Steam Deck OLED
Valve · Released Nov 2023 · 2nd Gen
The benchmark PC handheld: a stunning OLED screen, the entire Steam library, and outstanding emulation, all at a price that undercuts rivals.
Pros
- +Massive Steam and PC game library runs natively
- +Gorgeous 90Hz HDR OLED screen
- +Excellent value and highly repairable
- +Best-in-class emulation up to PS2/GameCube/Wii
Cons
- −Large and heavy for a handheld
- −SteamOS has a learning curve for some anti-cheat games
- −Battery life varies wildly with demanding titles
What can it play?
Emulation performance by platform, based on real-world testing.
Full specifications
Hardware
- Chipset (SoC)
- AMD Sephiroth (custom APU)
- CPU
- Quad-core Zen 2, 8 threads, up to 3.5GHz
- GPU
- AMD RDNA 2, 8 CUs, up to 1.6GHz
- RAM
- 16GB LPDDR5 (6400 MT/s)
- Storage
- 512GB NVMe SSD, 1TB NVMe SSD
- Weight
- 640 g
- Dimensions
- 298 x 117 x 49 mm
- Cooling
- Active (fan)
Display
- Size
- 7.4″
- Resolution
- 1280x800
- Panel
- HDR OLED
- Refresh rate
- 90 Hz
- Touchscreen
- Yes
Battery & Connectivity
- Battery
- 13412 mAh
- Real-world life
- ~4.5 hours
- Wi-Fi
- Wi-Fi 6E
- Bluetooth
- Bluetooth 5.3
- Ports
- USB-C (DisplayPort 1.4), 3.5mm headphone, microSD
- Expandable storage
- Yes (microSD)
Controls
- Analog sticks
- 2
- D-pad
- Yes
- Face buttons
- Yes
- Analog triggers
- Yes
- Gyroscope
- Yes
- Hall effect sticks
- No
Software & custom firmware
Ships with: SteamOS 3 (Arch Linux)
Also plays natively: Steam, PC games (Proton), Emulators (EmuDeck)
Our verdict
The Steam Deck OLED refines Valve's category-defining handheld with a brighter, larger HDR OLED panel, a bigger battery, faster Wi-Fi, and a lighter chassis. It remains the easiest recommendation for anyone who wants to play PC games and emulate classic consoles on the go, and its open SteamOS plus thriving community tooling (EmuDeck, Decky) make it endlessly flexible. It is large and the most demanding games still drain the battery quickly, but for sheer capability per dollar nothing matches it.