Let me be blunt: if you have the Steam Deck LCD and it still runs fine, there's no rush to upgrade. But if you don't own one, stop buying the LCD version.
The screen is the main reason
7.4 inches, OLED, 90Hz, and the resolution is still 1280x800 as before. On paper it looks like just 0.4 inches bigger. Turn it on and you see the difference: black is truly black, with no grey glow in the corners when you play dark games.
One specific game you played on it, and a dark scene that made you notice the screen. 2-3 sentences.
HDR needs game support. In games that have it, peak brightness reaches 1000 nits. In games that don't, it's 600 nits, and you can still read text on a balcony in daylight.
90Hz is easy to underrate. It's not about running 90 frames, since the machine can't pull that off. The benefit is that locking to 45 or 60 frames gives smoother motion and lower latency than the old 60Hz screen.
Battery: the upgrade few people mention
The battery goes up to 50Wh, against 40Wh on the LCD model. The chip shrinks to 6nm, so it runs cooler and uses less power. Valve lists 3 to 12 hours, a range that wide because it depends entirely on the game.
The hours you measured yourself with one heavy game and one light game, noting brightness, FPS cap and TDP.
In the hands
640g, about 30g lighter than the old model. That sounds small, but after an hour your wrist knows. It's still a big machine, so don't expect to shove it in your trouser pocket.
The fan is bigger and quieter. The two trackpads and four back buttons are still something other PC handhelds haven't matched. If you play strategy games or anything that needs a mouse, you'll get it.
Not perfect
- The 800p resolution. The screen is beautiful, but small text in PC games is still hard to read.
- New, heavy games run, but you have to lower the settings quite a lot.
- Some games with anti-cheat don't run on SteamOS. Check ProtonDB before buying a game.
Should you buy it?
Yes, if you already have a Steam library and like playing anywhere in the house. No, if you want to run new AAA games at high settings.
