I was convinced for me it would be the 90hz refresh rate, or the improved touchscreen/haptics - but the moment I picked up the new OLED I knew my answer straight away:
The 30g they removed from the weight.
I’m sure that sounded minimal and inconsequential for a lot of us when we heard about it, but when you pick it up, you feel it immediately.
The original steam deck was always a bit too heavy for me to hold comfortably. Especially as I struggle with a disability which makes me pretty weak in general.
Now the device is so much more comfortable to hold. I can actually pick it up and hold it with one hand now, whereas before it would always overbalance and I could never keep it straight.
What’s the best upgrade from your experience so far, if any of you are lucky enough to have an OLED now?
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The new thumbsticks and faster downloads.
HDR, yes yes ik that’s screen related, but I see it as a feature that comes with the screen upgrade. I now feel no disparity between gaming on the TV vs gaming on the go in terms of presentation
The red button.
90hz for sure
Torx screws, had to diasasemble mine to fix L2 and it was way easierthan og deck.
I have to say the touch pads are absolutely undersold in reviews. They feel fantastic to us.
I am loving the new joysticks myself!
Very much the weight! I actually ordered the Killswitch from dbrand. On their site, it says the Steam Deck is already heavy and this won’t change that but it won’t make it heavier either. That description has aged like milk with the OLED. lol I’m just gonna return it and cough up the return shipping.
Dunno, I’ll let you know when GLS pick it up
The longer charging cord.
It feels super dense -not heavy- to me, like they managed to utilize all of the space available inside the shell – there’s zero flex anywhere, like a brick. The build quality is seriously impressive. Refresh rate, thermals, acoustics, contrast and battery life are worthwhile upgrades, too. It may not feel like all that much on paper, but it is. I don’t even see how it could possibly be any better with currently available technology.
You worded it perfectly. Sorry for the crude analogy, but it reminds me of how the sign of a great blacksmith used to be how well they distributed the weight in their weapons - the Steam Deck feels like that but applies to technology. It doesn’t feel like they wasted any space, but also didn’t overload it either.
Haven’t seen it talked about much, but the increased touchscreen polling actually makes the touch interactions usable! The keyboard actually works with touch now instead of having to basically long-press every key to make it register. Very pleased and will make the touchscreen far more viable as a game input method.
The charging light turning green when fully charged!!!
Battery, naturally.
I love so many things, the new fan… battery life… that’s sweet sweet Oled screen. Valve knocked it out of the park with this one. After going through like 6 Rog allys with issues my first LD deck is working great.
They really could have released it as a Deck 1.5. Sometimes it’s not all about better performance, as the QoL makes the biggest difference for usability.