Steam Deck OLED

[Nerroth]

A new iteration of the Steam Deck, with an OLED screen (and a few other things), is due out in the US and Canada next week:

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How much of an upgrade is it from the original model?

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No word yet on when it might start to show up in other territories, however.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Nice if you do not have a SD yet, but personally i will wait for the SD2 to upgrade mine as no doubt that will be oled out the box, plus i got the 64 gig version so i do not have that awful anti glare screen that dulls the colour and brightness of the 512 gig model, and they sold that as a prem feature. lol

 

[Nerroth]

So what does the OLED model look like?

Well, like this:

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As those of you who already had the LCD model can attest, the Steam Deck - LCD or OLED - defaults to gaming mode, which uses the Steam client to install and play games.

Beyond gaming mode, SteamOS has a desktop mode which enables the Steam Deck to be used as a desktop Linux PC.

Although, it would be advised to do this while using a few added peripherals:

Said peripherals are also recommended for playing games designed to be played on a larger screen with a keyboard and mouse. Although, using the OLED screen while docked is not an altogether bad alternative.

SteamOS has Mozilla Firefox installed as standard, though other apps - such as Google Chrome, LibreOffice, and so forth - can be installed from the Discover Software Centre (an "app store" for Flatpaks).

Note, however, that SteamOS sets the system memory to read-only by default. While it is possible to alter this, Valve only suggest that option for someone who knows what they are doing - not least since any edits made are liable to be wiped in the next OS update.

So there are two main ways to get new things running on the Steam Deck: to download (or transfer) and install them in the Steam client itself, or to use Flatpaks from the Discover Software Centre.

 

[Nerroth]

I should add: if you get a screen protector for an LCD model Steam Deck, such as the one in this video, it should also work on the OLED model:

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As for cases, both the standard and Limited Edition 1TB OLED model have a detachable liner inside the case they send you - though I have not yet tried to detach the liner thus far:

 

[Awesome Possum]

I’m thinking about getting the OLED model.

 

[JirinPanthosa]

I got one just so I wouldn't have to take my laptop with me on vacation to play steam games.

 

[vandevere]

How well do Crusader Kings 2 and 3 play on the OLED Steam Decks?

 

[Eckauskas]

Picked one up just after Christmas and I love it. Fired Emudeck onto it and have games all the way up to PS3 running on it. Haven't even scratched the surface on Steam games yet.

 

[Nerroth]

Ironically, to this point most of the game-related use I have had for the Steam Deck OLED has been to play games that are best played with a keyboard and mouse.

For example: Total War: Three Kingdoms is listed as Unsupported on Steam, yet it (mostly) runs well enough - though it's best to play on an external monitor with mouse and keyboard.

More recently, however, I installed my first Deck Verified game: Spider-Man Remastered. But of course, while you can play it in handheld mode, you also have the option to play it in docked mode with a separate controller.

And what might be a good choice of controller for that particular game?

This is the Midnight Black colour DualSense.

Notably, when you connect this controller to the Steam Deck (which can be done either via type-C USB or via Bluetooth), SteamOS replaces with A, B, X, and Y buttons on the interface with the four PlayStation buttons!

Also, on both the Steam Deck's own controls and on the external controller, it is possible to swap the button configurations to the Nintendo standard input: B swaps with A, while X swaps with Y.

Plus, the trackpad on the DualSense works as a trackpad in desktop mode, if you wanted to use it for that.

And you can manually adjust whether or not desktop mode activates the controller's built-in microphone and/or speakers. (At least when connected via type-C USB; I gather that not all of the DualSense features work on Deck via Bluetooth.)

Do any of you have an external controller for use in docked mode - and, if so, which one do you prefer?

 

[Eckauskas]

I also use a DualSense controller when mine is docked. I have two so I can still use the other one with my PS5 when I'm not using the Deck. I recently found out it'll run Switch games so I've been playing TOTK and Pokemon Scarlet, both of which run fantastically.

 

[Nerroth]

The first official SteamOS-supported device from a company other than Valve was announced by Lenovo at this year's CES; it's reportedly due out in May.

Before then, the first public beta of SteamOS for other handheld PCs, such as the ASUS ROG Ally X, should be made available by Valve. In the long run, my understanding is that Valve intend to make SteamOS available as a general-use Linux distribution, for desktops and laptops also.

Although, there are a number of Linux distributions which presently incorporate SteamOS-like features, such as Bazzite, which can be installed as an alternative to waiting for Valve's "official" expansion of SteamOS beyond the Steam Deck ecosystem.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

This is good all round as i have just been stunned as to how great the SD is running all my steam windows games via the steam OS with no real issues, amazing stuff.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

If this were available in more common places like retail stores it would have been a no brainer..... I might have bought one. I have a Legion Go and am happy

 

[Nerroth]

As it happens, there is a company called Komodo which facilitates retail store availability for the Steam Deck (both LCD and OLED models) in Japan, Taiwan, South Korea, and Hong Kong.

For anyone in those places, here is a list of authorized retail stores.

For anyone who isn't, well...

 

[Haggis and tatties]

Just a word of warning to UK SD owners, or UK people thinking of buying a SD, as a UK owner over on reddit recently tried to get their faulty out of warrenty SD fixed by contacting valve to pay for a offical repair.......the official reply they got back from Valve was that they do not offer any repair facilities in the UK for steam decks out of the 12 month warrenty.....which i am sure is against the UK retailer consumer laws, but anyway just a heads up for any UK SD owners.........i was looking at the oled upgrade, but this has soured that now.

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Just a word of warning to UK SD owners, or UK people thinking of buying a SD, as a UK owner over on reddit recently tried to get their faulty out of warrenty SD fixed by contacting valve to pay for a offical repair.......the official reply they got back from Valve was that they do not offer any repair facilities in the UK for steam decks out of the 12 month warrenty.....which i am sure is against the UK retailer consumer laws, but anyway just a heads up for any UK SD owners.........i was looking at the oled upgrade, but this has soured that now.

That would certainly put a lot of people off..... It's got great repairability I guess, except for the glued in battery... They gave that negative points on ifixit

 

[Nerroth]

Best Buy in the U.S. and in Canada have placed the SteamOS version of the Lenovo Legion Go S on pre-order.

If I'm not mistaken, this is the first time that Best Buy is selling a PC handheld with an OS other than Windows. Might other Linux devices follow suit?

 

[Awesome Possum]

I got the OLED model over a year ago, I love it.

 

[Haggis and tatties]

That would certainly put a lot of people off..... It's got great repairability I guess, except for the glued in battery... They gave that negative points on ifixit

Ironically mine has now stopped charging, works when plugged in but it seems the battery is now dead, so that is about 2.5 years since i bought it, and it was used mostly to do my STO daily event thing, so it was never really on for hours at a time.........so i can still use it for that, i just need to be sitting next to a wall socket. Ha

I will open it up and disconnect the battery and hopfully i can just use it plugged into the wall, i won't remove the battery as that looks like a perfect way to break something else. Lol

 

[Gingerbread Demon]

Ironically mine has now stopped charging, works when plugged in but it seems the battery is now dead, so that is about 2.5 years since i bought it, and it was used mostly to do my STO daily event thing, so it was never really on for hours at a time.........so i can still use it for that, i just need to be sitting next to a wall socket. Ha

I will open it up and disconnect the battery and hopfully i can just use it plugged into the wall, i won't remove the battery as that looks like a perfect way to break something else. Lol

Well the battery is the worst part it's not easily replaced.. You need to heat the glue to release it.