OLED Steam Deck Review: Worth the Upgrade?

Let's do a deep-dive review of the new OLED Steam Deck, and figure out if it's worth upgrading if you already have one.

This was a review unit sent to me by the manufacturer. All opinions are my own, they did not see this review ahead of time, and no money was exchanged in any way.

Timestamps:
00:00 introduction
00:53 models and pricing
02:12 major changes
04:52 touchscreen, wake from sleep
06:26 more screen demos
09:58 audio and fan noise
14:25 battery life
21:23 swapping the SSD
22:48 upgrade discussion (Freya & Cloud)
28:44 summary and conclusion

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This video is for entertainment and educational purposes only.

#SteamDeck #Valve #handheldPC #pcgaming #emulation

[nekoplanetary]

I was so close to buying a Deck around 3 weeks ago. Thank goodness I was waiting to see if valve was going to do a discount sale on this holiday season. Time to buy a steam deck OLED!

[zhon]

thank you for the ds 3ds touch benchmark! it looks like a big improvement to the disappointing touch on the LCD screen. I plan on passing down my LCD deck to my little sister for Christmas and setting up the emulation for her.

[christianr.]

This is exactly what i wanted, not only is the screen fantastic. But the battery life the best out of these pc handhelds. I played the majority of my games at 9 watts, on my LCD steam deck to get anywhere close to the battery life this thing gets at full load! Im so excited to try battery tweaking when I get my hands on it

[tphan]

That Freya / Cloud bit at the end was pure genius. Potentially real world situations taking into consideration into the nuances of individual preferences. Bravo

[christianjr]

Also used this to pick up an lcd version for sub $300

The amount of technology in that package value is crazy and I’m very happy with it—I’ll worry about upgrading when the hardware makes significant jumps

[nmocini]

Another thorough and thoughtful review! Excited to get my OLED SD ordered tomorrow! Thanks Russ!

[telsan]

Thanks for showing the SSD swap, no one else on YT has shown that working so saves many us a lot of time rather than starting from scratch when upgrading, I have 2TB SSD from my OG SD ready to go, awesome work!👌

[HR]

Looking forward to the emulation showcase as this is probably what I would buy one for!

[Zimtok]

Best Steam Deck OLED review I've seen. Comprehensive, informative, and excellent variety in how you examined the specimen in captivity.

[Razear]

Valve needs to push the battery life improvement as one of the main selling points of the OLED. This is really flying under the radar because of the new display.

[Juggernaut-IV]

Just got a 512 Gb steam deck for $280 so I guess I’ll survive on lcd

[mattsponholz]

Ahh, yes. The classic tale of Freya and Cloud...
(Thanks for your incredible input! The only reason I didn't get a steamdeck before was the lack of OLED. Now it's a no-brainer!)

[AlejandroHiraldo]

What I love about Valve is that they could've just offer the new Oled model and call it a day, but no, they went out of their way and made the stock LCD screen so much better with the features of the 3.5 update. I'm very happy with my SD, yes I would prefer the better battery life on the Oled but to me it's not worth it since I don't travel a lot and I even have a battery bank for the rare cases where I run out of power on the go. Great vid as always!

[onedays]

I 100% identify with the whole "battery anxiety" thing. I was just on a flight and I was so hesitant to take my Steam Deck out because I knew it would die fast. I always wish it just had a little more juice. When I have more money I definitely want to consider upgrading.

[BootyWarrior]

I love watching reviews of things I know I'm already going to buy. Helps with the anticipation

[BrianJones-wkcx]

Divinity in the details, as always, Russ, bravo! Every last detail is depicted with such precision, loving the evolution of audio and fan testing, spot-on! You’re getting to the necessary nitty gritty that others overlook, and you’re doing it in such a thoughtful, informative, entertaining way, that whether Freya or Cloud, everyone needs a little Retro Gaming Corps in their lives. As to my own upgrade path—while I’m stoked for Valve’s iterative improvements, I’m also content with my current LCD model. I’m happy that Valve made significant improvements but nothing that leapfrogs the “old” Deck from relevance. As always, keep up the great work!!!

[Jasper]

Great review! Will be holding off upgrading until the next round when they have a performance upgrade (2.0)

[wesmrt]

Loved the Freya/Cloud user cases comparison. Please, do this more often, was great!

[LudoArcadeGames]

For me, external controllers work much better over bluetooth with the OLED version. There was sometimes lag or disconnections on the LCD steam deck. This is a great improvement for playing with others on the TV !

[Saltywaffles]

i love it when u use those 2 little characters for deciding between things in a customer standpoint and there needs and wants, i feel like i can usually put myself as one, and its cool to see the outcome.