Steam Deck OLED Thoughts - After Six Months

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In this video, we're going to talk about my thoughts after using the Steam Deck OLED for 6 months.

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Disclaimer: Devices are typically sent to me for review by different manufacturer's or resellers. All opinions are my own, they have not seen the video ahead of time and no money has exchanged hands. Or, put simply, the review is always my authentic opinion and words.
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Timestamps
00:00 - My first OLED thoughts
01:47 - My use cases
04:53 - The Deck's strengths
09:29 - 800p isn't great anymore
10:49 - The Deck is still great overall
12:13 - The Windows issue
13:31 - Wrap up
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"Welcome back to Joey's Retro Handhelds. I"m Joey and I'm on the toilet."

doolittle_
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I'm a Windows guy myself, I had zero experience with Linux before the steam deck. So to me, the steam deck's OS.... Well, is the steam deck OS and not Linux. Desktop mode is close enough to Windows for me to feel like I can do what I need to do with the little time I need to open it.

Stunnax
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The steam deck officially released in 2022, therefore, making it 2 years old it’s not that old bro

luis
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I've been a Mac user and I haven't had a gaming PC since 2004. I was wanting to get back into pc gaming but I don't really have the space for a another full computer. I got the steam deck OLED this past December for Christmas and I love it. For me and what I want to do as not a super hardcore PC gamer it's perfect. With that, multiple retro handhelds, and my Xbox I kind of have all of my bases covered for everything that I personally want to play.

strongbad
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I had the same thought about wishing the Steam Deck had more power, but then I found its biggest strength for me. It gave me a reason to tackle my backlog of 1000+ Steam games I've curated over the last like 15 years lmao. I play all the new games on my gaming rig with fancy peripherals and save all the other stuff for my SD. Currently playing through WH40k Space Marines to prep for Space Marines 2 and man that OLED panel really makes these games pop.

Nanijoe
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Yeah... fully disagree with the "800p" isn't great anymore Joey, sorry. These devices are barely powerful enough to run modern games at 30fps / 800p without massive visual downgrades while already straining battery life limitations.A 1080p screen seems like a waste of resources you don't have, not to mention even typical resolutions like 720p do not scale perfectly to 1080p, leading to blurrier images.

I can totally empathize preferring Windows over Steam OS for game compatibility though 👍 even if it's objectively a pretty sub-par experience from a UX perspective due to the poor scaling, lack of gamepad/touch friendly UI, and broken sleep functionality.

Overall, I think your observations make sense if you care that much about graphics/fluidity. Seeing it's primarily a streaming device, I can see why you'd want a 1080p that much. Though I understand why the practicality of portable play keeps games like Helldivers 2 / Elden Ring / Baldur's Gate near the top of Steam Deck's play charts. They might not run or look great, but the Steam Deck makes them so much easier/more practical to pick up and play anywhere than on a stationary Desktop PC, or even a ROG Ally at times.

sergeigarcia
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I vastly prefer SteamOS but it's pretty egregious that Windows drivers haven't been rolled out. Even though I'd spend 90% of my time in SteamOS I'd still like to be able to dual boot for docked general use and the few games that don't play nice with Linux.

JubalVoid
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idk man. not being okay with having the kind of graphics the Deck can push but at 30 fps kinda smacks of not having loved games during the early 3D eras. I mean there was even a time when the slowdown was just proof that "it was real" and was pushing your hardware in meaningful ways. I'll keep playing Helldivers 2 on the go with, honestly, ps4 level graphics at 30 fps and anything else I play that's demanding locks really well to 45 fps which, at half of 90, looks and feels incredible on the deck.

nvi
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I bought the original Steam Deck & Sold it as soon as they announced the Oled. I love the Steam Deck & use it pretty much like you do to play things it runs well which happens to be enough to keep me happy.

