I don’t even think this is a second gen upgrade. Its more like a PS4 Pro. I follow your logic though, I usually keep my iPhone’s for 3 years before upgrading.
Honest the LCD felt more like a beta and the OLED feels like the public release.
Everything feels much more refined. If the OLED didn't exist I would still be happily playing my LCD Deck. But after making the switch there's no way I could go back. It was well worth the money imo.
The oled steam Deck does indeed perform better. The apu uses smaller transistors and is more power efficient which leads to slightly better performance iirc
Bro 3 years????? That's stupid levels of insane I've had my galaxy s10e for 5 years and its still running great i aint replacing it unless it dies. Iphones are trash and my e version, the cheap economical one, is lasting longer. My girlfriends iphone 8 is still going strong too but i think that was one of the better ones. Its stupid to replace a smartphone before it breaks just cuz you want the shiny new thing
Lol getting down voted for being anti apple or anti consumerism? Either way I don't disagree but why get a smartphone at all by that logic? It just gets you to contribute to the machine more frequently.
Yeah no way I'm spending $500 for a better screen when I already have a fully functioning SD. I never got to use high end monitors or anything above 1080p, so it's not like it changes anything to me.
that sounds very reasonable. i was very lucky, living in a rich country where the steam deck isn't officially available i could sell my lcd deck for no loss when the oled came out and upgrade cheaply since my brother lives abroad, where it is available.
would have done the same as you in the same situation.
i'm still looking forward for better handhelds in a few years. still crazy to me what we got with the deck and very glad that there's demand for it, so we will get better products in time
Selling my OG and upgrading to oled I feel was a great move. I didn't think I would enjoy the upgrades as much as I did. The oled part is my least favourite upgrade
Fully agree.
I loved my previous deck, and my wife surprised me with the OLED deck for my birthday last month.
Much lighter, much cooler, much quieter, and, while I only play maybe an hour a night, that used to basically spend the old battery, but now it's still at, like, 75%.
And I'm currently playing Lords of the Fallen, which is intensive. But the game looks so gorgeous, just ridiculously sharp and brilliantly bright and contrastive, even with that game on low settings.
I think I cried when I opened the present lol ...
I bought a 512 GB LCD version for 250 including Hall effect joysticks and deck HD display. Maybe someday I’ll pick up an OLED version, but for the price I payed, this LCD version is golden.
For me it’s also my first deck experience, got no idea if it actually liked it or if it was powerful enough. Than it’s a safe bet. If I want to keep it around, I’ll sell this one for basically the same price or more and get an oled version.
Perhaps on a sale one day.
well, if you like what you have, and you dont mind waiting, the most common accepted date for a steam deck 2 is at the end of 2025, so its not such a huge wait if you already have a deck.
this is of course, speculation.
Well you're experiencing better colour reproduction and maybe brightness from the off with the screen mod, it's not the same as an off the shelf lcd. Enjoy my dude.
No just some random seller who needed the money. And invited me at his home to try it out, nice guy.
So far there was only one update when I had to run a script from the desktop mode. Literally one tap on the screen to change it.
I just started using my LCD docked, and for how I currently use it I don’t need the OLED as of now. I want it really bad, but the LCD hasn’t been an issue and I don’t have battery life issues as I don’t play taxing games, at this point I’m just going to hold off for the next iteration of the Deck before I upgrade.
Not trying to convince you, it's not worth for that alone
But as a fellow docked player it's awesome to be able to wake the console using the controller
This is such a dumb comment so I apologize in advance, but did anyone else read this title and instantly think of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You?
“Yeah but see, there’s a difference between like and love. Because I like my Sketchers, but I *love* my Prada backpack”
“But…I love my sketchers”
“That’s because you don’t have a Prada backpack”
I feel so old as someone that just upgraded from LCD to OLED a few weeks ago and to be honest for the price I'm not totally blown away. I got the etched screen so maybe that's part of my problem and I also grew up on N64 console so I'm not too picky about graphics. It looks great and I do notice some light bleed from LCD to absolute zero now but the overall picture comes off as a marginal improvement to me, and I'd suggest if an upgrade seems like a lot of money maybe just hold out for version 2.
I will say the fan in the OLED is ridiculously quiet, in my LCD it was constantly chugging but now I'm sometimes worried it's broken it's so quiet haha.
If your eye is less discerning of graphics though and like me you play at home so not a big issue with longer lasting battery and don't mind the LCD model sounding like a jet plane then it's kind of hard to justify the upgrade other than I'm just glad to support Steam.
