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Steam Deck OLED - anyone getting one?
- Thread starter thadoggfather
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Battery life is an excellent upgrade over LCD deck.
Screen is a mind blowing upgrade over LCD deck.
Thermals and cooling / fan noise are much reduced too (my lcd deck had the superior fan as well)
I'm really happy with it, well worth the hassle to trade up. I dropped a 2tb SSD and 512gb microSD into my originally 512gb SSD model.
I wonder sometimes if an anti glare screen would be nice, but I like glossy for the extra pop in controlled lighting which is mostly how I game.
Going to largely echo @thadoggfather sentiments:
- Battery life is noticeably improved.
- Screen is again a noticeable improvement
- Performance is better - fans run less often, are quieter
- Same settings give higher frame rates ... sometimes a lot.
I got the 1TB with anti-glare screen, and added a 1TB card, and that gives me enough space to separate older games to the card and newer ones on the SSD to help with performance.
No regrets at all getting the OLED Deck top model.
I considered switching, but I stopped myself. With the Lenovo Legion Go and ASUS ROG Ally, I started thinking about alternatives. Then, in the last week, this Orange Pi Neo came along with the same AMD Ryzen 7840U processor, running Manjaro Linux.
I've been experimenting with the KDE desktop with a keyboard and mouse on my Steam Deck and downloaded Heroic Games Launcher, because I haven't been playing as much lately.
I've been experimenting with the KDE desktop with a keyboard and mouse on my Steam Deck and downloaded Heroic Games Launcher, because I haven't been playing as much lately.
Just bought the 1TB version today, and am excited to play around with it. My gaming isn't hardcore so it shouldn't have any issue playing anything in my library (other than maybe Starfield), and I'm thinking it might make an interesting alternative to bringing a laptop with me on the road. I've got a compact bluetooth keyboard and mouse I can pair it with. We'll see how it goes!
Starfield plays perfectly fine on the Steam Deck, just so you know! I'm not one of those who overanalyzes the minutia for this stuff like some on Reddit, but just playing the defaults I had no issues with performance.
I would say Deck 2nd gen is ~1-1.5 years out from now. Depends what you intend to play.
if you want to play all the upcoming UE5 games, maybe wait?
Else if interested in streaming stuff or the wealth of great working games on Steam, I say dive in. Especially since OLED is still pretty much brand new.
I'm biased tho
Maybe they'll just drop the price modestly in a little while and delay it further, hard to say what's ahead
I have the LCD but think I'll update. I really want the OLED and the battery life is not very good. I did see Valve said they are waiting for a Substantial improvement in processor before making a new model. But AMD are developing these mobile processors rapidly it seems.
I can always upgrade to any new model.
If it’s not a seamless upgrade path I may even hold onto my oled model instead of leaping to gen 2 depending on what it has to offer
The screen quality upgrade and battery life make the experience that much better
Having all this custom configurations and set ups and button mapping and all, takes work to get right
Well I’ve pulled the trigger on a 1 terrabyte OLED Steam Deck. Should get it next week, have some time booked off around Easter, so I’ll be able to play my Diablo 4 on it I just picked up in the sale, will get my LCD on eBay then too. Excited. I like the bigger screen size in the same body size too.
I have been thinking about my portable gaming gadgets as late, and although I haven’t used my Deck a lot, I was going to sell it even, at the end of the day I like having it for when I do use it. Valve has done an amazing job with the interface and design, using the right amount of tech for the performance and price. I was going to get the next Switch but may not bother as rumours are it isn’t OLED, plus it won’t play the same games or be anywhere near as adaptable. My PS5 and a Steam Deck will do me.
Mine is showing Out for Delivery today. I'm pretty excited!
Mine is being prepared for dispatch. Should arrive next week and I've got some time off over Easter to have a play.
I spent the evening setting up my Steam Deck and getting it dialed in. It's an impressive piece of hardware, so I selected a game that'd really push this thing and show it off:
![zelda.jpeg]( "zelda.jpeg")
I spent the evening setting up my Steam Deck and getting it dialed in. It's an impressive piece of hardware, so I selected a game that'd really push this thing and show it off:
View attachment 2361576
Nice! Congratulations. Now go and get gaming!
Just got my OLED, WOW! The screen is a MASSIVE difference! Hugely improved. My LCD model will be going up for sale this week. More than happy with upgrading. 👍😀
Love me an OLED screen, makes a
Huge difference I think.
Love me an OLED screen, makes a
Huge difference I think.
I'm a few weeks in with my Steam Deck, and I've gotta say, this is one of the coolest pieces of hardware I've purchased in a long, long time. It's just so friggin' versatile. I've taken it on the road with me a few times now, and while of course I can play my Steam library, I've also been having fun with emulation. I'll play Castlevania SoTN, maybe a little Ultima 7, and even some Dark Castle from the early Mac days (holy crap games were hard back then!). I've got a lightweight BT keyboard and mouse, and it makes a surprisingly capable replacement for things that'd normally have me lugging around my MBA. It's actually a pretty capable Linux machine in its own right.
The only thing I wish it'd do is allow me to take the sides off and treat it like an iPad mini - it'd be nice to use it as an e-reader. The screen is beautiful. But my guess is that'd make it too Switch-like and Nintendo would mobilize its platoon of lawyers.
Anyway, I'm a happy camper. Anyone on the fence and reading this - buy it. Valve really hit it out of the park.
The only thing I wish it'd do is allow me to take the sides off and treat it like an iPad mini - it'd be nice to use it as an e-reader. The screen is beautiful. But my guess is that'd make it too Switch-like and Nintendo would mobilize its platoon of lawyers.
Anyway, I'm a happy camper. Anyone on the fence and reading this - buy it. Valve really hit it out of the park.
I'm a few weeks in with my Steam Deck, and I've gotta say, this is one of the coolest pieces of hardware I've purchased in a long, long time. It's just so friggin' versatile. I've taken it on the road with me a few times now, and while of course I can play my Steam library, I've also been having fun with emulation. I'll play Castlevania SoTN, maybe a little Ultima 7, and even some Dark Castle from the early Mac days (holy crap games were hard back then!). I've got a lightweight BT keyboard and mouse, and it makes a surprisingly capable replacement for things that'd normally have me lugging around my MBA. It's actually a pretty capable Linux machine in its own right.
The only thing I wish it'd do is allow me to take the sides off and treat it like an iPad mini - it'd be nice to use it as an e-reader. The screen is beautiful. But my guess is that'd make it too Switch-like and Nintendo would mobilize its platoon of lawyers.
Anyway, I'm a happy camper. Anyone on the fence and reading this - buy it. Valve really hit it out of the park.
It's great that people can go one of two paths:
easy Steam game installs for a console like experience
..or customizing it and playing weird pc ports that aren't on steam and emu and all kinds of other things like streaming ps5, that once set up, also feel a bit like a console experience
or some combo! But whichever route you go, so worth it (IMO)
I got Diablo 4 on it and was annoyed with the battery life, I followed some guides on settings and now with an FPS of 45 it's pushing literally a minute or 2 under 4 hours battery life!! To me that's hugely impressive and it still looks good to thanks to that OLED.