Exciting news coming from Valve today as they revealed a hardware update to the Steam Deck! The new offerings will ship with larger OLED HDR displays, faster RAM, smaller APUs, more efficient cooling, updated Wi-Fi & Bluetooth cards, higher capacity Batteries, longer power cables, and to top it off they come in at around 30g lighter! Coming November 16th!

Happy to note that the 256GB LCD model has had it's price dropped and will continue to be offered along side the new 512GB & 1TB OLED models. This was really the popular choice among consumers and the pricing is highly competitive so hats off to Valve for keeping affordable options!

They are phasing out the remaining stock of 64GB & 512GB models and included price drops as well, so get them while supplies last!

OH and I almost forgot, they have reduced the price of the Official Steam Deck Dock to $79.00 so definitely a great time to pick one of these up as they rarely are on sale.

Steam Deck Comparisons

The chart below is a comparison of features between the older IPS models and newer OLED models. Most information came directly from Valve, but some information I grabbed from other sources as Valve didn't provide everything that they're advertising for the newer versions. I could not find the Response Time, Contrast Ratio, or Color Gamut for the older models so that was left blank; just assume based on the brightness comparison that it's much worse.

Also for comparison I have added the DeckHD IPS Display Kit so you can decide if you would rather upgrade your existing Steam Deck or buy a whole new one, or possibly save $50 and upgrade a 256GB model and deal with slightly slower specs overall.

Summary from Valve

General

• 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

Display

• 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

WiFi/Bluetooth

• 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

Audio

• Improved bass response for an overall flatter sound profile
• Added support for using onboard microphone array simultaneously with the 3.5mm headphones connector

Controls

• 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

Power

• 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

Frame

• 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

Software

• Greatly improved memory power management firmware
• Added preliminary support for open-source BIOS and EC firmware
• Improved resume time by roughly 30%

Other

• Updated carrying case: 1TB models come in an exclusive case with a removable liner.

Share this article on social media and tag me @ChrisBomar to let me know your thoughts on the new Steam Deck OLED models!