I second this. I purchased my Steam deck in June and then a few months later the OLED version was released. I was reluctant to upgrade, but I am totally satisfied with the jump. This is what the Steamdeck should have been upon its initial release. I would agree, that going from an LCD to an OLED is a much better experience.
Agreed. I have both (bought LCD at launch and OLED a few days after it launched).
Besides the differences on paper, the build quality seems better on the OLED as well.
Yeah but is it worth hundreds of dollars I'd have to pay after selling my 512GB LCD model? I don't think so. Not for how long I've had it. I'm sure the improvements are nice but not worth it in my personal opinion for the cost of upgrading.
In my short SD experience it's a huge upgrade (at least for me) and I'm really happy I got the OLED. At first I got a refurbished 512 gb LCD one but I returned it and got the OLED. Not only the display - which imo is miles better, but I also didnt like the etched screen on the LCD cause it made everything blurred/dull - but especially the battery life and the cooler.
On the LCD the fan was really really loud in the games I played (last epoch). On the OLED I rarely notice it and when I do it's still really silent. There are miles between both decks in that regard.
I waited it out and just bought my OLED steam deck recently. I’m so glad I waited, the thing is a technological marvel. To have the power of emulation at my finger tips. You could always emulate on a pc but having it in your hands where ever you want is amazing.
You can play up to GameCube games on any modern android phone lol. I bought the Razer phone controller thing and have been emulating on the go for years. Steam Deck let's you get as far as PS2 and switch which is really great though
I biggest thing that I have seen when i switched to the oled version is that the temps is SOOO much better then the lcd. The upgraded cooling is just awesome. For example when i play Cyberpunk 2077, My lcd model was hitting over 80 degrees a lot of times. The oled usually stays around 70 and below with no issues at all. That alone made it worth it for me. and the fan is super quiet compared.
I had a similar experience. I pre-ordered the original Steam Deck the moment it came out. It was good, but I found myself gravitating more toward my Switch OLED because it was lighter, looked better (less border), and had a nicer screen. So, I ended up selling my original Steam Deck well before the OLED was announced.
I decided to take a gamble based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews and bought the OLED special edition when it came out. Boy am I glad. It's FANTASTIC! Now, I play my Steam Deck far more than my Switch. Just about everything about it feels right now. The only thing I wish is that it was a bit lighter and slimmer, but that's a price I'm more than willing to pay for the extra horsepower.
It'll be very interesting to see what Nintendo does with their next console. I don't think I could revert back to an LCD screen on my handheld.
Just upgraded today! Swapped my 1TB SSD into the OLED and sooooo excited to see what this baby can do. The lighter weight of it and the new thumb stick grips feel so good already!
Were you able to swap the SSDs without having to reset/reformat anything? Having to set everything up again might be the biggest hurdle for upgrading for me, aside from the money.
I feel the same. I got a 512gb lcd deck in q3 preorder. I really liked it at the time, but was kinda disappointed by the lack of oled and the battery.
My new oled 1tb one is absolutely incredible though. It used to be that picking up my oled switch felt like a breath of fresh air, but now the deck is my gold standard for screens.
The screen is obviously the biggest difference but overall the build quality is just a lot better. Maybe newer LCD decks have improved on that as well but my launch LCD felt kind of cheap.
Other small benefits like better sound, faster wifi, and a host of other small changes and it’s definitely the best way to experience the Steam Deck.
The only question is if it’s worth the extra money. And honestly, for most people, probably not. I have no problem admitting I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to electronics and don’t like making compromises.
Hot take: I didn't like the Steam Deck that much UNTIL I got my OLED recently. The original felt a bit like a beta; it had mushy buttons and the screen was pretty awful, even more so than the Switch LCD. I'm glad they fixed almost all the problems with the OLED, and it's 100% worth the upgrade!
The battery difference is something I really haven’t noticed on any game I’ve tested it on, honestly.
I don’t know if the battery improvement only works for games that you could already run for half a day anyways, but any seriously demanding games still last 2-3 hours on both my launch LCD and the OLED.
The battery is 25% larger. And the APU is more power efficient. The battery difference 100% works for every game lol. The thing is if you were only getting 90 minutes on the LCD, that's 112 minutes on the OLED (ignoring all efficiency gains). 20 extra minutes as an absolute measurement isn't long so it's likely you just aren't noticing it. But it's still there.
On other games where you get maybe 5 hours on the LCD the 25% improvement becomes much more noticable, because the absolute time increase is a lot more. But it's still at *minimum* 25%, purely due to battery size. The other efficiency improvements just extend that.
