If anyone bought a Nintendo Switch on launch, and maybe it is still the same for newer versions, did you notice the strong odor that console gave off? It was a strong chemical and plastic smell - truly awful. The Steam Deck OLED has a new plastic smell, but nothing as strong and unbearable as that.
I use it in FPS games for accurate aiming especially if the item I am shooting at is hard to see or far away; and if I am in panic mode from all the enemies, I start swinging my arms around like a madman to aim faster.
Just created a reddit account today to post on here. I bought the 1TB Steam Deck OLED after canceling my $5 reservation for the original around 2 years ago.
I ordered on the 20th early in the morning and received mine 24 November.
I tested out Half Life 2 on it remotely, which actually worked pretty well and looked good. The PS Vita I have could never remote play anything as well as this, but the internet just got upgraded too.
So, first impressions for a first-time Steam Deck user…
The etched screen is great and reduces reflections a fair amount. I don’t think there is a winner for which type is better. It’s preference and there are pros and cons to both.
The OLED screen, of course, looks great. Ever since its introduction to amazing devices such as the Zune HD, PS Vita, and being used in televisions for a decade it was an obvious upgrade path the original Steam Deck could have taken. I am not going out of my way to look for dead pixels. Right now I don’t notice anything, and I would rather keep it that way.
The speakers are really great sounding and get relatively loud too, and the headphone jack runs my high impedance headphones from well too.
I always wanted to try or buy a Steam Controller and I let reviews at the time sway me away from trying it due to complaints about build quality. I also didn’t want to waste $50 on a controller if I didn’t end up liking the predominant trackpad layout. Now that I have finally been able to try this new layout on the Steam Deck, I am sorry I still didn’t buy one especially when they were around $5. I love having the trackpads. They make movement a lot better than the analogue stick. And to top it all off I really love the gyro and versus the PlayStation 4/5 and Nintendo Switch I think this gyro is the most accurate.
The ergonomics of the Steam deck are pretty good too. I think my only complaint, because I’ve found I enjoy the trackpad so much is that my right hand gets uncomfortable more so than my left due to the trackpad placement, but I’ve only just started playing on it a couple hours ago. The LB and RB buttons are nice and clicky like the Xbox. The face buttons (ABXY) are mushier like the Xbox, but less noisy. The buttons are smaller than a normal controller, but bigger than the Nintendo Switch or PS Vita. The DPAD to me is not near as nice as the Xbox controllers or a PS Vita. It’s probably more similar to the PlayStation 5’s DPAD. The diagonals are not clearly defined for me. The Steam and Options button are clicky. The analogue triggers are nice, but now that I know a Steam Controller had dual stage triggers, I wish the Steam Deck OLED had added them. I have not tried the microphone. The analogue sticks are decent but make a noise when I move them probably due to the wire for the capacitive sensor. The capacitive sensors on the analogue sticks work great too.
I also wanted to share my thoughts on why I didn’t buy the Limited Edition Steam Deck OLED. I love the orange accents a lot, but I just prefer a black case. I like translucent casings on a controller like the Nintendo Switch Pro and the Xbox Series 20th Anniversary controller, but for some reason I just don’t like the look of it on the Steam Deck. Maybe if the color was darker and less transparent or a solid Steam Green I would like it more. I also did not like the look of the case lining with all the parts pictured on there, but I love the orange zipper.
The 1TB goodies are the same as the Limited Edition. It’s just that OLED video and the OLED (red) keyboard. The case has the same raised Steam Deck logo on top of the case, but it is colored white and orange instead of all black (which I prefer the look of).
I did not have any trouble with the setup, other than it went through a couple updates that I thought took a little while to reboot through, so I was a little worried. I waited and everything was fine.
The only thing I think I have wrong with my Steam Deck OLED is the volume down button not registering presses as well as the volume up button.
You can lose some of the blacks and colors when a direct light disperses across the screen, but you get that with any screen. The etched glass screen looks great colors and black levels and all. Enjoy your Steam Deck OLED!