This is the best coverage of the new Deck that I’ve seen yet.
Upgraded:
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7.4" OLED HDR screen with a 90hz refresh rate and 600 nits brightness(with 1000 nits peak brightness), (old screen 7" LCD with 60hz refresh and 400 nits brightness). Touchscreen accuracy and responsiveness is reportedly improved.
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Longer battery life. Improvements to software and hardware are supposed to increase the battery life by 30-50%. New battery is 50wh vs original 40. Original decks will see some of this improvement thanks to software/bios updates, but not as much as the new Decks. The new Deck charges faster as well, charge from 20 to 80% battery in 45 min.
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6E wifi module for improved wifi speed.
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Dedicated bluetooth module, allowing better audio quality over bluetooth and the option to wake the steam deck from a bluetooth controller. Will also support more controllers at once for multiplayer.
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Faster RAM, 6400 MT/s vs 5500 MT/s on original.
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More repairable. The screws are now torx, and all thread into metal screw holes. Should prevent stripped screws that were the most common issues with SSD replacements.
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New carrying case, for the 1TB model, there’s an insert case inside the full size case. The insert can be pulled out and used as a slim carrying case when you don’t need full protection.
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Weighs 5% less.
Prices:
$649 - 1TB OLED
$529 - 512GB OLED
$399 - 256GB LCD
For a limited time, Valve will sell a special edition 1TB OLED with a translucent shell for $679, only in the US and Canada. Expected to sell out quickly.
Note: I’m updating this as I get more information, so the written out info will change as I learn more.
I don’t need a new Steam Deck I don’t need a new Steam Deck I don’t need a new Steam Deck I don’t need a new Steam Deck
This isn’t the SteamDeck you’re looking for…
I am feeling you. I spent for the high end partially for the screen and it was hard to play on the balcony but maybe thats because I did not have oled :)
it was hard to play on the balcony
OLED should be better but I believe it’ll draw a lot of power at peak brightness so playtime is quite limited without a (huge)powerbank
see. I thought oled darks were better so you would not need as much brightness due to better contrast???
When the OLED Switch came out, I ordered one as soon as they became available. It was my first handheld, and the advice at the time was that you didn’t need it if you already had one, but if you didn’t the OLED was the one to get. I enjoyed the switch, and ended up buying a deck not long after that.
I’m going to treat this update to the same advice that they made for the switch. Since I already have one, and since the internals are essentially the same, it doesn’t make sense to update after less than a year, and it’s not worth the hassle of trying to sell the old one.
Original switch screen was rubbish, to put it mildly. While original Steam deck screen is in fact quite decent. It gets bright enough for indoor usage, has large viewing angle, color is ok. I can happily play my original steam deck for another one or two years. I only play on my original switch with it plugged in to a TV.
Fair point. I never tried the original switch. I only bought one once the OLED came out and everyone was raving about it, despite the fact that Nintendo didn’t give it the full 2.0 treatment. I had packed away my pc for a move and just never got around to unpacking it, and wanted something to play on. When I saw it had games like Diablo and Disco as well as Mario Cart, I decided to pull the trigger.
I ended up liking it enough that I went out and got the deck to try to work through my games backlog. Because of steam sales, I have dozens of games I’ve played for less than a couple of hours and some I’ve never even opened.
Of course, right after buying it I ended up buying Stray, BG3, and a couple of others, and still haven’t made progress on my backlog…
Attention> the $399/256GB is the same old model with no improvement, only cheaper price. Just to be clear.
That’s an excellent point, I updated my summary to show that. Sorry for any confusion.
👍
It says 6nm vs 7nm APU on the store page. Is this a new APU?
It’s supposedly considered the same APU according to the different leaks we’ve seen. The 6nm is supposed to increase power efficiency but that’s it.
I mean… this at the bare minimum deserve to be called an “Upgrade” with the capital U.
Translucent is USA/Canada only. So sad :(
Wonder if they’ll release the OLED screen as it’s own part so previous owners can upgrade themselves.
I’ve no interest in the third party 1200p screen since I don’t need the hardware to struggle even more more resolution but a 90hz refresh rate would be great
I’ve read it’s a different connector from mobo (?) To screen, so the OLED will not be backwards compatible.
I hope they continue making oem replacement parts for when I need to replace something on my original.
Hmmm. Disappointing.
They’ve seemed rather committed to replaceable parts. I think they’ll keep supporting it. Guess I’ll have to keep hoping a third party higher refresh rate screen comes out sometime. Im sure higher capacity batteries will eventually too
It seems silly, but that inner case is what’s really making me feel the FOMO, traveling with the current case is such a hassle. I hope they sell the case alone for current deck owners
The tomtoc travel case is great and is already available.
Ooo, thanks for the recommendation, that does appear to be what I’m looking for! Although I’m still hesitating as some reviews do say that you can still click the joysticks through the case which isn’t ideal :/
I was in the same boat. Note that you can click on the joysticks with the original case too if you try hard enough.
I guess you can’t have both: small and uber protective. I settled with small and good protection. 😊
Just give me usb4
Multiple usb4
I wish. Theres gotta be spare pcie lanes on that chip to make it work somehow.
That would have to wait for a SD2 as it would need a completely new APU. I think this is the best refresh we could hope for without major changes that would warrant a new version. One thing I wish they’d been able to do is get VRR on the screen. The fact they didn’t means there must be some technical limitation.
I cannot use the oled screen, it hurt my eyes. Unfortunately the original steam deck screen also flickers.
Timeline?
Hard to get excited about this when Valve still won’t release the deck in my country and it’s now out of date hardware.
Really kinda disappointed with Valve on the deck.
it’s now out of date hardware
What? It’s not the fastest APU around anymore, but it’s hardly outdated.
It’s two generations behind the current handheld offerings.
Now if you were going to buy something to last you the next few years would you pick the already old product or the fresh new one with modern components?
It’s outdated.
The software beats the shit out of any other handheld.
Is it though? It’s targetting 5-15W, the other APUs are terrible at lower wattages and only good if they’re blasting through energy.
I hope you get one one day, but that really has nothing to do with this.
It directly relates to the product and the producer.
It’s lack of availability world wide is unfortunate, but unless Valve agrees to start letting retailers officially carry and sell it I doubt we’ll see that change.
There are different ways to buy it I bought it year ago using mailforward from US
