Out of absolutely nowhere, Steam has announced the Steam Deck OLED which is a new Steam Deck model that adds a heap of improvements across the board.
WHERE TO PRE-ORDER THE STEAM DECK OLED IN AUSTRALIA
The device will be launching on November 17th in the US, Canada, Europe, UK, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong And Taiwan, but naturally, an Australian release doesn’t seem to be on the cards.
The Steam Deck OLED has a larger 7.4-inch HDR OLED display with 1000 nits of peak brightness. The refresh rate has been updated to 90hz and the latency of the touch screen has also been improved.
The device has a larger 50whr battery (up from 40 whr) and combined with a more efficient APU, you can expect a 30-50% better battery life which Valve says is good for 3-12 hours of gaming depending on what you’re playing. Despite the device having a larger screen and a larger battery, the total weight has been reduced by 30 grams or 5% which should make a big difference in comfort.
There’s a new Wi-FI 6E module which will make for much faster downloads and a new Bluetooth 5.3 model which supports new audio codes.
In terms of actual actual game performance this isn’t a huge improvement across the board for games, which isn’t the biggest issue given Steam Deck always had great performance for its processor, but still might lag behind newer consoles such as the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion GO.
When it comes to pricing, there’s now three Steam Decks in the lineup including one LCD version (which has had a price drop) and two OLEDs one of which includes a new 1TB version.
THE NEW STEAM DECK LINEUP
- 256GB LCD Steam Deck – $399 USD (~$625 AUD)
- 512GB OLED Steam Deck – $549 USD (~861 AUD)
- 1TB OLED Steam Deck – $649 USD (~$1,018 AUD)
We’ll keep you posted on any updates for the device in Australia, even if it’s just the device coming to third-party channels like Amazon locally.
Valve has also announced a super stunning, limited edition translucent Steam Deck OLED which will be available in a highly limited edition mannger in the US and Canada.
ALL OF THE STEAM DECK OLED IMPROVEMENTS
- Updated APU to 6 nm for better efficiency
- Updated memory to 6400 MT/s, improving latency and power management
- Increased thermal module thickness and performance
- Increased active area to 7.4″ (from 7.0″)
- Updated refresh rate to 90Hz (from 60Hz)
- Updated peak brightness to 1000 nits
- Updated touchscreen polling rate to 180Hz, improved latency and accuracy
- Updated WiFi / Bluetooth module
- Added support for WiFi 6E
- Added support for Bluetooth 5.3, supporting newer codecs such as aptX HD and aptX low-latency
- Added third antenna near the top of the device for better Bluetooth performance, including when docked
- Added support for wake from Bluetooth controllers
- Improved bass response for an overall flatter sound profile
- Added support for using onboard microphone array simultaneously with the 3.5mm headphones connector
- Adjusted analog stick top material and shape for increased grip and dust build-up resistance
- Adjusted analog stick post material to improve interaction feel with front cover and reduce wear
- Improved reliability of analog stick touch detection
- Improved responsiveness and tactility of shoulder buttons switch mechanism
- Adjusted D-pad snap ratio and diagonal interactions
- Redesigned trackpad for improved fidelity and edge detection
- Greatly improved trackpad haptics feel and precision
- Improved battery capacity from 40Wh to 50Wh
- Improved battery chemistry for faster charging, from 20% to 80% in as little as 45 minutes
- Changed charging LED to WRGB
- Added support for waking up from initial unboxing by long-pressing power button instead of requiring AC power
- Adjusted power supply cable length from 1.5m to 2.5m
- Added logo to power supply
- Reduced total system weight to ~640g, or ~5% less than Steam Deck
- Rear cover screws now thread into metal
- Adjusted rear cover screw heads to Torx™, as well as other materials and geometry tweaks on the heads to reduce stripping risk
- Lowered number of screw types throughout system
- Reduced step count required for common repairs
- Improved bumper switch mechanism drop reliability
- Moved bumper switch to joystick board for easier repair
- Improved display repair/replacement to not require taking rear cover off
- Greatly improved memory power management firmware
- Added preliminary support for open-source BIOS and EC firmware
- Improved resume time by roughly 30%