Normal and OLED side by side.

draigoch@discuss.tchncs.de to Steam Deck@sopuli.xyz – 209 points –

I have got my OLED Steamdeck today and made a picture with my old one side by side. The display is a little bit bigger, the touch screen is way better (more like a smartphone).

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For anyone who can't tell the difference: The OLED is the one that's next to the other one.

Ohhhhh, I thought it was next to the other one.

It’s a subtle difference, but one has trackpads and analog sticks, while the other has analog sticks and trackpads.

Honestly can’t tell the difference πŸ’πŸΌβ€β™‚οΈ

It took me searching the blacks to notice. Where I play there's usually enough glare I wouldn't get good blacks if you swapped the LC layer for vantablack.

I guess the problem is looking at your picture on my LCD smart phone. :)

I can tell the machine on the left is the OLED version because the screen is just a touch bigger.

Or maybe they're only marginally different. I have an OLED screen on my phone, and there's only a slight difference between them (one on the right is slightly duller, like the contrast is turned down a slight touch more).

I'm going to be getting the OLED version, but LCD tech has come pretty far, so I'm not surprised it's still a viable contender.

The blacks seem a little blacker even when viewed on an LCD screen, I believe.

Because its been through 2 cycles of washing out the blacks.

On LCD and can see the richer colours on the OLED version, it's a picture so the differences will still show. I think there's some LCD panel quality and/or colorblindness coming into play for ones who can't see a difference.

Unless I also have an OLED screen I'm not going to be able to tell the difference, but the bottom one looks slightly better so I'm guessing that's the OLED one?

Left looks like it has blacker blacks but that's may be camera lighting. Anyway I'm guessing left is the oled. Looking at image from my phone which is oled.

Serious question: Is the difference more apparent IRL (not a picture)? I'm not seeing a big enough difference that I'd spend much more for OLED.

I saw a noticeable difference going from a Switch to a Switch OLED, mainly in the contrast in scenes. Greys and blacks can almost look inky in comparison to LCD, and glowing lights (think neon signs) pop out a lot more.

That being said, the topic is the Deck OLED, which I haven't seen in person, so your mileage will vary.

In person it's very noticable. If you play games in the dark a lot it can be "night and day" difference going from LCD to OLED imo.

The best description I can give it is the colors are just so much more punchy and strong as well as the light bleed being completely gone. 90 Hz is just icing on the cake when navigating menus.

I didn't try this out on my OLED steam Deck yet, but dark scenes are a bit of a strain on the eye on the LCD one. I played mark of the ninja on it and the black and darker stuff (which the game has a lot of) is illuminated like any other color, which feels a bit unpleasant. With OLED black is the absence of light, which feels much more natural.

I say so. Screen looks great in person. Be gone light bleed!

Nice! Is it weird that I prefer the more white details on the buttons instead of the new gray?

I'm with you. The white stands out more, adds a little flair to it. The grey just kinda blends in.

Of course, I'm the weirdo who gets attached to their controllers, so take that as you will.

Is it so you can see them while you play?

Yeah, a bit. I'm really bad at remembering Xbox-style controls since I only ever had Playstation as a kid/teen, so it's nice to be able to look and see at a glance which one is x and which one is y. It's mostly just a petty aesthetic thing, though. Not a deal-breaker, just a preference when looking at them side by side

Edit: looking at it again, I could see how it could potentially be an accessibility issue for people with poorer eyesight though?

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As an avid nighttime gamer, I wish they added lights to the controller/navigation buttons on the new version.

Why? Your fingers are on top of them, and games often show you the button placement, shape, or both, and some even point to it during tutorials or idle moments.

And who looks at their own buttons anyway? Lemme ask a quick question: Can you type on a physical keyboard in the darkness? That is far more complicated (though most of us don’t even think about it), but nobody gets caught looking at their keyboard, unless it’s a meme.

Not to mention the extra lighting would just take away from the gameplay.

I swear I saw somewhere those adhesive low light stickers you could probably use as a stopgap. That or 3D printing caps and sticks with fluorescent plastic.

Looks great on my mini LED screen. Honestly, why do we keep doing this?

I refunded the LCD and got the Oled yesterday. To be honest is not a "game changing experience" but the improvements are definitely notable. The monitor is notably larger and smoother and the battery is something else, playing metro last light at 45 fps 10w I had more of 4 hours of estimated gameplay. And the indi looks amazing on the screen.

I think the combined improvements is game changing. It all runs longer, cooler, lighter, larger screen and brighter, and the screw changes for improved repairability is huge.

I can tell by the joysticks which I'd prefer.

I don't know why you got downvoted. There's definitely a better one.

What's the brightness set at for both? Does the steam deck have auto brightness feature, can you take a photo in a brighter room?

If I didn't already buy the 512, the oled would be worth it imo

I'm in the same boat with my switch as well.

I left the decision to wether or not my wife would want the old one.

Yep, that's what we "early" adopters get for adopting so early. I've hardly even played my Steam Deck and certainly not enough to get its value yet, I'm not upgrading to an OLED one. I have played my Switch a ton, but I'm waiting on a Switch 2 (which hopefully would have OLED from the beginning, like all these devices should have had at the start) before I bother upgrading.

I think seeing how well the OLED versions of consoles sells, Nintendo will release their new switch with OLED, then make a cheaper non-oled version like the switch lite / 2ds /etc.

For getting your value out of it, I highly recommend emulation.

Oh I did that the moment I was able :) I just have too many devices for entertainment (first world problem, I know).

Absolute game changer for me, as I expected it would be. I’ve gone from picking up the deck monthly to picking it up hourly.

I can't stop looking at it, HDR with oled's black levels looks sooooo damn beautiful.

You can see the edge of the screen at the titlebar on the right steamdeck, but not the left one. True black instead of dark grey.

I ordered my first Deck yesterday. It still shows it hasn't packed yet.