PongbyAtari
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The reason that the other "more powerful" handhelds were inferior in battery life is because of there power. Increasing the power of the CPU/GPU requires significantly better cooling solution. The cooling solution and the CPU/GPU require significantly more batter power or "have significantly less run time". There is a tension between processing power/ cooling/ battery power/ weight. Unlike many other manufacturers Steam has opted to lower the CPU/GPU part, thus decreasing the amount of energy required to cool the device thus increasing battery life. This tension is the same for EVs and any other electrically powered device. Also cost is a definite consideration that I did not include in the above formula. In they end they need to make a profit in order to keep manufacturing and improving. They purposely chose not to manufacture the Deck in such a way to block upgradability and tinkering. This is a business decision that will cause a certain number of sales to be a lower priced model, which the customer can upgrade. They did this for the consumer which many in the gaming community appreciate them for.
Nothing is perfect.

EdwinCHolley
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For me, ergonomics, battery life, and OLED are king.

rjsprojects
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Great video. I noticed the performance stuff as well, right away.

I have a high end PC, so the steam deck fits my needs for emulation and smaller games that i can play on the couch, using a comfortable device.

The deck really got me into the nostalgia feel of gaming and thats worth it to me.

gumsterify
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I’m seeing a lot of content creators covering the steam deck this week, this is my sign to get one😎

eatereater
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Learn to downscale higher resolutions on your Steam Deck. The 800p screen will be the least of your worries.

danlivas
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I've been finding myself using the steam deck the way you use it. I first wanted to take AAAs on the go. I bought Helldiver's for it, Elden Ring, and Hogwarts Legacy as well. Although I had a good time playing those on the deck, I ultimately decided to wait until I have a full blown desktop to play those games. It has slowly been morphing into a roguelite machine.

B_Machine
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Honestly for baldurs gate 3 its fantastic on the steam deck you just need to adjust some settings. I do admit some parts of act 3 are a bit frame dippy but it really shouldnt matter that much in a game that doesnt really need high fps to enjoy

RoyalXSoda
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I agree with a lot of your thoughts. I went from a ROG Ally to a Deck OLED. I loved the transition at first because of the ergonomics, battery life and OLED.

But I came to find that I couldn’t play all the heavy AAA PC games natively like I could with the power of the Z1E and I found myself really missing that extra sharp 1080p VRR display. So I came to find myself playing more emu games like PSP, N64 and Switch on the Deck but I prefer to play those games on my other devices, like my modded Switch OLED and Surface Duo 2.

So basically, the Deck OLED is just collecting dust at this point, going to sell it and just stick with my gaming PC and maybe get an Ally X down the line if I ever feel compelled to play more PC games portably.

dminant
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I can't even imagine being with a device without an OLED screen anymore 😭 for my personal experience, oled+hdr gives a way more impressive image/experience against higher resolutions LCDs, but of course, anyone can think differently :)

neorickio
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I can't say I agree fully with some of the things in this video. First, the performance difference between the Windows handhelds and the Deck. Devices like the ROG Ally or the other 7840u devices, sure they're more powerful. But they're not a LOT more powerful at 15W. Most of the other x86 handhelds just don't have the battery chops to make >15W really all that usable IMHO. I have one of the only devices that can do it, the Win Max 2, and that only because the cooling is really good and it has a much larger battery. The ROG Ally X is another viable option. But past devices with massive batteries, going above 15W is a big sacrifice.

The other thing is, the Deck OLED is my go-to for in-home streaming personally. 1080p (on something like the Odin 2) vs 800p on the Deck, yes I lose on resolution. But I can stream PS5 in HDR and I have a beautiful OLED panel. I'm playing through FF7 Rebirth (which admittedly is becoming a slog) and half of my gameplay has probably been streaming to the Deck in HDR. I've also streamed to my Odin 2 as well but the experience isn't as nice and it feels like the image quality is taking a hit somewhere in the translation to a non-HDR panel. I'm sorely tempted by the Odin 2 Mini just because the panel is reportedly capable of HDR.

dgevert
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This is the exact reason im sticking with the Odin 2 until the steamdeck 2 comes out 😊 the steam deck is so close to being perfect after the oled but its just not powerful enough just yet 😉😉 i really hope they offer a way with the steam deck 2 that can duel boot windows by switching out the SSD that would be easily accessible like the onexplayer x1 series :)

Jakcoon