Blades of Chaos from God of War

Non-etched for sure. I was very excited to get the limited edition 1 TB version, but after a bunch of research, I’ve decided to go with the 512 GB version. Here’s why:

• 100% pure blacks. Pure, non-diffused colors. If you understand and care about HDR and the screen is the primary reason you are getting the OLED Steam deck, then you must understand that you will not be getting the full spectrum of colors with the etched screen. For the LCD case this wasn’t as big of a deal because the color range is still limited, but you can still tell a big difference between colors and blacks on etched vs non-etched as demonstrated in this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_9bMdWC50U&ab_channel=TechStein
• Adding a glossy screen protector on the etched screen will never provide the full OLED experience. You can always add a matte finish protector on a glossy screen from your favorite brand and reduce glare.
• The OLED display is much brighter than the LCD one, so that will do relatively better with reflections.
• The etched screen does not eliminate reflections. It just diffuses them. In some cases this is worse than just having non-diffused reflections (video above demonstrates this as well).

Some of the downsides of choosing the 512 GB model:

• No limited edition option
• No removable liner carrying case

Personally I’m a little disappointed that I can’t get the removable liner case, but I’m willing to make that compromise in favor of a big boost in image quality.

As a fun experiment, visit a local electronics retailer like Best Buy or Costco and check out the LG OLED TVs and compare the image quality with other HDR panels. There’s a reason they have a glossy finish. The colors just pop and once you experience that, it’s hard to go back. For the case of the etched OLED Deck, it is literally sealing away all that goodness behind that coating.

All these discussions on the display made me go and revisit the anti-glare protector that I had on my 256 GB Deck. The moment I took it off, I could immediately tell the difference in contrast and text clarity. Sure there’s more glare, but the colors just pop so much more and the blacks are so much better. This re-affirms my decision on going with the 512GB OLED Deck. If the reflections bother me for some reason, I can just add an anti-gloss coating in the future, but it is impossible to get the clarity of the non-coated screen if I want that. Based on my experiences with my LG C2 OLED, it is hard to go back from true black levels I’m used to seeing and you can never get that with the etched screen and applying any sort of glossy protector on top.

Adding the clear coating protector improves the contrast, but doesn’t completely fix it.