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You can grab an OLED Steam Deck on November 16th

by: John -
More On: Steam Deck

From my review of the Steam Deck, one of the few things I nitpicked on it was the LCD screen. With the amount of OLED handhelds these days, the Steam Deck's LCD panel seemed a tiny bit behind the times.

Well, no longer as Valve is now offering the Steam Deck with a 1280x800 OLED display starting delivery November 16th. But that's not all. You can now get a 1TB Steam Deck with the OLED display as well. And something that will really benefit gamers on the go, the Steam Deck's battery goes from 40Whr to 50Whr offering a nice 30-50% improvement in game time with the improvements to the internals and increased battery capacity.

The WIFI on the OLED Steam Deck has also improved and will be able to support WIFI 6E. That means faster downloading speeds for those who have WIFI 6E routers and access points.

With the OLED release, pricing has changed and there's going to be a nice discount for the LCD models. It also seems like Valve will stop producing the 64GB and 512GB LCD models so they are being sold at a discount while supplies last. The 256GB LCD model looks like it's going to still be produced.

The APU will now be the 6nm version so that should help with efficiency while memory is faster so you can expect a small increase performance wise, but nothing major compared to the original one. Those with Steam Decks now can probably wait on purchasing as the updates to the internals and screen probably doesn't warrant a new purchase unless you really want the OLED display, better battery, and larger storage option.

The 512GB OLED version will retail for $549.00 while the 1TB OLED version will be $649.00. A limited edition 1TB SKU with a translucent case is also available for $679.00, but I hear it's really, really limited so good luck getting that one. The 256GB LCD version drops to $399.00 from $529.00, which is pretty good.  The 64GB version is selling for $349, down from $399 and the 512GB version which most people seem to have purchased initially goes to $449.00, $200 down from the launch price of $649.00.

I know some folks wanted better computing and graphical specs, but for now, the nicely updated screen, battery life, and a few other improvements should fit some folks looking for a solid PC handheld.