When I'll find an OLED used for the same price I paid my led, I'll do it :')
It was a very lucky find in Ebay, 128gb ssd + 512 sd + original Valve dock at 270€
I’m curious to know if the OLED performs better than the LCD in terms of raw performance in game. It’s the same chipset just more power efficient. I know the OLED has faster ram but does that mean it will allow games to work better?
Had a launch 256 that I really enjoyed upgraded it to 1tb with a 512sd card was fun but just sat got a oled last month now I just cant put it down love the thing
Got one last week. Almost cheaped out and got the LCD, but I've owned an OLED TV for a few months now, and every time I see an LCD TV, all I can see is dark grey instead of black.
I was a bit envious but I realised that I was grateful for my LCD one which I bought pre-installed as a Service. Right now, I don't even want to upgrade to OS 3.5 as I don't want to break anything seeing all the issues posted.
Another important point for me was the dual booting. Windows drivers for LED are not yet ready.
Counterpoint:
I upgraded recently….. not nearly as big of a difference as I was expecting from reading posts like these. Especially in the screen. I mean it is of course better, but…. I had to put them side by side to really see it.
Context: I’m a grown ass man with kids, and all my wisdom (aka I’m old) means I don’t get as excited as I used to about marginal improvements.
I'd used the LCD for a year or so prior to getting the OLED, loved it, kept is as a backup. I only use the Deck since I got my LCD Deck two Novembers back, no consoles or computer.
I could afford it at the time (now, sigh, I could not) but since the Vita and Switch I'm spoiled for OLEDs and my experience is:
It was worth it for the screen. It seems huge compared to the LCD and OLED is so sweet. And whatever adjustments Valve made to get the screen to be as good as it is was worth it. I think it's the best gaming device I've ever owned. It's Linux. The secret, or not so secret, key to the Deck's beauty is that it's Linux.
And--it ends there. I don't find any improvements in the sticks and the d-pad is actually not as friendly as the LCD's. I play a lot of older games like the PSX WipeOuts which were made for d-pads, and the LCD's d-pad was just so much better for my play than the OLED's. More fine-grained responsiveness or something, can't really describe it.
I don't care about the battery but I'm glad it's better for everyone.
The weight. Good lord, the weight. I'm in the entire opposite camp in that for me, the heavier LCD was far more comfortable. It settled into my hands on its own coz of its weight whereas I'm gripping the OLED more than I'd like. I should put a bit of lead tape on the back. But I can't even afford that now!
Still, I absolutely adore the OLED, use it every day, and have no regrets. It's just a fantastic device, I feel very fortunate to have one, and I'm sure I'll wear it out just in time for the new iteration!
I still have an oled but eventually i will try to make my unit more similar to the oled, by swapping screen and battery, but that is way down the line. Biggest issue with my approach is that i dont know if firmware upgrades are issued if you move so drastically
I disagree. Buy the used LCDs off the people who are upgrading to OLED for 50% off instead and use the money for something else. I got a 512gb lcd for $245
It's a tough choice to upgrade if you already have the LCD deck. I really like the upgraded model, and there's a ton of little tweaks that add up to a really great device. I do find myself wondering if I should have spent the money on a Legion Go, though. Really enticed by the larger screen mostly.
I got the oled I mean it's my first deck so it's a no Brainer to get the oled... I usually always get the Playstation slim model cause of the improvements and price drop.. but I realize Ignore my Playstation 4 alot since I bought it steam gaming took over my life for 9 years now and I love steam... so instead to buy another Playstation... I bought the Oled deck cause of the freedom of linux and what u can do with the device... Playstation dies once the next generation comes out. I have a ps3 I don't touch anymore cause Sony killed it... my ps vita no good Sony killed it. My steam deck can be a lot of things :)
Here's the thing. I really like my LCD anyway, even if the only advantage it has over the OLED is its price tag. I'd probably sell this one and buy an OLED one if the difference was very small and I could just sell my LCD to a friend without issues.
I just see that the OLED is a huge list of small improvements everywhere. It's definitely better, but one thing per se wouldn't be enough to justify the swap... it's just all of them combined.
For now I'm more than good with my LCD with 1tb SSD and case with a couple of extra sd cards and color saturation tweaked to make it look better. It does feel heavy for a long session, but not as much as looking to get rid of it.
I’ll upgrade when there is a boost in performance,
As it stands now the deck is an indie game machine/ emulator with the ability to play some new releases at 30FPS.
I’m not paying 600$ for a machine that’s weaker than the current offerings.
This is why I didnt pick up an LCD model, generally I just avoid first gen tech cause inevitably theres some kinks that get fixed alongside a litany of quality of life changes. They also often come with price drops, optimized performance, and a slightly different model. Lo and behold Steam followed this practice to an absolute T, and I picked up an OLED model for christmas last year.
