Following Valve’s launch of the Steam Deck last year, the digital storefront owner and now hardware manufacturer is making a Nintendo move with the announcement of the Steam Deck OLED, a new model of the Linux-based handheld with tons of enhancements, including an HDR OLED 90Hz refresh rate display, improved battery/audio, quieter fan, 1000 nits of brightness, faster downloads, and more.
Preorders will go up for the OLED model next week on November 16th, and it will be available in two variants: the 512GB model for $549 USD/$689 CAD and the 1 TB model at $649 USD/$819 CAD. For those who plan to pick up the more expensive version, your carry case will feature a removable liner plus an exclusive startup movie and virtual keyboard theme.
One upgrade on the Steam Deck OLED is that it will include a Wi-Fi 6E module, meaning downloads will be much faster. Valve has opted to stick with the resolution of the original Steam Deck, so you’re still getting 1200 by 800 resolution but with a 50 percent improvement to the display’s refresh rate now at 90Hz.
Speaking of the screen, the display has gotten a slight improvement as the original Steam Deck featured a 7-inch LCD display while the OLED display is 7.4 inches. It’s nowhere close to Lenovo Legion Go’s massive 8.8-inch display, but it’s closer than yesterday. Even with all these improvements, the Steam Deck OLED is actually 30 grams lighter than the original launch unit.
Introducing Steam Deck OLED. Featuring an HDR OLED screen, longer battery life, and faster downloads. Available November 16th.
Learn more at https://t.co/uVdBCpJVuX pic.twitter.com/W4YnimTqCL
— Steam Deck (@OnDeck) November 9, 2023
Additionally, the Steam Deck OLED model will be packed with a 50Whr battery, a 10 Whr improvement over the original. As part of the announcement, Valve is planning to discontinue the STeam Deck’s 64GB and 512GB LCD models and is price cutting the current models: 64GB Model – $349 USD (Previously $399 USD), 256GB Model – $399 USD (Previously $529 USD), and 512GB – $449 USD (Previously $649 USD).
Valve claims that compared to the launch model, the Steam Deck OLED model has an estimated 30 to 50 percent improvement over the original. Be it as it may, the Steam Deck OLED is no Steam Deck Pro or Steam Deck 2 as it offers no improved performance over the original, as Valve is still adamant that the true followup to the Steam Deck is years away; 2025 at the earliest. Instead, the Sseam Deck OLED features tons of quality-of-life enhancements that I felt were missing in the “in-complete” original. This version of Steam Deck sounds like the true Steam Deck that Valve wanted to put out.
