Steam Deck Goes OLED: Improved Screen, Battery, And New 1TB Option

What to expect? Valve's Steam line has successfully paved the way for a new level of PC gaming hardware, but many gamers complain about the mediocre IPS display quality. This new revision fixes the screen and improves several other areas at the same time.

Valve is releasing a new version of the Steam Deck next week. The hardware update includes an OLED display, HDR support, a new version with 1TB of internal storage, improved battery life, and the addition of Wi-Fi 6E. There's also a new display option that looks great. Check out some early reviews here.

The OLED screen achieves 1,000 nits in HDR mode, a 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio and 110% P3 color gamut, but even 600 nits in SDR mode is a slight improvement over the entry-level LCD screen.

Reviews also show that adding HDR mode to games is much easier than on Windows. Valve has reduced the bezels on the Steam surface to increase the screen size from 7 to 7.4 inches and the maximum refresh rate from 60 to 90 Hz while maintaining the 1280 x 800 resolution.

Read also: Why is Steam Deck one of the most important moments in PC gaming in years?

While the Renew System maintains the original performance goals, many bras can provide modest improvements. Although it has 4 cores and 8 threads Zen 2 8 RDNA 2 CU, the APU has been downsized from 7nm to 6nm to reduce power consumption. It's still 16GB of RAM and LDDR5, but the speed has been bumped up from 5500MB/s to 6400MB/s, which might give some games an edge.

Combined with a larger fan and a battery upgrade from 40Wh to 50Wh, these changes should mean longer gaming sessions before needing a charge. OLED screens help with this by consuming less power. The changes also make the system a bit lighter, cooler and quieter.

Users with fast connections and Wi-Fi 6 routers can enjoy faster downloads with the addition of Wi-Fi 6E support. Valve has redesigned the controls for improved maneuverability and responsiveness. Changing the bezel makes the folks at iFixit happy, as screws, screens, and other components are easy to fix.

The new model means a big price change. Valve has discontinued the 64GB and 512GB LCD models, selling remaining stock for $349 and $449, respectively. Meanwhile, the new base model of the 256GB Steam Deck will be priced at $399.

The Steam Deck OLED comes in two variants: $549 for the 512GB version and $649 for the new 1TB storage variant. Valve is releasing a limited edition translucent smoke gray 1TB laptop with a custom trunk display.

While the PC gaming giant hasn't said exactly how many units the Steam Deck has sold, sales are estimated to be several million units, which is a huge achievement for a single pre-made PC model. Looking ahead, Valve has confirmed that a more powerful Steam Deck 2 will be released in two to three years.

The updated Steam Deck competes with next-gen gaming consoles like the Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go, GPD Win 4, and more. AMD's Zen 4-based high power and Ryzen Z1 APUs give some of these devices top performance, but they can suffer from battery life and a Windows operating system that isn't designed for small screens.

The Steam Deck OLED will be available on November 16th at 10pm.