The Steam Deck was such a well-loved device, thanks to the capabilities that it delivered for a price that was very accessible. Now, Valve has announced the Steam Deck OLED, which brings welcome upgrades from its predecessor.
To start off, the new version has a larger and brighter 7.4-inch HDR OLED display. While the resolution is the same (1280 x 800), it’s now capable of delivering up to a 90Hz refresh rate. That’s a good upgrade from the Steam Deck’s 60Hz 7-inch IPS LCD. The device is also lighter at approximately 640 grams (vs 669 grams).
Under the hood, Steam Deck OLED is powered by a 6nm AMD APU built on with 8 RDNA 2 Compute Units, along with 16GB of slightly faster LPDDR5 RAM and comes in either 512GB or 1TB storage capacity and still supports a microSD card.
For connectivity, Steam Deck OLED features Bluetooth 5.3 and a dedicated Bluetooth Antenna. Now, it also, supports Wi-Fi 6E allowing for speeds that exceed 1Gbps and lower latency.
The battery has also been upped to a 50Whr unit, which according to Valve should give you around 3 to 12 hours of gameplay, depending on your settings and what game your playing. You can check out the full list of improvements here.
Bye Bye Steam Deck 64GB and 512GB
Valve has also announced that it will be phasing out the Steam Deck’s 64GB and 512GB models, with its last stocks to be sold at discounted prices, leaving only the 256GB model for the old version.
Steam Deck OLED Specifications
| Compute | |
| Processor | 6 nm AMD APU |
| CPU | Zen 2 4c/8t, 2.4-3.5GHz (up to 448 GFlops FP32) |
| GPU | 8 RDNA 2 CUs, 1.6GHz (1.6 TFlops FP32) |
| APU power | 4-15W |
| RAM | 16 GB LPDDR5 on-board RAM (6400 MT/s quad 32-bit channels) |
| Storage | 512GB NVMe SSD |
| 1TB NVMe SSD | |
| Both include high-speed microSD card slot | |
| Controls and Input | |
| Gamepad controls | A B X Y buttons |
| D-pad | |
| L & R analog triggers | |
| L & R bumpers | |
| View & Menu buttons | |
| 4 x assignable grip buttons | |
| Thumbsticks | 2 x full-size analog sticks with capacitive touch |
| Haptics | HD haptics |
| Trackpads | 2 x 32.5mm square trackpads with haptic feedback |
| Pressure-sensitivity for configurable click strength | |
| Gyro | 6-Axis IMU |
| Display | |
| Resolution | 1280 x 800 x RGB |
| Type | HDR OLED |
| Display size | 7.4” diagonal |
| Maximum brightness | 1,000 nits peak brightness (HDR) |
| 600 nits (SDR) | |
| Contrast ratio | > 1,000,000 : 1 |
| Color gamut | 110% P3 |
| Refresh rate | up to 90Hz |
| Response time | <0.1 ms |
| Touch enabled | High-performance touch |
| Sensors | |
| Light | Dual ambient light sensor ALS |
| Connectivity | |
| Bluetooth | Bluetooth 5.3 (support for controllers, accessories, and audio) |
| Dedicated Bluetooth antenna | |
| Wi-Fi | Tri-band Wi-Fi 6E radio, 2.4GHz, 5GHz, and 6GHz 2 x 2 MIMO, IEEE 802.11a/b/g/n/ac/ax |
| Audio | |
| Channels | Stereo with embedded DSP for an immersive listening experience |
| Microphones | Dual microphone array |
| Headphone / mic jack | 3.5mm stereo headphone / headset jack |
| Digital | Multichannel audio via DisplayPort over USB-C, standard USB-C, or Bluetooth 5.3 |
| Power | |
| Input | PD 3.0 Type C power supply, 45W |
| 2.5m cable | |
| Battery | 50Whr battery. 3-12 hours of gameplay |
| Battery life estimates based on running titles at 30FPS, 50% brightness, and 50% volume. Running titles under different settings may result in faster battery discharge. | |
| Expansion | |
| microSD | UHS-I supports SD, SDXC, and SDHC |
| External connectivity for controllers & displays | Display port over Type C; up to 8K @60Hz or 4K @120Hz, USB3 gen 2 |
| Size and Weight | |
| Size | 298mm x 117mm x 49mm |
| Weight | Approx. 640 grams |
| Software | |
| Operating System | SteamOS 3 (Arch-based) |
| Desktop | KDE Plasma |
Steam Deck OLED Pricing
Steam Deck OLED is priced at USD 549.99 for the 512GB and 649.99 for the 1TB variant. Both will come with a carrying case, but the latter will have a removable liner, as well as an exclusive startup movie, and virtual keyboard theme.
Emman has been writing technical and feature articles since 2010. Prior to this, he became one of the instructors at Asia Pacific College in 2008, and eventually landed a job as Business Analyst and Technical Writer at Integrated Open Source Solutions for almost 3 years.