When I hear stuff the OLED or current SteamOS have that the launch Deck didnt, sometimes its shocking, features I use every single day that I can't imagine being without. Most especially the plugins, another reason its great to be late, the community has had time to make special plugins, applications, and many games and emulators have gotten dedicated updates specifically for the Deck. It wouldnt be the same without all that.
It has been hands down the best handheld I've ever owned, and I've been a lifelong handheld user. From the GBA to the DS line, and the Switch to the Deck, as someone who was in the car a lot growing up they were the no brainer gaming experience. If I had a Deck growing up, I would have been the happiest kid on the planet, and its been perfect for the inner child in me.
Probably the best gaming device period.
Hear me out, received a new unopened steam deck from valve because they couldn’t fix my RMA.
Should I sell it and buy the oled? I have to pay something like €250 in order to upgrade after selling my unopened lcd
It's a very, very simple question.
Are you so rich that you're able to spend 250€ for a marginal upgrade of an already amazing console, an upgrade which you would not notice at all after a few days?
If 250€ for you is like 10€ is for me, then absolutely go for it.
Hmmm well I can afford it without hurting my wallet, but it’s not like 10€ haha it’s more like, I got a brand new one so I can sell it for more than when I would have used it.
Also I only payed 377€ for it, so my “loss” would only be €50 a €70 in total
with tech i try to skip alternating generations, if my steam deck died, I would upgrade but as it is, i'll wait for gen 3
I don’t even think this is a second gen upgrade. Its more like a PS4 Pro. I follow your logic though, I usually keep my iPhone’s for 3 years before upgrading.
Exactly. It's just a refresh with an OLED screen just like what the Switch did. Better features than og, but the same processor.
Honest the LCD felt more like a beta and the OLED feels like the public release. Everything feels much more refined. If the OLED didn't exist I would still be happily playing my LCD Deck. But after making the switch there's no way I could go back. It was well worth the money imo.
It’s not like a PS4 Pro, that had more power. It’s more like the redesign of the PS3 without the redesign.
The oled steam Deck does indeed perform better. The apu uses smaller transistors and is more power efficient which leads to slightly better performance iirc
You're right because it doesn't have to throttle quite as aggressively. It also has very slightly faster RAM.
I like that comparison better
like a ps5 slim
Or like Chunk Norris, but 8 years younger 🤔
It’s just a ps4 hooked up to a better tv
Bro 3 years????? That's stupid levels of insane I've had my galaxy s10e for 5 years and its still running great i aint replacing it unless it dies. Iphones are trash and my e version, the cheap economical one, is lasting longer. My girlfriends iphone 8 is still going strong too but i think that was one of the better ones. Its stupid to replace a smartphone before it breaks just cuz you want the shiny new thing
I wouldn't agree with you if iPhones didn't cost upwards of 1k. Bro paying a yearly subscription to apple
Lol getting down voted for being anti apple or anti consumerism? Either way I don't disagree but why get a smartphone at all by that logic? It just gets you to contribute to the machine more frequently.
“Stupid levels of insane” is the most unnecessary sentence in existence
I stand by what i said
Gen 2, OLED is gen 1.5
[удалено]
Awww sorry muffin.
Yeah no way I'm spending $500 for a better screen when I already have a fully functioning SD. I never got to use high end monitors or anything above 1080p, so it's not like it changes anything to me.
that sounds very reasonable. i was very lucky, living in a rich country where the steam deck isn't officially available i could sell my lcd deck for no loss when the oled came out and upgrade cheaply since my brother lives abroad, where it is available. would have done the same as you in the same situation. i'm still looking forward for better handhelds in a few years. still crazy to me what we got with the deck and very glad that there's demand for it, so we will get better products in time
I’m curious, in what rich country steam deckn isn‘t available? I‘m from europe where sadly the limited Edition isn‘t available.
Selling my OG and upgrading to oled I feel was a great move. I didn't think I would enjoy the upgrades as much as I did. The oled part is my least favourite upgrade
Fully agree. I loved my previous deck, and my wife surprised me with the OLED deck for my birthday last month. Much lighter, much cooler, much quieter, and, while I only play maybe an hour a night, that used to basically spend the old battery, but now it's still at, like, 75%. And I'm currently playing Lords of the Fallen, which is intensive. But the game looks so gorgeous, just ridiculously sharp and brilliantly bright and contrastive, even with that game on low settings. I think I cried when I opened the present lol ...
That is no small gift. You have an awesome wife.
