Well, everyone, the time has finally come. A day long-awaited for countless gamers. No, not me starting to write articles, though that is clearly just as important. The Steam Deck is finally available in Australia, close to 3 years on from its original release! Available only via direct sale from Steam itself, in fact, which is apparently the main reason for the delay – the logistics of Valve selling hardware locally, both legal and practical, apparently took a great deal of time. Thankfully, they’ve confirmed that the retail pipeline they’ve set up for the Deck will work for any hardware they release in the future – so those rumours of a Steam Controller 2 or a new Valve VR headset have real meaning Down Under.
But some of you who jump onto Steam to finally buy a Deck may be a bit torn, as there are 3 models on sale – and LCD model for $649, and 2 OLED models for $899 and $1049 respectively. What are the differences, beyond what’s obvious from the names and sale pages? Well, this is where I felt able to help. Remember, this is only the beginning of the Deck’s official availability in our corner of the world. Grey market imports have been on sale for quite a while now, if at high prices compared to the more reasonable official RRPs, and as someone who managed to obtain both an LCD model (the very one still available) and a Deck OLED on eBay, I’d like to lay out some of the differences – or, just to be upfront, the reasons why you really should go for an OLED.
The Obvious Comparisons Between LCD and OLED
Let’s start with what’s clear just from the name – you get an OLED screen on the Steam Deck OLED, vs the LCD screen on the old LCD model. I’m sure many reading this know from their experience with phones, tablets, TVs or the Nintendo Switch’s various iterations that OLED screens are largely better than LCDs. Better colours and contrast ratios for a more realistic and vibrant image, but also better overall responsiveness and input latency, which is better for gaming in ways both immediately clear and also surprising. This particular case is even more extreme though, as the older Deck’s LCD is especially mediocre – slightly smaller than the OLED, standard dynamic range vs the OLED’s HDR, and a 60hz refresh rate that compares poorly to the OLED’s 90hz – in more ways than you might think, which I’ll get into in a few paragraphs.
Beyond the Screen
The sale page also lays out the other direct upgrades, such as a larger battery and more efficient chip – I can confirm from personal experience that these two combine to make for a substantial increase to playing time. In the case of some lighter games like Dead Cells, the OLED could run for the equivalent of an entire work shift, the system-on-chip sipping a mere 5 watts of power – if that. Wi-Fi 6E is a “nice-to-have”, and an additional slimline case and anti-glare screen are available if you spring for the 1TB model. But what else does the OLED offer?
Deck On A Diet
Firstly, the weight of the Deck decreases by going from LCD to OLED… by a whole 5%! This sounds like a joke, putting it in its own section, but honestly? You can actually feel it. Instinctively you would think this would be basically a rounding error that your body would never notice, but it isn’t, and I’m not the only one to think so. I heard it in multiple reviews prior to actually buying my Deck OLED, and friends who have tested out my Decks also noticed it. As expected, it becomes more relevant the longer you hold it, so for those marathon gaming sessions? You might appreciate it more than you think.
45 is the new 60
While modern AAA games will need you to accept 30fps to get them running on the Deck’s hardware – it only holds a fraction of the power of even a non-Pro PS5, after all – there are countless older, or just well-optimised, games that come very close to that glorious 60fps that we all love so much… but not quite. Whether it’s down to the CPU not being up to snuff or you just not wanting to put every setting on Low, some just can’t maintain a stable 60 – but they can maintain a stable 45. Ordinarily, this would be useless as 45 doesn’t neatly fit into the 60hz or 120hz containers of most displays – but as we learned earlier, the OLED has a 90hz display. As detailed by Digital Foundry, and tested and confirmed by myself, 45fps at 90hz isn’t just possible or consistent on the Deck OLED, it’s exceptionally smooth. This seems to be for a few reasons – it’s not just the fact that it’s higher than 30 or exactly half of 90, but also the previously mentioned improved input latency of the OLED screen itself. These elements combine to make for a framerate option that, based on DF’s tests, actually matches the input lag of 60fps on the Deck LCD. 45Fps thus becomes a major un-advertised feature of the OLED model, allowing you to achieve a consistently “smooth” framerate where you couldn’t before, or move a 60fps game back to 45 to raise graphical settings or improve battery life. Other options up to 45 are available as well, such as 40. The Deck LCD can alter its refresh rate to various numbers as well, but without the 90hz OLED screen aiding the input latency, the sluggishness becomes very noticeable.
The OLED Conclusion
These multiple points demonstrate something I’ve said to many people in my life who absolutely did not ask – the Steam Deck OLED is not just a screen upgrade. It’s an improvement in multiple small ways that add up to something that is, as they say, “greater than the sum of its parts” – even the literal screen upgrade goes beyond merely looking prettier in the way you’d expect from OLEDs, bringing multiple framerate options to the table that perfectly enhance the Deck’s identity as a “tinkerer’s handheld”. The Deck LCD is still a wonderful way to play those countless games you have in your Steam backlog but given the pricing? I strongly recommend dropping the extra $250 for the OLED model. And what games would I recommend? Well, that sounds like its own article!
