The new Valve Steam Deck OLED didn’t just change the screen: Almost every part of the device has had some sort of revision, from the screws to the power topology of the motherboard. Some of these changes happened silently in the Voyager platform refresh for the Steam Deck, but the majority of large changes are brand new. Memory underwent relocation and now uses better modules, the cooling solution has had its fan flipped and thickened, and the controller component PCBs have had some consolidation and durability improvements. In this tear-down of the new Steam Deck OLED, we’ll compare the new Steam Deck vs. the original, old Steam Deck “LCD” model.
Would be interesting in seeing the thermal and fan noise results.
Whilst I have no plans on buying the OLED edition, it did make me question that decision a couple of times watching these reviews come in. The LCD edition, with its quirks, is serving me just fine.
I’m also impressed with how candid Valve is bring with both their system & repairability improvements. Just wish other corporations did the same.
Valve seems to be firmly within the category of enthusiast run company. The heads of EA, Microsoft, etc clearly don’t game. Valve is clearly run by people who do and want their hobby to have a better environment. It’s the only expectation I have for their consistent pro consumer behavior. That or the fact that it’s been wildly profitable so why stop.
Pro consumer behaviour like refusing to sell the Deck in Australia because of our Consumer protection laws?
Is that really why they don’t sell in Australia? I don’t believe your consumer protections laws are tougher than Europe. I can’t find any stated reason for not selling in AU. I suspect it’s just down to market size. They only recently started selling in Japan and they have 5x as many people.
Valve were fined $3M a few years back for lying to consumers about their rights to refunds per Australian law so it is an ongoing joke that Gabe now hates Australia and refuses to sell the Deck here as punishment.
That said it isn’t an entirely business-led decision to not sell here. Australians spend more on PC gaming than Japan.
I highly doubt Newell is harbouring some kind of grudge. Several countries have ruled against Valve in more onerous ways.
I’m not sure where you got the notion that Japan is a larger market than Australia but the Japanese spend around US$26B/year on video games. Australia is around $US$2.6B. Australia isn’t even in the top 10% worldwide. Now factor in expensive shipping, distribution, and warranty support in Australia, and it seems fairly obviously why they haven’t expanded there yet.
I said it was a joke.
I also specified PC games, which is the only market Valve cares about, and in which Australia spends more money than Japan. Add in localisation and other impediments to getting into the Japanese market and no, it’s not obvious at all.
That didn’t really seem like a joke to me but thanks for clarifying. I guess conveying tone is difficult across text.
I’m not sure if you’ve seen them yet but Steam Decks aren’t PCs. They’re handhelds. They compete with handhelds like the Nintendo Switch. I understand there is category overlap with the Deck but to call it a PC is clearly silly.
Anyone spending money on a game to play on a deck is spending money in the “PC” games market.
The benefits of having decent people running a privately owned company is pretty astounding. Once you go public and have a board that legally has and wants to make as much money as possible, it seems like things are sure to go to shit.
Taki Udon went pretty in-depth with thermals in their review. The already great thermals have been drastically improved. The OLED runs cooler in general and does a better job of keeping the heat away from your hands. The fan is quieter than the old model. I linked to the part of the video where they discuss thermals, but the whole video is pretty interesting.