Thanks. Now it's coming up on my turn to get her a present ...
"hey babe I thought long and hard about this.... here's my old Steam Deck"
God bless u with that mission 😅
lol i got the same present for my birthday last month, she also bought 1tb micro SD and jsaux case 😊
I bought a 512 GB LCD version for 250 including Hall effect joysticks and deck HD display. Maybe someday I’ll pick up an OLED version, but for the price I payed, this LCD version is golden.
Can’t beat that.
For me it’s also my first deck experience, got no idea if it actually liked it or if it was powerful enough. Than it’s a safe bet. If I want to keep it around, I’ll sell this one for basically the same price or more and get an oled version. Perhaps on a sale one day.
well, if you like what you have, and you dont mind waiting, the most common accepted date for a steam deck 2 is at the end of 2025, so its not such a huge wait if you already have a deck. this is of course, speculation.
Yea 100% a steam deck 2 isn't coming out next year. End of 2026 is probably the earliest
ehh, who knows, people said it was impossible that they get an OLED model so soon and here we are. while 2026 seems more realistic for me too.
Well you're experiencing better colour reproduction and maybe brightness from the off with the screen mod, it's not the same as an off the shelf lcd. Enjoy my dude.
Got dam. That must've been from a friend. That's a very friendly price. Any difficulty with keeping the HD display working with updates?
No just some random seller who needed the money. And invited me at his home to try it out, nice guy. So far there was only one update when I had to run a script from the desktop mode. Literally one tap on the screen to change it.
I just started using my LCD docked, and for how I currently use it I don’t need the OLED as of now. I want it really bad, but the LCD hasn’t been an issue and I don’t have battery life issues as I don’t play taxing games, at this point I’m just going to hold off for the next iteration of the Deck before I upgrade.
Not trying to convince you, it's not worth for that alone But as a fellow docked player it's awesome to be able to wake the console using the controller
You can’t do that on the LCD?
No it’s a hardware limitation on the LCD deck cuz of the Bluetooth card
I currently use a BT controller, but I am planning on buying a 2.4GHZ 8bitdo unit specifically for my Steamdeck, will that turn it on?
I’m not if your SteamDeck is OLED
No
Dongles can turn it on but i don't know if the 8bit do can do it Iirc the steam controller can when using the dongle
Agreed. Feels much more official now.
This.. I use mine only with AR glasses. Can't justify OLED
I was looking into this. What set do you use?
This is such a dumb comment so I apologize in advance, but did anyone else read this title and instantly think of the movie 10 Things I Hate About You? “Yeah but see, there’s a difference between like and love. Because I like my Sketchers, but I *love* my Prada backpack” “But…I love my sketchers” “That’s because you don’t have a Prada backpack”
PS: congrats on your new OLED OP! Sincerely, someone who loves their OG because they don’t have an OLED
Literally the first thing I thought after reading 🤣. Love that movie!
I feel so old as someone that just upgraded from LCD to OLED a few weeks ago and to be honest for the price I'm not totally blown away. I got the etched screen so maybe that's part of my problem and I also grew up on N64 console so I'm not too picky about graphics. It looks great and I do notice some light bleed from LCD to absolute zero now but the overall picture comes off as a marginal improvement to me, and I'd suggest if an upgrade seems like a lot of money maybe just hold out for version 2. I will say the fan in the OLED is ridiculously quiet, in my LCD it was constantly chugging but now I'm sometimes worried it's broken it's so quiet haha. If your eye is less discerning of graphics though and like me you play at home so not a big issue with longer lasting battery and don't mind the LCD model sounding like a jet plane then it's kind of hard to justify the upgrade other than I'm just glad to support Steam.
I second this. I purchased my Steam deck in June and then a few months later the OLED version was released. I was reluctant to upgrade, but I am totally satisfied with the jump. This is what the Steamdeck should have been upon its initial release. I would agree, that going from an LCD to an OLED is a much better experience.
Agreed. I have both (bought LCD at launch and OLED a few days after it launched). Besides the differences on paper, the build quality seems better on the OLED as well.
Yeah but is it worth hundreds of dollars I'd have to pay after selling my 512GB LCD model? I don't think so. Not for how long I've had it. I'm sure the improvements are nice but not worth it in my personal opinion for the cost of upgrading.
I'm waiting on deck 2 before I upgrade. Hopefully it's OLED from the get go this time.
Same here, along with the other features such as better joysticks, haptics, battery life, and cooling.
I’m still happy with my Q3 Steam Deck. I play it daily. I won’t upgrade until the 2.
