t explain it.
It really does feel lighter. With the Switch OLED, I didn’t notice the difference (it’s 5% heavier). Steam Deck OLED is technically 5% lighter, but it’s just more comfortable in longer play sessions. I sold my original Steam Deck sometime ago because the weight was just a hair over the threshold of what I found comfortable, and I am happy with the OLED. There must be something to the weight distribution.
That makes sense. Because I’ve had the same experience. It “feels” so much lighter and I know it isn’t, it must be the actual weight distribution.
Didn’t consider why it felt so much better in hand but that makes a lot of sense. 30g doesn’t seem like much but in practice it’s almost night and day.