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.
So can it play VR, latest AAA games at medium settings with 60 fps or anti cheat games without windows now? If it only plays all the same games as LCD, then it’s only a side grade like the switch and switch OLED and pretty pointless to upgrade if you already have LCD. People can buy whatever they want but let’s not kid ourselves and not think this is just another one of those modern generation “always need the next new thing” moments, which I never really understood. MAYBE unless all the games you care about are already playable on LCD then sure, but there are games I still want to play not playable on steam deck, which I’m hoping the actual steam deck 2 (or maybe if Microsoft ever comes up with a windows gaming OS similar to steam OS) upgrade will allow me to play. Although I’m not in a rush given my current playable backlog and how slow I’m going through it
You are just the worst kind of person.
Dude- there are other facets to a gaming device than just the library it can play. Ergonomics, portability, visual fidelity… these all matter.
If I gave you a Gameboy Color that could run Jedi Survivor at 60 fps, you’d still probably prefer the steam deck because other things fucking matter.
Please take this ridiculous, ignorant take out behind the shed and put it down like it deserves.
Lol did you miss the part where I said people can spend their money on whatever they want? Sure if you guys have money to waste then buy it. Just don’t try to justify modern consumerism by being blind sided with “ooo new shiny thing, must have” when you already have the device that does everything it already does, just with small QoL.
If I didn’t buy the OG deck then sure, OLED would be nice, but people don’t always need the next newest thing JUST because. It’s your kind of people that make companies complacent and halt or slow down any kind of progression since people will just eat whatever crap they give, while increasing unjustifiable prices like iPhones due to corporate greed.
Obviously there’s more to a gaming device then just the library, otherwise I would have bought the rog ally, but that has other issues where I prefer the steam deck. It’s funny you gave that comparison because it seems more to me like you guys are the ones who would choose the gameboy colour with slightly improved internals, when the steam deck is an actual “upgrade” with what it can actually do besides better Qol. Maybe try not to be such a jackass and think alittle more
I don’t think handheld PCs are what you should be looking at if you want to play PCVR lol
Lol that’s the part you focus on? Gotta love this generation with nitpicking information and ignore the rest
I honestly didn’t bother reading the rest of your post after you whined about a handheld pc not running vr games lol
Of course you didn’t lol whatevers most convenient for you, don’t see why you would bother to reply in the first place if you can’t read
Ok amigo I read your whole comment and completely agree with your overall point that’s it isn’t really an upgrade. Can we be buds now and squash this beef?