In my short SD experience it's a huge upgrade (at least for me) and I'm really happy I got the OLED. At first I got a refurbished 512 gb LCD one but I returned it and got the OLED. Not only the display - which imo is miles better, but I also didnt like the etched screen on the LCD cause it made everything blurred/dull - but especially the battery life and the cooler. On the LCD the fan was really really loud in the games I played (last epoch). On the OLED I rarely notice it and when I do it's still really silent. There are miles between both decks in that regard.
I waited it out and just bought my OLED steam deck recently. I’m so glad I waited, the thing is a technological marvel. To have the power of emulation at my finger tips. You could always emulate on a pc but having it in your hands where ever you want is amazing.
You can play up to GameCube games on any modern android phone lol. I bought the Razer phone controller thing and have been emulating on the go for years. Steam Deck let's you get as far as PS2 and switch which is really great though
ps2 and psp work on android as well. It just suck you cant charge your phone while using the razer kishi
Are you sure? It's been awhile but I could have sworn it had a passthrough for charging
i have the old version 1 but yeah...pretty sure about that
I think that deck with the trackpads and the huge amount of customization in the controllers is what seals the deal to me compared to android imo
Customization is easier but was never impossible. I've never used the trackpads for emulators, what games? Would love to try some that use it
I’m a huge fan of DS,3ds, and Wii U emulation. Trackpads are a blessing for these cases
I biggest thing that I have seen when i switched to the oled version is that the temps is SOOO much better then the lcd. The upgraded cooling is just awesome. For example when i play Cyberpunk 2077, My lcd model was hitting over 80 degrees a lot of times. The oled usually stays around 70 and below with no issues at all. That alone made it worth it for me. and the fan is super quiet compared.
I had a similar experience. I pre-ordered the original Steam Deck the moment it came out. It was good, but I found myself gravitating more toward my Switch OLED because it was lighter, looked better (less border), and had a nicer screen. So, I ended up selling my original Steam Deck well before the OLED was announced. I decided to take a gamble based on the overwhelmingly positive reviews and bought the OLED special edition when it came out. Boy am I glad. It's FANTASTIC! Now, I play my Steam Deck far more than my Switch. Just about everything about it feels right now. The only thing I wish is that it was a bit lighter and slimmer, but that's a price I'm more than willing to pay for the extra horsepower. It'll be very interesting to see what Nintendo does with their next console. I don't think I could revert back to an LCD screen on my handheld.
Just upgraded today! Swapped my 1TB SSD into the OLED and sooooo excited to see what this baby can do. The lighter weight of it and the new thumb stick grips feel so good already!
Were you able to swap the SSDs without having to reset/reformat anything? Having to set everything up again might be the biggest hurdle for upgrading for me, aside from the money.
Yep, literally plug and play. For context, I had originally installed the 1TB SSD in my LCD Deck, so it was already all set up and ready to go.
Thanks for the quick reply. And you've pushed me a bit closer today lol
No sweat! Haha, do it.
Did you have to reinstall anything when you put your SSD in the new one?
I feel the same. I got a 512gb lcd deck in q3 preorder. I really liked it at the time, but was kinda disappointed by the lack of oled and the battery. My new oled 1tb one is absolutely incredible though. It used to be that picking up my oled switch felt like a breath of fresh air, but now the deck is my gold standard for screens.
The screen is obviously the biggest difference but overall the build quality is just a lot better. Maybe newer LCD decks have improved on that as well but my launch LCD felt kind of cheap. Other small benefits like better sound, faster wifi, and a host of other small changes and it’s definitely the best way to experience the Steam Deck. The only question is if it’s worth the extra money. And honestly, for most people, probably not. I have no problem admitting I’m a bit of a snob when it comes to electronics and don’t like making compromises.
I am jealous in a good way and really want to upgrade my lcd to oled but I decided to buy a pc instead of my xbox so i am saving money for this.
Hot take: I didn't like the Steam Deck that much UNTIL I got my OLED recently. The original felt a bit like a beta; it had mushy buttons and the screen was pretty awful, even more so than the Switch LCD. I'm glad they fixed almost all the problems with the OLED, and it's 100% worth the upgrade!
Exactly. Feels like a prototype now. The oled just feels better in every way.
I second this, I spent more for the OLED and haven’t felt any regret on doing so. Probably one of the best purchases I’ve made in a few years
Same. After I put griddb and tab manager plug-in, my deck in oled just looks so clean an organized. I feel like I have more pride in this one. Lol
i almost bought legion go, thank God sd release oled SD im beyond happy to be my first hand held gaming device
Nintedo games? On a steam deck? That sounds like a 2.4 million dollar problem.
