Nintendo may have finally announced the Switch 2 with a 2025 release window, but I’m still waiting for the day. If it weren’t for the Steam Deck, I would be weeping tears of joy at Nintendo’s announcement of a more powerful handheld. But in the time since the original Switch released in 2017, Valve has released a proof of concept with the original Steam Deck (2022) and iterated upon it with the OLED, creating a wave of competitors in its wake. It’s not 2017 anymore. The handheld landscape has changed immensely. In large part, that’s because of this device.
I wanted to see what all the commotion was about, and I fell head-over-heels for the Steam Deck OLED. Now, I haven’t touched my Switch in months and I cannot stop marveling at my new toy. I test products for a living so for something to give me that feeling means it’s pretty darn special.
Valve Steam Deck OLED
Cons
- Requires some technical prowess to play games outside Steam
- I wish the battery life was longer
- Docking station sold separately
| Display | 7.4″ 1280 x 800 OLED |
|---|---|
| RAM | 16 GB |
| Storage | 512 GB, 1 TB |
| Refresh Rate | Up to 90Hz |
| Weight | 640 grams |
The Steam Deck OLED is an impressively user-friendly piece of hardware. From the way the buttons, sticks, and touchpads feel to the interface, there is a focus on getting your games running quickly and with little fuss. There is a console-like quality to the whole experience, making it easy to recommend to players beyond the PC hardcore.
It was love at first sesh.
It took five minutes with the OLED for me to realize why Steam Deck is king. During those five minutes, I logged in to Steam with access to my full library and could getting straight to downloading games instead of messing with settings or logging into half a dozen accounts. If you’re going to give it the form factor of a console, make it console easy. That’s the Steam Deck pitch. It delivers, and I’m sold.
In terms of pure weight, the OLED Deck isn’t that much lighter (or even heavier) than competitors from MSI, Asus, and other handhelds I’ve tried. But it feels so much lighter than these, and easier to hold for extended sessions. The difference lies in ergonomics, which Valve has mastered with this device.
When I say ergonomics, I don’t just mean the buttons and sticks (which are sturdy and satisfying), the four re-mappable back paddles (essential for competitive gamers), or the twin touchpads that mimic a mouse function. Though, all of that feels great. It’s the way my arms don’t feel sore after holding it up to my face for half an hour. It’s the placement of the fans so I never realize how hard they are working until I put the Deck down and can hear whirring. It’s everything that I don’t have to think about when I’m holding my Steam Deck. Simply put, it feels like it’s meant to be in my hands.
In addition to ergonomic improvements, the biggest upgrade over the first-gen LCD Steam Deck is the OLED display, and you see that from minute-one. It maintains the same 1280×800 resolution, but with an improved max refresh rate of 90 hertz. And yes, I got plenty of games hitting that threshold and running at a buttery smooth 90 fps.
Your purchase includes a 45 watt charger and a carrying case. The case isn’t some piece of junk either, it’s sturdy and has an inner layer that can be removed for even more compact storage. If you opt for the harder, bulkier full case, it has a pouch for the charger so you can keep all your gear in one place. Basically, it’s the first and the last Steam Deck case you’ll need.
It’s a portable PC, with OK battery life.
The Steam Deck OLED is a perfect handheld for sinking into the couch with your comfort game of choice. But as the traveling case suggests, it can also be taken on the go. As long as you have a place to charge, it’s a frankly better option than any mini gaming laptop I’ve tried out.
The Steam Deck store page claims the battery life on the OLED is anywhere between three and 12 hours of gameplay, depending on the intensity of the title. I found that unless you actively crank your graphics settings down to a minimum or prioritize power efficiency on a system level, reality tends to fall on the lower end of that spectrum. For example, playing Marvel Rivals (running typically between 40 and 55 fps) for 90 minutes (unplugged) took up about half of the battery. A game like Cyberpunk 2077 will look a lot better, run about as smoothly/roughly, and drain battery just as quickly. Playing less intensive indie titles, I could make that battery last anywhere between four and eight hours. Ultimately, the battery life on the OLED is closer to what the original Steam Deck promised and failed to live up to.
The Deck also supports output to TVs and monitors. This is nice if you want to improv a PC or console setup for a night. Connect a Bluetooth controller or rig up a mouse and keyboard, and the portable PC is suddenly a home computer dedicated to gaming. It’s all wonderfully easy and intuitive.
The pros and cons of Steam(ing).
One of the Steam Deck’s greatest strengths is also it’s achilles heel, depending on who you ask. Similar to Apple’s iOS, SteamOS is a walled garden. It’s really easy to play Steam games, but getting titles you have on Epic or Game Pass (or a library of .iso files you “own”) to run on the Deck requires a bit of legwork. Using your Steam Deck as an emulation machine is not impossible, but unlike Windows handhelds, it requires the burdensome step of installing Windows. I didn’t do this, by the way, not because I was afraid of disturbing the sanctity of SteamOS and completely breaking my Steam Deck experience (definitely not that) but because I genuinely love it. I never found myself wanting to leave.
I expected to feel restricted by Steam’s OS, but instead I find it remarkably helpful. Games in your library will fall into one of three categories: verified, playable, or unsupported. In my experience, all verified titles boot up in an optimal state with no need for adjusting graphics settings or controls. Titles marked playable often just require a dip into the controller settings and after that won’t cause you trouble at all. “Unsupported” doesn’t even mean “won’t work,” it’s just a way of saying your mileage may vary. If you are new to PC gaming or are settings shy than stick to playable and verified titles and you won’t have to adjust a single shader.
My final verdict.
For $549 (or $649 for a terabyte SSD), the Steam Deck OLED is a competitively priced handheld. But it has one thing every other handheld (save Nintendo’s) lacks, and that’s polish. The entire experience of using the Steam Deck is polished. The store is easy to use, the games are easy to play, and if you have a Steam account already setup is a breeze. Best of all, my hands don’t ache after a few hours with it.
If you’re already bought into the Steam ecosystem on your PC and the idea of a Steam Deck sounds remotely appealing, the OLED is a no brainer. It lives up to the hype. If you’re considering a non-Nintendo handheld, it’s still a no-brainer. This is the handheld all the others want to be.
Valve Steam Deck OLED
Cons
- Requires some technical prowess to play games outside Steam
- I wish the battery life was longer
- Docking station sold separately
| Display | 7.4″ 1280 x 800 OLED |
|---|---|
| RAM | 16 GB |
| Storage | 512 GB, 1 TB |
| Refresh Rate | Up to 90Hz |
| Weight | 640 grams |
Why Trust Esquire?
Here at Esquire, we compile our guides by performing heavy research and testing, and the gadgets we choose to award are what we’d spend our own money on. We choose the best tech, homeware, and kitchen tools for you based the hands-on experience of our writers and editors across the globe. For this review, I spent dozens of hours over the course of many weeks gaming on the Steam Deck OLED. From classics like Half-Life to the new hotness Marvel Rivals and countless indies, I tested out as many of Steam’s most popular titles as time allowed.
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