Still, the SteamOS UI makes navigation a breeze, at least on the gaming front. Condensing your Steam Library to a Big Picture mode-like view, with a large tile-based interface, makes it as easy to browse as the Switch. Pressing the Steam or Options buttons opens helpful overlays and shortcuts, including Steam Cloud, Steam Store, and other familiar features. Overall, SteamOS is superior to Asus Armory Crate and Legion Space, proving the importance of a strong, intuitive UI to the user experience. They sent over their newer refreshed model, which has an aluminum casing compared with their original plastic one. It also now has gigabit ethernet, with the previous model not having ethernet at all.

The idea of a Linux-based system might prove intimidating, but it’s one worth sorting out. The SteamOS operating system features a bespoke, console-like UI for easily navigating your Steam library, but you can do lots of under-the-hood tinkering in Desktop mode.

What's New in the Steam Deck OLED

Not the only major difference though. In terms of bulk, the ivoler version is slimmer and honestly just looks better but it is slightly longer but not by an amount that really makes any difference. The next two test games were released this year: Resident Evil 4 and Baldur’s Gate 3. We’ll start with Resident Evil 4, the remake of the 2005 classic. Resident Evil 4 is another game that supports HDR, and paired with FSR on Performance and the Prioritize Performance preset, you can manage a pretty good-looking picture at roughly 40-50fps. Forget about reaching 60fps, it’ll always be out of reach. Even with a fluctuating frame rate, Resident Evil 4 ran its Mercenaries mode well. (Credit: Joseph Maldonado) By using the HDMI 2.0 port, you’ll be able to output your gameplay to a performance of up to 4K at 60Hz. With that flexibility, you’ll be able to have your portable device become one that can just as easily become much like a home console. In our run down, Baldur’s Gate 3 lasted just one hour and 18 minutes on the older hardware, while Baldur’s Gate 3 lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes on the OLED. Of course, your battery life expectancy will depend on the game; the more complex, the more taxing on the battery.

Not that it made a blind bit of difference anyway, as testing God of War running at 1440p on its original graphics settings is nigh-on unplayable, garnering a minuscule average of 15fps. Even when I dropped it down to 720p at 120Hz on the Display Configuration, I was still only hitting around 30-40FPS. So whether you’re playing through desktop mode or SteamOS, you’re still going to be getting the same kind of performance, despite the ability to select a 120Hz refresh rate. God of War launched from Desktop Mode at 720p gave me around 30-40FPS

Get your hands on Deck!