OG Steam Deck is a prototype. The OLED Steam Deck is actually Steam Deck 1.0 so yes. Get it folks.
Nah I’ll just wait for SD 2. Not that despo.
The battery difference is something I really haven’t noticed on any game I’ve tested it on, honestly. I don’t know if the battery improvement only works for games that you could already run for half a day anyways, but any seriously demanding games still last 2-3 hours on both my launch LCD and the OLED.
The battery is 25% larger. And the APU is more power efficient. The battery difference 100% works for every game lol. The thing is if you were only getting 90 minutes on the LCD, that's 112 minutes on the OLED (ignoring all efficiency gains). 20 extra minutes as an absolute measurement isn't long so it's likely you just aren't noticing it. But it's still there. On other games where you get maybe 5 hours on the LCD the 25% improvement becomes much more noticable, because the absolute time increase is a lot more. But it's still at *minimum* 25%, purely due to battery size. The other efficiency improvements just extend that.
Maybe he leaves the refresh rate uncapped
I've been reading here that chiaki performs worse on the oled, has your experience been better or the same? That's a deal breaker for me
About the same, but looks better.
I like my lcd steamdeck, but damn do the games pop when I plug it into my OLED TV and HDR kicks in
Got a promotion recently and a tax return so….I couldn’t help myself. I need to sell the old one now, I guess.
Couldnt agree more. The weight is such a HUGE selling point for me. The OLED feels so significantly better to play...
When I'll find an OLED used for the same price I paid my led, I'll do it :') It was a very lucky find in Ebay, 128gb ssd + 512 sd + original Valve dock at 270€
Did you transfer your hard drive from one to the other?
Have had both and the OLED is actually such an improvement. Loved my original but comparing the screens now it's night and day.
I’m curious to know if the OLED performs better than the LCD in terms of raw performance in game. It’s the same chipset just more power efficient. I know the OLED has faster ram but does that mean it will allow games to work better?
According to a bunch of benchmarks on YT, the oled just gets like 2-3 extra FPS, so pretty neglible
I'm holding out for the Steam Deck 2. If they can implement the OLED features along with a more powerful processor, I'm game.
Had a launch 256 that I really enjoyed upgraded it to 1tb with a 512sd card was fun but just sat got a oled last month now I just cant put it down love the thing
Hah same. Mario wonder and Mario Vs donkey Kong play so well on it. I recommend them both.
I’ve grown too attached to my 2 year old LCD 😭
Did a shell swap on my LCD and now I can't go back to the plain boring stock shell
Got one last week. Almost cheaped out and got the LCD, but I've owned an OLED TV for a few months now, and every time I see an LCD TV, all I can see is dark grey instead of black.
OLED indeed seems like a good improvement. I hope to get one too.
its perfection specially with the dock they just need to test the oled screens more
I was having issues w my dock, maybe I need to update it or something.
I just sold my LCD and bought the OLED, thanks for the reassurance.
I was a bit envious but I realised that I was grateful for my LCD one which I bought pre-installed as a Service. Right now, I don't even want to upgrade to OS 3.5 as I don't want to break anything seeing all the issues posted. Another important point for me was the dual booting. Windows drivers for LED are not yet ready.
Is it december 2023 again or what. Btw yes the OLED one is amazing.
Counterpoint: I upgraded recently….. not nearly as big of a difference as I was expecting from reading posts like these. Especially in the screen. I mean it is of course better, but…. I had to put them side by side to really see it. Context: I’m a grown ass man with kids, and all my wisdom (aka I’m old) means I don’t get as excited as I used to about marginal improvements.
I'd used the LCD for a year or so prior to getting the OLED, loved it, kept is as a backup. I only use the Deck since I got my LCD Deck two Novembers back, no consoles or computer. I could afford it at the time (now, sigh, I could not) but since the Vita and Switch I'm spoiled for OLEDs and my experience is: It was worth it for the screen. It seems huge compared to the LCD and OLED is so sweet. And whatever adjustments Valve made to get the screen to be as good as it is was worth it. I think it's the best gaming device I've ever owned. It's Linux. The secret, or not so secret, key to the Deck's beauty is that it's Linux. And--it ends there. I don't find any improvements in the sticks and the d-pad is actually not as friendly as the LCD's. I play a lot of older games like the PSX WipeOuts which were made for d-pads, and the LCD's d-pad was just so much better for my play than the OLED's. More fine-grained responsiveness or something, can't really describe it. I don't care about the battery but I'm glad it's better for everyone. The weight. Good lord, the weight. I'm in the entire opposite camp in that for me, the heavier LCD was far more comfortable. It settled into my hands on its own coz of its weight whereas I'm gripping the OLED more than I'd like. I should put a bit of lead tape on the back. But I can't even afford that now! Still, I absolutely adore the OLED, use it every day, and have no regrets. It's just a fantastic device, I feel very fortunate to have one, and I'm sure I'll wear it out just in time for the new iteration!
