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[Digital Foundry] Steam Deck OLED: A Stunning HDR Upgrade... But There's So Much More

Arsic

Loves his juicy stink trail scent
Diablo 4 is deck certified on steam platform now. Retail wow has a console mod for controllers that I know people on deck use.
Stiff nips.

Just being able to play Diablo games will be enough use for me on the go to get my gaming fix.

With Diablo I already own it on Blizzard launcher, and with this device I just download that launcher , install game, and wham bam I’m in there ?
 
My wallet weeps already. I've been holding off buying one, in part due to the battery life but mainly not having OLED. And now... I no longer have an excuse, do I?
Same here. I always said I would buy one if it has OLED. This goddamn thing will be $780 CAD after tax. Hmm.
 
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PRice drops on existing..... wow... none of the consoles have gotten prices drops they get increases. Even last gen no price drops. Valve showing how its done and doing it right!
 

Denton

Member
You can play Witcher 3. It nets 4-5 hrs on Switch. Can you imagine taking the new steam deck anywhere and it dies after a couple of hours playtime? Why are you pretending that is in any way a good experience? I owned the original and the battery life was so bad I ended up selling it. Many times the original would die in less than an hours play time. This one is improved but the battery life needs to come up to 4 - 5 hrs to be a good experience.
If you set Witcher 3 to the graphics and framerate of Switch version (via mods and ini tweaks, since default low is still much higher) you will get your 5 (likely more) hours too.
My Deck never dies after hour of playtime. I can play Cyberpunk for about 100 minutes on average.
But it is a non-issue since I rarely play AAA games on Deck anyway, I prefer it for smaller games. Why play Witcher 3 on handheld when I can play it on 3080Ti.
 
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Tygeezy

Member
Stiff nips.

Just being able to play Diablo games will be enough use for me on the go to get my gaming fix.

With Diablo I already own it on Blizzard launcher, and with this device I just download that launcher , install game, and wham bam I’m in there ?
Yes, you can install the launcher and add "non steam games" to your list.
 

Silver Wattle

Gold Member
Lets Go Wow GIF by FaZe Clan

I did not expect all those upgrades, the node change was unexpected and very welcome.
The screen not having VRR is my only gripe, but with the option of selecting a refresh rate between 45-90Hz it's a minor issue.

I can now only point to only 3 things I dislike about the SD OLED: zen 2 CPU, no VRR and no hall effect joysticks.
Those aren't enough to stop me from buying a SD now, I just need to find an importer that won't price gouge me.
 
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Zathalus

Member
You can play Witcher 3. It nets 4-5 hrs on Switch. Can you imagine taking the new steam deck anywhere and it dies after a couple of hours playtime? Why are you pretending that is in any way a good experience? I owned the original and the battery life was so bad I ended up selling it. Many times the original would die in less than an hours play time. This one is improved but the battery life needs to come up to 4 - 5 hrs to be a good experience.
Witcher 3 can do roughly 4.5-5.5 hours on the new Steam Deck (10w vs 7w) with way better graphics and resolution then the Switch. Less demanding games get 7-8 hours (as tested).

The original had bad battery life, but the new one is only bad if you run the latest AAA games and even then 2 hours and 40 minutes for Cyberpunk 2077 is respectable. Considering the launch Switch struggled to reach 2.5 hours on the most intensive games.

Oh, and the new Steam Deck also charges significantly faster.
 
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iHaunter

Member
My wallet weeps already. I've been holding off buying one, in part due to the battery life but mainly not having OLED. And now... I no longer have an excuse, do I?
I held my friends Steamdeck. It feels like shit and is not designed well for the hands. If there's an OLED redesign I might consider it.
 

Bry0

Member
This is my Christmas gift for me. With all the traveling I’m doing for work (3-4 days every week flying and in hotels) this is a must.

How well does steam deck work for WoW classic ? I assume retail it’s probably not gonna be up to snuff but I want to play things like Diablo 4, 2, and WoW classic on it.
Diablo 4 runs great. Locked 40 at medium, or you can get a pretty stable 60 if you turn some things to low.
 
'Updating the Steam Deck is hard. We aren't planning on doing it for several years'.

Too many of you are suckers.
Sure, but then when is the right time to buy one? I'm a little disappointed but only because I just bought one. I'll live though, I find the standard Deck awesome as it is.
 

DeVeAn

Member
I got one at the start of the year, worried there would be an upgrade before long.

Honestly I've hardly played it at all since that first week. So can probably skip this despite how much I like having the shiny new thing.
Same boat. Kinda regret getting one as I just don’t use it enough.
 
Same boat. Kinda regret getting one as I just don’t use it enough.
I was the same, got one, didn‘t use it that much because O disn‘t set it up properly. Now, with Chiaki, Xbox game pass and some retro games on it properly set up it‘s the only device I turn on on a daily basis. With only Steam on it I probably wouldn‘t use it as well, but once you unlock the possibilities of it through the Desktop mode and install the things the way you need them on the deck, it‘s a completely different experience.
 

mitchman

Gold Member
Previous steam deck was not sold in Norway, I expect that won't change. I guess they don't want my money!
 

THE DUCK

voted poster of the decade by bots
I held my friends Steamdeck. It feels like shit and is not designed well for the hands. If there's an OLED redesign I might consider it.

What, do you have tiny hands or something?
I mean seriously, you can put down the Steam Deck for all kinds of things, but saying it "felt like shit" is a huge exaggeration even if it's not perfect.
 

Panajev2001a

GAF's Pleasant Genius
Lets Go Wow GIF by FaZe Clan

I did not expect all those upgrades, the node change was unexpected and very welcome.
The screen not having VRR is my only gripe, but with the option of selecting a refresh rate between 45-90Hz it's a minor issue.

I can now only point to only 3 things I dislike about the SD OLED: zen 2 CPU, no VRR and no hall effect joysticks.
Those aren't enough to stop me from buying a SD now, I just need to find an importer that won't price gouge me.
All games implementing LFC / finding a way to force it at the system level would make VRR far more useful as your bottom floor is now 24 FPS.
 

Kenpachii

Member
It's a nice version, but frankly its not enough to upgrade.

I rather had them push a new performance chip into the deck, that would allow to play newer titles that struggle. Also 90hz while better then 60 isn't much more and lets be honest here, deck chip isn't going to push over 60's anyway, also no VRR is kinda shit. U still have to lock your framerate then which is annoying.

He glosses over the wifi chip, but the wifi chip in the original deck is proper trash. So that's actually a big upgrade if u use wifi and online gaming.

The price is decent for 550, the 512, and 1tb for 650. however 2tb would have been better for the higher end model.

I just wish they upgraded the performance of the deck with a better chip.
 

Snake29

RSI Employee of the Year
I might just buy one when they ever drop the Steamdeck 2. OLED, 120hz screen, more efficient RDNA (3/4) SOC, sleeker design.
 
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