Steam Deck OLED Review (Australia) … a G’Day for Australia! @valvesoftware @OnDeck @SteamDeckHQ
Summary: Steam Deck OLED Review Australia - It's true, all of it... outstanding!
4.5
Flawless victory!
Gamers of Australia, it’s your turn… as the highly anticipated Steam Deck from Valve is officially available in the gaming land down under from 19-November-2024. That’s right, the Steam Deck is here and is available in three amazing portable PC varieties that includes 256GB LCD ($649), 512GB OLED ($899) and 1TB OLED ($1049AUD). The 1TB model also comes with an exclusive case when you are taking the Steam Deck on the go.
Steam Deck Model Comparisons |
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Steam Deck 256GB |
Steam Deck 512GB |
Steam Deck 1TB |
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Although the Steam Deck has been unofficially available in Australia via the so called grey market, this provided a dubious warranty (if at all anything) through its resellers. So no more risks because users can now purchase the Steam Deck with its official warranty and support.
Welcome to Australia Steam Deck!
The original Steam Deck was released on 25-Feb-2022 in the United States and has been upgraded since then. The current version of the Steam Deck is powered by a custom 6nm AMD APU that comes with four cores that can be clocked between 2.5Ghz to 3.6Ghz which is a lot of power for something so small. The GPU is also provided by AMD with the RDNA and lastly, it comes with 16GB LPDDR5 RAM.
So courtesy of Valve, Impulse Gamer were given an exclusive review opportunity for the 1TB OLED Steam Deck! Weighing in at 640grams, the Steam Deck measures at 298mm x 117mm x 49mm that is good (portable) size, particularly when matched with its gripability.
It comes with a 7.4” touch screen HDR OLED display (1200 x 800) that provides far superior image quality compared to the LCD model with vibrant colours and deep blacks. It also received a battery power-up (50W), including a more efficient AMD APU, less power for the HDR OLED display and improved cooling for this portable gaming PC.
Further supporting your adventure in speed is the inclusion of Wi-Fi 6E for high-speed downloads and online gaming. Bluetooth 5.3 is also available which makes the Steam Deck compatible with a myriad of controllers. However the Wi-Fi connection is blazing fast with games downloading in almost no time. If you need to boost the storage capacity of the Steam Deck, it comes with a slot for microSD cards that allows you to increase your Steam library of games.
For those that like to tweak, the rear case of the Steam Deck uses Torx screws that are found on many laptops and this makes disassembly and reassembly an easier process. Also in partnership with iFixit, they will soon be releasing replacement parts.
The inbuilt full-size controls of the Steam Deck are not only comfortable but feel very responsive. Whether this was the D-pad, shoulders buttons or analog sticks, the controls mirrored a next-gen experience with exceptional control and no latency whatsoever. It also comes with a trackpad, including haptics that adds to the overall immersion factor of this portable gaming PC. First person shooter fans will also be pleased that you can use the OLED’s gyroscope for more accurate aiming.
Steam Deck OLED Unboxing
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The 7.4”display on the Steam Deck is phenomenal and supports a 90Hz refresh rate, a peak brightness of 1000 nits plus a polling rate to 180Hz that makes it super responsive and very smooth for games. You can even connect the Steam Deck to a monitor or TV via the USB-c port (aka Docked). As a portable device, the Hi-Fi audio produced by the Steam Deck and stereo speakers is impressive with a good range, bass and even loudness. Of course, external headphones are the best (either wireless or via the 3.5mm headphone jack) but given the size, the quality of the speakers of the Steam Deck is almost perfect, so kudos to Valve. There is also an onboard dual microphones for your online play as well. Quality audio indeed.
How long does the battery charge last? According to Valve and depending on settings, you can get between 3 to 12 hours of gameplay, however in our testing, I was averaging at least 5-hours with most of the features enabled. AAA titles will draw the battery faster such as Cyberpunk 2077 and yes you heard correctly, the Steam Deck will play games such as Cyberpunk!
Thankfully it comes with fast charging and according to Valve, a quick charge of 45-minutes can get the battery from 20% to 80% and it also comes with a power supply cable of 2.5 metres plus an Australian power adapter. Additionally this gaming device supports a fast suspend / resume via a quick press of the power button that helps you manage the battery.
Setup
Setting up the Steam Deck is via a wizard that is quick and easy – the only caveat is that you need a Steam account but this is a moot point.
Once you have completed the setup, the Deck will also take you through a tutorial in order to learn the controls.
As you can see from the screen images, sharp text, clear pictures and bright colours
The UI of the Steam Deck is easy to navigate and well set out. In terms of OS, the Steam deck runs SteamOS 3.0 which is based on Arch Linux.
As the Steam Deck is part of the Steam gaming platform, it gives gamers access to one of the biggest gaming libraries on the planet. However just because a game works on a PC, doesn’t mean it will be a good experience on the Steam Deck, so you need to look for deck verified games that are titles that have been flagged to run well on this system. Steam has an official list at https://www.steamdeck.com/en/verified and there are also forums such as Reddit that will provide valuable information as well. The other valuable destination is https://www.protondb.com – a crowdsourced Linux and Steam Deck game compatibility report system.
Undeniably, the Steam Deck has one of the greatest games libraries available with over 15,000 Steam Deck verified games with more being added daily. The Nintendo Switch has over 5,000, however the Steam Deck is the clear winner given that it is linked to the PC.
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I went through my Steam Library and the Deck performed very well with these games, including AAA games such as Tekken 8 and Cyberpunk. Another highlight are exploring those lesser known indie titles which is also where the Steam Deck shines because the world of independents have never been better on this console, including early access and titles and demos!
The one drawback with the Steam Deck on some games is font size – that is, text can sometimes be difficult to read as the game has been designed for a monitor. The device does come with a magnifier “combo” that is activated by holding down Steam and L1 while using the right joystick. With that said and given the popularity of the Steam Deck, rest assured that most developers will ensure verification. Steam is also backed with an awesome purchase policy that if the title doesn’t perform as it should, you will get a refund (2> hours of play or 2 weeks).
However besides the hiccup of fonts and sometimes incorrect resolution for windows, the games that do work are wonderful on the Steam Deck. The controls are responsive and best of all, placement is perfect and while I initially thought the size was a little too large, it’s actually the perfect size for PC gaming on the go. The OLED display cannot be faulted with its sharp images and vibrant colours which makes gaming a joy on the Steam Deck. So whether you want to play the classics, or games of today, the Steam Deck offers both exceptionally. Additionally you can connect the Steam Deck to a monitor or TV for that console-like experience, including the ability of using an additional controller – however for me, I like my Steam Deck portable which is where this console shines.
Final Thoughts?
GOAT? Greatest of all-time? The Steam Deck is the original and provides gamers with one of the best gaming libraries to date – Sure, some tweaking is needed for some of the titles but given the diversity of PC systems, that is a given. All in all, the Steam Deck is a powerful and portable gaming PC that packs a punch for performance and more importantly has a fantastic OLED screen and excellent controls that cannot be faulted. Although the battery life is variable, it should be understood that some games use increased PC resources, so again a moot point, especially if you’re trying to max out the system. With that, the Steam Deck is an outstanding victory for gamers across the world and now in Australia!
Highly Recommended!
Official Steam Deck Website: www.steamdeck.com
About the Author
Andrew Bistak When he's not trying to save the world, Andrew enjoys travel (although loathes turbulence), going to the movies, reading and being a dad to his two dogs (and now twins) with his wife.
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