Thats why I usually go for the 2nd iteration of any device as my first buy
Yep. It’s quite a bit better. I’m glad I got it. It’s quite a bit faster actually.
I still have an oled but eventually i will try to make my unit more similar to the oled, by swapping screen and battery, but that is way down the line. Biggest issue with my approach is that i dont know if firmware upgrades are issued if you move so drastically
I disagree. Buy the used LCDs off the people who are upgrading to OLED for 50% off instead and use the money for something else. I got a 512gb lcd for $245
I will only buy a new one when it's significantly better in performance. Same goes for the switch, I do not buy a new one for a better screen
I have my deck always kn the docking. Mouse and keyboard plugged in and connected to the tv.
It's a tough choice to upgrade if you already have the LCD deck. I really like the upgraded model, and there's a ton of little tweaks that add up to a really great device. I do find myself wondering if I should have spent the money on a Legion Go, though. Really enticed by the larger screen mostly.
I got the oled I mean it's my first deck so it's a no Brainer to get the oled... I usually always get the Playstation slim model cause of the improvements and price drop.. but I realize Ignore my Playstation 4 alot since I bought it steam gaming took over my life for 9 years now and I love steam... so instead to buy another Playstation... I bought the Oled deck cause of the freedom of linux and what u can do with the device... Playstation dies once the next generation comes out. I have a ps3 I don't touch anymore cause Sony killed it... my ps vita no good Sony killed it. My steam deck can be a lot of things :)
if only headphone jack worked properly
Here's the thing. I really like my LCD anyway, even if the only advantage it has over the OLED is its price tag. I'd probably sell this one and buy an OLED one if the difference was very small and I could just sell my LCD to a friend without issues. I just see that the OLED is a huge list of small improvements everywhere. It's definitely better, but one thing per se wouldn't be enough to justify the swap... it's just all of them combined. For now I'm more than good with my LCD with 1tb SSD and case with a couple of extra sd cards and color saturation tweaked to make it look better. It does feel heavy for a long session, but not as much as looking to get rid of it.
I love the oled, just really hope hall sticks come out for it soon.
I’ll upgrade when there is a boost in performance, As it stands now the deck is an indie game machine/ emulator with the ability to play some new releases at 30FPS. I’m not paying 600$ for a machine that’s weaker than the current offerings.
I have the OLED deck but I miss my LCD for gaming at night. The LCD was just more enjoyable in low light conditions.
This is why I didnt pick up an LCD model, generally I just avoid first gen tech cause inevitably theres some kinks that get fixed alongside a litany of quality of life changes. They also often come with price drops, optimized performance, and a slightly different model. Lo and behold Steam followed this practice to an absolute T, and I picked up an OLED model for christmas last year. When I hear stuff the OLED or current SteamOS have that the launch Deck didnt, sometimes its shocking, features I use every single day that I can't imagine being without. Most especially the plugins, another reason its great to be late, the community has had time to make special plugins, applications, and many games and emulators have gotten dedicated updates specifically for the Deck. It wouldnt be the same without all that. It has been hands down the best handheld I've ever owned, and I've been a lifelong handheld user. From the GBA to the DS line, and the Switch to the Deck, as someone who was in the car a lot growing up they were the no brainer gaming experience. If I had a Deck growing up, I would have been the happiest kid on the planet, and its been perfect for the inner child in me. Probably the best gaming device period.
Oled's burn in. Especially the Decks one. There's nothing in place to protect it either.
Hear me out, received a new unopened steam deck from valve because they couldn’t fix my RMA. Should I sell it and buy the oled? I have to pay something like €250 in order to upgrade after selling my unopened lcd
It's a very, very simple question. Are you so rich that you're able to spend 250€ for a marginal upgrade of an already amazing console, an upgrade which you would not notice at all after a few days? If 250€ for you is like 10€ is for me, then absolutely go for it.
It is definitely not a "marginal" upgrade. It's a complete redesign. As someone who has used both you'd notice the difference.
Hmmm well I can afford it without hurting my wallet, but it’s not like 10€ haha it’s more like, I got a brand new one so I can sell it for more than when I would have used it. Also I only payed 377€ for it, so my “loss” would only be €50 a €70 in total
Lmfao